Tag Archive for bicycling

Thieves plunder Scottish Paralympic team, drivers slam San Jose diners, and Pasadena’s first 2-way protected bikeway

October 13, 2020 / / Comments Off on Thieves plunder Scottish Paralympic team, drivers slam San Jose diners, and Pasadena’s first 2-way protected bikeway

Sadly, yesterday’s lead item has been confirmed, as a woman was killed riding her bike, and her partner injured, in a Valley Glen crash Sunday night. 

Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas from Pexels.

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Seriously, how low can they go?

Scottish bike thieves plundered the country’s Paralympic team, making off with 20 high-tech handcycles and bicycles worth over $26,000 — many of which the victims had purchased themselves.

The bikes aren’t likely to turn up on this side of the Atlantic, but still.

The team deserves to get their bikes back. And the scumbags thieves deserve to go away for a long damn time.

Thanks to Carly Silver for the heads-up.

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This is who we share the outdoor restaurants with.

Apparently, it doesn’t pay to dine out in San Jose, where drivers slammed into outdoor diners twice in a single day.

Thanks to Austin Brown for the link.

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Pasadena invites you to learn more and offer your comments about the city’s first two-way protected bike lane.

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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 London tabloid breathlessly reports that nearly two-thirds of bike riders were unaware of some traffic laws, while downplaying the fact that 41% of older drivers had the same problem, seemingly unaware of which group posed the most risk to others.

Once again, a British bike rider has been pushed off his bike by someone in a passing car, this time a man in his 70s. Seriously, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough.

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

A San Diego rabbi says he was attacked by a bike-riding teenager who hit him over the head with a closed fist while yelling a racial slur, part of a group of teens who have allegedly been harassing the temple. There is simply no excuse, ever. Period. 

There isn’t a pit deep enough for the man who ran up from behind a woman on an Illinois bike path and pulled down her pants and underwear, before riding off on a bicycle.

Police in New York are looking for a bike-riding thief snatching iPhones from people’s hands.

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Local

LA Magazine looks at the race between attorney Grace Yoo and Current L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to replace termed out Herb Wesson in LA’s 10th Council District, who they note will determine what housing projects get built and who gets bike lanes in the district.

 

State

She gets it. A La Jolla resident calls on the town to redesign its streets to curb speeding drivers.

Bay Area bike riders will have limited access to the Bay Bridge during a roadway realignment project.

Sad news from NorCal, where a bike rider was killed in a crash with an Anderson cop while allegedly riding his bike in the fast lane of a local highway; needless to say, police were quick to absolve the officer of any blame.

 

National

Wired says the US needs to adopt the industrial policies of the Asian countries we rely on for bicycles to overcome our own bike shortage.

Bicycling gives you an eight-point pre-ride checklist to help you get back home from your next ride. And yes, you can read it on Yahoo if you’ve fallen prey to the magazine’s draconian paywall.

A 70-year old Oregon bike rider was killed by a 93-year old driver who just kept going after the fatal crash. Yet another tragic reminder that driving shouldn’t be a lifelong privilege, and there comes a time when we all need to give up the keys for the sake of others around them.

Good kid. An eleven-year old Texas boy rode his bike 18 miles to raise awareness for pregnancy and infant loss in memory of a stillborn baby.

Chicago Streetsblog says the city should use the new San Jose bike plan as a model to reboot bicycling in the Windy City. Then again, it wasn’t too long ago that LA’s bike plan was hailed as a model for other cities, and you know how that turned out.

Police in Illinois are looking for a hit-and-run semi driver who kept going after injuring a pair of bicyclists, one critically.

It takes a special kind of jerk to steal the recumbent bike a Michigan man built to ride across the US after recovering from a heart attack.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $2,400 in a single day to help a popular Ohio handyman replace his bike after he was struck by a driver.

A pair of teenaged Virginia drivers face up to 20 years behind bars for killing a 59-year old bike rider while allegedly street racing.

 

International

Fast Company says sleek e-cargo bikes represent the future of delivery.

It takes a major schmuck to steal the flowers from a roadside shrine to a young English woman killed in a collision while riding her bike.

A British man overcame physical and mental obstacles to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, just over a year after he was nearly killed when a driver slammed into his bike. Then again, he could have just ridden his bicycle up the mountain.

