Tag Archive for bicycling

New book examines past, present and future of Black bicycling; and bike to clean up Angeles National Forest trail tomorrow

January 24, 2025 / / No comments
Day 24 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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An upcoming new book takes a look at the past, present and future of Black bicyclists in the US and around the world.

According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, New Black Cyclones: Racism, Representation and Revolutions of Power in Cycling by Marlon Lee Moncrieffe examines “several cycling communities throughout America and several countries in Africa, highlighting their perspectives on racial issues and general experiences.”

“I’m using the past to understand the present,” (Moncrieffe) said. “And taking the voices of current Black cyclists to understand what might be the future of our representation in the sport.”

The book will be available from all the usual source — yes, including that one — next month.

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The Wild newsletter from the Los Angeles Times reports you can ride your bike to help clean up the Valley Forge Trail in the Angeles National Forest (scroll down).

2. Bike to trail clean-up in Angeles National Forest
The Mt. Wilson Bicycling Association will host a bike-in trail cleanup from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday on the Valley Forge Trail. Volunteers will park at Redbox Picnic Area and are responsible for getting themselves to Valley Forge Trail Camp by bike. The group will meet at 8 a.m. for a safety briefing before riding to the trail. The organization will provide lunch to volunteers. Participants should bring water and snacks and wear long sleeves and pants to protect themselves from poodle-dog bush and other irritants in the area. Register at eventbrite.com.

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Gravel Bike California takes one fond look back to their favorite rides of the past year.

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

No bias here. Readers of an Oxford, England newspaper say the best way to improve safety for bicyclists is to ban bicycling in the city.

A British city scrapped a controversial bicycling ban on a pedestrianized Main Street — or High Street in the Brit vernacular — despite claiming it had widespread support just last April.

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Local  

Torched takes an in-depth look at the smoke fouling air in the Los Angeles area, as fires continue to burn throughout the region. So go ahead and ride your bike this weekend — just try not to breathe.

At least 54 hiking trails were burned in Eaton and Palisades fires, let alone what may have gone up in this week’s Hughes Fire above Castaic. Which raises the troubling question of whether your favorite mountain biking or gravel trails will still be around when all the flames are extinguished.

Santa Monica Next takes the beachside city to task for failing to adequately enforce the state vehicle code, in the wake of a deadly hit-and-run crash last month.

 

State

A group of 61 local, state and national advocacy groups signed onto a letter to Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission urging them to speed up action to meet the state’s transportation-related climate goals, as they continue to build dirty freeways instead of bikeways.

Police in Huntington Beach recovered a stolen ebike and arrested the alleged thief after the victim’s mom tracked it down herself.

Streetsblog takes a look at Irvine’s first curb-protected bike lane — or protected bike lane, period.

 

National

Bicycling recommends the gear you need for riding in all types of cold weather this winter. Although here in Los Angeles, that usually just ranges from drought weather to fire weather to earthquake weather. Read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

People For Bikes highlights last year’s best new US bikeways, including San Diego’s Pershing Bikeway. But as usual, none are in Los Angeles.

A new bike mapping app promises to rate every street in the US on a scale of one to five for bike-friendliness.

An Oregon Marine Corps vet got his stolen custom-made ti bike back after a sharp-eyed sheriff’s detective spotted it while serving a search warrant, even though it had been partially disassembled and some of the parts used to create a Frankenbike.

The new Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator is taking applications from bicycling-related startups and innovators hoping to jumpstart their business, as Bentonville strives to become a hub for the mountain biking industry, as well as a world-class mountain biking destination.

In today’s most touching story, councilmembers in Schenectady, New York joined a caravan of police, fire and public works vehicles to honor a local man famed for simply riding his bike throug the city while bringing warmth and cheer to everyone he met, after 56-year old Ronnie “Rondon” Cridelle lost his battle with cancer. Although when my time comes, I’ll be lucky if I get someone pulling a corgi in a wagon around the block.

A not too surprising side benefit of New York’s new congestion pricing program is that less traffic also means fewer collisions, and fewer injuries, as a result.

Bad news from North Carolina, where bicycling deaths jumped 50% last year, despite an overall drop in traffic fatalities.

 

International

Rouleur talks with Phil Cavell, author of The Midlife Cyclist, about how to ride a bike after 40 while staying healthy.

Despite the recommendations of an independent investigation office, a Canadian Mountie in British Columbia won’t face charges for using his police cruiser as a weapon to knock a 15-year-old robbery suspect off his bicycle; prosecutors say there isn’t enough evidence to support the recommended charges of aggravated assault, dangerous driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. All of which seems pretty self-evident, given the circumstances. 

London bicyclists are avoiding the popular riding route around the outer circle of the city’s Regent Park, after a rash of violent high-end bike thefts.

Riders of London’s Lime dockless ebikes discover the hard way that “break a leg!” isn’t just a way to avoid jinxing theater performers.

A Scottish driver pled guilty to killing a “legendary” local bicyclist, despite playing the universal Get Our Of Jail Free card, as the woman claimed she didn’t see the 64-year old man riding his bike because the sun was in her eyes.

A historic Cardiff, Wales outdoor velodrome lives to fight another day, after plans to build a new replacement fell through.

A British man was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally stabbing another man in a dispute over an allegedly stolen ebike, after the purported thief continued to send threatening voice mail messages.

Retro bike collector and head of British Cycling Bob Howden invites Cycling Weekly into his trove of classic bikes.

You can add adventure bicycling around Taiwan to your bike bucket list.

A writer for Streetsblog sends a postcard from Shanghai, saying “the Chinese mega-city provides an example of great urban mobility, albeit with a side of authoritarianism.” Because as we all know, a side of authoritarianism goes great with Peking duck and stinky tofu. 

Life is cheap in Australia, as former cycling champ Rohan Dennis formally entered a guilty plea in the death of his wife, former Olympic cyclist Melissa Hopkins, copping to a single aggravated count of creating likelihood of harm, with a maximum sentence of seven years behind bars and a five-year loss of his driver’s license; Hopkins died after falling off the hood of Dennis’ SUV as she clung to it for dear life as he sped off.

 

Competitive Cycling

The United State’s only remaining one-day men’s UCI bike race is coming back this September, as the Maryland Cycling Classic adds a long-awaited women’s race to go with it.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can finally own that ’73 Schwinn Stingray you always wanted, for less than it will probably cost you to have it shipped. Nothing like a nice, brisk 20 below fat bike ride.

And that feeling when your editor tells you to write about bike memes, but neglects to explain there’s a difference between bicycles and motorcycles.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed

January 23, 2025 / / No comments
Day 23 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s our third light bike news day in a row, as some guy in Washington seems to be sucking up all the news space. Which just means I can get to bed that much earlier. 

Although it’s questionable how much sleep I’ll get, as smoke from yet another not-too-distant LA fire infiltrates our apartment once again. 

Today’s photo: apropos of nothing, a bike hanging on a wall of a defunct coffee shop. 

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

No bias here. British drivers complain about bikeshare bikes, calling them a “blight” on the sidewalks, but parking cars on said sidewalks appears to be just fine.

A road-raging UK driver will spend the next 18 months behind bars after being convicted for using his car as a weapon by deliberately ramming a bike rider following a punishment pass, then getting out of his car and yelling at the victim as he lay helpless on the street.

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

A 73-yer old Dublin, Ireland woman died of a head injury after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, while she was putting up political campaign posters last year.

