Tag Archive for bicycling deaths

13-year old gets max for thrill-killing bike riding man, and brokering peace between fire departments and safety advocates

April 18, 2025 / / No comments
Day 108 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A 13-year old Albuquerque boy will spend the next eight years behind bars, after he was sentenced to the maximum penalty for second-degree murder.

The boy pled guilty yesterday for the thrill-kill death of a 63-year old engineer at Sandia National Laboratories last May as the victim was riding his bike to work.

Johnathan Overbay admitted he was driving a stolen car with two other boys, ages 11 and 16, when they intentionally crashed it into the victim while recording it on video, apparently just for the hell of it.

As a minor, the most he could be sentenced to was being imprisoned until he turns 21.

But since he was tried as an adult, his record is unlikely to be sealed, and will follow him for the rest of his life.

He was just 12 at the time of the killing.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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Calbike writes that there’s no reason for firefighters and street safety advocates to be at odds, since we both want the same thing.

There is a growing body of evidence showing how bike lanes and other street design changes can save the lives of cyclists and pedestrians, but there isn’t a lot of data on the impact of bikeways on emergency response times; what little there is appears to show not much difference before and after. (Former Berkeley firefighter, paramedic and EMT Mike) Wilson sees a long-term upside to safer infrastructure for people biking and walking: “If you build the infrastructure in ways that are safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, that infrastructure will get used.” He cited a survey of Berkeley residents that found 27% regularly bike or walk for daily needs, and another 27% would bike or walk if it were safer. To feel safer, 86% of respondents reported wanting concrete-protected bike lanes, and 74% wanted parking-protected bike lanes.

That mode shift would reduce vehicle congestion, which is the biggest access issue for fire and EMS response. “The problem of cars blocking access by fire and EMS equipment, that’s the big impediment when it comes to getting your equipment through,” Wilson said.

Wilson thinks he can get firefighters to talk with, and presumably cooperate with, Calbike and other active transportation advocates about AB 612, which would give fire departments veto power over traffic safety improvements.

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Sacramento claims to be the first US city to use AI-powered cameras on buses to enforce illegal parking in bike lanes .

Which is technically true, since LA’s bus-mounted AI cams, which came first, enforce illegally parked cars in bus lanes, rather than bike lanes. Even though bike riders are allowed to use them.

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

No bias here. A San Diego letter writer says the city can balance its books by charging bike owners for a bicycle license. Although with $258 million in red ink,  those licenses would have to be pretty damned expensive.

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Local 

Don’t forget tomorrow’s Streets Are For Everyone bike ride and protest to mark the 3rd anniversary of Andrew Jelmert’s death at the hands of a speeding hit-and-run driver on Griffith Park’s dangerous Crystal Springs Drive — and demand the safety improvements Los Angeles has promised, but failed to deliver.

 

State

Mountain bike legend Gary Fisher’s new startup is ready to introduce a new ultra-lightweight bicycle that can recharge in just 15-minutes using a standard electrical outlet. Although ultra-lightweight in the world of ebikes means it still weighs 30 pounds.

A ten-year old San Bernardino girl is set to graduate from Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa with two associate degrees, saying that for her, learning is “almost as fun as playing outside or riding a bike or whatever.”

Former New York transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan wrote that people typically fight improvements, then fight to keep them. That seems to be what’s happening in San Francisco, where people who fought plans to make the city’s Great Highway its newest car-free park are among its most frequent users.

A 55-year old woman suffered major injuries in Tuolumne County, in what police initially thought was a hit-and-run, but it turned out she lost control on a curve while riding with a group of competitive cyclists.

 

National

Good for her. A 34-year old mom learned to ride a bike for the first time so she could ride with her six-year old daughter.

Utah’s Zion National Park has a 15 mph radar unenforced speed limit, and you have to pull to the side and stop completely to allow shuttle buses to pass.

Carbondale, Colorado-based Revel Bikes is the latest bikemaker to go belly up, notifying dealers they are shutting down operations, as financial pressures force them to relinquish ownership to their bank despite just launching three new models. It happens, unfortunately. I wrote advertising for Alesis, which was forced into bankruptcy just days after successfully launching nine new models at the music industry’s NAMM trade show, when their bank cut off funding.

Missouri State University proves it can be done, reducing bike thefts to just five last semester thanks to a new security system. Of course, they only has 13 bikes stolen the previous semester, but still. 

Apparently, it’s perfectly legal for a cop to slash bicycle and trailer tires if they belong to homeless people, after a San Antonio, Texas police officer walked with a lousy 30-day suspension for doing exactly that, despite the dastardly deed being captured on his body-worn camera.

Still more tariff news, as Wisconsin-based Trek has informed retailers they will be raising their prices immediately due to the increase in import taxes.

A new photo essay reveals what it’s like to ride a bicycle in Minneapolis.

A Bronx website recommends the New York borough’s most beautiful bike lanes, for your next trip to the Big Apple.

Sad news from Florida, where Arnold “Arni” Nashbar, the founder of mail-order bicycle parts retailer Bike Nashbar, died at his Florida home earlier this week; he was 83.

 

International

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vision to “unleash a nation of cyclists” seems to have hit a plateau, with bicycling rates failing to match those heady pre-pandemic days, despite the country’s investment in bikeways.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list, as Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website recommends riding the Wild Atlantic Way along Ireland’s west coast, from the rugged cliffs of Donegal to the pristine beaches of Kerry. Seriously, you had me at “Ireland.”

Here’s one more for your bike bucket list, as Italy has just finished a short rail trail from Monte Mario to the shadow of Rome’s Vatican Dome — or maybe between Circus Maximus and the Colosseum, if you prefer.

The New York Times examines the new campaign to get people in the Netherlands to wear bike helmets, saying the Dutch love their bicycles, but helmets, not so much.

Speaking of the Netherlands, the country’s traffic safety efforts seem to be working, with traffic deaths down 42% since 2000.

Bollywood star Salmon Khan walked a group of children into a sporting goods store, and bought new bicycles for them as someone recorded it on video, allowing the kids to pick out the bikes they wanted.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the UK, where a 55-year old man was killed competing in an East London velodrome when he collided with another cyclist, and went over his handlebars.

Olympic road race champ Kristen Faulkner gets her gold, courtesy of Cannondale.

 

Finally…

Why run down bike riders with a car when you can just electrocute them? Your next bike lock could work like a bear trap, but hopefully less painful.

And your next bike kit could represent your favorite football, uh, soccer team.

As long as your favorite side is Liverpool.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Prosecutor contradicts Magnus White killer’s claim she hadn’t been drinking, and LA approves minimal HLA minimums

April 4, 2025 / / Comments Off on Prosecutor contradicts Magnus White killer’s claim she hadn’t been drinking, and LA approves minimal HLA minimums
Day 94 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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She was drinking before the fatal crash.

Or maybe she wasn’t.

Yeva Smilianska testified on the witness stand Thursday that she was busy working, and so wan’t drinking, the night before she admittedly killed 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White outside Boulder, Colorado.

Her former friend and coworker, Nereida “Neddy” Cooper, testified that Smilianska actually had the night off, and was drinking at the bar they both worked at until it closed. Then they went to her home and shared an open bottle of whiskey until they both went to bed around 6:30 am.

Less than six hours later, Smilianska was standing on the side of the road where White lay dying next to his mangled bicycle.

Her lawyer claims Smilianska isn’t responsible for White’s death because she fell asleep behind the wheel before drifting onto the shoulder. Smilianska told the court she was sleepy but sober at the time of the crash, and police at the scene said she didn’t appear to be intoxicated.

She also says she was unemotional at the scene because she “completely turned off” after seeing White lying behind her.

But prosecutors introduced a pair of text messages Smilianska sent hours after the crash, which she said she didn’t remember.

I don’t think so but we have to remember I was drunk as well. To be honest, when you guys were gone I continued to drink and honestly I don’t even remember how I drove myself home. That’s fucked up.

But anyway the drinks you just told me sound like enough to get drunk…

Nah I’m fine. I’m just scared of myself cos I drove SO drunk I don’t even remember it. My whole way home. I was mad and I really fucked up…

Which kinda makes it seem like she was drinking to me, but I’m not on the jury.

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The Los Angeles Street Standards Committee approved the proposed minimum standards for street projects impacted by Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the previously approved mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

Which matters because the minimum is probably all we can count on from the city these days.

Advocates questioned the use of shared bus/bike lanes where separate bus lanes and painted bike lanes are called for, as well as the city’s failure to define crosswalks for Pedestrian Enhanced Districts.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times offers a good recap of the debate over whether Measure HLA applies to the Vermont Transit Corridor, explaining both the scope of the Metro project, and the arguments for why HLA does and doesn’t apply to Metro.