Heart-stopping video of London boy riding his bike out from behind a large truck, only to get hit by a van coming from the opposite direction — then he just picks his bike up and walks away.

A Scottish man dusts off his old bike, and learns to overcome his fears and love bicycling again.

Bicycling looks at Afghan women defying the country’s embedded patriarchy by taking to their bicycles. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you out.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Tips goes deep into how on Jon Ornée set a new record for the fastest century, set while drafting a minivan on a NASCAR track at an average speed of 42.6 mph, just one year after he was struck by a driver.

American cyclist Chloe Dygert tells her local paper she has no regrets about her horrific crash while defending her world time trial championship, and remains focused on recovering in time for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Sky Sports considers the unfulfilled career of Britain’s first Black cycling champ, who never made the country’s Olympics team despite winning three national titles, for reasons they suggest should be obvious.

 

Finally…

Yes, he may be a bike thief, but at least he’s wearing a mask. Is there anything cargo bikes can’t carry?

And now you, too, can have your very own replica of this year’s Tour de France winning bike for the low, low price of thirty grand.

For that price, I want the real thing. And the yellow jersey that comes with it.

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

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Unconfirmed San Fernando Valley bike fatality, ask LAPD about SFV traffic safety, and marketing bikes in the British Empire

October 12, 2020 / / 2 comments

Sadly, I’ve received an unconfirmed report that a woman was killed in a collision while riding her bike in the Valley Glen neighborhood of LA’s San Fernando Valley.

Unfortunately, while this comes from a reliable source, there was nothing in the news to confirm it before this was posted.

I’ll have more later if I’m able to get more information.

Update: The report has been confirmed.

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You can ask the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division about the above crash, as well as other San Fernando Valley bike safety issues, in a Zoom meeting on Wednesday.

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A Twitter meme looks at how our world got this way.

For better or worse.

Thanks to Hap Dougherty for forwarding these two.

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This is how Raleigh marketed itself in the last days of the British Empire.

Again, for better or worse.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

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Great video from the son of British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid about his solo bike tour home after visiting the Giant bike factory Shanghai.

Speaking of the senior Reid, he writes that a new paper from transportation experts at the World Economic Forum predicts bicycles and buses will be the dominant forms of transportation in the not-too-distant future.

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How to build a ‘cross bike for a price that won’t make you that way.

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

A 70-year old woman lost a tooth and suffered a bloodied nose when a man pepper sprayed her as she was riding on a Sacramento bike path, in an apparently random attack.

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

A Minnesota woman faces charges for allegedly using her bike to damage a car belonging to the lawyer representing one of the cops accused of killing George Floyd.

A Florida bike rider could be facing a murder charge after fatally stabbing a driver who allegedly chased him with his car in a dispute over a drug deal.

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Local

USA Today ranks the greater Los Angeles metro area as the nation’s 20th best city for active lifestyles, two spots above San Diego. Although apparently by people who’ve never experienced SoCal drivers from outside the car.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

Streetsblog considers what lessons London’s congestion pricing program has for Vision Zero in American cities.

New technology could turn e-scooters off when users are breaking the rules by riding on sidewalks.

A writer for Cycling Savvy offers a primer on bike lights.

A Texas letter writer tells drivers to pretend they’re in California, where roads signs tell them to allow three feet of clearance when they pass a bicyclist. As long as they don’t act like too many California drivers and ignore the signs, that is.

A 16-year old Wisconsin boy was shot in the leg by three assailants in a dispute over whether the bike he was riding was stolen.

Great idea. Detroit is offering a self-guided interactive bike through the city’s historic sites in the battle for civil rights.

Get that healthy glow by riding a new mountain bike trail near Tennessee historic Oak Ridge National Laboratory nuclear research lab.

Trevor Noah is one of us, taking a ride with a friend through the streets of New York. Just don’t tell him September was the deadliest month for New York bike riders since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office six years ago.

 

International

Calgary advocates are pushing the city to reverse an earlier decision and keep popup bike lanes open through the winter.

Montreal is moving to permanently approve an ebike delivery program started during the pandemic lockdown.

A Canadian man finally got back the bike he rode across the country in the ’80s after spotting it for sale on Facebook, nearly 30 years after he loaned it to a friend.