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Local  

Walk ‘n Rollers is teaming with the YMCA and Culver City to host a free bicycle safety workshop and pizza party this Sunday to “help keep commuters and recreational cyclists safe.”

 

State

Calbike considers a number of policy changes to protect vulnerable road users.

Orange County’s most bike-friendly city just got its first protected bike lane, with a new 1.25-mile curb protected lane to go with Irvine’s 300 miles of painted bike lanes and 100 miles of off-street bikeways.

The Imperial County DA’s office says they’ll be cracking down on riders of ebikes and electric motorcycles for unspecified violations. Which seems like illegal selective enforcement, unless they crack down on violations by other road users to the same degree.

Bad news from Bakersfield, where a 14-year old boy was critically injured by a driver while riding his bicycle against traffic.

A 44-year old Oregon woman pled not guilty to charges including vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run and DUI for allegedly just driving off after hitting two men riding bicycles in San Luis Obispo, killing an 87-year old Avila Beach man and injuring his 74-year old companion.

Sad news from Walnut Creek, where a woman was killed by a driver while riding her bike Wednesday morning — or rather, by a vehicle, since the story doesn’t even mention that it had a driver until the last paragraph.

A suspect has been arrested in Amarillo, Texas for a deadly hit-and-run that took the life of a 49-year old Tulare County man riding a bicycle last August.

 

National

This is the cost of traffic violence. A man describe as a “powerful pedaling force” for the Albuquerque, New Mexico bicycling community was killed by a driver while riding his bike home after spending the day refurbishing bicycles for children in need; 64-year old Chuck Malagodi, who led bike tours around the world before moving to the city, was just a mile from his home when he was killed, after he had refused a ride from a friend.

I want to be like them when I grow up. Three men in their 70s from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, along with a fourth man in his late 60s, completed a bike-touring trip down the 3,000 mile East Coast Greenway trail.

 

International

Vancouver, British Columbia is shutting down some popular DIY bike trails, arguing that they pose a risk to bike riders and the environment.

A Toronto woman thanks the “stranger angel” who came to her aid after she was seriously injured when one of her tires got stuck in a streetcar track. Although what makes one angel stranger than another is beyond me. 

A London bikeshare provider will now offer ebikes with a basket in front and a child seat in the back — or maybe another adult seat.

A writer for Cycling Weekly celebrates the joys of cafe stops after a long ride — in her case “stinking up” British tea rooms.

The BBC insists that a TV show attacking ebikes and lumping low-speed ped-assist ebikes together illegally modified electric motorbikes was “fair and impartial and clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry,” despite complaints by viewers and a trade association that it was exactly that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canada is trying to level the playing field by banning time trial bikes in junior cycling events.

Wind tunnel simulations suggest your water bottle may be in the wrong place — as long as you don’t actually use a bicycle, since they didn’t use one in the tests.

 

Finally…

Your next electric scooter could come disguised as a telecom utility box that magically transforms into an ebike. Your old brake levers could be reborn as door handles.

And that feeling when the real sprinters aren’t even in the peloton

https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1881882165828346210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1881882165828346210%7Ctwgr%5E2517ed17769547aae86b204e10ffde7b36f76ccc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-22-january-2025-312235

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

February meeting on Long Beach Orange Ave bikeway, and new bike plans for CA cities where that actually means something

January 22, 2025 / / No comments
Day 22 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s another light bike news day, so let’s jump right in. 

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

A Next City op-ed says Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s campaign to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes has nothing to do with traffic, and is all about the battle between “Old Toronto” and the city’s auto-centric suburbs. Or maybe just an egocentric, bike-hating politician. 

Once again, bicyclists have been the victims of anti-bike attack, as a Wellington, New Zealand man was lucky to escape with just a flat tire after someone tossed tacks onto a number of bikeways around the city; as a recent chemo patient, he had to rely on the kindness of strangers to change his tube. Several other people took to social media to report similar attacks, which have been going on since last month.

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

It turns out the French ebike rider we mentioned yesterday who pled guilty to causing the death of a 51-year old man riding a regular bicycle in Yorkshire, England was actually riding an electric motorcycle, which explains the confusion over the charges. Which is why we need to find another term to distinguish between ped-assist ebikes, and electric mo-peds and motorcycles.

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Local  

Long Beach will host a public meeting February 13th to discuss the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway along the city’s deadliest corridor for pedestrians, and part of Long Beach’s Elevate ‘28 five-year infrastructure plan.

 

State

New Streetsblog California editor Damien Newton introduces himself, and says his approach to the site will be a little more “bloggy.” While former editor Melanie Curry will be missed, the site couldn’t be in better hands than Damien, who brought Streetsblog to California in the first place as the founder of Streetsblog Los Angeles.

Goleta is conducting an E-Bike Safety Awareness Week this week, which seems to consist mainly of watching an ebike safety video and the CHP’s online ebike safety and training program.

Berkeley is asking for feedback on the city’s 2017 bike plan, as they prepare to update it later this year; the city has identified ten key projects for the new plan. Although the real question is how much of the old plan was actually built, to give some idea of how seriously to take the new one. 

San Francisco introduced a new bike plan calling for improvements to 385 routes or street segments. Unlike Los Angeles, they actually dust theirs off from time to time. Never mind that LA’s bike plan hasn’t been updated since 2010, unless you count councilmembers removing key streets from the plan before it was subsumed into the new mobility plan in 2016.

 

National

People For Bikes says the new AASHTO and NACTO — aka American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and National Association of City Transportation Officials — bikeway guides offer valuable resources for communities to build great places to ride.

An Oregon legislator says “oopsie” about his new bill that would ban throttle-controlled Class 3 ebikes from sidewalks bike lanes, clarifying that it was probably a “misnomer” on his part, since Class 3 ebikes are ped-asssist, rather than throttle-controlled, and that the law was actually targeted towards small electric motorcycles and mopeds.

Two-way, curb-protected bike lanes have now made their way south to Tampa, Florida, in the heart of the country’s deadliest state for people on bicycles. .

 

International

Momentum ranks the best international bicycle festivals worth traveling for; #1 on the list is Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic. Although what’s missing is any mention of LA’s CicLAvia, though they do include the original in Bogotá.

An Irish minister cancelled plans for a major cut to the Value Added Tax for bicycles over fears that retailers might pocket the savings instead of passing them on to bike buyers. In the simplest terms, VAT is like a sales tax that is built into the retail price, rather than adding it on afterwards; the advantage is that the price you see is the price you pay.

A Dutch university researcher is hitting the road on an ebike equipped with an array of LIDAR sensors to map and identify everything on the road, in an effort to develop an AI system to help drivers avoid people on bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo remembers pioneering American cyclist Doug Shapiro, a two-time Olympian, 1984 Coors Classic champ, and just the third Yank to ride in the Tour de France.

 

Finally…

Your next e-mountain bike could be a Porsche. It’s not a high bike theft zone, it’s a Bicycle Redistribution Point.

And that feeling when a reviewer calls a futuristic hubless ebike a death trap and the worst bicycle in the world.

But other than that, he liked it, right?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Putting “bicycle face” in context, popular bikewear brand hit by ransomware attack, and put a little spring in your ride

January 21, 2025 / / No comments
Day 21 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It was a light day for bike news yesterday, probably because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

So let’s get right to it. 

I mean, it’s not like there was anything else going on yesterday, right?

