Tag Archive for bicycle collision

Weigh in on whether to reopen Highway 39, ActiveSGV is hiring, and bike rider struck by driver during live Twitch session

January 12, 2023 / / 3 comments

Streetsblog’s Chris Greenspon reports you have until Monday to weigh in on how — or whether — to reopen Highway 39 in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The highway has been closed for the past 45 years following “massive mud and rock slides caused by heavy rains and floods.”

Greenspon writes that the closed roadway has long been a popular bucket list ride for many area bicyclists, and part of the more than 90-mile “Circle of Doom” loop.

The choices presented by Caltrans include a no build option, as well as options for emergency vehicles only, or active transportation use. Other choices include a full reopening, building a separate viaduct, or a single travel lane through the currently closed section.

Depending on the final decision, the rebuild could cost anywhere from $175-$325 million.

The question is why the road should be reopened at all, since the past nearly five decades have shown it isn’t really needed.

Do the absolute minimum to make it safer for hiking and biking, and leave it the hell alone.

I’m not sure where I found today’s generic mountain biking photo, but here it is anyway.

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Here’s your chance to make a real difference for active transportation in the San Gabriel Valley, with one of SoCal’s most effective advocacy groups.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1613294692162060290

I can balance a checkbook most of the time. Does that count?

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This is what it looks like when a Japanese influencer gets hit by a motorist while doing a live Twitch stream.

Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured, although it clearly hurt. A lot.

https://twitter.com/joshuinjapan/status/1613068137557282822?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1613068137557282822%7Ctwgr%5E74b3b24f0980c48ed10bd38f7e02d3a5bdb62e68%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexerto.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftwitch-streamer-hit-by-car-while-riding-bike-during-japan-irl-stream-2030392%2F

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Good question. The Guardian’s Peter Walker wonders why plans to reduce traffic attract so many conspiracy theorists, as a project in Oxford, England is attacked as a global plot to strip people of their fundamental rights and personal possessions in the name of the environment.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

No bias here. A bike-riding Karen goes ballistic, apparently because a man was walking his dog in a bike lane. Then a New York councilmember displays her own ugly prejudice by painting all bike riders with the same brush. Thanks to Ravener for the heads-up. 

A Florida man faces charges for a months-long hate-filled tirade against his gay neighbors, repeatedly riding his bike in front of their home shouting anti-gay slurs, as well as violently resisting arrest when police finally came for him.

Britain’s Daily Mail plays their twisted game of “Who was at fault?” when a salmon bicyclist rounds a corner and hits another London bike rider head-on. Hint: The one riding on the wrong side of the road. 

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Local 

No news is good new, right?

 

State

California Governor Gavin Newsom is addressing an anticipated $22 billion budget shortfall by cutting costs, including clawing back funding for projects promised under the state’s Active Transportation Program.

A new land use plan for San Diego’s Casa de Oro neighborhood means residents can soon expect “roundabouts, bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly developments.”

Morgan Hill-based Specialized is joining the growing list of bike companies laying off workers; the company plans to let go of eight percent of workers worldwide, with around 120 US workers getting the axe.

Bad news from Modesto, where a man riding a BMX bike was killed in a head-on collision, after allegedly riding onto the wrong side of the road to pass a slow moving semi. The CHP naturally saw that as an opportunity to remind bike riders to wear a helmet, as if a thin plastic beanie could protect someone from a head-on crash with a motor vehicle. And yes, I believe in using a bike helmet, but they were designed to protect against slow speed falls, not crashes with cars. 

A San Francisco news site questions the effectiveness of the city’s Vision Zero program, in the wake of the city’s deadliest year in a decade.

SF Gate recommends a day trip pedaling to the Marin Museum of Bicycling in downtown Fairfax, as well as the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis.

 

National

Bicycling says your Strava subscription is about to go up another four bucks a month, as the popular bicycling and endurance sports app lays off nearly 40 people. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Outside recommends gear to keep you riding through the winter, although the gear required to ride in usually sunny SoCal may be a tad different than what you’ll need in colder climes. After all, you don’t want to get a frostbitten “todger,” like a certain spare former prince says he did.

Habitat Magazine suggests building fireproof bike storage rooms as a possible solution to ebike battery fires.

This is what’s possible, Los Angeles. The company that operates the arena that’s home to Portland’s NBA team and dozens of other events is opposing a new offramp that could make a dangerous nearby intersection even worse, especially since half of their guests arrive by bicycle or on foot. There’s no reason The Crypt or the Coliseum couldn’t do the same with better infrastructure.

Security video shows a Colorado man get off an elevator and throw his bike at a light rail train from a snowy station, apparently because he missed the train. Although he didn’t miss it with his bike, causing $6,000 in damage.

Tragic news from Rhode Island, where a Brown University student was found dead from a broken back a day after he was reported missing; he was apparently riding in a construction zone closed to the public when he came off his bike.

New York is finally getting around to installing bike parking at the city’s subway stations, but only one in Manhattan.

The New York nonprofit behind the city’s extremely popular Five Boro Bike Tour is donating refurbished bicycles, helmets and locks to help refugees and other immigrants get settled in the Big Apple.

A pair of Argentine men describe how five of their friends were slaughtered in the 2017 vehicular terrorist attack on a Manhattan bike path; the group was celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation in New York when Sayfullo Saipov allegedly ran them down.

A 29-year old Florida woman is charged with hit-and-run and DUI manslaughter for killing a bike rider in November; investigators used geolocation data to show she’d been drinking, placing her at a number of bars in the hours prior to the crash.

 

International

CityLab examines the world’s most congested cities, where motor vehicle traffic grinds to a halt on a regular basis. Surprisingly, Los Angeles doesn’t even make the top ten, though Chicago, New York, Philly and Boston do. Neither does Mexico City, which consistently makes, if not tops, other similar lists. 

The New York Times says sales of electric vehicles are booming around the world. But you have to get down to the last paragraph before learning that Americans bought twice as many ebikes as e-cars in 2020 — and there are ten times as many electric scooters, mopeds and motorcycles on the world’s roads than there are electric cars.

Škoda’s We Love Cycling recommends six bicycling-inspired movies to watch when you’re too tired to ride. Although despite the picture, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid isn’t one of them, even if it should be.

Speaking of Prince Harry and his “todger,” Britain’s naked cross-country bicyclist says there’s no better place to lose your virginity than an open field, as the young prince says he did.

Road.cc offers a tutorial on hybrid bikes, the best-selling type of bike in the UK.

Honda unveils a trio of moped-style ebikes for sale in China, each of which does in fact have pedals; the bikes could eventually be sold in Europe and the rest of Asia.

This is why you shouldn’t try to reclaim a stolen bike yourself. A 15-year old Australian boy is on trial for fatally stabbing a 42-year old man who was trying to retrieve a bicycle stolen from a ten-year old boy.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Tour Down Under makes its return this weekend, with the women’s three-stage race kicking off on Sunday, and the men starting Tuesday.

 

Finally…

Pedaling vegan doughnuts to Texans. That feeling when your vintage bicycle turns out to be a 95-year old time trial bike.

And when is a planter-protected bike lane not a bike lane?

When some schmuck turns it into his own private motorway.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Stripe DTLA bike lanes when fixing streets, Pomona bike rider gravely injured, and new bill ends CA’s auto-centric past

June 8, 2021 / / 3 comments

Los Angeles is finally getting around to repaving the streets of DTLA that have been torn up for five years of construction on a new subway connector line.

The problem is, they’re busy restoring them to the same failing, incomplete streets they were before.

While LADOT has made great progress building bike lanes in Downtown Los Angeles — the only neighborhood in all of LA that can claim an actual bike network — they’re still stuck in 1990s thinking, falling far short of what they could, and should, be doing.

This is what the longstanding B.I.K.A.S. — aka Bicycle Infrastructure Knowledge Activism and Safety — blog has to say on the subject.

After adding great new transit stations and new transit service – why restore streets back to the way they were in 2014? Why not upgrade them – adding first/last mile bike lanes to access the new stations?

Street restoration includes several wide streets with plenty of space for bike lanes: Flower Street, Hope Street, Alameda Street, and Temple Street. In addition, the city of L.A.’s Mobility Plan designates protected bike lanes on First Street and Second Street. Short new lanes on Third Street would connect a southbound Flower bike lane to its couplet partner northbound on Figueroa.

If Metro and the city of L.A. act now, they could implement numerous new bike lanes improving downtown’s already fairly good network of bikeways. Implementing them when post-construction streets are due for resurfacing saves the city time and money.

Make that pennies on the dollar compared to what it would cost to strip off the auto-centric painted lanes to add bike lanes at a later date.

Although no one has ever accused Los Angeles of thinking long term.

The blog calls for sending “respectful” emails to city officials, including our future ambassador to India, encouraging them to “implement a first/last mile Regional Connector bikeway network.”

Personally, I’d say demand, rather than encourage. But then, I’ve always been a pushy little son of a mother — especially when my safety and that of others who take to two wheels is concerned.

You’ll find a sample email there you can modify to make you own.

Or just use your own words.

But don’t let them get away with reverting to last century infrastructure in the only LA area where we’re actually making some real progress.