Five English men are embarking on an 800 mile bike ride to visit the home stadiums of all 20 Premier League teams to raise funds for a pair of charities.

Life is cheap in Wales, where one driver was acquitted of hitting a bike rider, and a second walked with a suspended sentence for running over him as he lay in the roadway after claiming she was “dazzled” by the sun.

Two Scottish cricket players rode 672 miles to raise funds for charity in honor of a former teammate who died of a brain tumor 18 months ago.

A British newspaper talks with a local woman about what it’s like to be a bike builder.

Nineteen-year old UK track cyclist Emily Bridges writes about growing up as a bike racer, and coming out as a trans woman.

Bengaluru bike riders can now enjoy India’s first plastic post-protected popup bike lane.

An Indian website says bicycling has become the country’s greatest Covid lockdown love affair, whether to ward off loneliness and claustrophobia, or to take advantage of the cleaner air. Enjoy it while they can; as we’ve seen in Los Angeles, the clean air won’t last once people get back in their cars.

Completing today’s Indian trifecta, the city of Ahmedabad reverses course and removes plans for a cycle track from a redesigned roadway — and decides not to include them in any other roads, either.

African bike advocates are working to make the continent more bike friendly.

Parents are up in arms after Sydney, Australia officials demand the removal of a homemade pump track because it could damage fragile ecological and aboriginal sites.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Jerusalem Post celebrates the first Giro stage win for the Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team.

It was Portugal’s Day in Sunday’s stage nine of the Giro.

Last year’s Tour de France winner Egan Bernal pulls the plug on this year’s racing season, saying you learn more from bad moments than you do from good ones.

The iconic Paris-Roubaix cycling classic was the latest victim of the coronavirus, due to a rising case count in Northern France.

 

Finally…

Your great-great-grandmother couldn’t get bike riding insurance, either. That feeling when a stray cat joins your round-the-world bike ride, and changes your life.

And when a local wayfinding sign directs you to a bikeway 400 miles away.

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

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

Soda pop cargo bike art in East LA, has Covid-19 affect your bike riding, and the war on bikes just keeps on going

October 9, 2020 / / Comments Off on Soda pop cargo bike art in East LA, has Covid-19 affect your bike riding, and the war on bikes just keeps on going

Why does East LA get all the good art?

Aurelio Jose Barrera caught this soda pop delivery truck adorned with a Jariritos-selling cargo bike.

If they didn’t have so much sugar, that would be enough to get my dollars.

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PeopleforBikes wants to know how Covid-19 has affect your bike riding.

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

Newly found video shows a Portland driver intentionally run over a man’s bike as he tried to cork traffic during an August protest; naturally, police just let the driver go.

A North Dakota woman pled guilty to using her car as a weapon to intentionally run over a man on a bike after they argued about money; the victim was lucky to escape with road rash and bleeding.

No bias here. A London paper gleefully reports that a popup bike lane will be removed after causing traffic congestion, leading to calls to remove others, as well. Although no one seems to consider that it’s all those cars that cause traffic congestion, not bike lanes or the people using them.

A London driver didn’t take kindly to being told to drive more carefully, telling BBC presenter Jeremy Vine to fuck off.

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

Police in Milwaukee are looking for a bike-riding, saw-toting man wanted for damaging several trees.

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Local

Bike-riding Downey city council candidate Alexandria Contreras will be on Bike Talk this evening. However, the link in the tweet is dead, but you can find the show here.

 

State

Weight weenies rejoice! Morgan Hill’s Specialized has introduced the lightest disk brake bike yet, checking in at a svelte 13 pounds, even though they insist it’s really about the ride quality. As long as you’ve got a cool twelve and a half grand in spare cash lying around, that is.

San Francisco is moving forward with plans for a complete Slow Streets network after ruling against several CEQA appeals that were holding things up.

Next City examines how Oakland was inspired by Covid-19 to get real about equitable urban planning.

Historic Angels Camp will get new bike lanes and sidewalks to serve the town’s 3,800 residents and assorted tourists.

 

National

A new study shows it only takes 15 minutes of high-intensity bicycling to boost your memory. You can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you out.

Bicycle Times takes a trip in the wayback machine to review the 1972 Schwinn Paramount.

A new bike helmet takes a more subtle approach to lighting, and will call for help if you crash.