Transit advocates argue that the exclusion from the Vermont Avenue project ignores voters’ mandate to follow the mobility plan, which calls for improved bike lanes on that street; Metro and city officials have countered that the measure applied only to the city of Los Angeles — not to the countywide transit agency.

“We don’t think it’s legal,” said Michael Schneider, who heads Streets for All, the advocacy group behind the ballot measure. “HLA is a city measure, and Metro is a county agency, but Vermont is owned by the City of Los Angeles, and the city is working with Metro. They’re permitting it, they’re providing technical expertise, they’re spending staff time and money. This falls under Measure HLA, which requires a bike lane on Vermont.”

However, Metro has threatened to sue if the county agency is required to comply with the city ordinance, arguing that adding bike lanes to the project would delay it five years and require them to acquire additional properties along the route.

Move LA Executive Director Eli Lipmen summed up the whole debate as succinctly as anyone.

Lipmen said that more people will be hurt if Metro does not allow for new protected bike lanes in its plans and hopes there is still time for conversation

“Vermont needs to happen and needs to happen as soon as possible. We cannot delay this project another second,” Lipmen said.

He’s right.

On both counts.

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A crowdfunding campaign for a Bakersfield mother killed by a pickup driver while riding her bike last month has raised a paltry $700 of the relatively modest $5,000 goal.

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

No bias here. The Sausalito city council turned down a half-million dollar grant to install bike lanes on the most ridden road in Marin County, even though it’s on the city’s High Injury Network and in alignment with city policies, deeming the project “too controversial” thanks to the torches and pitchforks of the “change nothing” crowd.

No bias here, either. The governor of Idaho signed a pair of bills redefining roads as “for the primary benefit of motor vehicles,” while restricting where standalone bike and pedestrian projects can be built, and prohibiting projects that would narrow roadways.

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Local 

Claremont conditionally approved an ordinance to allow ebikes on the city’s Claremont Hills Wilderness Park trail; it will come back up for a second, final vote on April 22nd.

 

State

San Diego County Crime Stoppers is pulling out all the stops in the hunt for the driver, and the car, who killed an ebike rider in a Clairemont hit-and-run last weekend. Which is exactly how it should be, and exactly what Los Angeles doesn’t do.

She gets it. The head of the Mineta Transportation Institute asks if the convenience of turning right on red is really worth the risk to bike riders and pedestrians.

San Francisco approved plans for a parking-protected bike lane on Oak Street leading to Golden Gate Park, but will divert riders into a park to make room for turning cars.

 

National

People For Bikes considers the effects of Trump’s tariffs on the bike industry — not to mention what you’ll pay for your next bike and parts — with import taxes as high as 46% on Asian nations, where most bicycles are made. Best advice is to buy what you can now, before prices go up and availability goes down.

 

International

Momentum lists the six most bike-friendly North American airports, none of which are LAX. Or any other California airport south of San Francisco.

London’s bicycling and walking commissioner says it would be “extremely unpleasant” to have thousands of bicyclists riding through a newly pedestrianized Oxford Street, but bike riders complain about the “weak and wiggly” alternatives provided for bikes. Although the real news is that London has a bicycling and walking commissioner, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

British custom framebuilder Feather Cycles is the latest bike brand to bike the dust, as the owner says he could make more money as a food delivery rider.

Stars and Stripes recommends resources for long-distance bicycling through Europe, most of which apply to us non-service members, too.

Around 80 university students are riding nearly 800 miles to Strasbourg, France to call for European Union support for a Serbian anti-graft project to halt corruption in the Balkan nation, as it seeks membership in the 27-nation bloc.

 

Competitive Cycling

The teams competing for this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift were announced Thursday, including all 15 WorldTour teams, along with seven teams from the ProTour.

Two-time world and Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel is expected to return to racing at Switzerland’s Tour de Romandie at the end of this month, after suffering multiple fractures, dislocated collarbone and bruised lungs when he was doored by a Belgian postal van driver in December.

You know the Lotto cycling team missed the mark when their new team kit is best described as “an explosion in a paint factory.”

Velo will live stream all the races in the USA CRITS series this spring. Which may the only way you’ll see them, since most of the races are in Georgia, and all are in the South other than a single race in Nebraska.

 

Finally….

Seriously, who knows the best bikes better than Brit GQ?  You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you just take a coffee break.

And that feeling when they raised the speed limit, but you could still get ticket for going too fast.

In a bike race.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Metro pulls plug on Sepulveda Corridor meetings, and killer of 17-year old US Cycling Team’s Magnus White on trial

April 2, 2025 / / One comment
Day 92 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Cancel that.

Metro has pulled the plug on this week’s meetings to consider rail proposals for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor.

So if you were planning to attend on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, make other plans.

However, the agency insists this project remains a high priority, and the meetings will be rescheduled soon.

Image from Metro’s Sepulveda Transit Corridor website. 

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A Denver TV station reports on the testimony from day two of trial over the death of 17-year old National Team member Magnus White.

The defense admits she killed him, but argues she isn’t guilty of the reckless driving charge because she was asleep at the wheel at the time of the crash.

Although it seems kinda reckless to drive when she was too tired to stay awake in the first place.

Several of the witnesses report that 25-year old Ukrainian immigrant Yeva Smilianska didn’t seem disturbed following the crash, acting unnaturally calm until she finally saw White laying behind her gasping for breath.

One officer said she didn’t seem to understand what had happened, while another investigator said she told him the “steering wheel stopped listening to me.”

Prosecutors also showed photos of White’s badly mangled bike, which the station included in their story.

But make sure you really want to see it, or read what the witnesses testified to before you click on the link.

Because I felt kind of sick after reading it. And not because of Covid.

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In news that shouldn’t surprise anyone, new Caltrans data made available by a 2023 law showed the state transportation agency focused on highways, and paint over protection for bicycles, in recent years.

That’s despite the agency’s ostensible commitment to Complete Streets.

According to Calbike,

Caltrans built 554 new highway miles over the period covered by this data, at a time when California needs to reduce, not increase, vehicle miles traveled. At the same time, the agency built just 160 miles of bikeways, more than half of which were Class 3 lanes where bike riders share the lane with motor vehicle traffic.

While the SB 695 data doesn’t provide enough detail to fully understand Complete Streets projects on state routes, this first release of data shows that Caltrans isn’t doing enough to meet California’s goals to increase biking and walking.

Well, duh.

Anyone who’s tried to ride a bike on state roadways could tell you that.

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It’s happened again.

According to a Sparks, Nevada TV station, a road-raging Reno resident faces an attempted murder charge for using his car as a weapon to deliberately ram a man on a bicycle, leaving the 35-year old victim with life threatening injuries.

Security video shows the driver intentionally target the victim at a high rate of speed, apparently angered by a “minor altercation” that came after he nearly hit the victim a few minutes earlier.

Another reminder that every angry driver is already armed with a deadly weapon, if they decide to use it.

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Seriously?

A sheriff’s deputy in Florida’s Broward County isn’t facing an investigation, despite bike cam video showing him using his patrol car as a weapon to knock a teenaged boy off his bicycle before tacking the kid,

The deputy was responding to a report of juveniles “riding bicycles recklessly and engaging in unlawful activity,” neither of which would justify the use of deadly force when the boy wasn’t threatening anyone’s safety.

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

The home of the Idaho Stop could take a big step backward, with two bills on the governor’s desk that would restrict bicycle and pedestrian improvements to a secondary role in highway projects, as well as banning any projects that would result in a narrower roadway.

Welsh bike advocates warn that the country could risk missing the opportunity to get more people on bicycles, as the government shifts its focus to prioritizing walking over biking.

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Local  

The Los Angeles Street Standards Committee will vote Thursday to approve the minimum standards to implement Measure HLA. Which is probably exactly what the city will implement, the bare minimum. And raise your hand if you didn’t know the city even had a Street Standards Committee.

 

State

Calbike reports they’ve joined the Clean RIDES Network, a seven state coalition working to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

San Diego’s ABC10 reports that 21 people were killed in traffic collisions in the San Diego area last month, adding to the 39 killed in January and February. In other words, they did exactly what every local news outlet should do by reporting the dangers we all face on the streets, regardless of how we get around. 

 

National

The husband of the Oregon woman killed by a DEA agent while she was riding her bike has filed suit against the Oregon State Police and state Department of Justice, alleging lapses in training, supervision and policy led to her death.

Washington State is working on connecting existing trails into a network of bicycle highways; meanwhile, Calbike is supporting a bill to bring the first bicycle highways to California.

Thirteen states have now adopted some form of the Idaho Stop Law, aka Stop As Yield, after New Mexico passed a law allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs when it’s safe to do so.

The University of Iowa student newspaper profiles the organizations working to make the local community safer for people on bicycles.

Streetsblog talks with Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin about the bi-partisan Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Act to allow full federal funding of active transportation safety projects, arguing that “the carnage is intolerable.” Which seems a little strange considering how long our government has already tolerated it.

