Tag Archive for Bicycle Friendly Community

Warner Bros actively discourages bike riding, 5 SoCal cities make bike friendly list, and UFO close encounter on an ebike

It’s Day 14 of the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Anne F for her generous donation to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

Right now, we’re running a full week ahead of last year’s record pace! So let’s keep it going! 

Any amount, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated. And very needed after a difficult couple years. 

So give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com. 

Go ahead. We’ll wait. 

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You’ve got to hand it to Warner Bros, who couldn’t have done a better job of discouraging people from riding their bikes to work, let alone on the studio lot, if they tried.

And from the looks of it, they probably did.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1468680922186727427

But sure. Let’s just keep Burbank smoggy, congested and deadly.

And we can credit D. Jones with pointing out that WB probably stands for War on Bikes.

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Congratulations are due to the latest round of cities to make the League of American Bicyclist’s list of Bicycle Friendly Communities, as well as cities renewing their membership or moving up a level.

SoCal cities to make the list are

  • Oceanside (Silver)
  • Santa Barbara (Silver)
  • Encinitas (Bronze)
  • Riverside (Bronze)
  • Temecula (Bronze)

Other California cities on the list are —

  • Alameda (Silver)
  • Roseville (Bronze)
  • San Ramon (Bronze)
  • Watsonville (Bronze)

Meanwhile, my Colorado hometown continues to prove its bike bona fides, pulling down the only Platinum rating.

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You see a lot of things while riding your bike. But an up-close encounter with UFOs usually isn’t one of them.

A British woman claims to have had a close encounter of the second kind while riding her ebike, saying she was approached by a fleet of UFOs, with one coming as close as eight feet away, albeit on the other side of a hedge.

Being the friendly sort, she waved at her otherworldly visitors, causing some to instantly vanish, while others came right up to her.

She says they examined her with lasers, before vanishing with a burst of infrared light. Which is a little odd, since infrared isn’t usually visible to the human eye.

But still.

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Just a few months after reviving his moribund racing career with four stage wins at this year’s Tour de France, British sprinter Mark Cavendish was the victim of a terrifying home invasion robbery, along with his entire family.

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Streetsblog’s Streetfilms examines a successful New York bike boulevard.

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

An English man had to wait three hours for an ambulance in sub-40F degree weather after he was struck by a driver, lying flat on the cold ground after being told not to move due to a possible spinal injury; fortunately, he escaped with just a broken wrist.

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

The infamous Western Bandit was sentenced to life without parole for a three-year string of bike-born armed robberies along LA’s Western Ave; he murdered two people and shot at several others during the crime spree.

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Local

A trio of state-funded programs to improve recreation equity in the Los Angeles area will help low-income people of color access state parks; one program will bus people to state and county parks and beaches, then show them how to use transit and bike paths to get there on their own.

You can now buy the new ebikes and e-scooters from Santa Monica-based Bird at Target. But you can’t read the article about it from the LA Business Journal without paying for a subscription.

A cast member on The Real World Homecoming: Los Angeles opened up about his recent collision when he was struck by a truck driver while riding his bike in DTLA just before filming started, leaving him with a serious head injury, a broken clavicle, wrist and possibly broken ribs; on a possibly related subject, other cast members had to remove all the alcohol from the set because of his excessive drinking.

 

State

The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition recognized local leaders for their work in the bicycling community at the organization’s virtual Golden Gear Awards.

Speaking of the SDCBC, bike riders of all ages are invited to join the group’s 4-mile, holiday-themed ride through Balboa Park tonight; participants will receive a set of bike lights courtesy of Lyft.

Finishing our San Diego trifecta, the city is considering banning fast food restaurants near transit stations, in part to protect bike riders and pedestrians; naturally, some people don’t approve.

Fresno police are looking for the heartless coward who fled the scene after seriously injuring a man walking his bike across a bridge; fortunately, the victim is expected to recover.

 

National

The Bike League has teamed with autonomous vehicle artificial intelligence provider Argo AI to develop a detailed set of guidelines for makers of self-driving cars to protect bike riders on the roadways, including mapping local infrastructure and laws, and expecting typical bicyclist behavior while being prepared for uncertain situations.

City Lab reminds business owners that not all holiday shoppers drive, and that studies show bike lanes are good for business. Meanwhile, the site also examines why infrastructure costs more in the US than virtually anywhere else.