A pair of young Armenian and Turkish bike riders formed an unlikely friendship on a ride across the US despite centuries of hostility between the two countries, including the mass genocide of Armenians at the hands of Turks a century ago.

Shaq is one of us, even if he has to have his bikes custom built to fit his 7’1″ frame. And yes, you can read it on Yahoo, too.

One app to rule them all, one app to find them. Lime takes a step towards world domination, or at least the world of micromobility, by offering Wheels scooters through their app, along with the usual Lime e-scooters and ebikes.

The bad news is, Boston has removed its popup bike lanes. The good news is, they’re making them all permanent, instead.

When Rhode Island cops were unable to recover a boy’s stolen bike, the kindhearted officers pitched in to buy him a new one.

A new candidate to replace termed out Bill de Blasio as mayor of New York says bike lanes should be part of the city’s transportation network. But fails to mention that city law requires 50 miles of new protected bike lanes and 30 miles of bus lanes every year. Unlike Los Angeles, where city officials are legally required to build absolutely nothing. And too often don’t. 

A Pennsylvania man will face charges for running down a bike rider after running not one, but two stop signs while driving without a license.

Another unlicensed Pennsylvania driver pled guilty to charges of slamming his SUV into a bike trailer pulling an 11-month old infant; fortunately, the critically injured baby pulled through.

Maryland drivers will now be allowed to briefly cross a double yellow line to pass bike riders on narrow roads. California drivers would have the same privilege, except Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed an early version of the three-foot passing law because it contained the same provision.

She gets it. A Delaware letter writer says developers should be required to build a mile of bike lanes and sidewalks when they get project approvals.

 

International

A writer for Tech Digest shares what he’s learned by riding a bike during the coronavirus lockdown, including that cars are scary, pedestrians are not your friend, and no, you don’t look good in Lycra.

Cycling Industry News asks a panel of experts about the role of bikeshare in attracting new bike riders.

Revel Bikes is raffling off a custom painted Rascal mountain bike to benefit LoveYourBrain; tickets are just $5.

You can add Colombia to your bike bucket list, as bicycles create a sustainable path to tourism in the country.

Forget speeding drivers, Toronto cops are turning their speed guns on bicycle riders exceeding a bike path’s 12 mph speed limit.

A pair of Welsh bike thieves are pretending to have mechanical problems while riding on a bike path, then riding off with the victim’s bike when they stop to help.

An Irish mother is calling for more and safer bike lanes after a near miss with a driver as she was biking to school with her seven-year old daughter.

A trio of Rwandan firms will pitch in to provide bike helmets for bicycle taxi riders in Kigali.

Motor loving Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor is one of us, riding his chunky $635 e-foldie through Mumbai with his mom.

Bollywood actor, professional model and former first runner-up to Mr. India Rahul Rajasekharan is one of us, too.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas is out of the race with a broken pelvis. And out for the remainder of the season; VeloNews says that leaves the race wide open.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could look pretty cool, even without a front hub. Nothing like doing a century in less than two and a half hours — while drafting, of course.

And seriously, don’t ride your bike directly at cars, no matter what you call it.

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

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

Hit-and-run driver crashes twice in 15 minutes, Union Station virtual open house tonight, and a relic of 1930’s planning

October 8, 2020 / / Comments Off on Hit-and-run driver crashes twice in 15 minutes, Union Station virtual open house tonight, and a relic of 1930’s planning

This is who we share the road with.

A San Luis Obispo man faces charges for a hit-and-run crash that left a bike rider with a severely broken leg. He was arrested after getting into a second crash fifteen minutes later.

Thankfully, several people stopped to help the victim as he lay unconscious on the side of the road with a major gash in his leg.

There’s no word on why the driver crashed twice in such a short period of time.

But it certainly makes a damn good argument for why he should never be allowed behind the wheel again.

Then again, just running away from the first crash should do that.

Photo by Emre Kuzu from Pexels. 

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Metro will host a virtual open house this evening to discuss the planned transformation of Union Station.

If Los Angeles can resist watering down it down any more.

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Grist looks at the deadly 85th Percentile Law, calling it a relic of 1930’s city planning that allows drivers to set their own speed limits.

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A new collaboration between BMC and Formula One’s Red Bull Advanced Technologies promises that it’s going to change everything — if it works.