 

International

Your next Mercedes AMG F1-inspired ebike could have a speedometer that tops out at 60 mph, even though the bike itself is legally required to top out at 20.

The 24-year old Moroccan man who rode his bike to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup is now riding from the tip of Argentina to Alaska, with plans to stop in Mexico, the US and Canada for next year’s World Cup along the way.

UK disability advocates Wheels For Wellbeing calls for the country to reconsider the recent ban on non-folding ebikes on trains, since they can be used as mobility devices. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

The Dutch ambassador rode his bike more than 100 miles to the heart of Bangladesh tiger country to highlight the need to save the endangered animals.

Velo offers highlights from the Taipei Cycle Show, including a nifty little electric tire pump, arguing that some of the tech there could rival the bike industry’s best.

A pair of Aussie researchers consider the problem of drivers who look, but fail to see people on bicycles, and what can be done to keep us safe.

 

Competitive Cycling

Read all about it, in excruciating detail, as a new medical paper details Egan Bernal’s “remarkable recovery” from the training crash that nearly killed him, or could have left him paralyzed. But didn’t.

 

Finally….

It’s almost plausible that Paris is confining cars to protected lanes and turning traffic lanes over to bikes. Or that Ontario’s anti-bike premier is jogging in the bike lanes he wants to rip out.

And apparently, bikes can use the full LAN.

You know, in case you need to print something when you’re riding.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Parking expert Donald Shoup died, council committees consider HLA ordinance, and killing couple riding bikes just no big deal

February 10, 2025 / / Comments Off on Parking expert Donald Shoup died, council committees consider HLA ordinance, and killing couple riding bikes just no big deal
Day 41 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let’s get the worst news out of the way first.

Beloved UCLA Distinguished Urban Planning Research Professor Donald Shoup has passed away.

Known to friends and fans as Shoup Dogg, Donald Should gained fame among urbanists, traffic planners and advocates with his 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking, which established him as one of the world’s leading experts on parking, and the hidden costs it imposes on builders and cities.

https://bsky.app/profile/mnolangray.bsky.social/post/3lhnbxzgt7s2c

Here’s how Shoup was described in his bio by the university.

Donald Shoup is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. His research has focused on transportation, public finance, and land economics.

In his 2005 book, The High Cost of Free Parking, Shoup recommended that cities should (1) charge fair market prices for on-street parking, (2) spend the revenue to benefit the metered areas, and (3) remove off-street parking requirements. In his 2018 edited book, Parking and the City, Shoup and 45 other academic and practicing planners examined the results in cities that have adopted these three reforms. The successful outcomes show that parking reforms can improve cities, the economy, and the environment.

Shoup is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and an Honorary Professor at the Beijing Transportation Research Center. He has received the American Planning Association’s National Excellence Award for a Planning Pioneer and the American Collegiate Schools of Planning’s Distinguished Educator Award.

But that doesn’t begin to do him justice, starting with the love his former students and associates held for him, along with virtually anyone else he came in contact with.

Myself included.

I always found Shoup engaging and helpful, whether in person or on social media. Whenever I reached out to him, he responded immediately, offering me a Cliff Notes education in urban planning, while challenging me to do my own research.

Much of what I know today today about parking and urban planning I learned from him.

But more than that, Shoup has done more than anyone else to get cities to reform their parking policies, including eliminating parking minimums, here in the US and around the world.

The world will be poorer place without Shoup, but far better off because of him.

He was 86.

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No surprise here.

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto has come back with a proposed ordinance setting minimum standards for Measure HLA.

And advocates have found it, well, lacking.

The city has been slow walking the legally required implementation of HLA — which requires the city to build out the ten-year old mobility plan whenever a street gets resurfaced — since its passage by an overwhelming margin nearly a year ago.

Streetsblog reports the ordinance will come up before a joint session of the Transportation and Public Works Committees at City Hall, starting at 8:30 this Wednesday morning.

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton,

Item 4 (council file 24-0173) includes the City Attorney’s draft implementation ordinance, a new law essentially designed to specify how the city will comply with Measure HLA. Some advocates anticipate that the ordinance will be helpful to remove some city department excuses currently blocking HLA upgrades. But the ordinance also attempts to water down some parts of HLA, including introducing a few loopholes where the city could opt out of some improvements required under Measure HLA. It also sets up a cumbersome extra appeal process that would likely mean serious delays before the city improves streets. The item also looks to codify current relatively driver-centric outreach standards for HLA upgrades that “may result in closures or disruption of access to the public right-of-way.” That “access” is not the everyday dangers/barriers faced by people walking, in wheelchairs, or bicycling – it’s a euphemism meaning repurposing space currently for driving or parking cars. Safe streets advocates face Hobson’s choice on this one: push for modifications hoping for a somewhat stronger ordinance (changes could mean sending it back to the City Attorney for months further delaying delayed safety upgrades) or get a weak city processes approved that could facilitate some improvements.

The committees will also consider a requesting preliminary budget for implementing HLA on the next item.

Meanwhile, Streets For All called out specific problems with another separate, but related, proposed HLA implementation document that specifies facility minimums.

While most of the minimums make sense, there are some that either violate HLA or have the potential to violate it. Specifically, the city should:

1. Not include shared bike/bus lanes as acceptable for the Bicycle Lane Network. Bus lanes are bus infrastructure that brave cyclists can also use; they are not a substitute for actual bike lanes.

2. State how they will accomplish speed, volume, and crossing control on the Bicycle Enhanced Network (neighborhood streets); right now, the draft just says they will implement it, but not it should specific treatments such as speed humps, traffic circles, chicanes, etc.

3. Include basic improvements for the “moderate” tier on the Transit Enhanced Network; currently, they have state “none” are required. Improved bus stops, better signage, and transit signal priority are basic things that should be included.

4. Bus lanes should be implemented as envisioned in the Mobility Plan 2035. Currently, City Planning suggests the City can forgo the implementation of a bus lane on a TEN street if the bus lane “would not support a transit operator’s planned or existing service pattern.”

Streets For All asks you to attend City Planning’s virtual meeting at 6 pm this Thursday, basing your comments on the points above, as well as emailing your comments to City Planning.

If any of that seems confusing, it was for me, too. Thanks to Joe Linton for helping me clarify what I had originally written. 

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Life is cheap in Napa County, where the driver who killed an Oregon couple as they rode their bikes on vacation got less than one lousy year behind bars.

Nike executive Christian Deaton, 52, and 48-year old Nike designer Michelle Deaton were riding on Silverado Trail in October of 2023 when they were struck by unsecured lumber in the back of a truck driven by 57-year old Porfirio Sanchez.

Sanchez had faced up to four years behind bars, but was sentenced to just 364 days in jail after pleading to two counts of vehicular manslaughter; prosecutors dismissed charges of felony hit-and-run, providing police with false information and altering evidence as part of a plea deal.

He will have to serve just over half of his overly lenient sentence before being released.

Proving once again that killing two innocent people is just no big deal, as long as they’re riding bicycles.

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No surprise here, either.

Singletracks reports a number of Los Angeles-area mountain bike and gravel trails were destroyed in the recent Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires.

According to the magazine, the Mount Wilson, Mount Lowe, Middle Sam Merrill and Sunset Ridge trails above Altadena were burned, along with the Backbone, Rogers Road and Sullivan Canyon trails near the Palisades.

Others, such as the famed El Prieto trail, were also damaged.

While some may re-open as early as May, it will take years to fully recover from the damage.

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Traffic violence hits a little too close to home for the folks at Bike Talk this week, and Walk ‘n Rollers steps up to help kids affected by last month’s LA Fires.

biketalk.org/2025/02/bike…@bikinginla.bsky.social @pedalingpast60.bsky.social @nyc.streetsblog.org

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-02-10T00:33:19.454Z

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

Miami Beach becomes the latest city to rip out bike lanes, removing the bike lanes from one-way, pedestrian-friendly Ocean Drive, and returning it to a pedestrian unfriendly two-way street. Because cars.

Nice guy. The UK’s Health Minister was fired after it was revealed that he had sent racist, sexist and otherwise offensive messages on WhatsApp — including his sincere wish that a constituent named Nick would get run over by a garbage truck while riding on a local bikeway.

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

Nice guy, part two. A 31-year old British man will spend a lousy four months behind bars for ramming his bicycle into the legs of his former girlfriend, knocking her to the ground and calling her obscene names while standing over her.

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Local  

Seriously? Confused Claremont drivers can’t figure out how green bike lanes and bike boxes work.

 

State

SlashGear follows up on what happened after the noseless, gel-padded VSEAT bike seat lured two of the Sharks on Shark Tank to invest two hundred grand for a 25% equity, saying the company founded by a California woman and her trainer is still around, selling the unique seats online while promising to alleviate crotch pain for $119.