Map shows planned first/last mile bikeway network, from Metro Regional Connector street reconstruction page via B.I.K.A.S.

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Prayers or good thoughts may be called for, whatever you’re comfortable with, after a man was struck by a driver while riding his bike in Pomona Sunday night.

The victim was reportedly in grave condition after paramedics found him unresponsive fallowing the 9:31 pm crash near Fairplex Drive and Arroyo Avenue.

No ID was provided for the victim, and no explanation given for how the crash occurred. However, the driver remained at the scene, and was not considered to be under the influence.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Pomona PD Traffic Services Bureau at 909/802-7741.

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Now here’s a bill we should all be able to get behind.

Calbike is calling for your help to support AB 1147, from Burbank legislator Laura Friedman, which would finally move California out of its auto-centric past and present to a safer and more livable future for all of us.

Imagine a separated, limited access bikeway that gives you a frictionless ride across town or commute to work. That’s not science fiction or the fever dream of a Copenhagen urbanist. Bicycle highways and 15-minute neighborhoods, where most amenities and services are within a 15-minute bike ride, are just two of the forward-thinking concepts in AB 1147.

AB 1147 reorients transportation planning away from the car-choked past and towards a climate- and human-friendly future. It’s a visionary piece of legislation authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman.

The bill has passed the Assembly, but it faces a tougher fight in the Senate. It needs all the help it can get. Sign the petition to show your support…

AB 1147 also envisions 15-minute neighborhoods, where shops and services are an easy bike ride from homes. Please sign now to help us pass this essential legislation.

I just signed it.

So what are your waiting for?

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A new campaign links Paris, New York and London in a data and persuasion driven effort to get their mayors to embrace car-reduction policies.

And renounce once and for all their auto-centric ways.

Car Free Megacities’s dashboard shows the striking similarities and also the differences between London, Paris and New York — the metrics the cities can use to learn rapidly from each other and take actions that will save lives, make streets healthier, pleasanter places and deliver critical progress toward urgent climate goals.

Maybe if we begged them pretty please we could get them to include a certain Left Coast megalopolis that desperately needs to renounce the error of its ways.

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Good Twitter thread from the estimable Peter Flax on the fallacies behind the usual calls for helmet laws and bike licenses, which once again raised their ugly head in NYC.

And coming soon to an anti-bike rant near you.

It’s worth clicking through on the tweets below to read the whole thing.

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It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Claremont Cyclist Michael Wagner, author of CLR Effect, who asks “When is a bike lane not one?”

Answer, “When it is transformed into a garbage collection lane. One of many similar instances we encountered during Saturday’s Ride Around Pomona.”

Sad to see that the blight of bike lane trash bins extends so far east of East LA.

And yes, it’s my fault we don’t hear from Michael more often, since he’s always got something worthwhile to say.

So check it out.

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Don’t count on securing your own Metro bike locker anytime soon.

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These days, we all feel like refugees on SoCal streets.

Thanks to David Drexler for the photo of a proposed Beverly Hills “refuge.”

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Phillip Young calls our attention to a free exhibit of Italian steel at La Jolla’s The Museum Of __, which is apparently still trying to define just who and what they are.

But as long as they want to talk bikes, I’m okay with that.

3 Italian Steel Bicycles

From the Collection of Ron Miriello
June 5, 2021 through July 17, 2021

The Museum Of__ is pleased to present an exhibition of vintage steel bicycles handcrafted and built throughout Italy between 1978 and 1986 from the personal collection of Ron Miriello, a San Diego-based graphic designer, artist, and Italophile. For decades, Italian steel bicycles have been synonymous with finely detailed craftsmanship and storied histories, from their hand-painted lettering and unique details etched in steel, to headtube badges and wool jerseys celebrating the pride of their cities and villages.

Though once there was a bicycle maker in most every Italian town, streamlined manufacturing has shifted the bicycle world’s ethos and desire for more advanced technologies. A globalized industry has challenged the future of these family-run operations in favor of mass-production, but their stories of dedication to the craft continue through a community of devoted collectors of these steel wonders around the globe.

The exhibition is open from 11 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, at 7655 Girard Ave in La Jolla.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

New York police are looking for a man who repeatedly punched a man in the face as he rode a Flatbush train with his bike, after they had an argument on the train.

A road raging Pennsylvania driver beat a bike-riding man with a golf club after trying, and failing, several times to swerve into him.

A 30-year old Welsh woman justifiably told off a male driver for making sexual remarks as she was riding her bike. Which is just one of the many things that can drive women off their bikes. So stop it, already. 

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Local

Spectrum News 1 looks at the recent rankings from PeopleForBikes, which shows Los Angeles trailing far behind other large cities when it comes to bicycling.

The cable news site also examines the LACBC’s virtual LA Rivers Challenge, which is continuing throughout this month.

LA casual bikewear brand Swrve gets a well-deserved shoutout in the New York Times, as they examine the shorts staffers will be wearing in comfort this summer.

 

State

A La Jolla cardiologist probably saved his own life by promising to tell police he was injured in a mountain biking crash, rather than suffering a severe beating at the hands of his neighbor, who pled to 19-years behind bars.

That feeling when you freak out after spotting creepy cloaked men in the middle of the desert on Google Earth, including one with a bicycle. Only to discover it’s an art exhibit in the middle of Death Valley.

In a bizarre disconnect, a study from Oakland’s Department of Transportation confirms that protected bike lanes are the safest. But they want to rip out the successful protected bike lanes on iconic Telegraph Avenue anyway.

 

National

Next City says Europe has taken great strides to reduce the dangers motor vehicles pose to bike riders and pedestrians, but automakers on this side of the Atlantic have yet to address America’s addiction to deadly SUVS, as well as their own insistence on making them bigger and deadlier with every passing model year.

The Manual recommends bicycling gifts for adventurous dads. But Road Bike Action thinks you’d rather have some colorful national park bike socks.

Survivors of the Kalamazoo Massacre reunite five years later to remember the five bike riders killed by an extremely intoxicated driver, who also injured four other bicyclists; Charles Pickett Jr. was eventually sentenced to 40-75 years bars for their deaths.

A three-year old Brooklyn nonprofit “builds, donates and rents adapted bikes to kids and adults with disabilities unable to use standard bikes.”

A New York state senator commuted to work by bike over the weekend — 164 miles from Queens to the state capitol in Albany.

 

International

Road.cc recommends 15 birthday presents for the bicyclist in your life, starting at the equivalent of $21. Even if the only bicyclist in your life is you.

For people who can never spend too much on bikewear, Britain’s Rapha introduces their first mountain bike collection.

The Dutch Grand Prix is asking motorsports fans to bike, rather than drive, to watch the F1 race amid the country’s coastal dunes.

A 68-year old Nigerian man vows to keep riding the bicycle he bought 40 years ago for the equivalent of less than six dollars, saying only death can separate him from his beloved bike.

BTS fans call the new song Bicycle by band member RM that we linked to yesterday a masterpiece, as a website offers an English translation of the first verse and bike-friendly chorus. Then again, their fans would probably think it’s a masterpiece if he read a box of corn flakes.

Two Philippine men were killed by a bomb blast as they were riding their bikes past a mine site, which was targeted by a rebel group.

 

Competitive Cycling

Jumbo-Visma cyclists Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard came up short during the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, but sport director Grisha Niermann insists they’re on the right track for next month’s Tour de France.

VeloNews offers a middle-of-the-action photo essay from this past Saturday’s Gravel Unbound race in Kansas, formerly known as the Dirty Kanza.

 

Finally…

James Joyce as a mediocre bike racer. Probably not the best idea to flee from the police on your bicycle after pointing a pretty damn realistic cap gun at a driver.

And now you know why there’s so many typos on here. She’s a hard worker, but can’t type worth a damn.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask. 

And get vaccinated, already.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WeHo proposes protected bike lanes on Santa Monica and Fountain, and witness looks for West LA bike crash victim

February 26, 2021 / / Comments Off on WeHo proposes protected bike lanes on Santa Monica and Fountain, and witness looks for West LA bike crash victim

This could be a literal life saver.

West Hollywood is considering a motion to study how protected bike lanes can be installed on Santa Monica Blvd and Fountain Avenue at next Monday’s meeting.

As Streets For All notes, WeHo already has bike lanes on Santa Monica from Doheny to La Cienega. Even if you have to dodge drivers double parked in the bike lane, or pulling in or out of parking spaces.

On the other hand, bicyclists had to settle for sharrows on Fountain, which isn’t exactly the most comfortable place to ride, thanks to impatient, aggressive and often speeding drivers.

Well-designed protected bike lanes could make a big difference on both, providing safe and bikeable routes through the city, as well as better comfort and livability for everyone along the streets.

Streets For All explains how you can support the motion.

HOW YOU CAN HELP IN TWO STEPS

FIRST…

Send an email right now (by 4p on Monday at the latest) to West Hollywood City Council. We’ve pre-filled the text to make it super easy, but the more personal you can make it, the better.

EMAIL PUBLIC COMMENT

SECOND…

Register to speak at the West Hollywood City Council Meeting this Monday, Mar 1 at 530PM by emailing the clerk saying that you wish to speak and then calling in at 530pm on Monday:

Dial 669-900-6833
Meeting ID 946 3099 4369 #

REGISTER TO SPEAK

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A Nextdoor user is looking for the bike rider who got hit by a driver at Olympic and Bentley in West LA on Wednesday.

