What’s more surprising is that’s also reflected in the dramatic drop in bicycling deaths in LA County this year, at less than half of last year’s total — 14 so far this year, compared to 34 for all of last year.
Now if we could just keep it that way, as traffic creeps back up to pre-pandemic levels.
Today’s photo comes courtesy of David Drexler, combining two of my favorite things — bikes and coffee.
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Your periodic reminder that some people can live forever, and still be gone too soon.
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And this.
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Here’s your chance to weigh in on proposed bus/bike lanes in Culver City, which is rapidly lapping Los Angeles in the race for safe streets.
November 9, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Photo released in Long Beach hit-and-run, Biden endorses bike/ped infrastructure, and no end to bike shortage soon
The good news is, my new carpal tunnel wrist braces are helping with the pain.
The bad news is, they’re really slowing down my workflow by restricting my usually flying fingers.
Both retailers and manufacturers say they haven’t seen such demand for bikes in several decades. Revard said that despite manufacturers significantly ramping up production, his industry contacts estimate the pandemic-fueled bike and part shortage will continue into 2021 and—based on what brands are quietly telling their retailers—may even last until 2022.
The magazine adds the lower-end bikes are in higher demand, so you may have better luck if you’re willing to spend more. Or consider buying a used bike.
Just be sure to check with Bike Index and 529 Garage to make sure you aren’t buying someone else’s stolen wheels.
No bias here. The same London paper that hosted Farage’s diatribe insists it’s time to end the bike lane madness, accusing bike infrastructure of being the cause of traffic congestion, while ignoring the role played by all those people in cars, trucks and SUVs.
When Canadian musician Adrian House’s car-based tour of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in support of his latest album was blocked by Covid-19, he bought a special pannier for his guitar and did it by bike. And no, you can’t find his music on iTunes, I tried.
Chris Froome pulled the plug on his career with Team Ineos, nee Team Sky, after 11 years and four Tour de France titles; he’ll ride for Israel Start-Up Nation as he seeks a record-tying fifth win next year. Even though He Who Must Not Be Named won seven, but everyone is pretending he didn’t. So there’s that.
November 6, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Bicycle memorial to French Resistance, Sierra Madre cops recover hot Schwinn Continental, and bike cops behaving badly
Using his spare time during the coronavirus lockdown to indulge his interest in history, Special Forces Cpt. Joseph Ivanov discovered there’s no memorial at Normandy Beach to the roughly 400,000 men, women and youths who risked, and often lost, their lives fighting the Nazis and preparing for the D-Day invasion.
Working with the designer of the site’s Navy memorial, he set out to rectify that with a design that also pays silent tribute to the bicycles that served as a primary means of transportation in the fight.
The pre-invasion shaping operations of the French Resistance, Ivanov says, were crucial to success on D-Day. He noted that French patriots reported German defense positions, produced and smuggled to England a massive map of the beachhead and cut enemy communications lines in advance of the landings. An estimated 1,000 German factories were sabotaged by the French Resistance during the war. Trains were derailed. Intelligence was passed along from children and women to Allied personnel in England and later in France. Around the D-Day window alone – June 4-6, 1944 – the French Resistance is credited for hundreds more acts of sabotage that enabled the Allies to storm the continent.
He hopes to have the memorial, which was initially funded out of his own pocket, installed next year.
Sierra Madre police busted an apparently stoned burglar who allegedly stole a shotgun and a very cool Schwinn Continental ten speed — though not the one shown in the photo.
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Today’s common theme is bike cops apparently behaving badly.
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And despite earlier condemnation, New York cops continue to brandish their bikes as barricades and weapons to corral members.
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Thanks to Megan Lynch for the Seattle link.
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Looks like the bike giveaways are starting early this year.
This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Edinburgh is working to install emergency infrastructure to protect bike riders at an intersection where a woman was killed riding her bike this week, the second bike death there in less than two years.