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Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

A pair of Newport Beach women are offering free masks to people who walk or bike by. Then again, they’d probably give one to people who drive, too.

It’s a happy ending for a change, as a San Diego woman tracks down the Surly she rode across the country in honor of her late boyfriend, after a woman stole it from her porch. And gets it back from a used bike dealer who’d already bought and resold it.

 

National

A pair of Tennessee men from different backgrounds and political beliefs rode across America to find something we can all agree on.

Maybe we can learn more about building better bike lanes from smaller American cities than large Northern European ones.

Uber still sees micromobility in its future, despite unloading its Jump dockless ebikes and e-scooters on Lime earlier this year.

Speaking of micromobility, Lyft reports ridership is still down 50% from pre-pandemic levels, though that’s an improvement from the original 75% drop-off.

Consumer Reports is out with their latest ratings of the best bike helmets.

A writer for Jalopnik decides to build his own wheels to upgrade his $150 Schwinn.

Austin, Texas is closing down its Healthy Streets program to provide safe, low-traffic areas for walking, running and bicycling during the coronavirus crisis. Apparently, the pandemic must be over down there, unlike everywhere else.

A 19-year old Arkansas man will spend the next 42 years behind bars after fatally shooting a police officer during a chase that began when the killer was on his bicycle.

Chicago will now allow three-wheeled e-cargo delivery bikes to pedal city streets.

An Illinois man has been arrested for the murder of a 15-year old girl, who disappeared after riding her bicycle to an ATM in 2014.

A drama student at a Tennessee Christian college lifts spirits by singing as he rides his bike through campus.

An entrepreneurial ten-year old Massachusetts boy has gone into business for himself making coronavirus face shields for bike helmets; you can get yours for fifteen bucks.

The New York Times examines the record numbers of women on bikes in the city, where women’s bicycling rates have jumped 147% over last year as the pandemic has removed dangerous traffic from the streets.

One reason for that is reflected in a 60% drop in Gotham’s vehicular traffic during the pandemic. But despite the slowdown — or maybe because of it — bicycling injuries are up in places with the worst infrastructure.

 

International

Good point. A Canadian letter writer complains that it’s apparently wrong to hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk, but perfectly okay if that person’s on a bike. And if the law is so confusing that even a cop gets it wrong, maybe it needs to be changed.

Maybe they should hold a bake sale. The Canadian capital says they know where they need to make safety improvements to protect bike riders, but don’t have the money to do it.

A British man wants to find the Good Samaritans who cared for him when he fractured his skull falling off his bike.

Bicycling says add Spain’s “Empty Mountains” to your bike bucket list for next year. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine’s paywall blocks you out.

A Philippine city is getting good reviews after installing bike lanes on two major streets.

 

Competitive Cycling

Britain’s Tom Pidcock is the new world men’s e-mountain bike champ. Who knew that was even a thing?

Cycling’s governing body has been asked to investigate the Giro crash that took out teammates Luca Wackermann and Etienne van Empel when downwash from a helicopter blew a course barrier across the roadway.

Who needs to watch hours of racing when you can catch up on yesterday’s stage of the Giro in just over two minutes?

 

Finally…

When is a bike not a bike? When it’s a dummy — and so is the booze. Yes, bikes are made up of a number of parts, and no, you won’t get a “quality” new one for three hundred bucks.

And that feeling when you’re an inadvertent fashion icon.

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

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

Bike-riding boy injured in Hawthorne hit-and-run, car ID’d in Palos Verdes bike crash, and driver busted in NY assault

October 7, 2020 / / Comments Off on Bike-riding boy injured in Hawthorne hit-and-run, car ID’d in Palos Verdes bike crash, and driver busted in NY assault

This has got to stop.

Hawthorne police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who ran down a 14-year old boy as he rode his bike in a marked crosswalk Friday morning on Rosecrans Ave at Doty Ave.

He was crossing with the light when the driver blew through the intersection at high speed.

And kept going without any apparent thought to the kid he or she left behind bleeding in the street.

The victim is hospitalized with serious head injuries.

Unfortunately, Hawthorne doesn’t share LA’s standing hit-and-run reward system.

But if you know anything, call the Hawthorne Police Department anyway at 310/349-2700.