Nextdoor isn’t the easiest platform to respond to someone if you don’t live in the same neighborhood.

But if you know the person they’re looking for, I can pass his or her contact information on the the person who sent this to me, and hopefully they can pass it on to them.

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Calbike urges you to sign the petition calling on California to provide rebates for ebike purchases. And so do I.

The nonprofit organization is also looking for a part-time temporary Policy Associate.

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Little known fact, courtesy of Zachary Rynew — Los Angeles is both one of the lowest and one of the highest cities in the US, thanks to Mt. Lukens, the city’s highest point.

Which is where Gravel Bike California grinds this week.

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I rode on a low curb once. Does that count?

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1364958258914594828?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1364963776559255571%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php

Thanks to Mike Burk for the link.

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There are none so blind as drivers who refuse to see the light.

https://twitter.com/abikeist/status/1365142951211331584

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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A Rancho Cucamonga man is behind bars for stealing a man’s cellphone at knifepoint after rear-ending the victim’s car on his bike. The story doesn’t mention it, but it crash that started it all sounds like an insurance scam.

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Local

Yahoo picks up a paywalled story from AFP Relax that says riding a bike in Los Angeles isn’t always easy — and sometimes dangerous — but there’s hope. A faint hope, at this point. But still.

 

State

Los Alamitos is reaching out to the nearby unincorporated community of Rossmoor in an attempt to integrate plans to make the area more walkable and bike friendly.

San Diego e-scooter riders can get a buck of their rental by parking it in a scooter corral.

The rich get richer, as San Francisco bike riders get two more protected bike lanes.

If you had a bike stolen from your San Francisco garage recently, the SFPD may have good news for you.

Anyone in the Wine Country who’s in the market for a kid’s bike should head up to Santa Rosa’s nonprofit Community Bikes, which is blowing out an overabundance of refurbished bicycles at a fraction of their value.

 

National

They get it. Slate calls for ebikes for everyone, asking why shouldn’t the feds help Americans get one?

The Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition calls attention to the state’s three-foot passing law, reminding drivers they have to change lanes to pass a bike rider if they can’t give at least three feet. And yes, that’s a hell of a lot better than California’s law, which allows drivers to pass at less than three feet if they slow down to some unspecified safer speed.

Boulder CO police bust a machete-wielding man who tried to make his escape on a stolen bicycle after he was caught burglarizing a house.

Mountain bikers could soon get another 240 acres of trails just outside Dallas in Denton, Texas. Which is also home to the world’s first and only self-proclaimed nuclear polka band.

An Ohio barber is asking for donations of kid’s bikes, hoping to give away a hundred new bikes and helmets to get children off their screens for awhile.

A member of New York’s Major Taylor Iron Riders bike club describes how bicycling helped her bounce back following a devastating diagnosis of Sjögren’s Syndrome.

Support is growing to keep cars off Philadelphia’s waterfront MLK Drive permanently, which has been closed to cars during the pandemic.

Delaware bike riders want the state law allowing bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields to be made permanent, rather than expiring this year as currently written.

There’s something seriously wrong when a 73-year old Florida woman is thrown more than half the length of a football field by a drunk driver, suffering life-threatening injuries just because she had the misfortune of sharing a street with the jerk.

 

International

Pink Bike asks whether bicycles are actually getting less expensive, with better bikes available for under three grand — or two grand for hardtails.

Road.cc considers the best second bike for roadies.

A London paper offers a guide to riding safely and confidently in the city in order to avoid using public transport while the pandemic rages on.

A British site says forget the SUV and get a folding e-cargo bike; they like this one from Rad Power for around $1,500.

They get it. The UK’s iNews looks at the true cost of bike theft, which goes far beyond the bike’s price.

An Indian paper remembers a noted poet and Hindu priest who passed away on Thursday, known for riding his bike everywhere in the city of Thiruvananthapuram.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Italy, where a promising 17-year old member of former Tour de France, Giro and Vuelta winner Vincenzo Nibali’s cycling team was killed in a collision while on a training ride.

Cycling News highlights ’84 Olympic legend Nelson Vails, describing him as “the Harlem kid who became America’s first Black Olympic medalist.” Every February, news outlets across the US remember Major Taylor for Black History Month as America’s first Black cycling champ, forgetting there’s a straight line connecting him with Vails, and LA-based former national champs Rahsaan Bahati and Justin Williams.

Taking a page from what Americans call soccer and the rest of the world calls football, cyclists who commit safety violations can now get a red card for a third offense.

Bad news for the competition, as 38-year old Dutch pro Annemiek van Vleuten says she’s feeling faster than ever, which is saying a lot for the four-time world champ.

The Queen of Pain, aka endurance cyclist Rebecca Rush, recalls the 350-mile 2020 Iditarod Trail Invitational, describing it as the race that nearly broke her.

 

Finally…

Anyone can do a few laps at the velodrome; not many can do 90 laps despite suffering from a variety of mental, physical and genetic disabilities.

And you know things are bad when West Covina sells its own streets.

To itself.

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Thanks to Margaret for her generous donation to help keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. Any contribution is always welcome and appreciated!

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Possible West LA bike crash, and Chase Richard to be tried in fatal Ramona hit-and-run

December 13, 2019 / / One comment

I’ve received reports about a possible bicycling fatality on Barrington Ave in West LA Monday night. 

According to a post on Nextdoor, a bike rider was hit by a driver around 10 pm, between Olympic and Pico Blvds.

Meanwhile, a report on the Citizen app showed police investigating a fatal collision at Barrington and Exposition around the same time. 

So far, I haven’t been able to find any confirmation of the crash, or that someone was killed. The county medical examiner’s website shows just two people killed on the streets somewhere in LA County, but doesn’t indicate where or how they were traveling. 

I’ll keep looking, and tell you if I learn more. Or if you have any information about this, please let me know. 

And in the meantime, let’s just hope it turns out to be a mistake. Which isn’t uncommon where Nextdoor is concerned.

Thanks to Howard Valai and Nick Hooper for the tips.

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A San Diego judge ruled that Chase Richard will stand trial for the hit-and-run death of Ramona resident Michelle Scott as she rode her bike to work October 2nd; he continues to be held on $2 million bond.

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Not all superheroes wear capes.

Although something tells me a bicyclist wouldn’t be seen in the same light if we tried the same thing.

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Ride your bike to deliver cookies to Costa Mesa first responders this Sunday; hopefully, you can manage to deliver more than you eat.

Unlike, say, me.

https://twitter.com/arlis4costamesa/status/1204867078177509376

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Peloton is the news story that just keeps on giving these day.

The actress who played the Peloton Wife blames the expression on her face for the outsized response. Uh, no.

The company has angered some of its customers by cutting prices for digital subscribers, but keeping the more expensive subscriptions for people who use one of their bikes the same.

C|net says Peloton’s $2,245 purchase price and $39 monthly subscription is worth it if you’re a dedicated indoor cyclist.

But who needs Peloton when you can just shove a pair of pedals under your desk?

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‘Tis the Season.

The Salvation Army and Pasadena Rotary Club teamed to give 200 new bicycles and tricycles to local kids as part of their Bikes For Christmas program.

More on the San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles giving new bicycles to one hundred Inglewood elementary school kids.

Carlsbad’s Bikes for the Barrio program donated 110 bikes to underserved children at a local Elementary School.

Over 300 volunteers showed up to build 800 bicycles for kids in San Francisco’s East Bay.

Sixty-seven kids at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa neighborhood mission got new bikes, thanks to a local charity.

An entire North Carolina 3rd grade class got new bicycles thanks to Bikes for Kids.

Florida’s Jack the Bike Man is planning to give away thousands of new and refurbished kids bikes this weekend.

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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. Or selling them.

The owner of a Grover Beach bike shop could be going away for a long time — and deservedly so — after he was charged with sexually abusing a girl younger than 14 years old on several occasions.

Police in Palo Alto are looking for a bike-riding purse snatcher who dragged a woman several feet as she fought to hang onto her bag.

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Still more people are giving to 5th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

So let me offer my sincere thanks to Anne F and Shrak Racing for their generous donations to the fund drive.

Your support helps ensure all the best bike news and advocacy will keep coming your way every day!

And helps keep our elected officials accountable, too. 

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Local

Evidently, supercars are disposable now. The CHP found an upside down fire-engine-red Lamborghini abandoned on Angeles Crest Highway above Altadena, after the driver flipped it and walked away.

I’m not sure what it means when a bigass SUV gets its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, except that Chevrolet paid someone a shitload of money. Thanks to Evan Burbridge for the heads-up. 

 

State

A San Diego writer stumbles onto a New Zealand man who just finished a 1,750-mile ride from Canada to Mexico in 27 days.

San Diego broke ground on a pair of bikeways through the North Park and Mid-City neighborhoods that will eventually connect with planed protected bike lanes on 30th Street, where some business owners and residents seem to think maintaining parking spaces outweighs protecting human lives.