November 5, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on San Diego riders fight theft with Bike Index, bike-friendly Raman wins LA’s CD4, and Pendleton path closed this weekend
“There’s a large uptick in apartment building break-ins,” Bryan Hance of BikeIndex.org said to me. “So many new apartment buildings make residents park in their ‘secure’ bike parking areas, which aren’t that secure, and we are seeing so many instances of thieves forcing their way into these at night and then just robbing them blind. Often the bike anchors and racks in these spaces are quite weak, so once they’re inside, it’s like a bike buffet for these thieves. There’s an uptick in bike shop break-ins. With covid-19, job loss, and a pullback by law enforcement, we’ve seen enormous numbers of bike shops get robbed.”
And no, I don’t get a dime for hosting them on this site.
Except for the satisfaction of giving you a fighting chance against bike thieves.
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After opposing bike and pedestrian safety projects for most of his first term — and apparently only — term, it looks like you can now append ex-LA City Councilmember to David Ryu’s resume.
Once again, bike riders will face a temporary ban on riding through Camp Pendleton.
Please note that a portion of the bike route within the San Onofre Beach State Park (see attached photo) will be closed for military training during the night/early morning. This closure will only interrupt bicycle travel at night time or early morning (prior to 7 AM). During the time of the bike path closure, cyclists may ride on the I-5 shoulder if needed.
Closure Date and Time
Date: November 7 to November 8
Time: 7 PM from November 8 to 8 7 AM on November 8
Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.
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More proof that cars weren’t SoCal’s first love.
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Thanks to Megan Lynch for the forward.
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Heartbreaking news from San Diego, where a three-year old boy had both legs amputated despite several attempts to save them, after developing a MRSA staff infection when he fell off his bike and scraped his knee; now doctor’s are just hoping to save his hands and arms.
November 3, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Free bikeshare on Election Day, traffic violence scares kid off bikes, and Mexico adds safe mobility to constitution
It’s a light news day as today’s election apparently sucked up all the attention of the news media, so let’s get right to it.
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover after missing the final two days of last week.
Thanks for your patience while I dealt with a seemingly endless string of medical tests and exams, which is finally drawing to a close today, just in time for tomorrow’s Election Day.
So let’s get right to it.
And remember, if it society devolves into complete and utter chaos after the polls close, a bicycle is your best way of bugging hell out of here.
Wherever here happens to be.
Today’s photo comes courtesy of David Drexler, who spotted this bike wheel table in a high-end WeHo furniture store.
Just in case anyone has me on their Secret Santa list after this is all over.
The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was standing with his bike on the corner of Victoria Ave and Beethoven Street around 1:45 pm Wednesday, when a man identified as 33-year old Dylan Brumley tried to wrestle the bicycle out of his grasp.
The victim fell to the ground as he clung to his bike, hitting his head on the pavement; he died at a hospital early Saturday morning.
Brumley only held his ill-gotten prize half an hour before he was busted by sheriff’s deputies.
No word on what he’s charged with. But murder sounds good to me.
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We may finally see justice for a Whittier bike rider, nearly three years after he was killed in a hit-and-run.
Investigators located Reyes’ car in Idaho, with other evidence found in Las Vegas. The FBI tracked her first to Hong Kong, before she moved on to Australia.
She faces felony counts of hit-and-run resulting in death and vehicular manslaughter; charges will likely be added for fleeing the country.
Thanks to John Damman and my friends at Mumford Brewing, as well as an anonymous source, for the heads-up.
Needless to say, the driver didn’t bother to stick around afterwards.
Here’s another view.
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If you had a bike stolen near Tilt Coffee in DTLA recently, you may be in luck.
Thanks to Jojo for the tip.
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Old Pacific Highway will be closed through Camp Pendleton during daylight hours this week, from 7 am to 6 pm; bicycles are allowed on the shoulder of I-5 during the closure.