New research shows you should exercise more as you grow older, rather than less, as most people assume. And bicycling is one of the best ways to do it.

Don’t plan on using your new federal tax rebate on one of the new ebikes from Harley-Davidson, since only one of the company’s Serial 1 bikes comes in under the $4,000 cap. And that’s if the bill can pass the Senate, which is far from a sure thing.

The Seattle bike cop caught on video rolling his bicycle over a protester’s head during last year’s protests was suspended for a whole seven days without pay, after the city’s police watchdog found he used excessive force, and acted without reasonable discretion and professionalism.

Denver residents want some temporary roundabouts removed after several bike riders have been injured by drivers; they were installed as part of the Slow Streets program, but never removed when roads were reopened to cars.

New signs along Colorado roads will remind drivers about the state’s three-foot passing law. We could use a few of those here in California, too. And by a few, I mean a few hundred thousand.

Kansas City newspaper readers share their thoughts on bike lanes. And in a pleasant change, the paper didn’t share the bike-haters point of view.

A Texas man will spend the next five years behind bars after repeatedly violating his probation for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider in 2008; the judge said she only wished she could sentence him to more.

Lake Wobegon, where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average,” may have been a mythical creation of folk humorist Garrison Keillor, but the Minnesota bikeway named after it may soon be part of the US Bicycle Route system.

Nice story from Indiana, where a couple has biked through all 50 states in their 57 years of marriage; they got married just eight months after meeting on a blind date.

The dark side of the bike boom reared its ugly head in Virginia, where bicycling fatalities are up over 75% this year.

‘Tis the season. Members of a St. Petersburg, Florida organization donated 117  bicycles for police to distribute to kids in need.

Florida sheriff’s deputies didn’t have to look far to find a hit-and-run driver, busting one of the department’s own dispatchers for the crime that left a bike rider seriously injured. And yes, it was captured on security cam.

 

International

Bicycling offers their recommendations for the best bike trips in 27 categories from around the world. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Cycling News explains the difference between road and touring bikes. That’s easy. I ride the former, and my adventureneering brother rides the latter.

Toronto finally removed construction fencing blocking a bike lane and forcing riders into unforgiving traffic, which had remained in place for months after work was stopped.

A former Spanish monk built a sprawling cathedral almost singlehandedly, using recycled bricks, car tires and bicycle wheels as his materials; he died at age 96, in his modest quarters in the building he built by hand.

The bike boom is threatening to go bust in Bengaluru, India, where all the parking is dedicated to cars and motorcycles, and none for bicycles.

Bangladeshi students across the country staged a bicycle protest on Wednesday to demand safer streets and justice for the victims of traffic violence.

 

Competitive Cycling

British cyclist Tom Pidcock has set his sights high, with plans to win world titles in cyclocross, mountain biking and road cycling next year, after just two years on the World Tour and elite levels. Although some of the other riders may have something to say about that.

Cycling Tips says October’s Into The Lion’s Den has gone from the year’s richest crit to a PR disaster, after none of the winners have received their share of the promised $100,000 prize money; race founder Justin Williams of the L39ion of Los Angeles cycling team is urging patience, promising that everyone will get paid.

 

Finally…

If it doesn’t have pedals, it’s just an e-scooter — no matter how cute and tiny it is. Building your own gravity bike out of scraps.

And raise your hand if you want a bike-based mobile donut shop in your own town.

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

Morning Links: Fundraising goals met, LA misses a top 30 bike friendly ranking, and upcoming bike events

We’ve met our fundraising goals to send a message to LA’s elected leaders, raising $400 in less than 48 hours to give them each a copy of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing.

I’ll be headed to city council meeting on the morning of Friday, May 18th to storm City Hall, and personally deliver them to demand safer streets.

I hope you’ll join me.

Thanks to everyone who donated!

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Hats off to my hometown, which ranked number one in People for Bikes’ latest rankings of the nation’s most bike friendly cities.

Santa Monica came in a surprising seventh, with San Diego, which has made huge strides in recent years, just two steps lower.

Do I really need to mention that Fort Collins and San Diego only became bike friendly after I left them? Maybe I should move away from Los Angeles, so it can finally become the bike paradise it can and should — or at least somewhat less auto-focused — be once I’m gone.