A San Jose letter writer says she suffers the effects of fossil fuels in the form of pollution when she rides her bike.

A San Francisco woman got a $1,200 bill for failing to return a Lyft bikeshare bike, even though she had gotten a confirmation for its return.

San Francisco is putting bike and pedestrian safety projects on the fast track, but Streetsblog says the new bike lanes still rely on dangerous mixing zones at the intersections.

The North Bay Area is spending $726 million for more induced demand by widening Highway 101 between Petaluma and the Marin County Line. But at least they threw in a bike path.

 

National

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss has your new style guide for all things bikes, insisting espresso and aero are out, and pour-overs and flannel are in.

Makes sense to me. A writer for Singletracks says don’t spend your money on a new bike, spend it on new experiences.

Year-to-date wholesale bike orders were down in every category except ebikes for the first two months of this year, while bike riding continues to drop among kids, as well. Thanks to Brent Bigler for the links.

A new offroad wheelchair is made from mountain bike parts for lower costs and greater durability.

A new documentary follows five Aussie friends on a 2,600 mile, 30 day ride across the Western US following the route of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, with a budget of just $420 for the entire journey.

Add this one to your bike bucket list — a 280-mile loop through Oregon forests and California redwoods.

On January 1st, Oregon will become the fourth state to allow some form of the Idaho Stop Law, allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields; however, unlike Idaho, they’ll still have to remain for red lights.

Somehow, my frozen Colorado hometown manages to have a Winter Bike to Work Day, even if it is a week early. But Los Angeles, where it sometimes gets all the way down to the 60s, can’t manage to pull it off.

Chicago will keep a bike lane next the median to avoid doorings, after beating back an alderman’s attempt to move them or replace them with part-time parking.

He gets it. A Rhode Island letter writer says no one is trying to force drivers to ride a bike, just pushing for bike lanes to give people a choice.

An Albany NY writer says buying a bike online after trying it out at the local bike shop, aka showrooming, may not be illegal but it definitely isn’t nice.

This is who — or what — we share the roads with. A New York man was killed when he was pinned between two cars after a Lexus owner used the remote starter to start his car.

A New Jersey op-ed says the state has the money to improve safety on the streets, but what’s lacking is the political will. Which Los Angeles can certainly relate to.

A Richmond VA councilmember says giving up his car for a month inspired a new Streets for All bill, including speed limit cuts, banning parking in bike lanes, and an Idaho Stop Law.

Mississippi bicyclists explain why putting rumble strips along the edge line on the Natchez Trace Parkway is a very bad idea. Actually, it’s a bad idea anywhere people ride bikes.

 

International

Lots of people ride their bikes to college. In Bogotá, Columbia, you can ride your bike for college to study the effects of the city’s sprawl on surrounding environmental zones.

This is who we share the roads with, part dois. A Brazilian man was busted for dressing up like a matronly woman to take the driver’s test for his mother, after she failed three times. Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the tip.

Seriously? A Canadian writer says bicycles — electric or otherwise — are not viable alternatives to cars, but velomobiles are. There are a lot of Dutch and Danish riders who might beg to differ.

Bike Biz looks at the bicycling platforms of each of Britain’s political parties in yesterday’s election, won by the Conservatives.

An ambulance arrived 90 minutes earlier than promised for an English bicyclist who broke his hip after clipping a curb. And still took three and a half hours to get there.

A new British survey shows an across the board decline in bicycling for leisure, sport and travel.

Berlin is planning to build eleven Bicycle Expressways connecting the outskirts of the city to the city center. But shouldn’t they be called fahrradbahns?

This is the cost of traffic violence. A New Zealand woman describes the immense loss when her 19-year old daughter was killed riding her bike to work.

Shanghai is automating enforcement, with ebikes required to carry license plates with an embedded RFID chip to automatically ticket riders if traffic cams capture a violation; the system has resulted in 49,000 tickets since July 1st.

 

Competitive Cycling

Heartbreaking. A Rwandan woman describes how her dreams of bike racing were shattered when she got pregnant after being raped by her coach.

LA-based retired pro cyclist Phil Gaimon says being fast is pointless, because there are more important things in life for most bike riders.

American cyclist Tejay van Garderen says he’s aiming for back-to-back Giro and Tour de France races next year.

 

Finally…

If you’re riding your bike with an outstanding arrest warrant, maybe carrying a coffee table on your handlebars isn’t the best idea.

And everyone can use a little help pedaling.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: More bike helmet studies, bicyclist badly injured in Burbank crash, and booby trapped trails in West SFV

September 20, 2019 / / One comment

A quick note — My brother should arrive in Los Angeles Monday evening on his bike tour of the Western US, I plan to publish on Monday, after all.

………

More fuel for the never-ending bike helmet debate.

Another new study suggests that wearing a bike helmet can significantly reduce the risk of severe injury or death.

The British study examined over 6,600 people brought to hospital emergency rooms for bicycling related injuries, and found 61.5% of the injured bicyclists for whom data on helmet use was available were wearing a bike helmet at the time of the crash.

That compares to just 22% in the recent American study, which was limited to bike riders with head and neck injuries.

The British study showed that use of a bike helmet was associated with a “reduction in severe traumatic brain injury, death within 30 days of the injury, the need for intensive care, and ‘neurosurgical intervention,'” as well as a reduction in traumatic brain injuries and facial injuries.

Although as I’ve been reminded many times, correlation does not equal causation.

Meanwhile, neurosurgeons at a Toronto hospital are calling for mandatory bike helmets for children and adults, but the city rejected a proposal to require them for kids.

And Road Bike Action Magazine reviews Bontrager’s new WaveCel helmets, and finds the improvement in safety is offset by it feeling hot on slow rides and heavy on long ones.

Bike helmet photo by Projekt_Kaffeebart from Pixabay.

………

Bad news from Burbank, where a bike rider suffered major injuries in a collision; unfortunately, there’s no further information at this time.

Thanks to Bean for the heads-up.

………

Michael Kim sends word that someone has been booby trapping mountain bike trails in the West San Fernando Valley.

As we’ve said before, when they catch the jerk — or jerks — responsible, they should face attempted murder charges at the very least, if terrorism charges, because this is a blatant attempt to frighten bicyclists off the trails.

Thanks to Michael Kim for the news.

………

I’m told that Alana Ealy, the road-raging driver who intentionally slammed her car into bike rider Quatrell Stallings as he blocked the intersection where Frederick “Woon” Frazier was killed in a hit-and-run the day before, has been sentenced to a well-deserved five years behind bars.

Ealy had quarreled with several other protesters, left the scene and returned prior to the exceptionally violent assault captured in the video below.

She was finally taken into custody after a two month manhunt by police; no word on who, if anyone, will get the standing $25,000 reward for her capture and conviction.

………

The US House of Representatives has voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal to America’s last remaining Tour de France winner.

The resolution to honor Greg LeMond now must be approved by the Senate and signed by President Trump. 

However, Trump’s approval should be a given, since LeMond competed in the president’s eponymous bike race as he was making his comeback after getting shot by his brother-in-law.

………

A pair of bighearted LAPD officers dug into their own pockets to buy a new bicycle for a hit-and-run victim whose bike was destroyed in a head-on collision.

Complete with panniers, no less.

https://twitter.com/LAPDCTD24/status/1174910497071611904

………

CiclaValley visits the Valley Glen intersection where LADOT crossing guard Delia Huerta Arrearan was killed in a collision that also injured a student on Monday.

The crowdfunding page for her family is now up to $3,555 of the $15,000 goal.

………

The annual Eastside Mural Ride takes place tomorrow. I’m told it’s a great ride. And one I’ll look forward to doing myself one of these days.

………

Here’s your chance to grab a free poster honoring SoCal’s two new junior world champs.

Thanks to David Huntsman for the tip.

………

No surprise here, as a British police department sent an undercover cop out on a bicycle, and discovered exactly what bike riders face on the roads.

Clearly, things are no different on that side of the Atlantic than they are here.

Although just 84 drivers behaving badly in a metropolitan area of nearly three million seems just a tad low.

………

Now that’s a smart idea.

………

Congratulations to LA-based Cero, whose e-cargo bike won gold at the recent Euro Bike show.

https://twitter.com/CERObikes/status/1174762497028452352

Everyone who thinks Cero should sponsor my site with a new cargo bike raise your hands.

Seriously, I could use one to replace my car, and give our next dog a ride in that big basket when we find one. 

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.

A New York bike rider was attacked by a pedestrian who kicked him off his bike and threatened to kill him. But says gaslighting by the cops was worse than his injuries.

But sometimes it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.

Or in this case, a grocery chain, as the Whole Foods in New York’s Bowery neighborhood is hogging the sidewalk with industrial-strength bikes and trailers for their Amazon Prime Now delivery service.

………

Local

Nice to see Josef Bray-Ali is continuing his old Flying Pigeon tradition of the Get Sum Dim Sum ride, following the implosion of his failed city council campaign in CD1.

Curbed looks forward to next year’s Arroyo Fest, which will shut down a seven-mile stretch of the historic Arroyo Seco Parkway, aka the 110 Freeway, to cars and open it up to people for the first time in 16 years.

 

State

Streetsblog says California’s proposed Complete Streets bill needs your support as it sits on Governor Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature.