Thanks to Robert Leone for forwarding the news.
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Take a moment to voice your support for protected bike lanes on San Vicente Blvd in the Pico neighborhood.
After some coldhearted schmuck stole a trailer containing 18 bikes and helmets used by students at a Colorado middle school, the community pitched in to replace them — donating nearly 50 bicycles and helmets to the school.
A Colorado man is facing a pair of vehicular homicide charges for the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle. The 18-year old driver was allegedly drunk and stoned on weed, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, and driving on the shoulder when he slammed into the victim.
October 28, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Horrific killer attack in Las Vegas, paint gun assault in LA’s Palms neighborhood, and bike riders killed by bad cop drivers
My apologies, once again, for yesterday’s unexcused absence.
An unexpected blood sugar crash literally put me on my ass, taking me from feeling fine to too sick to stand up in a matter of minutes, and knocking me out until early morning.
One more reminder that diabetes sucks.
Seriously, if you’re at risk for diabetes, do whatever it takes to avoid it. Because you really don’t want this shit.
And another reminder came yesterday.
For the past several months, I’ve been battling hand pain and numbness that’s grown progressively worse, forcing me to work through severe pain just to get this site online every night.
After a neuro exam that could have passed for a medieval torture session, it turns out I’ve got advanced carpal tunnel in both wrists, which will likely require surgery in the next few months.
And which was probably caused by diabetes.
Good times.
Meanwhile, I’ve got a number of other medical tests coming up in the next few days that will likely affect me in ways that could make it difficult, if not impossible, to write, as I struggle to get everything checked out before our health insurance runs out at the end of the year.
I’ll do my best to keep up, but please accept my apologies in advance if I can’t manage to post any new updates.
Hopefully, I’ll see you tomorrow and Friday; if not, we’ll be back bright and early next week once all this is over.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a number of other stories about the attack; unfortunately, they’re hidden behind a paywall. Definitely not a smart move for a story that’s getting international attention.
Thanks to everyone who gave me a heads-up about this incident.
Some asshole driver shot at us with a something like paintball gun and hit me twice while we were riding side by side in a lane down Jefferson near National. It hurt and left a nasty mark. Pretty upset, but also relieved it wasn’t anything worse. Also the “paint” or whatever the fuck that was looked like snot and bird poop mixed together. So gross.
Too many jerks seem to think things like that are funny, never realizing — or maybe not caring — that it can rapidly develop into a life threatening situation if the victim loses control or falls off her bike.
Just like we saw in Las Vegas.
And even under the best circumstances, it hurts like hell.
Let’s hope she called the police, because shooting someone with anything is a crime.
Thanks to Howard for the tip.
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Even cops will tell you they’re some of the worst drivers on the road.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in a Louisiana city are looking for a “very suspicious,” masked bike-riding man who’s been entering people’s yards and going through their mailboxes. Then again, anyone who doesn’t wear a mask should be considered suspicious these days.
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Local
A new bikeshare dock is helping to close the gap created by a two-year shutdown of the L-Line — formerly Gold Line — in DTLA after the Little Tokyo Metro station was permanently closed.
Not everyone gets it, though. A San Diego columnist displays his windshield bias, insisting that the city’s Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is being ruined by bicycles after being shocked! shocked! to see a boisterous group ride complete with police escort. Apparently, natural areas are only supposed to be enjoyed by people who drive in silence to get there.
Sonoma County is doing its best to stiff a woman who won a $1.9 million judgement against the county after she was seriously injured hitting a massive pothole on her bike, but they’re running out of legal options. Thanks to Phillip Young for the link.
The LSU student newspaper complains about a lack of bike lanes on and around campus, saying the situation “poses a significant threat to the safety of students.” Sounds like nothing’s changed since I used to ride there decades ago.
A London driver lost control of his Ferrari, barely avoiding some people on bikes. A reminder that anyone with excess money can buy a fast car, but not the skill to drive it.