Today’s graphic is a 1908 British telegraph ad, courtesy of Cool Bike Art.

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

If the cops stop you for swerving on your bicycle and having trouble standing off it, blurting out “I am drunk” is probably not your best defense.

A 20-year old French ebike rider pled guilty to careless driving for causing the death of a 51-year old man riding a regular bicycle in Yorkshire, England; he also entered a guilty plea to driving without a license or insurance. Which makes it sound like he was actually on an electric motorcycle, even though the story clearly says it was an electric bicycle. Or “electronic,” anyway.

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Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

This is who we share the road with. A Corona man faces charges for shooting at another driver, after first sideswiping the victim’s car while illegally driving in the bike lane.

A new Chico bike and pedestrian bridge will be named for a Chico State University nursing student, eleven years after she was killed by a drunk driver while riding her bike home from the university library.

 

National

A women’s website puts the 19th Century warnings about women suffering from “bicycle face” in context, as the forerunner to today’s “resting bitch face.”

Denver-based bikewear maker Primal Wear has been hit by a ransomware attack affecting over 10,000 files and 17 gigabytes of data, but no customer data appears to have been breached.

Seriously? Iowa is just now getting around to banning handheld cellphone use while driving, despite a previous ban on texting while driving.

A Chicago website takes a look back at the good news for local bicycling in 2024, starting with a nearly 20% drop in bicycling deaths, which is very good news.

A Minneapolis man reflects on his neighbor’s bike theft, and his recovery of her stolen bike a few days later, as the thief prepares to go to trial.

A writer from the New York area says the pricing strategy for New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare system makes it seem less like a transportation solution and more like a hostage negotiation.

 

International

Momentum considers how three Canadian cities are leading the way on winter Viking biking programs.

It only took British bikemaker Pashley 99 years to finally build a bike with drop handlebars, not to mention disk brakes and 3D-printed junctions.

Police in Nottingham, England proved it is possible to do something about the bike theft epidemic, after a campaign of increased enforcement and bicycle registration cut bike thefts a whopping 77%. But only if your local police department actually cares enough to do it. 

Talk about not getting it. A British wildlife trust calls approval of Brompton’s new eco-friendly headquarters “a dark day for nature,” while also noting the “puzzling” lack of car parking. Because evidently, encouraging employees to drive to work is good for nature and wildlife.

After an Irish doctor recovered from an induced coma resulting from a hit-and-run driver as he was riding his bike home from work, he penned an open letter calling for slowing drivers and improving safety for bicyclists, asking ” Why are we all in such a hurry to kill ourselves…and the planet?”

An Indian man was injured when his handlebars got caught in dangling wires hanging down from an overpass.

A writer for OneArabia says yes, bicycling is a sustainable transportation option amid the skyscrapers and luxury cars in Dubai, despite the hefty environmental costs for shipping and packaging.

Kuala Lumpur wonders where the bike riders are, after rolling out over 20 miles of new bike lanes in the city center. Never mind that 20 miles isn’t much, and there’s no safe way to get there from outlying areas — or that drivers are parking in them.

 

Competitive Cycling

The race director of the Tour Down Under defended their safety measures after a woman watching a pre-race crit was injured when several riders crashed on a tight corner; former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas agreed, calling  the TDU one of the safest races on the WorldTour.

The Big Bear Cycling Association announced details for August’s Tour de Big Bear, ranked one of the top ten Grand Fondos in the US.

 

Finally…

Evidently, losing your rear wheel in the middle of a race is a bad thing. Getting buzzed by a driver is one thing; getting buzzed by the director of a cycling team in the middle of a race is another.

And here’s one way to put a little more spring in your ride.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

High wind warnings and fire danger return to LA, man dies riding Simi Valley trail, and denouement to bizarre Scottish hit-and-run

January 20, 2025 / / No comments
Day 20 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Well, this ain’t good.

The National Weather Service is calling for a return of Santa Ana winds up to 100 mph starting this afternoon — the same conditions that fueled the deadly wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena exactly two weeks ago.

So beware of dangerous wind gusts that can rise suddenly, keep an eye out for any sign of fire or smoke, and keep your phone handy for any wind or evacuation alerts.

After last time, we’ve all seen what could happen. So if you smell smoke, wear a mask. And if there’s a fire anywhere around you, get the hell out.

Please.

Let’s hope we don’t see the return of orange skies, like this shot from Cole Keister for Pexels.

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Sad news from Simi Valley, where a man believed to be in his 50’s collapsed and died while riding his bike with a companion.

The incident occurred shortly before 1:30 pm Saturday, along Albertson Fire Road in the hills south of Simi, and east of Thousand Oaks.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of first responders.

This was at least the third bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

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Call it the denouement to a shocking case we’ve been following for several years.

The family of a 63-year old man killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver while on Scottish fundraising ride has received an undisclosed six-figure settlement from the driver’s insurance company.

Tony Parsons died after the driver drove away, leaving him propped against a fence overnight. The driver came back with his brother the next day and buried Parsons in an unmarked grave in the woods, along with his bike and belongings, where his body wasn’t found for another three years.

Alexander “Sandy” McKellar was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, while his twin brother Robert got five years and three months.

They probably would have gotten away with it if Sandy McKeller hadn’t taken his girlfriend to the burial site in 2020, and confessed the whole crime to her.

She promptly reported it to the police. Yet it wasn’t until the next year that the grave was finally discovered and the McKellers arrested.

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This is who we share the road with.

https://twitter.com/motorisms/status/1881011234092503154

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It’s questionable whether most drivers will ever grasp the concept that riding abreast and controlling the lane makes us safer, while making it easier for them. It just requires a little patience.

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

A man attacked a 74-year old man riding a bicycle in East Harlem, New York, first pushing to victim off his bicycle, then picking it up and beating him with it, for no apparent reason.

Police in Spartanburg, South Carolina are on the lookout for two suspects, after the passenger in a car threw a drink cup at a man riding a bicycle; the cops were able to find the cup, so it’s conceivable they may be able to lift prints. That happened to me so often riding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that I could have opened my own convenience store. Although it must not have been illegal there, because I eventually gave up on trying to get a cop to take a report.

Complaints are flooding in against the BBC for a recent report attacking ebikes, as one bike shop owner says “Finding a wolf in sheep’s clothing should not be a reason to attack sheep.” Which may just be my new favorite expression.

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

A 31-year old Scottish man faces sentencing for intentionally riding his bicycle into his girlfriend, knocking her to the ground. No word on whether the woman was injured. Although if she’s still his girlfriend after that, she may have suffered serious brain damage. 

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Local  

KNBC-4 offers more details on the fire that destroyed Altadena’s Steve’s Bike Shop and most of the city two weeks ago, while owner Steve Salinas was fighting to save his brother’s home.

 

State

A 40-year old Riverside man was killed while riding an electric scooter against traffic when he was hit head-on by a driver turning out of a school parking lot.

Don’t plan on riding a new, fully funded bike lane connecting Downtown San Francisco with Golden Gate Park anytime soon.

An alleged burglar was busted for stealing several bicycles with an estimated value of $28,000 from a San Francisco home; he was arrested after the victim spotted one of the bikes for sale online and notified the police.

Sacramento is urged to consider addressing the city’s climate goals and the high rate of bicyclist and pedestrian deaths by making a new bridge across the American River car-free.