Encinitas is considering installing protected bike lanes on the coast highway, replacing the current painted lanes.

Sad news from San Diego, where a 47-year old man suffered major head injuries after allegedly riding his bike through a red light on a T-shaped intersection in Kearny Mesa; he was allegedly riding salmon, as well.

If you’re headed to the annual Adams Avenue Street Fair in San Diego this weekend, ride your bike and take advantage of the bike valet.

Drivers were so confused by new bicycle traffic lights on a Monterey bike lane that the city covered them up until they can come up with a fix.

The San Francisco Chronicle hops in the way back machine to go 25 years into the past for a look at the original Critical Mass rides.

 

National

Tsk tsk. Indoor cycling firm Peloton is facing $300 million in damages, up from $150 million, after music publishing companies discover even more tunes they allegedly used without permission.

Your bike already looks like a work of art, so hang it like one.

Lyft is adding bike lane maps to their apps to encourage safer bikeshare and e-scooter rides.

Life is cheap in Oregon, where a red light-running driver who killed a blind man walking in a marked crosswalk won’t spend one lousy day behind bars.

You only have ten more days to buy a new cargo ebike from a Texas startup designed especially for riding with your dog.

Go hogs! The University of Arkansas is offering a free bike valet to cut vehicular traffic to their stadium for Saturday’s football game. Maybe UCLA and USC should consider doing the same. Except maybe not maybe.

Wisconsin prosecutors rule that a police officer was justified in fatally shooting an armed 18-year old bike rider who fled after getting pulled over for not having a light on his bike. Even though he had dropped his gun and doesn’t appear to have made a move for it before he was shot.

Chicago police are looking into whether a masked bike rider who shot a woman walking along on a sidewalk is linked to a similar attack in June.

They get it. Kalamazoo MI approves plans for a road diet, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. Yet no word on residents rising up to demand their car lanes back, unlike a certain SoCal city we could all name.

Horrible news from Kentucky, where a little girl was killed when she fell off her bike, and her neck was impaled by the hand brakes on her handlebars; even worse, it happened on her ninth birthday. Unfortunately, tragedies like that happen several times a year, yet bike makers continue to sell kids bikes with dangerous brake levers. And the government continues to look the other way.

That’s a new one. An arsonist in Ithaca NY has been setting Lime Bike handgrips on fire.

Yet another Long Beach NY community wants to criminalize teenage bike riders for scaring and inconveniencing people in cars with ride-outs, instead of trying to find a way to accommodate an otherwise healthy activity intended to keep kids out of gangs.

Despite the seemingly endless rants of bike lane opponents, the New York Fire Department says cars and construction, not bike lanes, are the reason their response times are up nearly 30 seconds in the past four years.

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss explains why he loves riding in New York City, despite the risk. But adds that “cycling in this or any city should not be the exclusive domain of the death-defying.” Amen on both counts.

A writer for Streetsblog says NY mayor and still presidential candidate for reasons no one can comprehend Bill de Basio’s Vision Zero is just a blood-soaked joke.

A Newark NJ mom writes a friendly letter to the thief who stole her bike, complete with the toddler seat in front.

No windshield bias here. A Kentucky congressman says DC shouldn’t become a state because it would make it too hard to park. And yes, he appears to be serious.

A Florida man faces charges for a sword fight with an unarmed pregnant woman in a dispute over a bicycle.

A bike co-op in Florida is allowing community members to ride out with a new bicycle as long as they’re willing to work a little for it.

 

International

Who needs paint when you can just wrap your frame in vinyl?

London, Ontario police and officials are coming under fire for a traffic safety crackdown that also targets pedestrians and people on bicycles. Just like all the ones frequently held in California. Although that’s required under California law, which prohibits targeting any specific group. Like drivers, for instance.

Dutch companies will be able to provide their employees with company bicycles starting next year, just like they do company cars. But employees will lose the 19¢ per mile they get for riding their own bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Apparently, all it takes to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Cycling Team is winning a world championship, like world mountain bike champ Kate Courtney.

Outside profiles former world mountain bike champ Kirt Voreis and his many injuries.

Odd story from the UK’s The Courier, which says pro road cycling is on the right tracks (sic), then goes on to discuss the problems with team sponsorships and racing’s failed financial model.

Unless you want to fork out the cash for NBC’s cycling pass, you’re screwed if you want to watch next week’s road world championships.

 

Finally…

Signs maybe you’ve been riding your bike too much. If you ride naked with a group of people, it’s a statement; if you ride naked alone, you’re just a two-wheeled flasher.

And maybe they meant along instead of across. Otherwise, it’s going to be a very short trip.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Triathlete killed in crash during race, bicyclist talks abductor into freeing her, and Riverside cyclist t-boned

July 29, 2019 / / 2 comments

Just a quick warning.

We’ve got some rough stories to start with today. So you might want to skip the first few items if you don’t want to deal with that this morning.

………

A triathlete was killed when she was run down by a semi while competing in the bicycle portion of the Ohio 70.3 Ironman triathlon.

Police say the right lane of a highway was coned off to provide a safety zone for competitors, but for some reason she was outside the safety zone.

Which apparently made her fair game.

Never mind that organizers somehow thought a few orange cones would offer sufficient protection from high-speed traffic and heavy trucks.

Or that no one participating in a race would go outside the cones to, say, pass other participants.

Meanwhile, Stephen Collins points out the sheer idiocy of noting that the victim was wearing a helmet, as if that would somehow protect her from getting run over by a massive truck.

Or that the driver was wearing his seatbelt.

Seriously.

Photo by Mike Bird from Pexels.

………

In another outrageous story, an Australian triathlete was knocked off her bike by the driver of a delivery van, bound with electrical tape, then kidnapped and driven to a rundown house on the outskirts of town where she was stripped and beaten.

Yet somehow, 27-year old triathlete and former cycling champ Nathalie Birli managed to talk her abductor into releasing her — by complimenting his orchids.

Police later used the GPS on her racing bike to track down the suspect and arrest him.

Let’s hope they toss him in a very deep hole until he gets the help he obviously needs.

Meanwhile, Megan Lynch reminds us that this case is eerily reminiscent of the killing of American biologist Dr. Suzanne Eaton on Crete, who was struck twice with a motor vehicle before the driver abducted and raped her, then abandoned her in a World War II bunker to die.

The difference is that Birli was able to talk her way out of it.

Raising the question of just what the fuck is wrong with these people?

As well as just how easy it is to turn a motor vehicle into a weapon.

………

Robs Muir forwards a Facebook post reminding us all to be careful out there, after a Riverside bicyclist was t-boned by a stop sign-running driver.

But aren’t the people on two wheels supposed to be the dangerous ones who run stop signs and jeopardize all those poor, innocent motorists?

Maybe not so much.

………

Evidently, Denver has some pretty spectacular NIMBYs, too.

Even after a woman was killed by a garbage truck driver while riding her bike, residents of the street she was killed on still oppose a bike lane.

So a local newscaster called them out, suggesting that maybe they shouldn’t argue for the aesthetic appeal parking while bodies are lifted off the street.

………

He makes a good point.

https://twitter.com/jpluvs1176/status/1155579539990437889

………

Unbelievable.

A Milwaukee bicyclist was the victim of a strong-arm robbery while he was competing in a 24-hour race, after a man confronted him, then wrestled his bike away and rode off with it.

………

 

Local

Los Angeles looks to close the eight-mile gap in the LA River bike path through DTLA and Vernon, creating a single 32-mile pathway in time for the 2028 Olympics.

The Long Beach Post goes riding with the Pedal Movement bike tour to visit the Pow! Wow! murals of the city.

 

State

Police in San Diego will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today. So the usual protocol applies. Ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets a ticket.

San Diego bike riders remember a fallen bicyclist a year after he was killed while inexplicably riding on a busy freeway.

A San Diego op-ed says everything is fine, just keep on driving and don’t let those bad, bad bureaucrats force you onto a bike or transit.

One last item from the self-proclaimed America’s Finest City, as Good Samaritans chased down a hit-and-run driver who ran a red light and knocked down a bike rider; the victim refused to go to the hospital, despite suffering a head injury.

A San Francisco op-ed by the head of Policy Initiatives for dockless e-scooter provider Spin says it’s time to rebuild cities for people, not cars.

Horrible tragedy in Turlock, where a bike rider was killed on the way to the hospital when the ambulance he was riding in after getting hit by a car rolled over when it was hit by a truck driver; five other people were injured. Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up.

A Davis columnist says the city was dissed in PeopleForBikes ranking of California’s top ten bicycling cities, which was topped by San Diego and didn’t include Davis at all.

After seven year’s, Truckee’s bike park is still going strong.

 

National

A writer for Bicycling asks drivers if their time is really more important than his life. That loud roar you hear is impatient drivers across the US screaming “yes!”

An expert on autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence suggests the solution to getting more kids to ride bicycles is to get fully autonomous vehicles on the road — which will presumably be safer and not bang into them as much. I won’t hold my breath. Especially since current AVs have a problem recognizing and avoiding people on bicycles.

A pair of Oregon women spent their Saturday night shoplifting from TJ Maxx, then running down a bike rider as they made their getaway, leaving the victim with serious injuries.

