Anyone who’s been active in bike advocacy in Los Angeles, or done bicycle volunteer work, has probably met — and liked — Aubrey Provost and his wife Melba.
Myself included.
The Bicycle Advisory Committee member represents the Eighth Council District on behalf of Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and both have volunteered with CicLAvia and the LACBC. And taken part in virtually every major bike ride and event the city has to offer.
The LA Times marked Valentine’s Day by talking with the octogenarian couple about their 65-year love affair that only gets stronger by biking together nearly every day.
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A bighearted LAPD cop dug into his own pocket to buy new bikes for a couple of young girls after their bicycles were stolen from their mom’s car.
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Bikes and cameras just naturally go together.
And apparently, always have.
L.A. Camera Club and bicycles https://t.co/UQbrmppcDV pic.twitter.com/KhmhS03Ufc
— Old L.A. Photos (@OldLAPhotos) February 12, 2021
Check out those bigass pneumatic tires, too.
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
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This is what happens when drivers turn onto the wrong side of the road in the UK.
"The cyclist came out of nowhere!" https://t.co/VhZ9m52nQP
— Ollie Oliver (@Ollie_Cycles) February 11, 2021
For what it’s worth, the West Midlands police responded on Twitter to say the driver appears to be in the wrong.
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Take a two and a half minute Monday mountain bike daydream.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A driver in the UK blared his horn at a bike rider before knocking the man off his bike, then got out of his van to scream at him. Although from the story, it’s not clear if he left the scene, or if police are just looking for witnesses.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
WTF? It takes a real jerk to perform bike stunts on a fragile, 1,750-year old ruins of a Roman wall in the UK. Seriously, don’t do that.
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Local
LAist reporter Sharon McNary walked and biked the newly completed 13-mile Park to Playa trail, which stretches from the Crenshaw District to Playa del Rey.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White is one of us, as he rides through LA with his girlfriend. Although someone should buy the man a shirt.
WeHo is considering a plan to shut down Robertson Blvd from Santa Monica Blvd south to Melrose to everyone but pedestrians — but only on Saturday nights and Sundays, at least for now. You have until 4 pm Tuesday to get comments in, or you can ask to speak at the 6 pm council meeting.
Pasadena police busted a bike thief who stole a couple’s bicycles at hammer-point after they discovered him and another man attempting to smash their bike locks; police are still looking for the other man.
State
Montecito’s newly rebuilt San Ysidro Bridge opened to bike riders and pedestrians after a three-year closure, providing renewed access to recreational trails.
Thieves stole $70,000 worth of high-end bicycles from a Fresno bike shop in a pair of break-ins just three weeks apart.
A new effort is underway to get a bike lane across the entire Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco; the current bikeway bizarrely stops halfway across, forcing riders to turn around. Or swim.
National
Who says you have to choose between an ebike and gravel?
The Nevada truck driver charged with the alleged meth-fueled death of five bike riders last December had his bail set at three-quarters of a million dollars; no word on whether he’ll be able to raise it.
A Michigan appeals court tossed out a killer driver’s overly lenient one-year sentence for fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider two years ago.
This is the cost of traffic violence. The abusive father of rapper Nicki Minaj was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he walked along a Long Island roadway.
Armed robbers beat a New York delivery man to steal his ebike in an attack caught on video.
Once again, New Yorkers voice their support for bike lanes as long as they’re on someone else’s street.
Streetsblog wants to know why Gotham’s bike lanes still haven’t been cleared, nearly two weeks after a massive storm dumped snow on the city.
No surprise here, as traffic deaths increased in the DC area, despite a drop in vehicular traffic. Which tracks with what cities and states around the US have been reporting.
A Charleston, South Carolina newspaper applauds the state DOT’s embrace of Complete Streets.
International
Meet the designer of some of the most iconic bikes of the past 20 years.
Shimano’s head of training explains how to keep your ebike running like new.
An 18-year old Mexican man suffered life-threatening injuries when a man known only as El Bananas broke into his home as he was sleeping and shot him, accusing him of stealing the man’s bike.
A Toronto paper remembers a longtime bike advocate who died of cancer after decades of working tirelessly to “improve street safety and the labor conditions of bike couriers.”
Studies from the UK show that exercise can help prevent cancer. Like bicycling, for instance.
Seriously? A British woman who just wanted to let her four-year old daughter ride a bike was ticketed the equivalent of $103 for parking without paying in a pub parking lot, even though it had been closed by the pandemic.
After watching a man get stabbed by his friend in a ferocious attack, an English junkie got on the victim’s bicycle and rode off, telling the court he was just frightened and trying to get away; he somehow walked with a year’s probation, despite 17 prior convictions.
A British man suffering from terminal cancer plans to ride the length of Great Britain to raise funds to fight Ewing’s Sarcoma, despite not taking up bicycling until after his diagnosis; he’s already raised the equivalent of nearly $28,000, almost $7,000 more than the initial goal.
The rate of bicycles stolen from homes more than doubled in the UK last year.
Next City examines how New York and Paris got more women on bikes; even lowly Los Angeles saw a more than 80% increase in women riders last year, according to Strava.
Two-time Formula One world champ Fernando Alonso had surgery to repair a broken jaw following a collision while riding his bike in Switzerland.
An Indian columnist says a kid’s bicycle is a metaphor for freedom. Or maybe just freedom, period.
A Korean ebike concept looks to be the future of commuting bikes.
Competitive Cycling
Banning the extreme aero tuck position could cost bike racers as much as 3 mph in lost speed on descents.
Former Tour de France winner Chris Froome says he’s finally back to 100%, two years after a frightening solo crash training for the Critérium du Dauphiné; Froome spent the off-season rehabbing in Los Angeles.
A rainy finish line crash in the Tour de Provence raised more questions about rider safety on the pro tour after a spectator moved onto the course causing American Matteo Jorgenson to lose a shot at his first win; Jorgenson responded saying it sucks to miss his first real chance at victory like that.
Finally…
About damn time someone designed a futuristic autonomous car with a built-in bicycle carrier in the back. Why let a little ice stop you when you can just swap your wheels for saw blades?
And that feeling when Paul McCartney borrows your bike to escape from fans while disguised as a cop.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already.