 

National

Bicycling offers the key to a successful Everesting attempt, which research shows comes down to selecting the right gradient for your fitness level. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Bicycling also considers how to recognize the signs of exercise addiction in bike riders. But you may have to find a way around their paywall if the magazine blocks you, since this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else.

One last bike-friendly federal bill before the new administration takes over, with the signing of the Biking On Long Distance Trails (BOLT) Act, which will require the feds to build at least 10 long-distance bicycle routes throughout the US, and identify potential routes 10 more using existing roads and trails.

An ebike impact calculator launched last year now includes data from over 500 US cities, allowing users to assess the environmental and economic impact of shifting short vehicle trips to ebikes.

Bicycling deaths continue to climb in ostensibly bike-friendly Portland, Oregon. Probably due to the same problems with distracted drivers and massively oversized vehicles plaguing every other American city. 

A Seattle components maker takes a look back, and discovers that bicycling has come full circle.

Washington state launched a $5 million dollar ebike rebate program, which expects to fund about 7,000 more vouchers than the botched first round of California’s intentionally throttled program.

Cycling West shares photo of an Ogden, Utah bronze statue of a kid riding a bicycle, with a dog running alongside.

A new 9.3-mile multi-use trail for art aficionados in the Berkshires will connect three Massachusetts art museums, as well as a theater, multiple art galleries and other cultural and historic destinations.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. Heartbreaking news from Florida, where a 53-year old man without a license was busted for his third DUI — but not until he ran a stop sign and killed six-year old kid riding a bike. Just one more example of why it’s not enough to suspend the driver’s license after a second DUI. The driver’s car should have been impounded for the full term of his license suspension. 

 

International

British Columbia’s Rocky Mountain Bikes is now under bankruptcy protection, with parent company RAD Industries Inc. in dire financial straits.

Bicyclists in Lahore, Pakistan now have their on lane on some of the city’s busiest roadways, but they’ll have to share them with motorbikes.

Bike counters captured a record number of bike riders in Christchurch, New Zealand last year, as the city topped 4 million bike trips, up from 3.6 million in 2023.

A senior political journalist writes in defense of bike lanes in New Zealand’s capital, both as a bicyclist and a driver.

A pair of Aussie bicyclists were seriously injured, and their bikes significantly damaged, when they were run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver. Raising the obvious question of how anyone fails to see not one, but two grown men on bicycles directly in front of them.

No surprise here. A new Australian study shows that wearing bike helmets or bright, reflective clothing is dehumanizing, with bicyclists in the helmeted, hi-vis camp seen as less human that bike riders in more casual attire.

 

Competitive Cycling

A woman watching the Tour Down Under was hospitalized when several competitors lost control and slammed into the fencing in a “chaotic” crash on a tight corner, at speeds topping 30 mph.

Visma – Lease a Bike, the flagship cycling team of the Netherlands, will go into the year’s Tour de France without any Dutch riders on the team, though it will have American Sepp Kuss.

Sad news, as former American pro Doug Shapiro died following a California climbing accident; the 65-year old New Yorker raced for the legendary 7-Eleven team, as well as the forerunner to Visma-Lease a Bike, while winning the 1984 edition of Colorado’s Coors Classic.

Thirty-year old Ryan Collins now owns 12 ultra-cycling world records, despite being told he’d never ride a bike again after a head-on collision in his early 20s.

Two-time Tour de France camp Jonas Vingegaard calls for an immediate end to carbon monoxide doping, the latest not-yet-illegal fad among the pro racing crowd. Which raises the question of whether LA cyclists would fail a CO test simply for breathing the air around here these days.

The former sports director for Belgian women’s cycling team Proximus-Cyclis, now Team Velopro–Alphamotorhomes, was banned for five years on Friday after being accused of inappropriate psychological and sexual harassment; the team manager was banned for 18 months and fined the equivalent of $5,500 for failing to report it. Is there really such a thing as appropriate psychological and/or sexual harassment?

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own a $7,500 carbon frame racing bike spec’d entirely of Chinese parts, from a company you probably never heard of. How can you call yourself a real bike rider if you don’t know the difference between a Bicicletta and a Bicycle Thief?

And if you’re planning to snatch a $15,000 racing bike while the owner is having lunch with his friends, maybe make sure they’re not elite cyclists first.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ebike crash critically injures Brea students, Bike League advocacy workshop still on, and fewer cars means cleaner air

January 17, 2025 / / One comment
Day 17 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Awful news from Brea, where two high school students were critically injured when they crashed a shared ebike into a brick wall.

The teens were riding single-person ebike when they clipped a tree with their handlebars while traveling at a high rate of speed. The ebike rider reportedly suffered significant, life-threatening injuries, while the passenger suffered major injuries.

Neither was wearing a bike helmet, which is legally required for any bike rider under 18 in California, or anyone riding a Class 3 ebike.

There’s no word on their identities at this time, or whether what they were riding was an electric bicycle, mo-ped or electric motorcycle.

Click this link for an easier to read graph of California’s bicycle and ebike regulations, courtesy of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition. 

………

Thanks to Anna Tang for forwarding news that the Bike League’s March Bike Advocacy Workshop will go on as planned, despite last week’s wildfires, which hopefully will be out by then.

You can register by clicking here, since I can’t embed her BlueSky post with the link, and had to settle for a screenshot.

………

Another lesson from Paris that seems lost on Los Angeles.

As Paris has worked to build a 15-minute city and provide effective alternatives to driving, it has seen a corresponding improvement in air quality.

And yes, I have the same problem embedding this BlueSky post, too.

………

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

Aussie bicyclists are understandably angry after an 18-year old man was arrested for sabotaging two bike trails by stringing fence wire strung at waist level, injuring two people and severely damaging four high-end bikes, in an attack that could have literally killed someone. He’s being held without bail on four counts of endangering life, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years for each count, not 25 as we said yesterday, as prosecutors suggest he may have thought it was just a prank.

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Sacramento BMX riders are fighting to keep a DIY bike park they built by hand over a decade ago, despite city plans to level it to restore the natural habitat.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a woman in her 50’s was killed when she was right-hooked by the driver of a semi-truck — although though the CHP immediately blamed the victim for attempting to pass the truck as it was turning. And judging from the article, the truck was apparently was operating on its own while the driver just sat there. 

Finishing our Sacramento trifecta, the Sacramento Bee apparently lowered their paywall to profile each of the 32 lives lost to traffic violence on the city’s streets, each killed despite the city’s impending Vision Zero commitment to end traffic deaths in the next two years.

 

National

Consumer Reports suggests that buying a bike helmet online could be dangerous, due to a proliferation of third-party sellers of helmets that don’t meet federal safety standards. One more reason you’re better off buying from your favorite local bike shop.

BMX star Nigel Sylvester just dropped his latest collaboration with Nike’s Jordan Brand by introducing his new Air Jordan 4 “Brick by Brick” shoe.

Bicycling’s senior test editors offer their solutions to some of the most vexing bicycling problems. But you’ll have to subscribe if you want to get the answers.

A Portland, Oregon woman spent the past year posting signs at the site of all 69 fatal traffic collisions in the city. Doing that in Los Angeles would be a full-time job posting nearly one sign a day.

Las Vegas suggests using the city’s bikeshare system, rideshare or a double-decker bus on your next trip to flush your money down the craps table.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is building buffered bike lanes and multi-use trails to protect riders in one of America’s most dangerous cities for bicyclists, though disparities remain between wealthier and low-income neighborhoods.