An Iowa priest overcame a stroke to take part in this year’s RAGBRAI ride across Iowa, with the help of friends and a ‘bent built for two.

Former Texas congressman and current presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s dad was one of us, hopefully passing along his passion for bicycling across the country, as well as his ability to lose well.

Once again, the Green Bay Packers rode borrowed bicycles to training camp, as area kids competed to to get their heroes attention and loan them their bikes.

A Chicago alderman wants to ban bikes on the city’s popular Riverwalk. Or maybe just the entire city.

The spirit of Major Taylor is energizing a Minnesota bike club, as they try to get more African Americans on bicycles.

She gets it. A St. Louis letter writer politely excoriates the local paper for calling a bike-car crash an accident.

Pennsylvania kids as young as 13 say the Bike Life movement helps keep them off drugs and out of trouble, even if they annoy the crap out of drivers when they swarm the streets.

Streetsblog says the Green Wave plan presented by New York’s mayor is “long-overdue — and not truly visionary,” but should make a clear difference, while the Daily News says now its up to the mayor to actually deliver on his promises.

No bias here. The traditionally anti-bike New York Post says in response to the previous news that “bike supremacy” is ruining the city, with “more turf torn from cars and pedestrians.” Never mind that bike lanes don’t take an inch from sidewalks. Or that bike delivery people who use those bike lanes are just doing their jobs, just like the delivery drivers the Post champions. Thanks to Tim Rutt for the link.

Aussie model Jordan Barrett is one of us, illegally riding on a New York sidewalk on a bikeshare bike with his newly bleached hair.

A North Carolina bridge dedicated to a fallen bike rider finally gets a plaque in his honor, 28 years after he died.

An Atlanta columnist kind of makes fun of Atlanta’s people protected bike lane last week but manages to get through the entire piece without saying much of anything. Although the protesters called it an LIT lane, for Light Individual Transport, to include scooters and other forms of micromobility.

 

International

An Ottawa newspaper succumbs to a severe case of both side-ism, telling everyone to act like adults and not attack one another when it comes to bicycle safety. Except the attacks were coming from a city councilor in response to bike riders saying they don’t want to get killed.

Speaking at a 288-mile fundraising ride in her honor, the family of assassinated British Member of Parliament Jo Cox says the country’s politics has gotten more toxic since she was killed by a far-right gunman.

Victoria’s Secret model Alexina Graham is sort of one of us, posing for a UK photoshoot astride a bicycle in the very practical riding attire of work boots and a tiny red bikini.

No, it’s not the English bikeshare system that failed when only 25 of the 5,000 promised bikes were ever delivered in the first place, it’s the people running it.

A doctor from the UK raised the equivalent of over $130,000 for a breast cancer charity by competing on a two-man team in the Race Across America.

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed a member of Parliament who champions the benefits of bicycling and walking as the country’s new roads minister.

An Edinburgh couple agreed to bike around the world in their initial Tinder message; 18 months and 19,000 miles — and one Yosemite marriage — later, they’ve made it back home.

Evidently, banning cars is more popular than they thought. Madrid’s new mayor is backing off a campaign pledge to reverse the ban on cars in the city center after a citizen backlash rises to defend it.

Four New Zealand bicyclists ended up in the hospital following a car-free crash at “reasonably high speed” while on a club ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-two-year old Columbian Egan Bernal won this year’s Tour de France after gaining the lead in a controversial finish to stage 19, when organizers stopped the race early after hail covered the the course leading up to the finish, depriving France’s Julian Alaphilippe the opportunity to make up for lost time and defend his yellow jersey.

Newsweek tells you everything you need to know about Egan Bernal but were afraid to ask.

Team Ineos — the former Team Sky — marked Bernal’s win by turning Bernal’s bike yellow down to the water bottles, with special yellow-accented kits for his teammates.

Bernal says he doesn’t even know how to describe the feeling of happiness his victory gave him.

Billboard celebrates Bernal’s win with five bicycle-themed songs, most of which are, appropriately, in Spanish.

The Guardian says the only surprise is that it took a Columbian so long to win the Tour de France. Or anyone from South America, for that matter.

It wasn’t just Bernal. Bicycling lists the winners of all four categories that are celebrated with a colored jersey.

The pain of crashing out of the Tour with serious injuries is more than just physical. Especially when you’re carrying the hopes of the home country on your shoulders.

Outside says the motor-doping tests at the Tour de France are a joke, accusing officials of just going through the motions rather than actually looking for motors on competitors bikes.

Canadian Michael Woods became the first person to both run a sub-four minute mile and finish the Tour de France.

Gear Patrol questions when athletic gear so innovative it might be cheating should be banned from the sport, like Graeme Obree’s record-setting homemade track bikes.

 

Finally…

Never leave your bigass truck unlocked with the keys inside, or someone on a bike may ride up, toss his bike in the back and drive off with it. Pedal your bike up to your secluded treehouse; no, literally up.

And seriously, if drivers can’t see a rider on a one-ton horse, how the hell are they supposed to see us?

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Mostly blank bike guide to SaMo, bike-riding actress hit in Marina, and a road-raging hell spawn

August 28, 2018 / / One comment

Bike travel site Bikabout offers a bike tourism guide to Santa Monica.

Or maybe not, since most of the site is still appears to be vaporware.

And clicking one beachfront bike path photo just takes you to to the Denver Art Museum.

………

How to tell when someone doesn’t ride a bike.

After actress Maura Tierney was hit by a driver while riding her bicycle in Marina del Rey, a blogger wonders how it could have happened since the street has a bike lane.

Maybe someone could explain it to her.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

Someone sabotaged a Boston-area bike path with razor blades, which slashed a rider’s tire. And could have resulted in serious injuries.

Police in the UK are looking for two men on a motorcycle who tried to push a man off his bicycle.

………

Local

Downtown News says the MyFigueroa Complete Streets project is finally ready to roll. Although as Curbed points out, it still has some major bugs to work out.

CiclaValley urges you to turn out for a public workshop for safety improvements on Winnetka Ave, including a proposal to add a mile of bike lanes that offer genuine connectivity for a change.

Good news for mountain bikers, as the Gabriel National Recreation Trail through the Arroyo Seco canyon reopens this weekend, nine years after it was destroyed by the flooding that followed the Station Fire.

 

State

Nice gesture. A cycling club in Coronado bought pizza for the local fire department in appreciation for the care they gave an injured rider.

A San Luis Obispo woman complains that a group of retired NIMBY homeowners were allowed to dominate a recent planning commission meeting, and urges the city to approve the bikeway they came out to oppose.

Lyft is building a geofence around a pair of San Francisco streets to prevent drivers from stopping in the bike lanes to pickup or drop-off passengers.

Vox explains the sudden proliferation of e-scooters across the US — despite their sudden disappearance from the streets of San Francisco — saying there’s a lot of latent demand for a quick and cheap way to get around.

It probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that half of the injuries treated at San Francisco General Hospital result from traffic collisions; bicyclists accounted for 16% of those hospitalization costs, while pedestrians made up 44%.

Bay Area residents are urged to attend a court hearing this Friday to support Rich City Rides founder Najari Smith, who was arrested and jailed for a weekend over what appears to amount to a charge of Biking While Black.

 

National

Volunteers in Austin, Texas are refurbishing hundreds of yellow bikeshare bikes that were donated by Ofo when it pulled out of the city. Although someone might want to explain to Spectrum News that there’s a difference between bikeshare and rideshare.

A Missouri writer points out that bike tourism is a powerful economic driver. Especially when they can keep the people on bikes away from the other kind of drivers.

That didn’t take long. Just two weeks after an Indiana town installed a steel planter-protected cycle track, someone has already vandalized them with spray paint.

Bro country star Luke Bryan is one of us, doing 35 – 40 mile rides with former pro Robbie Ventura and America’s most famous ex-Tour de France winner.

A Pitt University student reminds drivers that bike lanes are for bicyclists, which should be obvious. But obviously isn’t.

A New York driver claims squatter’s rights, claiming he has the right to park in a parking-protected bike lane because he was parking there before the lane was striped.

Unbelievable. A Philadelphia driver won’t be charged with killing an 11-year old bike rider after rolling a stop because he didn’t actually hit the victim, who crashed into the side of the car after he was cut off.

Baltimore conducts a road diet to build a bike lane through a park to connect two hard-to-reach neighborhoods; one bike advocate describes it as taking away a lane of traffic and giving the space back to the neighborhood.

Speaking of Baltimore, the Maryland city may be a trendsetter, shutting down its troubled bikeshare system in favor of dockless bikeshare and scooters. It’s hard to imagine how most bikeshare systems will survive without significant sponsorship revenues when dockless options offer greater convenience at a significantly lower price.

A Mississippi city is about to get the state’s first two-way bike lane, which will pick up where an existing bike path leaves off.

A three-day Mississippi bike tour helps a group of older Florida riders discover that bicycling is the fountain of youth.

Already on trial for intentionally running down and killing a Florida father as he rode on a bike path, the driver repeatedly interrupted the judge to confess to killing another rider in a crash authorities say never happened.