A San Diego letter writer says if you really want to keep bike riders safe, enforce the damn traffic laws, already.

An 18-year old Fresno man was hospitalized in critical condition with a head injury after he was struck by a driver when he allegedly rode his bike through a red light.

Once again, a police chase has led to another mass casualty crash, after six people were hospitalized, two critically, when a driver fleeing from the cops crashed into a San Francisco restaurant’s outdoor seating area while people were watching the Super Bowl.

 

National

The US Bicycle Route System has added another 3,568 miles to its cross-country network, bringing the total to over 23,000 miles, nearly halfway to its goal of 50,000 miles.

Seattle Bike Blog writer Tom Fucoloro, author of Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from Behind the Handlebars, says if the city wants to challenge the dominance of motor vehicles, it “needs support from the people pulling every lever of power.”

A writer for Streets Minnesota says ebikes can mean greater freedom for people with limited vision, for whom driving can be a challenge, if they can do it at all. Thanks to BikeLA Executive Director Eli Akira Kaufman for the heads-up.

America’s leading anti-urbanist has come down strongly against congestion pricing, as President Trump announced plans to kill the program in New York City, even though it has already proven successful in reducing congestion and improving safety. Which doesn’t bode well for implementing it in Los Angeles for the next four years.

A Maryland tourist has filed a $1.6 million lawsuit after she suffered “significant” injuries when a Virginia Beach, Virginia cop doored her without looking as she rode her bike in a bike lane.

 

International

The Velo podcast talks with a British Columbia bike shop owner about the trials and travails of just trying to earn a profit and stay in business these days.

That’s more like it. A 31-year old British woman will spend the next six years and eight months behind bars for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle while she was driving distracted and “persistently” surfing Instagram, Facebook and SnapChat behind the wheel, as well as texting.

A writer in the UK thought a ride with a 66-year old grandmother would be relaxing, until the world class masters cyclist dropped him like a sack of spuds.

More proof that bicycling is good for you, as a new Finnish study shows people who bike to work tend to take fewer sick days off from work, along with a reduced risk of long-term absences due to illness.

Bicyclists in Budapest, Hungary will now enjoy a connected, protected bicycle highway on the city’s Grand Blvd.

A Nigerian evangelical minister braved nine days of bad roads, crashes and bigass snakes to ride his bike nearly 400 miles across the country to wish the General Overseer of the Church a happy 83rd birthday.

A new Chinese study shows a one-size-fits-all approach to bicycle and motorcycle thefts won’t work, because bicycle and motorcycle thefts are clustered in different areas, under different circumstances; surprisingly, it also showed that the proportion of low-income residents in a given area led to more motorcycle thefts, but fewer bicycle thefts. Although it would be interesting to see if those results would hold over here. 

 

Competitive Cycling

The peloton put on the brakes and called a halt to the third stage of France’s Étoile de Bessèges in protest after several cars and trucks made their way onto the course, compressing riders into a single lane on the roadway.

Belgium’s Soudal-Quick Step development team has pulled out of the upcoming Tour of Rwanda over fears the armed conflict in neighboring Congo will spread.

Sixty-one-year old Vietnamese cyclist Hoang Hai Nam won that country’s first gold medal at the 2025 Asian Road Cycling Championships in the over-60 men’s individual time trial while riding a borrowed bike, after the Vietnamese team’s bicycles and gear were burned in a truck fire.

Bystanders came to the rescue of a New Zealander competing in the country’s annual coast-to-coast run, kayak and bike race after he crashed his bike just three miles into the 34-mile bicycle stage, loaning him a foldie from their camper when his derailleur snapped completely several miles later.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to crash your speeding ebike into a cop. Your new smart handlebars could have been funded through OnlyFans photos — yes, that OnlyFans.

And who needs spandex when you’ve got chain mail?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Car trashed after driver zooms through teens on bikes, and CA man gets 12 years for killing bike rider while fleeing cops

January 7, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 7 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

The LAPD is looking into a viral incident that occurred over the weekend.

An impatient road-raging driver in a Mercedes Benz forced his way through a group of teenage bike riders on Olympic Blvd.

The kids appeared to be taking part in a rideout, taking up every lane on one side of the roadway.

While the law allows them to take the full right lane, they can’t legally occupy the entire roadway unless they’re riding at the normal speed of traffic.

Something the cops seemed to be more concerned with than the driver who dangerously and illegally swerved in and through them, sometimes running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road, all while blaring his horn.

Or at least that’s how the single quote cited by the Los Angeles Times makes it appear.

The LAPD responded to a call for service at Olympic Boulevard and Highland Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, but when officers arrived the caller wasn’t there , according to LAPD Officer Rosario Cervantes.

“We’re aware of the video, but detectives are investigating exactly what occurred,” Cervantes said. “There shouldn’t be that many bicycles on the road blocking traffic, so that would be unsafe, but I don’t know exactly what transpired.”

Never mind that the driver could have easily killed someone with his dangerous antics.

On the other hand, video appears to show a violent mob attacking the same car in a parking garage a few minutes later, repeatedly stomping and kicking the Mercedes, and shattering the windshield as a man appears to flee while covering his head.

Which is another way of saying no one appears to be entirely innocent here.

Thanks to Dr. Grace Peng and Steven Hansen for the heads-up.

………

That’s more like it.

A Lancaster, California man will spend the next 12 years behind bars after killing a man riding in a Camarillo bike lane last July, as he was fleeing from police at speeds up to 100 mph.

Or make that six years, since California inmates seldom serve more than half their sentences.

Makare Darnell Toliver was being pursued by Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies on July 27th, suspected of robbing a man at gunpoint in a hotel parking lot, when he slammed into Ventura resident Robert Pierret while swerving into the bike lane on Central Ave to pass a slower car.

Pierret died after being taken to a local hospital.

Toliver continued to flee after hitting Pierret’s bicycle. He and his passenger were finally taken into custody after crashing into another car.

Ventura’s KEYT-TV reports Toliver pled guilty to a host of charges and sentencing enhancements, including 2nd degree robbery and assault with a semi-automatic weapon, as well as hit-and-run and evading police, both while causing a death.

Although the plea bargain makes it seem like armed robbery and fleeing from the cops were a bigger deal than the death of an innocent human being.

Hopefully Toliver will turn his life around behind bars. Because needlessly throwing away one life is enough.

………

Apparently, the Coachella Valley is no safer for people in golf carts than those on bicycles, after a 78-year old man was killed when the golf cart he was operating was struck by a driver as he crossed an intersection.

Although the local NBC station bizarrely considers that a vehicle versus pedestrian crash.

Just like the two men who were killed while riding bicycles in the area last week, who also weren’t pedestrians.

………

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

An Arizona candidate for Father of the Year faces charges for beating up two ebike-riding kids and stealing their cellphones, after evidently becoming enraged watching them swerve between vehicles — all while his own son watched from the car. Something tells me that kid is really proud of his dad right now. Or maybe not.

No bias here. The host of a new BBC report questions whether “ebikes are a new menace in need of tighter regulation,” after previously penning a column complaining that e-cargo bike prices are just too darn high.

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

A Florida sheriff’s deputy used his patrol car as a weapon to take down a fleeing suspect on a bicycle after the man flashed a gun at him while riding. Although someone should tell the Miami Herald it was the deputy, not the patrol car, who actually decided to ram him.

………

Local  

The Sierra Club celebrates the 40 people who joined them, Active SGV and Amigos de los Rios for a “16-mile community bike ride for all ages and skill levels.”

 

State

Chula Vista has closed a two-mile segment of the popular and scenic Sweetwater Bicycle Path & Promenade due to construction of a new convention center.

 

National

A new book from a 9/11 fire captain relates his journey by bicycle across the US to raise money for Ukraine, after recovering from knee replacement surgery on both legs.

The Wall Street Journal says the problem with building bicycles in the US is a reliance on parts made in China, which could be subject to Trump’s threats of even higher tariffs.

The head of a Hawaiian bike advocacy group hopes new laws will help improve safety for people on bicycles — even though all the proposals focus on the potential victims, rather than the people in the big, dangerous machines.

Seattle police detectives discover no one can surveil and take down an armed drug trafficker like the city’s bike cops.

Police in Vail, Colorado recovered nearly 20 high-end bicycles stolen from across the state, all because one theft victim had AirTags secreted on his bikes.

Cleveland is building the city’s first protected bike lane in the downtown area, part of their efforts to build a more comprehensive bike network.

A new Tennessee survey — from a conservative group, no less — finds fully half of the state’s voters support bike lanes on the streets, with only 24% opposed.

 

International

That’s more like it. Officials in an English town rejected complaints by drivers by offering a spirited defense of a new curb-protected bike lane, while some local suggested that anyone complaining should get driving lessons.