The sad thing is, though, we already know how to slow traffic and improve crosswalks and intersections to prevent crashes like this. And there are things we could do right now to stop drivers before they flee.

If only our elected leaders had the political courage to actually do something.

But they don’t, and we don’t, because it might inconvenience impatient drivers just a little.

Thanks to Sindy for the heads-up.

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If you’re the driver who hit a bike rider in Palos Verdes yesterday, she’s got your number.

No, literally.

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About damn time.

Police in New York have finally arrested an 18-year old driver who was seen on video arguing with bicyclists taking part in a racial justice ride, before flooring his SUV and intentionally slamming into them.

He was charged with a single count assault and released on a desk appearance ticket.

Just one more example of police and prosecutors failing to take traffic crime seriously.

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Ted Faber forwards news of a newly protected bike lane on Manchester Blvd in LA’s Westchester neighborhood.

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Lime wants to help you scoot to the polls next month.

Lime, the global leader in micromobility, today announced it will provide free e-scooter rides on Election Day, November 3, in an effort to reduce transportation barriers to voting, such as cost, lack of car ownership or COVID-19-related fears over public transit in cities throughout the country. Riders will be able to use the promotional code LIMETOPOLLS2020 to receive two free rides up to 30 minutes on Election Day.

“This is the most important election of our lives,” said Wayne Ting, CEO of Lime. “Healthcare, climate change and the future of so many cities we serve are on the ballot in 2020. At Lime, we’re focused on doing all we can to register voters, ease access to polls, and encourage our riders to vote.”

Offering free rides to the polls is just once part of Lime’s Roll Call initiative to increase participation in this election. The company has partnered with When We All Vote to promote voter registration to riders via email and within the Lime app. They have also joined Power the Polls to encourage riders to become Poll Workers and ElectionDay.org to provide employees with time to cast their vote on or before November 3.

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GCN explains how to remove and fit bike wheels, calling it an essential skill.

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

A road raging Portland driver took offense to a bike rider’s request to drive a little better because they both have a right to the road, firing two shots at the person on the bike. And apparently missed, fortunately.

Police in the UK are looking for a BMW driver accused of deliberately mowing down a man on a bike for no apparent reason; fortunately, the victim was not seriously injured.

An 18-year old British driver walked with community service despite spitting at a pedestrian, throwing soda at a female jogger then tossing the bottle at 15-year old boy, knocking him off his bike, and hurling an egg at a passerby during a six-month “spate of violence” after passing his driver’s test. But other than that, he was a prince, right?

No bias here. After a vigilante Scottish driver punched a bike rider for attempting to filter past a long line of stalled cars, the only one held accountable was the guy on two wheels — for swearing at the driver who hit him.

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Local

Have a direct impact on our streets and your community by volunteering to fill an existing vacancy on your local Neighborhood Council.

Streetsblog looks at how Metro is retooling Westside Metro Bike bikeshare to get rid of the current smart bike system.

Streets for All is hosting a virtual happy hour with StreetsLA General Manager Adel Hagekhalil next Wednesday.

Speaking of Streets for All, they’re asking for your support for a protected bike lane on San Vicente Blvd between Fairfax and La Brea; answer this survey to voice your views.

Great Instagram post about Manny Silva, LA’s godfather of lowrider bikes.

Unbelievable that in 2020, we’re still planning to tear down people’s homes in Downey in order to widen freeways, as if induced demand didn’t exist.

 

State

Huntington Beach has followed Long Beach’s lead in attempting to ban bike chop shops by prohibiting the repair and sales of bikes and bike parts on city property (scroll down). Good intention, but that means you’d be breaking the law if you stop in a park or sidewalk to fix a flat or dropped chain.

A San Luis Obispo woman could face charges for the Tuesday morning hit-and-run that left a Los Osos bike rider with major injuries.

San Jose has passed a new plan calling for 550 miles of bikeways within the next five years, with just 140 miles remaining to be built. Unlike Los Angeles, where the 2035 bike plan has already been tossed aside with 15 years still to go.

More on Contra Costa County’s new $150 ebike rebate program, which should be expanded statewide. Meanwhile, Rice University’s Kinder Institute gets it, calling for ebike rebates to help people replace car trips with bikes.

Walnut Creek’s Rivendell Bicycle Works is taking their own step to provide reparations to address racial inequity, with a 45% discount for Black customers.