Residents of a Florida town say they’d rather have wider bike lanes than sidewalks along a 50 mph coastal highway. Except state law won’t let them do that.

 

International

Wonder Woman is one of us, too.

A writer for Bicycle Times tells his tale of riding 6,500 miles across South America.

More support for the safety in numbers theory, as a London study concludes roads with the most bike riders are 13% safer.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A wealthy British woman was found dead from a heroin overdose, after she was unable to get over killing a 17-year old bike rider eight years earlier.

A 30-something working mom shares what she learned by biking 500 miles across France.

A bike advocacy group met with civic leaders in Prague for the first time, after the courts threw out a ban on bicycles in the city center.

Life is cheap in Japan, where a distracted driver gets a suspended sentence for killing a 77-year old bike rider, despite having her smartphone in one hand and a drink in the other at the time of the crash.

They get it. A Vietnamese website calls for separate roads for bicyclists and pedestrians to ease traffic in increasingly congested cities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly offers our first spoiler-free report from the Vuelta, while Vincenzo Nibali says he just hasn’t got it this time after fracturing his back in the Tour de France.

An Indian cyclist describes what he went through to become the first rider from his country to finish the over 5,600 mile Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme ultra-stage race.

Another Continental team folds after losing its sponsor.

 

Finally…

It’s hard to be number one when you have to stop for number two. When you want to go vegan on your bike, because you’re so tired of strapping on those leather arm warmers and that bacon bike bell.

And maybe he really is the spawn of hell. At least when it comes to people on bikes.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Red light-running bike rider severely injured in DTLA crash, and taking Montclair to task

March 9, 2018 / / 6 comments

This is why you always stop for red lights.

And observe the right-of-way.

According to the LAPD’s Central Traffic Division, a bike rider suffered what was described as severe injuries in a collision at Washington and Grand in DTLA yesterday, and was hospitalized in critical condition.

Traffic investigators report that multiple witnesses said the victim ran the red light before being struck.

Personally, I couldn’t care less if you roll a stop sign or two when there’s no one else around. Just be sure to always observe the right-of-way, and stop if there’s conflicting traffic.

But seriously, always stop for red lights — especially if there is cross traffic of any kind.

And never forget that even if there doesn’t appear to be any traffic on the street you’re crossing, that doesn’t mean a speeding driver won’t come out of view and try to make it through the intersection before the light changes.

Which happens far too often. And too often with tragic results.

So just stop and wait a minute or two. Push the beg button if the light doesn’t change. And hesitate for moment before crossing to make sure everyone else stops, as well.

Because it beats the hell out of waking up in the ICU.

Or not waking up at all.

I hope you’ll join me in offering a prayer or best wishes for the victim, and hope for a full and fast recovery.

Photo from LAPD Central Traffic Division.

………

He gets it.

Writing for Streetsblog, Mehmet Berker does a great job of slicing and dicing the new Montclair distracted walking ordinance that bans the use of electronic devices, including earpieces, while crossing the street.

Never mind that most drivers have their windows up and sound systems blaring. If they’re not too busy texting.

More to the point, the Montclair ordinance is at best a well-intentioned but misguided attempt at making safer streets – legislated by city leaders who suffer from extreme windshield bias. It’s also one more example of our car-centric society’s tendency to classify city streets as spaces solely for automobiles and place the responsibility for safety on anyone who is not driving.

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Local

Pasadena plans to extend its biking and walking networks — although the latter is usually known as sidewalks — as well as increasing the density of the Metro Bike bikeshare to 800 bikes at three docks per square mile, to help met climate goals.

The latest SGV Connect podcast discusses the proposed Orange Grove Blvd lane reconfiguration, as well as attempts to halt the popular Rose Bowl rides.

La Verne is moving forward with development of a new Active Transportation Plan.

Santa Monica adopts an “emergency” law allowing it to impound shared mobility devices, aka Bird scooters and dockless bikeshare bikes, that pose a hazard to others when left on the sidewalk or in the street.

The LACBC is holding their March RideSELA community bike ride this Sunday through the Willowbrook and Florence-Firestone neighborhoods. Check to make sure it’s still on with this weekend’s predicted rain, however.

 

State

Encinitas commissioners unanimously support plans to convert a deadly section of Highway 101 to a complete street through the Leucadia neighborhood, including bike lanes and six roundabouts. This is the same stretch of roadway where Los Angeles randonneur Jim Swarzman was killed by a drunk hit-and-run driver in 2011; his killer was eventually sentenced to just two years behind bars.

A Santa Barbara bike rider gets caught for running a stop sign in the city’s latest crackdown, as a dangerous underpass prepares for a road diet.

San Francisco plans to replace its fleet of firetrucks with smaller trucks that can fit on narrower streets. Although the purpose of the change is not to reduce conflicts with bike advocates, as the headline suggests, but to save lives.

Bike East Bay reports there are a number of bike jobs available in the Bay Area, from bike shops and bikeshare to advocacy groups.

A trio of Oakland letter writers say there are actually road diets in the city that are safe and successful.

Officials will now spend $100,000 to study backing out of a promised bike lane across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and converting it to car use instead. Which should tell you how bicyclists rank in their priorities, when drivers get 100% of the bridge, and everyone else gets zip.

 

National

US speed skater Mia Manganello credits bicycling with helping her win the first American women’s medal in the sport in 16 years.

A new study suggests the obsession cities have with bike helmets could actually be undermining more effective ways to improve safety, noting that the real problem is people getting hit by cars.

Portland is using bicycles to revitalize a strip mall district originally build around cars. Which sounds pretty much like most of Los Angeles. So if they can do it, so can we.

A small town in Washington state passed an ordinance requiring all bike riders and skaters to wear a helmet, regardless of age.

A University of Texas student insists the local bikeshare system should provide riders with helmets. Even though there have been only two deaths on all the bikeshares operating throughout the US.

Apparently Copenhagenize’s Mikael Colville-Andersen doesn’t love Minneapolis anymore, dropping it from his list of the world’s 20 best bike cities, even though he used to recommend it. And even though he’s never been there.

Fast Company looks at New York’s bizarre crackdown on ebike-riding delivery people, and how they are being abandoned by their employers.

A Jewish letter writer concludes that the reason his brother died in a 1971 bicycling wreck while his son survived another New York bike crash 44 years later is that his brother wasn’t wearing a helmet, while his son was. Or it could have something to do with his brother getting hit by a bus.

The father of a fallen Florida bicyclist calls for more sidewalks to protect riders. A better solution would be more bike lanes — especially protected bike lanes — since sidewalk riding actually increases the risk of a wreck.

Unbelievable. After a Florida driver gets arrested for the drunken, hit-and-run death of a man on a bicycle — at over 2.5 times the legal alcohol limit — he calls the victim a dumbass for riding in the lane, and says the police should go arrest the victim’s family instead.

Miami is about to get its first woonerf, where cars, bikes and pedestrians share the street on equal terms.

 

International

A St. John’s, Newfoundland college professor is using the BikeMaps platform to develop a map of dangerous locations for bike riders.

Torontoist is back, and says it’s time to make structural solutions to the roads, because our addiction to driving is costing us lives.

A new British study shows that bicycling can help keep you young in more ways than one, including protecting the immune system. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

The Guardian’s Laura Laker says yes, people on bikes to stupid things, but the real danger comes from the people wrapped in two tons of glass and steel. And a bill cracking down on dangerous cycling won’t help.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a van driver gets community service in the death of a bike rider, after making the equivalent of a left cross in front of the victim, who had the right-of-way.

Donors have raised the equivalent of over $33,000 for South African triathlete Mhlengi Gwala, who was attacked by three men who tried to cut his legs off with a chainsaw. There’s still no explanation for the bizarre attack.

A New Zealand columnist says shopkeepers are just being complete idiots for opposing a bike lane that could boost their business.

 

Finally…

When you bounce off the hood of a car, your stunt riding has probably gone just a tad too far. And who needs a ciclovía when you’ve got your own F1 track?

Category: Bikes & the Law, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Westwood BID considers Westwood Blvd bike lanes, South LA cyclist critical after collision

March 18, 2015 / / One comment

If you hurry, you may still have time to make this morning’s meeting of the Westwood Village Business Improvement District, which will vote on the much needed bike lanes on Westwood Blvd.

The proposed lanes have faced intense opposition from Westwood area business and homeowners, even though the latest proposal doesn’t remove a single traffic lane or parking spot, suggesting the real opposition is to having bikes on the boulevard, period.

The meeting begins at 8:30 this morning, at the Skylight Gardens Restaurant, 1139 Glendon Ave.

………

KCBS-2 reports a cyclist is in very critical condition after being hit by a car in South LA Wednesday evening, following earlier reports that the unidentified rider had been killed

Sounds like prayers or good thoughts, whichever you are comfortable with, are in order.

………

Are you excited yet?

Streetsblog offers detailed tips on how to get the most out of Sunday’s first San Fernando Valley CicLAvia.

Walk Bike Burbank is offering free safety checks on Saturday to help you get ready, while Flying Pigeon is hosting a feeder ride from Northeast LA.

We Like LA explains what a CicLAvia is for the uninitiated.