A writer for TechRadar tries the new ebike converter kit from the UK’s Skarper, and finds he’s the one converted.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A 56-year old British driver walked without a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that left a 17-year old boy with life-changing injuries — despite having 128 previous traffic convictions and lying to the cops about selling his car — after the judge concludes he’s too old for the current state of the country’s prisons.

The massive investment Paris has made in reshaping the streets to make them more welcoming to bike riders and pedestrians has resulted in a doubling of bicycling rates in just a single year, and the curve is still rising.

 

Competitive Cycling

Good news from Moneywise, which reports that LA-based former pro Phil Gaimon, creator of the popular Worst Retirement Ever videos, thinks he’s finally beaten the outrageous $250,000 in medical bills he received after a 2020 track racing crash that resulted in multiple, potentially life-threatening fractures — something that’s now prohibited by a federal bill protecting consumers from unexpected out-of-network medical bills.

Olympic cycling gold medalist Kristen Faulkner offers her advice for success in business and bike racing, saying to face your fears and focus on what you can control.

Seriously? Pro cyclist Puck Moonen preaches body acceptance, diet and mental health on her Instagram page, but a celeb website reporting on it seems more concerned with her “amazing body.”

 

Finally…

Your next bike could have massive, oversized wheels, with a name like a dinosaur. If you’re going to insult someone, put the damn apostrophe in the right place.

And that feeling when you pop your own dislocated shoulder back in using your bike seat.

More than once.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

CV Link won’t fix Coachella Valley’s deadly streets, an alternative to ghost bikes, and congestion pricing hits NYC – but not LA

January 6, 2025 / / One comment
Welcome to Day 6 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

No, the CV Link alone will not keep bike riders safe in the Coachella Valley.

A pair of reports from the Palm Springs NBC station asks that question about the planned 40-mile dual pathway that will form a loop connecting Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City and other cities throughout the valley.

But as last week’s twin bicycling deaths just five miles apart in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert make clear, the area’s streets remain dangerous for anyone on two wheels.

Too many streets are too wide, with speed limits too high, and offer too little protection for people riding bicycles. Or on foot.

Then again, they aren’t all that safe for people cars, either.

While the CV Link could provide a safer route for recreational riders, it won’t do anything to protect people traveling to and from the pathway, or for bike commuters who have to travel to and through areas unserved by the route.

Meanwhile, faster riders will undoubtedly face complaints from others on the path, and likely spur speed restrictions before long — if it doesn’t already have them — spurring many road riders to return to the streets.

So while the CV Link may offer a pleasant off-road alternative for some riders, it will do nothing to improve safety and reduce traffic violence on the valley’s deadly streets.

And people who walk, run or ride a bike will continue to pay the price.

Graphics taken CV Link website. 

………

Anyone have a suggestion for this commenter?

Actually, the best option would be to finally fix our streets and motor vehicles so they’re not needed anymore.

But until that ever happens, it’s a discussion worth having.

………

Congestion pricing finally began in New York yesterday.

After years of lawsuits and dithering by public officials, the city instituted a $9 charge for people driving into the heart of Manhattan, which will gradually rise in future years.

Despite complaints from motorists, the idea is not to punish drivers, but to reduce traffic congestion while raising millions of dollars for public transportation.

It’s something that has already proven successful in London and throughout Europe, which will inevitably give rise to the usual complaints of this is not (insert city here).

But it’s definitely worth trying.

And Day One reportedly went off without a hitch.

Yet while other major cities move forward with congestion pricing, Los Angeles is slow-walking its own Metro proposal, doing what our leaders do best — studying the idea, in hopes it will just go away.

Even that isn’t scheduled to begin until 2028, though, when a study focusing on central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and the westside will finally launch.

Although they could probably save time by launching a study right now to see if they can find any elected officials willing to stand up to complaints from angry drivers.

………

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

It’s official. The negligent homicide charge has been dropped against a DEA agent who blew through a stop sign, and killed a Salem, Oregon woman riding a bicycle, after a judge ruled he was entitled to federal immunity because he was on the job. Almost as if he was elected president or something. 

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

Probably not the best idea to ride a bike wearing a sex toy on your helmet, while shouting profanities near a church. But you do you.

………

Local  

A new electric mobility device from a Venice, California company claims to be a cross between a BMX and a skateboard.

Ben Affleck may not be one of us, but his 12-year old son is.

 

State

A San Diego writer says forget the state’s new daylighting law, and enforce existing laws against overnight parking in residential neighborhoods, instead. Because who cares if someone dies because a driver couldn’t see them because of someone illegally parking near an intersection, right?

San Diego has finally begun work on the long-planned Normal Street Promenade in the city’s Hillcrest neighborhood, which will include an eight-foot bike path as part of the $30 million project.

 

National

Put yourself through college with a side hustle riding a bike or a scooter.

Ultracyclist Lael Wilcox may have set a world record for riding around the world, but what inspires her are the women she’s met during the Komoot women’s rallies, like last year’s in Arizona.

Half of the people who received a Minnesota voucher for up to $1,500 off the price of a new ebike had incomes over $80,000, while 40% earned over $100k; only 37% went to low-income earners.

A Nashville news channel talks with a local bike courier about how he stays warm in the winter cold, although he says black ice and texting drivers scare him more.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the New Orleans terrorist who plowed through the New Year’s Eve crowd on Bourbon Street in a rented truck, killing 15 people, scouted his attack by riding a bicycle through the city wearing Meta Glasses to record video of the streets.

 

International

A Scottish nonprofit is collecting bicycles to donate to refugees, in order to make them feel more connected to their new community.

A British writer says ebikes can be a good thing, but illegal ebikes, and bikes illegally modified to exceed speed limitations, are too easy to get through the government’s bike-to-work program, even though they’re prohibited.

A beginning bike rider agrees to a point-to-point ride through France, then is shocked to learn she has to ride 112 miles in three day — but finds an ebike makes it easier.

Eighteen “underprivileged and brilliant” Nepalese schoolgirls have received new bicycles to help them continue their education.

A young Vietnamese boy proves pedals actually don’t have to alternate when you ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Newly released information suggests that the crash that killed 25-year old Norwegian pro cyclist André Drege during the Tour of Austria was caused when his rear tire burst after striking a curb.

America’s last remaining Tour de France winner says the rise of doping in the ’90s was what led to his early retirement — and even that wasn’t as bad as what Lance and crew were up to.

Reigning road, gravel, and six-time cyclocross world champ Mathieu van der Poel says he hasn’t really succeeded until he adds the world mountain bike title to his resume, as well.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your next car is an ebike, and that ebike is a car. Now you, too, can ride your very own venomous snake bike.

And nothing clears the street like an assist from a bike-riding dog in a backpack.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Increased charges in Gaudreau brothers deaths, Calbike gets 2025 agenda right, and Glendale boots Brand bike lanes

December 12, 2024 / / One comment

My apologies for last night, when I suffered from an embarrassing case of premature publication, mistakenly hitting the Publish button long before today’s post was ready.

……….

Just 19 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb. 
Yet not one city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it. 

………

It’s Day 14 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Daniel M, James Z and Herb S for their generous donations to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

So what are you waiting for?

Stop what you’re doing and give now! 

………

Now they’re getting serious.

The charges against Sean Higgins, the driver accused in the allegedly drunken crash that killed NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his hockey playing brother, have been upgraded from vehicular homicide to first-degree aggravated manslaughter.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, aggravated manslaughter is defined in the New Jersey’s criminal code as “when a person ‘recklessly causes death under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life.'”

The brothers were in New Jersey for their sister’s wedding, and were riding their bikes on the night of August 29th, when Higgins allegedly tried to pass another car on the right and slammed into the two men on the shoulder of the highway.

Higgins could be sentenced to 10 to 30 behind bars years for each manslaughter count; he also faces additional charges for DUI, hit-and-run, tampering with physical evidence, and reckless driving.

………

Yes, please.

Calbike announced its agenda for the coming year. And this time, it looks to be right on the money.

  • Bicycle Highways — Creating a pilot program to establish numbered highways for bicycles in two major metro areas, allowing for speeds up to 25 mph
  • Shared Streets — Develop a new roadway classification where vulnerable road users would have the right of way at all locations
  • Quick-Build Pilot Program — A program to expedite development and implementation of safe, protected bikeways on the state highway system
  • Bike Omnibus Bill — Including clarifying that bike riders wouldn’t need to signal if they need both hands to control their bicycle
  • Bicycle Safety Stop — Otherwise known as an Idaho Stop, allowing bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields
  • New Bikeway Classification — Create a new Class 5 category for bicycle boulevards
  • Clarifying Ebike Policies — Including making it clear that illegal electric motorcycles aren’t ebikes

Now if they’d just try to do something about the state’s unacceptably high rate of hit-and-run drivers.