Speaking of which, you’ll find the City of Angels on the second page, at what would be number 33 if they were numbered, which I suspect is a lot higher than most bike riders would rank it.

And no city ranked higher than 3.5 on the organization’s five point scale, which means there’s a lot of room for improvement, even in the best cities.

Meanwhile, Bicycling examines the criteria used to determine the rankings, while Curbed looks at the possibilities for data-driven change on our streets.

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Let’s take a quick look at some of the upcoming events we haven’t mentioned yet. And one we have.

Arcadia is holding a free community bike ride tomorrow.

Bike SGV is holding free City Cycling classes in Montebello on Saturday, and again on May 19th.

Also this Saturday, the Wolfpack Hustle Forsyth Cup takes place at the Encino Velodrome, sponsored by BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth; fans can feast on free hot dogs, tacos and water as long as they last.

Metro is hosting a Pedals and Pit Stops Ride using Metro Bike bikeshares this Sunday, starting at Smorgasburg LA.

The international CycloFemme ride rolls on Mothers Day, May 13th, including the Los Angeles edition.

Ride free with your bike on Metrolink during Bike Week, May 14 through 18.

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The Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, is celebrating Bike Month behind the Orange Curtain this May.

  • May 14-18: Bike to Work Week – National bike to work week encourages people to switch up their morning commutes by riding their bikes to work.
  • May 16: Ride of Silence – The Ride of Silence honors those who have lost their lives or have been seriously injured while bicycling. Groups will depart at dusk, around 7 p.m., from locations in Fullerton, Irvine and Orange.
  • May 17: OCTA Bike Rally – The sixth annual event and ride is planned from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. starting at the Orange Metrolink Station, 194 N. Atchison St. and ending at the OCTA Headquarters, 550 S. Main St. in Orange.
  • May 18: Bike to Work Day – National bike to work day is recognized throughout the U.S. and gives people the opportunity to try a different way to commute.

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Local

More evidence of LA’s toxic car culture, if any was needed, as violent street takeovers by drivers spread throughout the SoCal area. Thanks to Evan Burbridge for the link.

CiclaValley escapes to Camp 9, one of the most accessible rides from the San Fernando Valley.

A letter writer chooses parking over a two-way bike lane on Pasadena’s Union Street, but can’t seem to distinguish between Santa Monica parking garages and on-street parking.

The LACBC profiles James Chaves from the Montebello Bicycle Coalition for Bike Month.

South Bay letter writers rise up to insist Aviation Blvd is for cars, and they damn well like it that way. And those darn bike riders just break the law anyway.

 

State

A 79-year old Laguna Beach man is planning for his next 5k, despite a collision with a truck that coast him a leg, and a head-on crash with a bike rider that left him with a broken neck and mostly paralyzed from the neck down. Seriously, slow the hell down and ride carefully around pedestrians; they’re the only ones more vulnerable on the streets than we are.

San Diego’s Bike Month kicks off with new concerns about safety as dockless bikeshare brings unexperienced riders onto the roads.

The Riverside County sheriff offers tips for drivers and bike riders on how to avoid crashing into each other. Although the first two suggestions for bicyclists involve wearing a helmet, which does nothing to prevent a crash. Note to Sheriff Sniff — it’s dangerous enough for bike riders out there without inflating the number of bicyclists killed in 2015 by nearly 300.

Monterey gets it. The city is installing bike lanes and making pedestrian improvements on a fading commercial strip in hopes of spurring new businesses and development in the area. Studies have repeatedly shown that creating walkable, bikeable districts are good for business, as well as property values in the surrounding area.

San Francisco bicyclists staged another people-protected bike lane to call for safe spaces for active transportation. Something LA-area advocacy groups have yet to try. Hint, hint.

San Francisco’s Bay Bridge will conduct a 10-day trial allowing bicyclists and pedestrians 24-hour access, which is currently restricted to 6 am to 9 pm.

The first of world champ Peter Sagan’s two California fondos hits the dirt in Truckee this weekend.

 

National

Forbes says the bicycling industry is betting on an ebike gold rush.

Tres shock! A Seattle study shows that dockless bikeshare is a success in the city, with an average of nearly one rider per bike per day. But ridership goes down in bad weather — just like it does anywhere else, for any kind of bike riding.

A nonprofit director at Houston’s Rice University explains why he’s afraid to walk in the auto-centric city, where motor vehicles are allowed to run amok.