Great idea. Fayetteville, Arkansas’ trash department is teaming with a local nonprofit to set up a drop-off location where people can donate their old bicycles to be repaired and donated to people in need.

A Vermont city is being sued after a hit-and-run cop allegedly killed a bicycle-riding man who was waiting at a bus stop at 3 am, then continued without stopping before his conscience apparently got the better of him, and he came back to the scene.

 

International

How do you love ditching your car for a bike commute? Let Momentum count the ways.

A Toronto op-ed dispels some of the myths used to dismiss the value of bicycle infrastructure by examining just who is actually using it.

A new kind of bike shop has opened in Manchester, England, offering service for delivery riders reminiscent of a Formula 1 pit crew.

A Paris suburb has launched a pilot program to light up bike lanes at dangerous intersections, which automatically light up when someone on a bicycle enters the intersection.

In 1923, six men from India set out to ride their bikes around the world to prove that Indians were capable of greatness, in contrast to the colonial image of them as subjugated and incapable; three completed the journey four-and-a-half year later, traveling more than 40,000 miles across 27 countries, while meeting Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini along the way.

A group of Indian men set off this week on a 2,500-mile bike rally from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to promote a pollution-free India. Although judging from the photos, the “rally” consists of just five men.

Bike brands from around the world are trying to cash in on China’s latest bike boom.

 

Competitive Cycling

The 2025 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under kicks off the first of three stages today, which is actually yesterday in Australia. Or today is tomorrow. Or something like that.

Canadians Sarah van Dam, Adele Normand and Mara Roldan hope to make their mark at the Tour Down Under, as they debut with their new teams.

Bicycling considers whether the sport has a drinking problem, as some recent studies suggest there’s no safe amount of alcohol. Although Yahoo says they posted the same story, word-for-word, two years earlier. And no, cycling doesn’t have a drinking problem, but some cyclists do. There’s a difference.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be ready for the apocalypse. And the late, great David Lynch was one of us.

Then again, so was Bob Uecker, for those of us old enough to remember.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

New York revises police chase rules, but LA cities don’t; and SaMo shop supports LA bicyclists affected by the wildfires

January 16, 2025 / / No comments
We’re now 16 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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The NYPD is changing its policy for high speed police chases.

The department is no restricting them to only the most serious and violent crimes, rather than traffic infractions, violations and nonviolent misdemeanors.

This comes after more than a quarter of the 2,200 police chases in New York City last year resulted in crashes, property damage or physical injuries. Or worse — including the October death of a woman riding a bicycle.

This announcement came the same day a Las Vegas driver killed someone riding a bicycle, while fleeing from a traffic stop just half a mile away. Another person was hospitalized when the driver, who was taken into custody, crashed into another car.

Now someone just needs to send LA area cops the memo, where crashes like that happen far too often.

Today’s image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay.

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Hats off to Santa Monica’s Pedal Mafia bike shop, which is supporting the area’s tight knit bicycling community by distributing new bikewear to people who lost theirs in last week’s fires.

Although something tells me they’re not the only members of the bicycling community helping victims of the wildfires.

So if you know any groups, shops or individuals who deserve a shoutout for helping people affected by the fires, let me know.

And if you know someone in our extended bicycling family who needs help, let me know that, too.

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Lost in last week’s calamity was the announcement of the year’s first CicLAvia, West Adams meets University Park, on Sunday, February 23rd.

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Streets For All moved the date for their latest virtual Happy Hour to next Wednesday, featuring newly-elected LA City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

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Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, invites you to join various Los Angeles groups to help clean up LA.

We’ve teamed up with local groups to organize 100% volunteer fueled clean-ups that tackle the mess left behind from recent windstorms and help restore neighborhoods we all love.

We invite you to join an existing clean-up or rally your own group.

Here’s what’s currently scheduled:

More are being added. If you can’t join one of these clean-ups, you can organize your own – even with just a few people. We can list it at LetsCleanLA.org to encourage others to join you!

Take photos and share your grime-fighting activities with #LetsCleanLA and #LAStrong to encourage other Angelenos all over the county to get out and do the same.

Let’s turn this challenge into an opportunity to show what LA is made of—resilience, community, and a whole lot of heart.

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No surprise here, as the annual Los Angeles Firecracker run, walk and bike ride has been indefinitely postponed due to last week’s wildfires, with a new date to be announced.

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Like the images that followed the atomic blast at Hiroshima, this is what it looks like when a kid’s bike was simply vaporized by the intense firestorm in the Palisades. 

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

The recently anti-bike London Times blames the new Parisian bike lanes for driving passengers from the city’s buses, arguing that narrowed streets have slowed bus trips, yet no one ever seems to blame congestion on the people in cars who actually cause it; it’s a far cry from the paper’s award-winning campaign supporting safe bicycling infrastructure just 12 years earlier.

Australian authorities have arrested an 18-year old man for stringing fence wire across a pair of bike paths near Adelaide, injuring two riders and severely damaging four bikes; he has been charged with four counts of endangering life, which carries a sentence of up to 25 years per count. Which means he could leave prison as a dapper 118-year old ex-con.

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

Welsh police are urging a hit-and-run bike rider to come forward because a woman who had been walking her dog with her husband died five weeks after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, whose identity was hidden by a face covering.

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Local  

Momentum says Paris’ Olympic bicycle revolution offers lessons for Los Angeles and other global cities, ranging from prioritizing safety to committing to a long-term vision. Although whether Los Angeles will actually learn anything from Paris — let alone do anything — is highly debatable.

Los Angeles has just four years to rebuild planned Olympic venues destroyed by last week’s fires; fortunately, the velodrome in Carson was unaffected, though road races may need to be rerouted.

A Los Angeles man rode an ebike more than 20 miles to discover the Pacific Palisades townhouse he shares with his family was still standing, but the home he grew up in that his mother had just moved out of, not so much.

Another man rode a Metro Bike to try to rescue the dogs left behind when the Palisades Fire erupted as he was working in DTLA; when he couldn’t get through the barricades, a firefighter knocked down his door to save the pets.

 

State

Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry is stepping away from the nonprofit transportation news site, which will be a big loss for all of us who have long admired her dogged determination to dig out the facts; former Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Damian Newton will now step into the role.

San Clemente considers barring kids under 16 and requiring a driver’s license to carry a passenger on an ebike, as well as requiring a passenger seat attached to the bike. Although whether they actually have that authority under state law is debatable.

Plans for a protected bike lane along a deadly section of University Ave in eastern San Diego suffered a setback when inflation pushed all the contractor bids above $23.4 million expected price tag. At least we’ll blame inflation, because simple greed couldn’t have anything to do with it, right?

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is holding a public workshop today to consider the proposal to remove the multiuse path from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on a trial basis, giving the space back to motor vehicles on weekdays, and only allowing bikes and pedestrians on weekends; a shuttle bus would transport bike riders when the path is closed. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition is calling for people to speak out at the 1 pm meeting.

 

National

The National Bicycle Network now extends over 2,300 miles across the US with the addition of four newly expanded routes.

An Oregon bill would ban high-speed ped-assist ebikes from bike lanes and sidewalks. Although a better option would be to simply reclassify them as mo-peds, rather than ebikes, which are already required to use the street. 

Another new Oregon bill would limit the state’s $1,200 ebike vouchers to people on government assistance. Which is great if your goal is to provide efficient transportation to those most in need, but not so much if the goal is to get people out of their cars. 