………

The Glendale City Council followed Culver City’s lead by overruling staff recommendations, and voting to remove the city’s only protected bike lane — an ill-advised action likely to make them liable for any bicyclist who gets injured on the street after it’s removed.

………

It’s now 357 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

The program is finally scheduled to launch December 18th, so get your application in; Calbike with host a webinar on Monday to go over the application process.

Although to be honest, I’ve kind of lost interest in the whole damn thing.

………

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

A Utah man faces charges for allegedly ramming into a bike rider during a road rage confrontation; the driver swears he was just trying to politely tell the victim to stay in the bike lane when the rider became enraged and broke his side mirror, and he didn’t mean to hit him — even though witnesses say it appeared to be intentional.

No bias here. A New York councilmember called for mandatory ebike registration to combat “The scourge of e-bikes in our streets, on our sidewalks, and even inside our buildings (that) continues to wreak chaos, injure and maim people, and, tragically, take lives,” resulting in 47 deaths in five years; even the Department of Transportation says it’s a bad idea. And even though most victims were killed in battery fires or by drivers while riding ebikes, rather than caused by them. And they continue to lump ped-assist ebikes together with mo-peds and high-speed, throttle-controlled virtual motorcycles.

Brussels, Belgium is banning bicycles and scooters from the city center, known as the Anspachlaan; a bike advocacy group says all bicyclists are being punished for the anti-social behavior of a very few. Which is exactly how it usually works.

………

………

Local  

Metro is finally moving forward with plans to improve transportation for the upcoming LA Olympics, including 14 miles of bus priority lanes, 23 miles of bus corridor enhancements and 60 new Metro Bike Share stations, as well as a number of new first mile/last mile improvements, including new protected bike lanes. Although three and a half years isn’t exactly a lot of lead time to make a number of major changes to the streets.

 

State

An 18-year old San Diego man suffered a broken leg when he was stuck by a hit-and-run driver, while riding his ebike in a bike lane in the North City neighborhood.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a man was killed when he fell off his bicycle, and oncoming “vehicle…failed to avoid colliding with” him. Hats off to the Bakersfield Californian for somehow managing to absolve the driver of any agency and responsibility for killing him. 

Speaking of Bakersfield, a cop with a strong case of windshield bias responded to a traffic calming project by blaming the victims, arguing that even though it succeeded in slowing traffic, that doesn’t necessarily mean fewer crashes because it doesn’t account for pedestrians who step out ten feet in front of drivers, leaving “literally no time for the driver to do anything,” or bike riders “with no lights, wearing black clothing, riding the wrong direction in the bicycle lane.”

 

National

Streetsblog has more on the new handlebar-mounted “dashcam” for bikes being developed by a pair of Arizona universities, which are designed to automatically capture images, location data, and other critical evidence when a vehicle passes dangerously to someone on a bicycle.

A pair of Oklahoma men face charges of 1st-degree murder for shooting a man in the back, after accusing him of stealing a bicycle belonging to one of the men’s 10-year old daughter; witnesses never bothered to call 911 because they didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t want to get involved. As we’ve said many times before, no bicycle is worth a human life. Just let it go, for God’s sake.

Good question. A Massachusetts TV station wants to know why there are utility poles and orange construction barrels in the middle of a new $22 million raised bike lane. Which looks a lot more like a patchwork sidewalk repair job, to be honest.

 

International

Cycling Weekly talks with American adventurer Neal Bayly, cofounder of the Wellspring International Outreach, who recounts memorable rides through Ukraine and Peru, as well as Bhutan’s Tour of the Dragon, described as the world’s toughest single-day mountain bike race; Bayly says he bikes so much his motorcycle buddies are getting pissed off.

Speaking of Cycling Weekly, the magazine says those bigass bike computers are just getting silly.

A Toronto bike advocacy group has filed suit over the new Ontario law that gives the provincial government the final say on local bike lanes, allowing them to remove a number of popular Toronto bike lanes over the objection of local leaders; the group alleges the new law deprives bicyclists of their legal rights to life and security.

Meanwhile, a Toronto bike advocate suffered a broken leg when he was doored while riding in a painted bike lane. Which makes a far better case for improving the city’s bike lanes than removing them.

A Melbourne, Australia radio station considers the eternal question of what if bicycles had to be registered, as the head of a driver’s organization says all road users should pay for the road — even though bike riders already pay for more than our fair share of the roadway, and studies have shown bike registration costs more to operate than it would bring in.

 

Competitive Cycling

Remco Evenepoel is joining with the Belgian Post Office to raise awareness for the dangers of dooring, after suffering multiple fractures and other injuries when he was doored while training in Belgium; the 2022 Vuelta champ aims to get back on his bike in February, and hopes to compete two months later.

 

Finally…

No, bike racks don’t belong in the middle of the sidewalk. Who needs a bike cam when there’s one built into your helmet?

And Colin Jost is one of us, too.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA does squat on speed cams, bike lanes boost property values, and judge in DEA case rules running stop sign “reasonable”

December 6, 2024 / / One comment
Just 25 short days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But not one LA city leader seems to give a damn about it.
Or if they do, they’re not saying anything. 

………

It’s Day 8 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Ken S, Bonnie W, Mark J, Kent S and Mari L for their generous donations to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy your way every day.

So don’t wait. Take just a moment, and donate now! 

………

According to Streetsblog, not one of the six California cities allowed to use speed cams as part of a pilot program to reduce speeding — or seven, counting late addition Malibu — have actually installed any nearly a full year later.

San Jose, San Francisco, Glendale, and Oakland have publicly announced which locations they are considering for the cameras, while the ‘Bu has begun developing a policy and impact report, as required by law.

But is anyone really surprised that Los Angeles doesn’t appear to have done a damn thing so far?

And stop smirking, Long Beach, because you’re in the same sinking boat with us.

Making matters worse, the proposal for the program originated right here in LA as part of our Vision Zero program. You know, back when we actually had a Vision Zero program.

Maybe someday, our current elected leaders with actually give a damn about protecting human lives, at least as much as our previous leaders.

You know, the ones who were great at announcing new programs, without ever actually implementing them.

At least they’ve that last part down.

………

No surprise here, as a new English study has confirmed that bike lanes improve property values, with home prices in Manchester increasing up to 8% after its bikeways went in.

And the closer homes were to a bike lane, the greater the increase, as people were willing to pay more to live close to a bicycle network.

Which could be the best argument yet to overcome the built-in resistance of homeowners to any changes to the local streets in their neighborhood — or to the loss of trees or parking spaces.

As in, “Yes, ma’am, you may have to start using your driveway for its intended purpose, but your home will probably be worth more.”

………

An Oregon man expressed his displeasure after a judge dismissed charges against the DEA agent who killed his wife of 27 years as she rode her bicycle — while wearing a hi-viz vest, and with multiple flashers on her bike — accusing the agent of “playing Russian roulette with his vehicle pointed at the public.”

His comments came in response to the judge’s bizarre conclusion that the agent “reasonably” believed he could safely run a stop sign while pursuing a suspect at 12 mph over the posted speed limit, without lights and siren.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

………

‘Tis the season.

Cycling Weekly offers this year’s Cycling Christmas Gift Guide for the bike rider in your life. And yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to give yourself the perfect gift this year.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website offers “reasonable” Christmas gifts for bicyclists, because unreasonable gifts are just so passé.

One hundred and twelve Raleigh, North Carolina 3rd graders were surprised with new bicycles and helmets for the holidays, after being told they were just going to an assembly.

………

It’s now 351 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, no bias here, as the New Santa Ana website calls the vouchers bad news for public safety, suggesting they’ll be used by “crazy and sometimes criminal juveniles on e-bikes” to further terrorize California residents.

Just wait until they learn about rebates for all those electric cars and Tesla trucks.

………

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

After posting letters in support of a recent badly misguided and misleading opinion piece attacking DC bike lanes, the Washington Post kept their promise to post letters supporting bike lanes and our basic right to survive on the streets. Although they seem to have ignored my suggestion to just link to my piece dismantling the writer’s arguments.

………

………

Local  

Start the New Year right, or at least the Lunar New Year, with the 47th Annual L.A. Chinatown Firecracker, offering a wide range of runs, bike rides and other assorted activities to ring in the Year of the Snake.

 

State

The popular Cathedral Oaks Road bike path in western Goleta now has a shiny new surface, complete with smoother pavement and clearer markings for bicyclists and pedestrians alike.

Streetsblog takes The San Francisco Standard to task for suggesting that Vision Zero is some sort of unachievable utopian fantasy, arguing that other places have reduced traffic deaths to zero, even if San Francisco hasn’t done enough to get there. Actually, Vision Zero is a utopian fantasy as long as cities adopt it without implementing it, somehow expecting traffic deaths to magically go down. And yes, I’m looking at you, Los Angeles.