And the Militant Angeleno once again provides his incomparable guide to CicLAvia, proving he knows the Valley as well as he does the rest of LA. Although he’s got some serious competition from upstart CiclaValley this time around.

My advice is print out both guides and carry them with you.

………

In a case way too reminiscent of the death of LA cyclist and former Napster executive Milt Olin, a Florida sheriff’s deputy is cleared of charges he killed a 15-year old bike rider while using his car’s onboard computer.

Then again, he only faced a $1,000 fine.

Evidently, life is cheap down there.

………

Local

LADOT, LA Great Streets and Bureau of Street Services officials visit the Temple City cycletracks on Rosemead Blvd. Let’s hope they were taking notes.

Very cool Strava graph shows riders convening for, then riding, last Sunday’s Marathon Crash non-Race; Milestone Rides writes about riding the Crash for the first time.

Actress AnnaLynne McCord, who was blessed with an abundance of capital letters, dons a purple robe to ride her orange Townie on Venice Beach.

Glendale is about a year away from creating a bikeable recreational riverfront across the LA River from Griffith Park.

The Easy Reader names Hermosa Cyclery as the South Bay’s best bike shop.

 

State

Two bike riders are injured in Orange County collisions, though neither appears to be seriously hurt.

An SUV driver takes out a fire hydrant in San Diego, so naturally, a bike rider gets the blame.

A Central Coast TV station explains why green lanes are. Green, that is.

Two recent CSU Monterey graduates are riding cross country to raise funds for a homeless shelter.

Palo Alto opts for a more conservative and bird-friendly design for their new bike and pedestrian bridge.

A Napa Valley letter writer says it’s impossible to comply with the state’s three-foot passing law without risking a head-on collision with another vehicle, not realizing that the law actually allows drivers to wait until it’s safe to pass.

 

National

Nice to know the head of AASHTO, the organization representing state DOTs, says highway design has absolutely nothing to do with cyclist and pedestrian deaths. Odd that he could talk with his head buried so deeply in the sand, among other places.

More great research from the University of Duh, as a new study shows we ride our bikes because we like it better than driving.

Portland riders are about to get a new car-free bridge. And yes, we should be jealous.

A Maine driver gets 10 years for the drunken wreck that killed a bike riding father and injured his wife and 17-month old son while they were riding on the sidewalk.

The US pro national championships will return to Chattanooga for the third straight year. Let’s hope they train race moto officials a little better this time around.

After a DC cyclist has his bike stolen at gun point, he gets it back when the thief brings it into the same shop where he’d just gotten an estimate to have it fixed.

A Baton Rouge judge sentences a DUI driver to 25 years in jail for killing one cyclist and maiming another, then suspends all but 7.5 years; the driver had a blood alcohol level of .307 — nearly four times the legal limit — at the time of the crash.

Alabama considers giving cyclists a five-foot passing margin, rather than just three.

 

International

Two Cambridge UK councilors call for bike riders to be registered and insured, and have to pass a national proficiency test; an Aussie writer provides 18 reasons why that’s a bad idea, all of which apply here, as well.

France offers to pay people to bike to work. And almost no one bites.

Secretary of State John Kerry gets free service on his Serotta when it breaks down while taking a well-guarded ride during the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

Finally…

Lance Armstrong is reportedly trying to get his lifetime ban reduced; let’s hope he has better luck than Pete Rose has. An NFL medical consultant says more kids get hurt riding bikes than playing football, but fails to note that a hell of a lot more kids ride bikes, too.

And new LA resident and former Bicycling Editor-in-Chief Peter Flax writes movingly about how a good ride can help you cope with life’s most heartbreaking challenges.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , ,

Weekend Links: Rider down at 7th and Grand; driver charged with killing James Rapley in Temescal Canyon DUI

November 15, 2014 / / 3 comments

A bike rider was hit by a car at 7th and Grand in Downtown LA Friday morning.

Unfortunately, no word on the condition or identity of the victim, but I’m told he was conscious and in a lot of pain.

That bike appears to be trashed, though.

Photo by Yuki Kidokoro

Photo by Yuki Kidokoro

Thanks to Yuki Kidokoro and LA BAC member David Wolfberg for the heads-up.

……..

Just got word late Friday that Mohammed Kadri has been charged with a felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in the death of cyclist James Rapley on Temescal Canyon late last year.

As you may recall, Rapley was riding on a rented bike during an extended layover at LAX while flying back home to Australia for the holidays, when Kadri’s car drifted into the bike lane and hit him from behind.

Kadri was allegedly drunk — or possibly still drunk — at 9:15 am on a Sunday morning, and reportedly told a bystander he had been texting.

On a related note, it’s my goal is to turn the uphill bike lane on Temescal into the city’s first parking–protected bike lane. It may not have saved Rapley at that early weekend hour, but could help keep future cyclists from the same fate.

Thanks to Karen for the heads-up.

……..

You’ve got to be kidding.

A 20-year old Wisconsin man hit a newspaper deliveryman on a three-wheeled bike, and drove home with the victim embedded in his windshield. The rider, who did not appear to be seriously injured, unlocked the passenger door and started walking down the street before a witness called police.

And yes, you’ve got to see the photo on that link.

Then it happened again, when an allegedly drunken New Jersey driver was stopped by police with a man stuck in the windshield, after driving 1.5 miles from the scene of the hit-and-run. The 61-year old victim had to be cut out of the windshield by firefighters, and was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

……..

Local

No surprise that two of the three drug charges filed against Clinton Alford, Jr — the bike rider allegedly beaten and kicked by LAPD officers last month — have been dropped, with the third likely to follow, since police had no probable cause to stop and search, let alone beat, him. I’ll never understand why there’s not more outrage over this case.

Seventh District Councilmember Felipe Fuentes teams with the LACBC to light up lightless riders as part of Operation Firefly.

LADOT counts riders along the LA River bike path.

Better Bike offers an open letter calling for an end to considering traffic congestion as a mitigation criterion under CEQA rules.

Cycling in the South Bay writes about an all too typical exchange between a cyclist, a dangerously aggressive driver and bike cop who blames the wrong one.

Former US crit champ Rahsaan Bahati talks bike safety to school kids.

 

State

Neal Storm Stephany pleaded not guilty to a well-deserved murder charge in the Newport Beach DUI death of cyclist Shaun Eagleson last month.

A missing Irvine mountain biker isn’t missing any more.

The Executive Director of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition explains what the city’s CicloSDias open streets festival is all about.

A Riverside man uses cycling to bounce back from osteoarthritis, and is raising a team after missing last year’s California Coast Classic following a double knee replacement.

Ventura County gets a $3.3 million grant for biking and walking projects.

Oakland bike thieves bust through the front door of a bike shop and steal 46 high-end mostly folding bikes. Thanks to Alex Kekauoha for the link. Note: I initially misidentified the location as San Francisco; it actually happened in the Bay Area city that didn’t win the World Series this year. Thanks to Prinzrob for keeping me honest. 

A San Francisco drunk passes out in the street next to the pink child’s bike he’d been riding. Am I the only one wondering if they checked to see if the bike was stolen?

Bike friendly Davis is looking for a new bike/ped coordinator.

A Sacramento-area fitness chain mimics ghost bikes by locking orange-painted bikes around town for a not-very-effective marketing campaign.

 

National

Protected bike lanes not only improve safety for cyclists, but for pedestrians, as well. Then again, they seem to be good for everyone.

A rider for Team Novo Nordisk explains how to ride with diabetes, something I’m going to have to learn.

Four years for a Portland teenager who bashed a random cyclist in the face with a brick. Too bad he’s a juvenile, because that crime deserves a lot more time.

A Wyoming driver faces up to 16 years after pleading guilty to aggravated homicide in the death of a cyclist earlier this year.

Things are changing in the Lone Star State as San Antonio becomes bike friendlier, and even Houston isn’t as bad as it used to be.

A writer for the Chicago Reader skillfully dismantles the Tribune’s crotchety, anti-bike troll.

A Michigan writer explains why riding with traffic is safer for cyclists. Seriously, nothing good comes from riding salmon.

New York launches a new Vision Zero map tracking traffic deaths across the city.

Great profile of New York bike messenger and riding legend Austin Horse.

A DC writer says riding on the sidewalk is just scary, for pedestrians, not dangerous.

 

International

How to survive riding in the rain.

A Vancouver study shows drivers are seldom charged with dooring.

A UK website asks if doping is finally a thing of the past in pro cycling. Uh, yeah, sure. Of course it is.

A smartly designed new Brit bike grows with your child.

A Welsh cyclist faces multiple charges after breaking out the window of a car with his U-lock. Seriously, no matter how angry you may be, responding with violence will only make it worse.

Irish researchers with a keen grasp of the obvious discover bicycling is underutilized in the country because many people think it’s too dangerous.

An Aussie rider explains why we wear those silly cleated shoes.

 

Finally…

Sir Bradley Wiggins, former Tour de France champ, is now an anime character. Caught on self-promoting video: A London beverage company develops a slightly self-serving plan to provide helmets for Boris Bike users; but not, evidently, these helmetless cyclists who videoed themselves using them — the bikes, not the helmets — to ride from London to Paris.

And Bikeyface neatly illustrates the problem with Share the Road.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Legal Cases, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,
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