Washington will launch its first ebike rebate program in April with a budget of $5 million. Which is twice the amount available in California’s first round, even though California has five times the population of the Evergreen State.

Montana legislators wisely pulled a bill that would have required all bicyclists to ride against traffic, unless they are led and followed by a flagged vehicle, and regardless of whether they’re riding on the shoulder or in a traffic lane. Apparently, just another attempt to thin the herd.

Now you, too, can own your very own bikeshare system, as Austin, Texas puts their whole damn thing on the auction block. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link. 

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A longtime Grand Rapids, Michigan stage hand was killed by an alleged drunk driver who reportedly “flew” off a highway exit ramp and blew through a red light, striking the man as he rode his bike to work because he couldn’t afford parking on a stage hand’s wages; it was the driver’s second DUI arrest in just over a year. That’s what happens when judges and prosecutors bargain away felony DUIs because they don’t want to inconvenience first time offenders. Or second. Or third.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed reclassifying the fastest and heaviest ebikes as mo-peds, requiring a license and registration. Although Streetsblog says very few ebikes actually exceed the governor’s 100-pound limit.

New Jersey became the first state to write into law an administrative body tasked with steering the state to zero traffic deaths, although they couldn’t bring themselves to call it Vision Zero, terming it Target Zero, instead.

A Florida bike rider says the rumble strips in the bike lanes on A1A, the state’s coastal highway, are going to kill someone, after he ended up with a broken collarbone when he inadvertently rode over them.

 

International

Cyclist recommends the year’s best bicycling documentaries.

Momentum suggests seven “stunning” national bike routes around the globe, including the Great American Rail-Trail in this country.

Cycling Weekly examines why men outnumber women riders on the road, but women cyclists vastly outnumber men in the gym.

He gets it. A British Columbia writer says when we discuss crashes, we need to emphasize the people involved, not just cars — and not “cyclists,” which automatically “others” the person on the bicycle.

Buried in a Guardian story about the “conflict” between bikeshare ebike riders and regular bicyclists is the fact that accident data shows no difference in the rate of crashes between ebike and non-electrified bicycle riders, suggesting that the common perception that ebike riders are more aggressive is a myth.

An English man is marking the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death from cancer by riding 300 miles in her memory; a crowdfunding campaign has already raised the equivalent of nearly $1,000 for cancer research charity.

A British writer says he’s tired of being blinded by bicycle strobe lights, calling flashing bike lights a menace on the roads and sidewalks. You’ll my flashers when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands, because they do far too much to improve safety when you ride. But I angle them down so they don’t shine in people’s eyes. 

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website shares inspiring stories from women riders.

A new Spanish law requires drivers to slow down by the equivalent of 12.5 mph below the posted speed limit before passing people on bicycles, while still requiring motorists to give a 4.5-foot passing distance.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Giro goes to Albania, as the classic Italian stage race announced its 2025 route.

Spain’s Costa Blanca coast is becoming overpopulated with pro cycling teams taking advantage of the region’s ideal weather for winter training camps, as well as their fans, resulting in the inevitable traffic jams of the two and four wheeled variety.

British pro Tom Pidcock says he’s happy to step off cycling’s biggest stage, passing on the Tour de France to compete in the Giro and Vuelta for his new team.

Former two-time US national champ, three-time Tour of California and one-time Tour de Suisse champ Levi Leipheimer says he wants to reinvigorate US road racing by offering $156,000 in prize money for his annual Sonoma County gran fondo, billing it as the country’s richest and toughest road race.

The annual Tour de Big Bear will be bigger and uh, bear-ier than ever, with road, gravel and mountain bike races, as well as a festival, bike demos and beer, if not bears.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you ride a bikeshare bike to the British premier of your acclaimed Bob Dylan biopic, only to get a ticket for improper parking. Or when you decide to ride across Europe, and your mom invites herself along.

And that feeling when you go on a 3,700-mile ride across New Zealand, Australia and French Polynesia, and can’t get a sitter for your kids.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Booting bike advocates for advocating for bikes, and mental health eval for driver in 2022 Palm Springs vehicular rampage

January 14, 2025 / / No comments
We’re now 14 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

A pair of Danville “councilmembers run amok” are trying to kick a pair of bicycle advocates off the city’s Bicycle Advisory Commission, after failing to disband the commission a year earlier.

Apparently for the crime of “annoying” city staffers by trying to advise them on bicycling policy.

Which would seem to be the whole purpose of a bicycle advisory commission, but maybe that’s just me.

According to a columnist for the Mercury-News, Councilmembers Newell Arnerich and Robert Storer are attempting to remove original members Al Kalin and Bruce Bilodeau from the commission, all because they insist on a data-driven approach to bicycle safety,

As opposed to just throwing darts at a map, evidently. Or maybe the esteemed council folk don’t want to know about anything that might adversely the ability of drivers to continue thinning the city’s bicycling herd.

To wit, as columnist Daniel Barenstein puts it,

Kalin and Bilodeau led efforts to identify collision hotspots in Danville and document the very real dangers of posts installed too close together just before street crossings along the Iron Horse Regional Trail, which runs through the town.

It was exactly what the commission was charged with doing when it was directed to, among other things, “assess the conditions, operations, and safety of existing bicycle facilities and non-motorized transportation…”

There’s been a troubling lack of specifics about what Kalin and Bilodeau have done wrong. In a verbal lambasting at a council study session last month, Storer did provide one example, criticizing the study of the poles, also called bollards:

“I don’t care about the sizing of the bollards on the Iron Horse trail,” Storer said. “I care about the (street) crossings on the Iron Horse trail. That’s what we should be looking at.”

Maybe because bollards only protect bicyclists and pedestrians, while a focus on street crossing protects every motorist’s God-given right to go “zoom, zoom” to their hearts content, without having to use that little stoppie pedal thing on the floorboard.

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Well, no shit, Sherlock.

A sentencing hearing for 30-year old Palm Springs resident Juaquin Mercer Moraga was suspended when his attorney requested a mental health evaluation.

Moraga was convicted last March on three counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts each of misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism, and one count each of felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery for a bizarre hours-long series of physical and vehicular attacks on multiple motorists and a man riding a bicycle in 2022.

He attempted to run down the latter head-on, gunning his car from the opposite side of the road and jumping the median at an estimated 60 mph, forcing the man to jump off his bike to avoid getting hit.

All accompanied by shouted non-sequiturs demanding people stop following him or challenging them to fight, telling one driver “you’re not man enough to use a gun.”

According to the trial brief filed by the defense, Moraga was in the throes of paranoid delusions due to major depressive disorder and cannabis use disorder, while suffering from post-traumatic stress.

The evaluation will determine whether Moraga is eligible for a post-conviction diversion to Mental Health Court, as opposed to a pre-trial mental health provision.

It sounds like he should be a shoe-in, under the circumstances.

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

A British letter writer pleads for someone to consider the poor, forgotten children instead of wasting money on bike lanes that could be used by those same poor, forgotten children riding their bikes.

Once again, someone has boobytrapped bike paths in a deliberate attempt to injure people riding bicycles, after someone used fence wire to string across multiple pathways near Adelaide, Australia, injuring at least three people and causing extensive damage to their bicycles.

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

Police in Lakewood, Colorado are on the lookout for a bike-born butt slapper, who glides up behind women on an ebike and smacks them on the ass, making him subject to sexual assault charges once they find him.