 

National

Bicycling explains how the wrong bike fit setup could be what’s making your hands go numb when you ride. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.

Sheriff’s deputies in Houston, Texas arrested a 22-year old hit-and-run suspect as she was trying to board a plane to leave the state, just hours after she allegedly killed a man riding a bicycle, then abandoned her car a mile away.

Streetsblog Chicago offers a virtual ride down the city’s new protected bike lane, which was build in a converted parking lane.

 

International

Cycling Weekly explains the differences between the various flavors of gravel riders, even if the lines differentiating them are a little blurry.

Eleven inspirational stories of people who took transformative journeys on their bike. Or maybe twelve, counting the author, who sold her belongings and took a year-long global bike tour.

Momentum introduces the Toronto artist who developed a virtually unwinnable bicycling video game to demonstrate the need for safe bike lanes. And yes, spellcheck, unwinnable is a word, so stop changing the damn thing.

Recently retired Italian cycling champ Domenico Pozzovivo was fined the equivalent of slightly less than 20 bucks for riding side-by-side with another rider while training at Lake Como, which is against the law in the country — but said that after getting hit several times by drivers, “As long as I ride a bike, I will always ride in double file. I prefer to pay a fine than risk my life.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Snopes tracks down the truth about an apocryphal story of a 66-year old Swedish man who earned the nickname “Grandpa Steel” when he won an 1,100-mile bike race, despite being denied entry because he missed 40-year old age limit by a mere 26 years. And finds that yes, an elderly man actually was given the nickname “Stålfarfar,” — or “Steel Grandfather” in English — after finishing first in the 1951 Sverigeloppet race, despite being told he couldn’t compete because of his age. But he was 65, not 66, and wasn’t actually the winner, because you can’t win a race you haven’t entered.

Cycling Up To Date questions whether anything can be done to prevent collisions on training rides, after Remco Evenepoel joined the rapidly growing club of pro cyclists who’ve suffered nasty crashes. I mean, aside from building safer streets, requiring automotive warning and active braking systems, and getting drivers to put down their phones and pay attention to the road in front of them, that is. 

 

Finally…

Avoid the festive faux pas of giving the wrong bike stuff this holiday season. Now you, too, can build your own e-cargo bike using a discarded bike frame.

And seriously, anyone can cross a bridge the easy way.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA on track for record-setting traffic deaths — including 5 previously unreported bicycling deaths, and injuries continue

October 14, 2024 / / Comments Off on LA on track for record-setting traffic deaths — including 5 previously unreported bicycling deaths, and injuries continue
Just 77 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

The graph on the left is from Streets Are For Everyone; you can find a larger version on the link below. 

………

The carnage continues.

And it’s getting worse.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, reports that Los Angeles is on track for its deadliest year on record, as we gear up for next month’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

For those commemorating this solemn occasion in Los Angeles, World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims stings a little more this year. In 2024, LA is once again besieged by traffic violence: 210 people have been killed so far this year on LA’s streets — more traffic deaths than this time last year, which was already the deadliest year for traffic fatalities since 2003, the first year that data’s readily available.

The group goes on to add this.

Crossing the street has never been more dangerous in Los Angeles: motorists killed 112 pedestrians in the first 209 days of this year, or a pedestrian was struck and killed by a motorist every other day — a 1% increase from last year, which was itself a record-setting year for vehicular violence against walkers.

Hit-and-runs also remain frighteningly high: of the 210 fatal car crashes so far this year, 74 of the drivers have left their victims to die in the street, a 10% increase from 2023.

Let that last one sink in.

In over one third of all fatal collisions in Los Angeles — 35.24% — heartless, cowardly drivers left their victims to die alone on the streets.

Unfortunately, the story’s not any better for bicyclists.

According to LAPD statistics, as of the end of August, 15 people have been killed riding their bikes in the City of Angels, a 15% increase over last year.

Most of those fatalities — 73% — have been in the department’s South Bureau.

And just as we expected, we haven’t heard about a number of those crashes. I showed just ten bicycling deaths in Los Angeles at the end of August. Which means either the police failed to publicly report a full third of all bicycling deaths, or the local press failed to report them.

Neither prospect is very comforting. Because if we don’t know what’s happening, we can’t do anything to fix it.

Let alone remember the victims.

But thanks to SAFE for keeping us informed, anyway.

………

Which takes us to the latest bad news on our streets.

A 66-year-old Pasadena man was critically injured when he has struck by an unlicensed driver in a pickup truck while riding his bike in the city Thursday morning; at last report, he remained in critical condition with injuries including a fractured skull.

A teenaged La Mesa boy finally came from the hospital following three pelvic surgeries after he was run over by the driver of a trash truck last month; Caleb Carvalho insists he will walk again, but it could be a couple years before he’s back to normal. A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $73,000 for his medical care.

Tragic news from Laguna Niguel, where longtime Laguna Beach High School golf coach Sean Quigley is paralyzed from the waist down, after suffering severe spinal injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, leaving him with just a 5% chance of regaining function in his legs; a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $75,000 of the $200,000 goal.

………

No surprise here.

A Las Vegas court placed the case against 19-year old Jesus Ayala on hold after he was ruled unfit to stand trial.

Ayala was charged along with another teen for intentionally running down and killing former Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst as he rode his bike on a Vegas street.

The judge ordered the move out of an “abundance of caution” after evidence was presented that Ayala had suffered “significant” brain damage; he was sent to a maximum security psychiatric facility in Sparks, Nevada.

Meanwhile, another case was filed against Ayala accusing him of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and grand larceny auto. He’s also facing an attempted murder charge for a separate “extremely violent” group attack where another man was stabbed multiple times

So evidently, he’s not so brain damaged he can’t keep committing crimes.

Allegedly.

His 17-year old accused accomplice is scheduled to go on trial next month.

………

They’re all one of us.

Gerard Butler took a stylish bike ride with a friend through the streets of New York.

Leonardo DiCaprio took a virtually incognito ride through the Big Apple with his girlfriend, model Vittoria Ceretti, and his niece.

Formula 1 star Valtteri Bottas rode a bike with his girlfriend while vacationing in Baja California during a break in the racing schedule.

Then there’s this.

And this.

………

It’s now 299 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

Momentum says riding a bike in the city is turning into a culture war.

A road raging Tennessee driver faces charges for repeatedly trying to run down a man riding in a bike lane, before getting out of his car and throwing the victim’s bike at him — all because the victim tapped the car’s hood because he thought the driver was going to bump him.

Once again, a British bike rider has been the victim of an unprovoked attack, with the man suffering a broken arm when he was pushed off his bicycle by a passenger in a passing car, just for giggles.

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

A road raging 73-year old Utah man went off on a calm driver in his 20s, who recorded the whole incident, claiming the driver almost hit him and demanding that the police come and arrest him, at one point screaming “I have more rights than you.” Which isn’t true, of course. And sadly, almost hitting someone isn’t illegal — but disorderly conduct is. 

Police in Des Plaines, Illinois are on the lookout for a road raging bike rider who stabbed a motorist multiple times, after they got in an argument because the man on the bike was riding salmon.

A Montreal columnist says the city’s roads are still nerve-racking places plagued by reckless cowboys in cars, because their behavior is all better now — it’s the people on ebikes, e-scooters and other “e-contraptions” plaguing the streets now.

An Aussie bicyclist got into a fist fight with a postal worker, after punching the side mirror and the side of the van, complaining that the driver had cut him off and threw something at him. Seriously, violence is always the wrong answer. And even you’re in the right, you’ll get the blame as soon as you throw the first punch. 

………

Local  

Streetsblog USA considers how to defeat car culture in the country’s deadliest city for pedestrians,                                                                                                                                                                                                            but other sources say we’re not even in the top ten per capita.

If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t ride your bike through the gated streets of Country Club Park in Mid-City, a writer for Afro LA does a deep dive into the cause. And the effects on the people who live nearby.

Streets For All offers their endorsements on two ballot measures, urging a yes vote on Measure A and Proposition 5, while Streets for All founder Michael Schneider explains why bike lanes often seem “empty” in LA.

Speaking of SAFE, the group is teaming the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council and Council District 13 to clean up debris and litter in the new Hollywood Blvd bike lanes this Saturday.

Yesterday’s Heart of LA CicLAvia leaves just two major open streets events remaining in the LA area this year.

 

State

Calbike urges you to Bike the Vote this November.

Streets For All offers their final update on the safe streets bills in this year’s state legislative session, for better or worse.

San Diego-based Juiced Bikes appears to be just the last ebike manufacturer to go belly up, with all products out of stock, and ghosting concerned customers.

Sad news from Alamo, in the East Bay, where a woman was killed when a driver pulled out from the side of the road, striking her bike.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a suspected DUI driver.