Tom Justice kept just two twenties from his first several robberies, dumping the rest in the trash or where homeless people could find it.
He eventually spent 11 years behind bars after stealing a total of $129,338 from 26 banks in Illinois and Southern California, making his escape on a bespoke racing bike.
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Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Aurelio Jose Barrera was one of us.
After he retired from the LA Times, Barrera rode his bike every morning to deliver excess fruit from neighbors’ trees to feed homeless men and women.
He won the award for a groundbreaking series of black and white photos that personalized LA’s long-overlooked Latino community back in the 1980s, when the paper didn’t think it was worth covering.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Just horrible. Two people are dead in Las Vegas after a passenger leaned out the window of a moving car to push a woman off her bike, then fell out of the car himself. The woman was killed when she hit her head on the asphalt, and the man who needlessly took her life died when he hit his head on a street light after skidding 150 feet along the roadway. The driver could face a well-deserved murder charge.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A New York bike rider apparently didn’t take too kindly to a pro-Trump rally blocking the Brooklyn Bridge.
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Local
Despite a pandemic-induced shutdown, CicLAvia celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this month. I was there for the first one on 10-10-10, and witnessed the inception of CicLAvia as an LACBC board member when few people thought it could really happen in auto-centric Los Angeles. Myself included.
A Ventura man faces attempted murder charges for a series of attacks on homeless people; a bystander suffered minor injuries when the attacker ran him down with his car as he tried to follow the suspect on his bike.
More bad news, as a bike rider was killed in a Eureka collision. Note to Redheaded Blackbelt — maybe don’t include a photo showing the victim’s tarp-covered body next time. No one needs to see that shit.
No bias here. London’s Daily Mail says popup bike lanes installed during the pandemic are being ripped out after “paralyzing cities” with gridlock. Never mind that the whole point of popup lanes is that they are temporary, but can be converted to permanent lanes if they prove successful, and removed if they don’t.
Oasis star Liam Gallagher is one of us now, riding a bike through the streets of London after doctors tell him to stop jogging.
October 23, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Hit-and-run driver busted behind bars for killing South LA father, LA considers civilian traffic cops, and Bike the Vote!
They didn’t have to look far to find one hit-and-run driver.
Fortunately, his two children were uninjured, aside from the trauma of seeing their father killed in front of their eyes.
When LAPD officers searched for Iscaya, however, they found he was already being held by sheriff’s deputies on $2.2 million bail, charged with multiple counts including murder.
Maybe they should just add another murder count while they’re at it.
Unfortunately, felony hit-and-run resulting in death would only add a maximum of four years to whatever he gets if he’s convicted on the other charges.
Los Angeles could soon be the home of the nation’s largest ebike factory; privately owed ROKiT MADE plans to open next year to build “best-in-class e-Bike models across all price points in each market segment,” in a plant designed to accommodate up to 2,000 workers.
A Kansas driver had his wrist slap sentence tossed out on appeal, after the court ruled the judge has exceeded her discretion by reducing his ten-year sentence for second-degree murder by over eight years; the court ordered him resentenced for running down a man with his car following a dispute.
The Cedar City, Utah edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride was the first gravel race to roll as the nation slowly continues a premature wakeup from Covid-19; VeloNews looks at the precautions that were taken to help keep everyone safe.
October 21, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Streetsblog honors BikinginLA sponsor; cars get bigger, stronger & deadlier; and Paris to eliminate half of parking spaces
The festivities kick off this evening with a free Game Show on Zoom hosted by Streetsblog LA founder Damien Newton and Jim Pocrass, who is being honored with the 2020 Streetsie Patron’s Award.
That’s followed on Saturday with Ask Me Anything with LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl; Streetsblog wants to know what you’d like to ask her when she appears on the website’s Zoom party.
It all culminates next Tuesday with the 2020 Streetsie Award Dinner on Zoom.