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Local  

An Australian man evacuated from last week’s Palisades wildfire on his bicycle along with his 18-month old daughter, stopping on his way out to knock on neighbors doors to warn them about the flames.

 

State

A UC Santa Cruz sociology professor says she found people working to solve problems while riding her bike along the backroads of Kansas.

 

National

A new Congressional bill would require automakers to install automatic emergency braking systems on new vehicles designed to obey speed limits, detect vulnerable road users, and recognize different skin tones and complexions, as well as clothing and protective gear.

New York bicyclists are grumbling about a price hike for the city’s Citi Bike bikeshare service, but most say they’ll continue to use it anyway.

 

International

Bosch wants to deter thieves by enabling you to lock your ebike battery using a smartphone app.

Forty-two people have now been charged with riot-related offenses following the deaths of two Welsh teenagers who crashed the ebike they were riding as they were being followed by the cops, although police insist they weren’t actually pursuing them and didn’t crash into them.

A British PhD candidate examines the role women bicyclists played in the “uphill climb to equality.” Then again, you seldom hear about anyone climbing downhill or across level ground.

A Malaysian website says biking to work in the country isn’t for the faint-hearted, yet a “small but determined group of bike commuters” brave the hazards to embrace the freedom and sustainability of bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website highlights the women’s cyclists to watch this year in multiple disciplines, from road cycling to BMX. Although it does seem to be a little light on women from this country.

NBA star Lebron James isn’t the only dad who wants to compete alongside his son, as 42-year old Venezuelan climbing specialist José Rujano came out of retirement to ride the eight-day Vuelta al Táchira stage race next to his son Jeison.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you waste your roadie upgrade funds on pointless weight weenie exotica. And use our chain lube or you, too, could die of cancer.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Trying to reason with firestorm season, bikes better for evacuations, and alleged Mammone killer competent to stand trial

January 13, 2025 / / No comments
We’re now 13 days into LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Okay, I’m back.

It’s been a challenging few days, as my wife and I are still coughing from all the smoke we sucked in evacuating from the Sunset Fire.

But we’re safe, and in our home, unlike so many others affected by last week’s firestorms.

All of which feeds into the complicated mix of emotions I’ve confronted for the past few days.

Starting with the gratitude I feel for still having somewhere to come home to, and the firefighters who made a heroic stand to save our entire neighborhood.

However, that’s often overshadowed by the overwhelming sadness that so much of the city I love now stands in ruins, iconic neighborhoods and favored riding routes forever changed. Combined with that is survivors guilt, because we’re safe, while so many others have lost everything.

Never mind that the worst we went through was having to spend a night in an overpriced Hollywood hotel.

I feel much as I did after 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina. Except this time it’s right here, affecting the people and places I know and love.

And I find myself worrying about the people who have supported this site for so long.

I sincerely hope you and your loved ones are safe as I write this. But if you’ve been affected by the wildfires, let me know. Tell me if you have a crowdfunding page, or if there’s anything we can do to help.

We probably can’t find you a new home or car, but someone here might have an extra room or a spare bicycle if you need one.

Today’s photo shows the glow from the Sunset Fire just moment after ignition; within a few minutes, that same street would be completely gridlocked. 

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While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about last week’s panicked mass evacuation through the gridlocked streets of Hollywood.

The narrow streets of our neighborhood were jammed with people trying to get out, cars, trucks and SUVs crammed bumper to bumper, and instantly converted to one-way streets with no room left to go upstream to spawn.

If a wind-driven fire had flashed through the neighborhood, like it did in Pacific Palisades and Altadena just one day earlier, there would have been no escape.

And unlike the 2018 Paradise Fire, there wasn’t a single road diet or bike lane anyone could blame it on.

Just too many people in too many cars, with streets filled far beyond capacity.

Yet someone on a bicycle could have easily made their escape in just minutes, gliding to safety past endless lines of motor vehicles. Then again, you could have walked your bike out faster than anyone managed to drive.

And if everyone had been riding bicycles, there would have been no backup at all.

But if you try it nest time, just wear a mask. Because that smoke is murder.

Then again, using a bike seems to work the other way, too.

………

Caltrans offers an update on the latest road closures due to the fires.

https://twitter.com/CaltransDist7/status/1878623771093066025

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Our old friend Richard Masoner, aka Cyclelicious, forwards news of a bicycle-adjacent opportunity to buy a meal for a firefighter from Los Angeles farm-to-table restaurant Le Great Outdoor.

You can also donate to Chef Andre’s World Central Kitchen to help feed people affected by the wildfires in Southern California. Why he hasn’t already won the Nobel Peace Prize, I will never understand.

Meanwhile, The Bike Shop Santa Monica is offering half-priced ebikes to evacuees.

And Masoner forwards the news below that Helen’s Cycles is loaning ebikes to people affected by the fires so they can go check on their homes.

………

Lost in all the fire news was word that Vanroy Evan Smith was found competent to stand trial last month, two years after he allegedly murdered a Providence Mission Hospital ER physician.

Dr. Michael Mammone was riding in the bike lane on northbound PCH in Dana Point when Smith is accused of intentionally running him down with his car in a random attack, then getting out and repeatedly stabbing the beloved doctor.

Smith, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, allegedly told police he had intended to kill someone that day.

And he succeeded.

Smith was ordered held without bail on one count of murder, along with sentencing enhancements for the alleged use a deadly weapon and lying in wait for his victim.

The hearing was held to determine his competency after two years of treatment and evaluation by mental health experts.

………

While we were gone, NACTO — aka the National Association of City Transportation Officials — released their updated Bicycle Design Guide, newly revised for the first time in a decade.

Here’s how they describe the new document.

Developed for cities, by cities, the Urban Bikeway Design Guide is a blueprint for changing decades-old practices on city streets. Endorsed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and recognized in federal law, the Urban Bikeway Design Guide is used by hundreds of municipalities, state DOTs, and regional agencies across the U.S. and Canada to design streets that are safe and accessible for people biking. Because of the Urban Bikeway Design Guide, treatments such as protected bike lanes are now commonplace across the U.S. and Canada…

The new edition includes detailed policy, planning, and project development guidance to ensure connected bikeable streets become standard practice. It also shows how to center equity and access in every step of planning and implementing a bike network–addressing inequities caused by the transportation system and building collaborative partnerships with historically marginalized groups of residents.

With more detailed technical guidance than previous editions, the Guide points the way for cities to plan and implement bike networks that account for the many different types of people who may be using the street. The third edition also reflects the increasing use of new types of vehicles using bike infrastructure and features best practices to integrate more types of bikeway users–including those riding e-bikes, scooters, and cargo bikes–into the design process. More detailed intersection design practices focus on improving safety for everyone–walking, biking, scooting, and driving.

It will be available in hardcover and ebook editions starting tomorrow.

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

A 72-year old Florida man will have to attend anger management classes for attacking an 82-year old man riding a bicycle, after the two men argued when the younger man told the bike rider to “get a horn” as he tried to pass him and his dogs.

Good for them. The UK’s Bicycle Association filed a formal complaint against the BBC for a commentator’s alleged hatchet job attacking the “safety and social issues” surrounding ebikes, while conflating “illegal e-motorbikes” with road-legal ebikes.

The Swiss Roads Office is considering taxing bicyclists to help fund a 15-year program to build bike lanes, even though bicycles are enshrined in the country’s constitution.