This is why people continue to die on our streets. A five-time DUI loser was acquitted on his latest charge after refusing to take a roadside sobriety test, and telling police to “go get real criminals.” Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Friends and family remember a Purdue University student who died after a collision with a pickup, allegedly caused when he ran a red light.

The driver who fled the scene after running down a cyclist on Tennessee’s Natchez Trace Parkway last year — perhaps intentionally — will plead guilty in a plea deal.

A new study from Penn State University reveals that most people overestimate the time it would take to ride a bike somewhere. Which means that bicycling is a more viable option than most people think.

Too true. A Pittsburgh bike commuter says “There is no amount of bad behavior by cyclists that can remotely compare with the callous disregard for life displayed by these motorists.”

This is why people continue to die on our streets. A New York woman is arraigned on a charge of involuntary manslaughter for killing two small children while having a seizure, after her doctors repeatedly told her she wasn’t safe to drive.

The NYPD has already busted 5,000 bike riders for running red lights this year. No word on how many scofflaw drivers have been ticketed for the same offense, or which one poses the greatest threat to others.

Baltimore’s repeat drunk driving Episcopal bishop asks if she can spend the rest of her sentence for killing a bike rider in a drunken 2014 hit-and-run in the comfort of her own home. The victim’s sister reasonably calls the request “unconscionable,” which pretty well sums up the whole damn thing.

 

International

Mexican and German authorities are looking for a German man who went missing in Chiapas while on a bike tour of the Americas.

English police are looking for the driver who smashed into two bike riders, seriously injuring one, then fled the scene leaving his car lodged in a brick wall.

An English woman discusses the difficulties of riding your bike across town while remaining stylish.

Oslo, Norway is rolling out the red carpet for bike riders in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion, after committing to ban cars from the city core by next year.

An Aussie paper looks at the wild ride of the company behind the popular Fly6 and Fly12 bike light/cam combos.

 

Competitive Cycling

The LA Times offers a photo essay on the Titan Desert 2018, a 385-mile mountain bike race through the Moroccan desert.

You won’t find today’s start of the Giro on American TV, but you can see a one hour preview of the Amgen Tour of California on NBCSN this Sunday.

 

Finally…

Nothing like a pleasant little 2,400-mile ride to catch a soccer match or two. Cab drivers are your friend; okay, maybe just one.

And if you’re going to heroically chase down a bike-riding mugger, you might as well dress the part.

 

Morning Links: CBS2/KCAL9 forms charity cycling team, no new SoCal Bike Friendly Cities, and a war on bike lanes

Jeff Vaughn is one of us.

The CBS2/KCAL9 news anchor spent his first few months after moving here with his family familiarizing himself as much with where to ride his bike as with the city itself.

Now he’s joined with some of his coworkers to give back to the community by forming a station cycling team to participate in fundraising events in the Los Angeles area.

Here’s what he had to say.

The CBSLA Cycling Team is training for the 2018 cycling season and is committed to the June Pasadena BikeMS ride and Malibu Triathlon benefiting Children’s Hospital of LA. We would love to attend area charity rides to spread awareness for their cause and for our cycling team. We started with four members and have grown to around ten for 2018. If anyone is interested in joining us to help local charities through fitness and donations, drop me a line at jvaughn@cbs.com. Or follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more info.

You can click here to support Jeff in the BikeMS Ride, or back other members of the CBS2/KCAL9 team.

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The Bike League released their list of new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities.

Coronado renewed its status at the Silver level, even if all those bike lanes look like graffiti and give local residents vertigo. Riverside and Temecula were both renewed at the Bronze level.

And yes, Los Angeles is still a Bronze BFC, even as councilmembers block needed bike lanes, motorists demand their removal, Vision Zero doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and the city’s vaunted bike plan remains nothing but vaporware.

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Today’s common theme seems to be a war on bike lanes.

A Minneapolis doctor says bikes are good, but bike lanes don’t belong on the street because most people drive cars, and all those cars get in the way of ambulances.

A Chattanooga TN columnist looks at the bikelash caused by the “horrors” of bike lanes in the city. Although what he describes sounds like the real problem is crappy bike lanes.

A New York assemblyman is demanding that the city rip out a newly installed protected bike lane put in after a bike rider was killed, which drivers can’t seem to avoid crashing into.