Over 3,600 people took part in the Bay Area’s Bike to Wherever Days, despite the pandemic and ongoing fires.

 

National

Sad news, as the publisher for Bike Magazine, which we frequently link to here, takes what could be a permanent pause in publication unless circumstances for print publications improve dramatically; the shutdown also includes sister titles Powder, Snowboarder, and Surfer magazines.

Your next bike shipping container could be made of cardboard.

Fifteen more for your bike bucket list, as Fodor’s Travel lists America’s most scenic bike trails. None of which are in Southern California, of course.

A Denver couple takes ghost bikes a step further, installing a ghost motorized wheelchair in honor of a disabled man killed while trying to cross a busy street.

Colorado Public Radio looks at a man’s 500-mile bike ride to remember the Colorado plane crash that killed nearly the entire Wichita State football team, 50 years after he went down on that plane with his teammates.

MIT compares the benefits of bikeshare and e-scooters, awarding the win to dockless scooters, at least in terms of popularity.

A New York attorney says a five-figure settlement with the city is proof that the shared bike and pedestrian pathway on the Brooklyn Bridge is dangerously overcrowded and must be improved.

Good news from Florida, where a local foundation started to honor a young car crash victim donated $1,300 to buy a new three-wheeled bike for a man with cerebral palsy after his was stolen last week.

 

International

A writer for Electrek examines what he calls a typical Asian-style ebike, while retailing for just $700.

Bicycling offers tips on how to save big on Amazon Prime Day. Although it looks like you’re on your own if you get blocked out by the magazine’s draconian paywall this time.

Canadian DJ Mike the Alien suffered a tragic mountain biking crash last weekend, paralyzing him from the waist down; a crowdfunding campaign has raised over $109,000 for his medical care.

A new insurance report says more bike lanes could help get another 15.7 million Brits on their bikes. Imagine what it could do in LA, where the weather is a hell of a lot better.

Ireland’s transportation minister says bicycling is safer than many people think, calling it statistically safer that it was 20 years ago.

A new app ensures a green wave for Düsseldorf, Germany bike riders, giving them a green light at over 70% of the city’s intersections.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is one of us. And so is her husband Peter Sarsgaard, as they go for a nearly incognito bike ride in Greece.

Russian bicylists ride nearly 700 miles from Moscow to St. Petersburg, Russia in 16 days, to help plan a route for an upcoming bike path.

That’s more like it. A New Zealand man got more than eight years behind bars for the drunken, high-speed and coke-fueled hit-and-run that took the life of a bike-riding father — then borrowed a woman’s phone to report his van stolen in a failed attempt to avoid responsibility for his crime.

Australia’s Victoria state has adopted the metric equivalent of three-foot passing law, becoming the final Aussie state to adopt a safe passing distance.

 

Competitive Cycling

A pair of American cyclists have pulled out of this week’s mountain bike world championships after testing positive for Covid-19.

Amazing photo finish in yesterday’s Giro stage, with the winner determined by millimeters.

For once, it wasn’t a race moto that injured a cyclist in yesterday’s Giro — it was a low-flying helicopter that blew debris onto the course, resulting in serious injuries to Italy’s Luca Wackermann, including a possible fractured vertebrae.

American domestic cyclist Sean Gardner smashed the world Everesting record, becoming the first to drop the record below seven hours at 6:59:38.

 

Finally…

Evidently, there is such a thing as a scofflaw bike shop. Not to mention scofflaw ball-chasing cocker spaniels.

And watch out for low flying trees.

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

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

Sheriff’s deputies shot Dijon Kizzee 16 times, blaming road diets for CA decline, and things are looking up in Santa Ana

October 5, 2020 / / Comments Off on Sheriff’s deputies shot Dijon Kizzee 16 times, blaming road diets for CA decline, and things are looking up in Santa Ana

The official autopsy is out.

And it’s not good.

A pair of LA County sheriff’s deputies shot Compton bike rider Dijon Kizzee 16 times — yes, 16 — in an incident that began with a failed traffic stop for riding salmon.

And escalated when Kizzee allegedly dropped a stolen gun as he struggled to escape the deputies; what’s in dispute is whether he attempted to pick the gun back up. Especially since the official version of events has changed several times in the days following the shooting.