 

National

Bike Magazine highlights the ten most scenic bike trails in the US, including one in Death Valley.

Velo offers a buyers guide to almost all the best bike lights.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A popular Bend, Oregon chef was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his ebike in nearby Medford; police arrested the driver shortly later for DUI.

Another Arizona mass casualty crash, when an SUV driver plowed into six members of the Major Taylor Phoenix Riders from behind as they road in a bike lane, sending three people to the hospital the hospital with serious injuries; no word on why the driver couldn’t see six people on bikes riding in an effing bike lane — or why the driver wasn’t charged.

Missouri bike thief busted while naked, stoned and armed with a chainsaw. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes their bike love to the city that never sleeps.

 

International

A Cycling Weekly columnist blocks out the trauma of paying for his last bike, arguing that high prices put dream bikes in fantasy land for most of us.

Road.cc considers the problem inherent with calling a cyclists “cyclists.” Which is why I don’t. 

Momentum suggests eight of the best “affordable” commuter ebikes. Although affordable is a relative term. 

Momentum readers forward their picks for the world’s crappiest bike lanes, including two in San Diego.

An op-ed from Ontario, Canada’s minister of transportation says the province needs to rethink policies that leave drivers stuck in traffic, and should only place bike lanes “where they make sense.” In other words, not where they’ll get in the way of all those hard-working people in cars. 

Now you, too, can rent a home on the English street made famous in Ridley Scott’s 1973 Hovis ad.

A writer for Bike Radar takes a “near-perfect” two-week Scottish bikepacking with his partner, on “incredible island roads” marred by a mere 30 minutes of rain.

A British startup says their “perfect” handlebars will be a greatest aero advancement of the coming year.

An Irish writer explores why greenways are love by bike riders, but loathed by landowners.

Mumbai’s bicycling community continues to grow despite the city’s urban chaos, including a near-total lack of bike infrastructure.

A writer for AFAR spends five days riding through Rwanda, and explains why it’s the best way to see the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the European Gravel Championships, where Italian masters cyclist Silvano Jane died of a sudden heart attack during the race; he was 69.

This one goes under the heading of bicyclists behaving badly, as former European ‘cross champ Eli Iserbyt stomped on a rival’s bike after a crash during an altercation in the first race of the season. Which does not bode well for the rest of the year.

No surprise here, as this year’s GOAT won Italy’s Il Lombardia classic, with Tadej Pogačar topping Olympic Champion Remco Evenepoel and Giulio Ciccone in a long solo breakaway.

Pogacar responds to the rumbling that he must be on something, saying people don’t have trust in cyclists these days. And for very good reason.

 

Finally…

Pedal your way out of your next hospital stay. Your next bike helmet could inflate like an accordion.

And now you know what happened to your stolen bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Road diet for Griffith Park’s Crystal Springs Drive, and San Diego opens separated bikeway on deadly Pershing Drive

July 29, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 155 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

I’m still looking for more volunteers to write guest posts or fill in for me for a few days while I’m out next month following shoulder surgery. We’ve already had a few people volunteer, but we could use more; just email me at the address on the About BikinginLA page, which I really need to update. 

And if I haven’t gotten back to you yet, don’t worry, I will.

………

About damn time.

A 1.5-mile section of Crystal Springs Drive through LA’s Griffith Park is getting a lane reduction, from two in each direction to just one each way, along with buffered bike and pedestrian paths.

The road will also get speed bumps and new traffic signs to slow endemic speeding. Although key to the success of the $1.4 million project is whether there will be anything to prevent drivers from using the buffer — or worse, the bike path — to simply go around them.

This is the same section of road where Andrew Jelmert was killed while the beloved 77-year old was participating in a training ride for the annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

Thirty-seven-year old Jairo Martinez was allegedly speeding and under the influence when he slammed into Jelmert while passing another car, with enough force to scatter bits of his shattered bicycle across the nearby hillside.

Martinez was arrested by sheriff’s deputies who scoured the scrub along the roadway after he fled the crash on foot.

There’s no word on the outcome of his case; the last news was when Martinez pled not guilty to the charges against him a little more than two years ago.

………

San Diego celebrated the official opening of the long-awaited 2.3-mile Pershing Bikeway through Balboa Park on Saturday, which includes a fully separated two-way bike lane and pedestrian path, along with a new 75-foot bridge over Florida Canyon creek

Noted San Diego architect Laura Shinn was killed by a meth-addled driver while riding her bike to work there three years ago, while 34-year-old Johnathan Sepulveda was killed by a teenaged driver while riding a scooter a few months later.

Both died while waiting for the long-delayed bikeway that might have saved them.

………

A new GCN video says we’ve all be brainwashed by a 100-year old “carspiracy,” suggesting we’ll never see the world the same way again after watching it.

………

It’s now 221 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. An op-ed in the often anti-bike New York Post calls a citywide trade-in program to ensure delivery riders are on safer bikes with non-flammable batteries the mayor’s ebike boondoggle. Although she does have a point that the companies they work for should be on the hook for paying for it.

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

No surprise here, as a new French study shows that men, younger riders and bikeshare users were more likely to engage in risky bike behavior — which was defined as not wearing a helmet, running red lights, and crossing an intersection in front of oncoming traffic — than older riders, women and people riding their own bikes.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Sad news from Merced, where a 15-year old boy was killed in a collision with a “vehicle” while riding his bicycle, in a story that doesn’t even bother to mention if there was a driver involved.

More sad news from San Jose, where a woman was killed while riding her bike in a crosswalk Thursday evening, when a van driver swerved to avoid the man she was riding with, and slammed into her.

Still more sad news, this time from Antioch, where a woman was killed by a suspected drunk driver while riding her bike early Saturday morning; the 38-year old driver was arrested on a charge of DUI causing serious bodily injury or death.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Utah’s Cycling West calls cars America’s biggest death cult. Which is hard to argue with when drivers kill around 40,000 Americans every year.

The battle over curbside parking is once again rearing its ugly head in Denver, as business owners fret over the loss of 200 parking spaces to install a protected bike lane in the Sloane’s Lake neighborhood. Even though studies have repeatedly shown similar projects have often resulted in increase in business activity, or at least no net loss. 

Nice gesture from a group of kindhearted Michigan State Police officers, who replaced a young boy’s bicycle that was stolen by a man who went on to kill a cop a few blocks away — and also brought three more bikes for the boy’s younger brothers.

Hundreds of people rode their bikes through the streets of Philadelphia to the steps of City Hall to demand safer streets, following the recent deaths of a bike rider and a pedestrian.

Heartbreaking news from Florida, where a three-year old boy was killed while riding a bike with his mother and siblings in a condo complex parking lot, when the SUV driver hit the boy after turning a corner.

 

International

Momentum recommends ten must-try summer North American bicycling routes, ranging from Canada’s Icefield’s Parkway to the Great Divide Trail.

They get it. The Toronto Star calls for improving safety in the ostensibly bike-friendly Canadian city, where five bike riders have died already this year, with another ten seriously injured.

London could soon ban “free-floating” bikeshare and e-scooter parking on sidewalks, requiring that they be left in designated bays, which providers say could kill micromobility in the city. Although it hasn’t seemed to hurt it anywhere else. 

The Bamboo Society of India is promoting bicycle frames made with locally grown bamboo as a more ecological solution to the countless bicycles that end up in landfills.

 

Competitive Cycling

French mountain biker Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won gold for her home country in the women’s cross-country race, while American Haley Batten overcame a broken rear wheel to take silver, with Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds capturing bronze.

Batten was fined the equivalent of $565 dollars after the race for “failure to respect the instructions of the race organization or commissaires” when she rode through a lane dedicated for taking on food and drink or stopping for a mechanical; fortunately, the violation was not considered serious enough to merit disqualification from the first Olympic mountain biking gold or silver won by a US cyclist.

France’s Loana Lecompte was lucky to escape without serious injuries when she went over her handlebars and landed headfirst on rocks on the side of the trial during a technical part of the course, briefly losing consciousness as the medics rushed in and cameras cut away.

Australian Grace Brown won the gold medal in the women’s time trial, while British cyclist Anna Henderson won silver, and American Chloe Dygert overcame a fall on the rain-soaked course to capture bronze, after watching the gold medal slip through her hands; US cyclist Taylor Knibb skidded off her bike four times before mercifully finishing.

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel took gold in the men’s Olympic time trial in a pouring rain, finishing just ahead of Italy’s Filippo Ganna, with fellow Belgian Wout van Aert winning the bronze medal.

Australian cyclist Lucas Plapp underwent emergency abdominal surgery after he went under a barrier fence when his bike slid out from under him on the rain-slicked roadway during the time trial.

 

Finally…

Your next bike saddle could cost the equivalent of $1,400.

And bikes come in handy for a lot of things — like whacking an angry mama bear on the snout to make your getaway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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