And a columnist in Ontario, Canada says bike lanes offer no benefits and waste tax money, and are just a needless pet project unless their success can be guaranteed in advance.

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‘Tis the season.

Nearly 300 children got new bikes in San Bernardino County, thanks to the 14th annual Doris Davies Memorial Bicycle Giveaway

An Iowa woman spent her year raising funds to buy 71 kids bikes to donate to the Salvation Army, for the 12th year in a row.

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We’ve reached the halfway point of the 3rd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

You can help keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way with just a few clicks by using PayPal. Or by using the Zelle app that is probably already in the banking app on your smartphone; send your contribution to ted @ bikinginla dot com (remove the spaces and format as a standard email address).

Any donation, in any amount, is truly and deeply appreciated.

As an added bonus, frequent contributor Megan Lynch will provide a free download of her CD Songs the Brothers Warner Taught Me to anyone who makes a contribution during the fund drive. If you’ve already contributed and would like a copy, just email me at the address above and I’ll forward it to her.

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Local

The LACBC’s planned Mulholland cleanup with Phil Gaimon has been postponed until next year due to the Skirball fire.

Caltrans could give PCH a Complete Streets makeover in Wilmington, a much-needed improvement for a small section of LA County’s killer highway.

CiclaValley discovers that Burbank is outdoing Los Angeles when it comes to Valley bike lanes.

 

State

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an ebike from an 80-year old Laguna Hills man — as he was hanging Christmas lights for his pastor’s widow, no less.

Talk about missing the point. Bakersfield officials want to know how to educate pedestrians about traffic safety, after a driver jumps the curb and kills a five-year old girl walking on the sidewalk. When your stats show bicyclists and pedestrians were at fault in nearly three-quarters of fatal crashes, chances are, the real problem is with the crash investigators, not the victims.

A Bay Area TV station honors an Antioch police officers for not giving up until he found a $4000 adaptive tricycle stolen from a special needs girl.

San Francisco fast tracks bike and pedestrian improvements to a notorious tangle of highways and bikeways that had recently been overrun by a homeless camp.

Sad news from Oakland, where a man was killed in a collision as he was getting on his bicycle; the victim was thrown 160 feet by the — allegedly — speeding driver.

 

National

The International Mountain Bicycling Association announced that it will not support a proposed federal bill that would allow mountain bikes in some wilderness areas for the first time in 33 years.

Thanks to biomed students at Ohio’s University of Akron, a six-year old boy with a rare genetic condition can now ride a bike with his friends for the first time.

A Philadelphia petition calls on the city to speed up safety improvements under its Vision Zero plan.

A new report on health equity calls for more bike lanes in poor neighborhoods in New Orleans. Which pretty much goes for every large city, although bike lanes are sometimes seen as a symptom of gentrification.

A Miami bicyclist decided to avoid crappy bike lanes on a 3.5 mile causeway, and ride on the raised center median instead.

 

International

Life is cheap in British Columbia, where a truck driver killing a bike rider in a right hook is only worth a lousy $1,000 fine.

The war on bikes goes on, as someone has been tossing tacks on a popular British bike commuting route.

Distracted bicycling could be on the way out in the Netherlands, which plans to ban texting while cycling starting in 2019.

Australia’s prime minister is looking for the anonymous artist who left a rainbow colored yarn-bombed bike outside his residence on the day the country legalized gay marriage.

The Department of DIY strikes in Melbourne, Australia, where bike advocates used tape to create their own protected bike lane, on a street that only has a designated bike lane two hours a day during the morning rush hour.

Caught on video: An Aussie man throws his bike at mall security guards after one of the guards kicked his bike while throwing him out of the mall, in a racially tinged incident.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News names Peter Sagan’s third world championship the year’s most memorable moment in men’s cycling, while a sports journalists association names Chris Froome their Sportsman of the Year.

Team Sky cyclist Luke Rowe is back to training again after shattering his leg in a rafting accident, knowing another break could mean he might never ride a bike again.

Ella Cycling Tips talks with American cycling legend Connie Carpenter-Phinney, winner of the first women’s road cycling gold medal back in the leather hairnet days at the ’84 LA Olympics; these days, she’s better known as a mother of three-time US time-trial champ Taylor Phinney.

 

Finally…

Seriously, this is an ebike. What to get your favorite pro cyclist for Christmas.

And don’t punch drivers, no matter how much you think they need it.

No, really.