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Local  

Letter writers in the Los Angeles Times respond to a rare positive look at ebikes by complaining about rude, sidewalk riding, helmet-less and smartphone distracted bicyclists who don’t use all the new bike lanes. But at least one enlightened writer points out that bikes can’t block traffic when they are traffic.

Velo says the Los Angeles bicycling community is rallying around beloved members who lost homes in the wildfires, including links to their crowdfunding pages. I’m personally heartbroken to hear the news about my friend and former Altadena councilmember Dorothy “Dot” Wong.

While the owner of Altadena’s Steve’s Bike Shop was using a garden house to help save the homes of his friends and neighbors, his own bike shop burned to the ground.

A photographer for the Pasadena Star-News shares his horrific images of his Altadena hometown on fire, saying all the streets and avenues rode on his bike and skateboard growing up are unrecognizable now.

 

State

Calbike reports that new studies show there are no downsides to the Bicycle Safety Stop, aka Stop As Yield, aka Idaho Stop Law. Which makes it even harder to understand why Gavin Newsom has vetoed the bill twice.

Calbike also argues that California’s transportation budget must prioritize green transportation, after two years of Newsom’s steep budget cuts to the state’s Active Transportation Program.

Electrek says “the heyday of fast and questionably (or clearly) illegal” ebike brand SUPER73 seems to be coming to an end thanks to California’s new ebike restrictions.

A series of bike lanes and sidewalks will be closed in Carlsbad and Encinitas for about eight weeks starting later this month to build ADA-compliant ramps.

A 51-year-old San Diego man appears to have been the victim of bad road design, after he suffered multiple fractures when he was struck by a pickup driver while riding in the bike lane on the the 5100 block of Fairmount Ave; he was rear-ended when he evidently veered across the northbound transition ramp from Montezuma Road to reach the disjointed bike lane on the other side.

Life is cheap in Riverside County, where a judge overruled the DA’s objection, and sentenced Riverside County sheriff’s deputy Christian J. Lopez to a misdemeanor diversion program for killing 33-year old bike rider Christopher Thomas while driving a marked patrol car back in 2023; we still don’t know why Lopez was charged, or why charges weren’t filed until last month.

 

National

An upcoming video game allows you to experience a world build around bicycles. Just like every world should be. 

Bicycling rates the 20 best-ever bike documentaries, movies and TV series. You can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. And if you somehow haven’t seen The Triplets of Belleville, stop reading this and go watch it, already. 

Justin Timberlake is one of us, responding to a viral video urging him to join a couple hundred kids and their parents for the weekly Portland Bike Bus when he was in town for a performance — and he did.

A Seattle bike rider is suing the city, claiming that a new parking-protected bike lane obscured sight lines and caused a collision that left him with a life-threatening traumatic brain injury. I’m seeing anecdotal reports of bike riders injured by bollards or curbs separating bike lanes, but every study I’ve seen indicates that protected bike lanes improve safety; if that ever changes, I’ll let you know. 

A Reno, Nevada website says the political climate has changed, and it’s time for the city’s bike advocates to resume their efforts now that there’s more public support.

What could possibly go wrong? Montana legislators introduced legislation requiring all bicyclists to ride against traffic, unless accompanied by a flagged motor vehicle escort, in an apparent attempt to thin the herd by increasing the risk bicyclists face.

An Iowa law professor takes issue with prioritizing street design to reduce traffic deaths under Vision Zero, calling for increased traffic enforcement instead of — or at least, in addition to — traffic calming measures. Even though more than a century of an emphasis on traffic enforcement hasn’t managed to reduce deaths on the streets and highways.

 

International

Introducing folding tires for folding bikes, and baby onesie bodysuits for your future Tour de France champ.

Cyclist ranks last year’s best bike books. Evidently they haven’t managed to find a copy of Peter Flax’s excellent Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle over there in the UK.

A British bike rider calls a security guard “an absolute hero” for successfully fighting off a bike thief using an angle grinder to steal his bike, even as the guard got badly cut up in the process.

A multiple UK national cycling champ says it just feels wrong that riding a bicycle is more dangerous than stepping off a cliff with wings strapped to your back.

Brompton can’t launch their new ebike line because the controllers they need are busy being used for Ukrainian military drones.

The Cycling Embassy of Denmark is inviting urban planners, decision-makers and bike activists to Copenhagen for May’s Bikeable City Masterclass to learn how to incorporate Danish cycling solutions into their own cities.

One of India’s most successful stars was one of us, though she may not have remembered it for awhile, after she suffered shirt-term memory loss falling from her bicycle while filming a classic Bollywood film.

An Australian university lecturer says a pair of Dutch and Chinese studies show ebikes pose a higher risk of death than other bicycles, when controlling the data for usage rates and mileage. Which probably shouldn’t surprise anyone, especially when throttle-controlled virtual electric motorcycles are lumped in with comparatively slower ped-assist ebikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Recently retired Dutch pro Michael Mørkøv says the idea that cycling’s top performers are doping is inconceivable. Although it’s sadly quite conceivable for those of us who lived through doping’s golden era.

Speaking of dopers, Lance might want to come out of retirement, now that the new Enhanced Games will offer a doping-friendly alternative to the Olympics where it’s not only accepted, but encouraged.

Former Slovakian superstar Peter Sagan is exchanging his cycling shoes for dancing slippers to compete in the country’s equivalent of Dancing With the Stars.

 

Finally…

Where the hell do bike model names come from, anyway? Now you, too, can turn your favorite bicycle into a front-loading bucket bike.

And nothing like riding the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest every 2.85 days for a hundred straight days.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

If you’re thinking about riding in these winds, don’t. Seriously.

January 7, 2025 / / 3 comments

My internet service has been going in and out all night, which is what happens when the cable company insists on stringing overhead wires in wind prone areas.

And the power’s not looking much better at the moment, so let’s make this quick.

If you’re in the LA area, and thinking about riding your bike in these winds, don’t.

The National Weather Service has described these winds as life-threatening, and they’re not kidding.

We’re seeing hurricane force winds throughout the LA area, particularly near mountains and canyons, which can easily blow large objects through the air, and knock down branches and power lines.

I’ve also had sudden gusts of winds knock me off my bike, and blow me across multiple lanes of traffic.

And trust me, that ain’t fun.

Then there’s the multiple fires spreading across the area, which can erupt suddenly and spread a lot faster than you can ride away.

In addition, the smoke from these fires is highly toxic, and poses a significantly greater risk if you’re exercising and breathing deeply. So if you can smell smoke, don’t ride.

Period.

There’s also the problem of multiple road closures, including PCH and the hills in Pacific Palisades, as well as around Eaton Canyon and Sun Valley. Which means that even if you do decide to chance it, you may find your usual route shut down.

Not to mention your escape route, if you need one.

On the other hand, if you have to evacuate, your bike makes a much better choice in an emergency than a motor vehicle, as hundreds of drivers trying to escape the Palisades fire learned the hard way yesterday.

Particularly after authorities had to use a bulldozer to clear a path for emergency vehicles through all the cars abandoned by drivers who couldn’t get out. (Thanks to Larry Kawalec for the link.)

The good news it, this is predicted to let up by Wednesday night, and be over by Thursday night.

So stay home, stay safe, and I’ll see you tomorrow to catch up on anything we missed.

Photo by Cole Keister from Pexels.

Category: General / Tags: , ,
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