At least four of those shots could have been fatal.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas last year, a Black man told police officers 24 times that he couldn’t breathe before he died, in an incident that began when police tried to stop him for not having a bike light.

Yes, both men took actions that helped lead to their deaths.

But a simple traffic violation should never escalate to the death penalty.

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No bias here.

A writer for the libertarian magazine Reason concludes that California is a cautionary tale for America — including road diets that remove traffic lanes and install bike lanes.

Never mind that road diets have been successfully used for decades throughout the US, including in red states.

But that would have involved doing a modicum of research, which might have gotten in the way of his preordained conclusions.

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It looks like things are about to get much better in Santa Ana.

And should be everywhere.

https://twitter.com/lisandroOC/status/1312569428173705216

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This kind of puts it all in perspective.

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Mr. CiclaValley reminds you to put more gravel in your life.

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A couple more reminders to register your bike for free with Bike Index.

Especially now that Bike Index is partnering with the LAPD and the City of Los Angeles to create a new citywide voluntary bike registration program.

it’s up to us to make sure the free, voluntary program stays that way to prevent abuses like we saw with the city’s previous mandatory licensing program, which became an excuse to stop people of color without probable cause as they rode their bikes.

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Deep thought of the day.

https://twitter.com/henrygrabar/status/1311665276467855368

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.

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

Horrifying attack in New York, where a speeding SUV driver appears to intentionally ram a group of bike-riding protestors before fleeing the scene; fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Once they find the driver, this should be prosecuted like the terrorist attack it is.

Talk about not getting it. Apparently confusing the treatment with the disease, a London columnist complains that bike lanes are choking the life out of the city through fume-filled traffic jams. Someone should tell him that it’s all those cars that cause the noxious fumes — and the traffic. And safe bike lanes mean fewer of those on the roads. 

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

An English teenager suffered a head injury when another man attacked him with a mountain bike.

A young Dublin man was accused of intentionally riding his bike into a taxi to file a fraudulent claim, but rode off after realizing he was being filmed by dashcam.

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Local

LADOT wants your input on building stress-free connections on neighborhood streets. As opposed to all those stressful connections we’re all used to.

You have one more week to tell Metro what you think about fareless transit system.

The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee — the city’s only official voice representing bicyclists — is meeting virtually via Zoom at 7 pm tomorrow evening. You can see the agenda here, including draft motions addressing bias from the LAPD and the fire department in killing the Uplift Melrose project.

South LA could be on its way to a safer and more beautiful Broadway, including parking protected bike lanes, on one of the city’s most dangerous corridors.

Walk Bike Burbank puts three important questions to three candidates for city council. Read it before you vote.

The nascent GoSGV bikeshare system expands to Baldwin Park with 45 ped-assist ebikes and nine docking stations.

Santa Clarita residents can win prizes during the city’s Rideshare Week celebration.

A columnist for the Southern California News Group remembers Long Beach real estate scion and bike advocate Mark Bixby, who fought to get a bike lane across the new replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, and won, before dying in a 2011 plane crash along with four other people.

 

State

Sad news from Eureka, where a bike rider was killed in a collision when the victim allegedly swerved in front of an oncoming car, according to the driver and multiple witnesses.

 

National

This may just be the best biking on the moon photo you see today. Thanks to TedFaber for the link.

Travel & Leisure recommends the country’s best bike paths to explore US cities. Including one I grew up riding in my Colorado hometown.

After a bicyclist crashes into a cliff wall and falls into the roadway, a bighearted Tesla driver blocks traffic before rushing the victim to the hospital with a likely broken collarbone.

Wired explains what the ebike classifications are, and what that means to you.

Sad news, as longtime bicycle writer Garrett Lai died of natural causes last week; he was just 54.

The Daily Beast talks with Seattle’s Trumpet Man, the protestor who was run over by a bike cop while lying on the ground.

Three men who survived the tragic 1970 plane crash that killed most of the Wichita State University football team are riding their bikes from Wichita, Kansas to the Colorado crash site to remember their fallen teammates on the 50th anniversary of their deaths.

Chicago business owners blame new protected bike lanes for a drop in business, with one hardware store owner insisting the loss of parking spaces has meant a 30% drop in sales. Although a far more likely explanation is the same drop in business suffered by brick and mortar retailers across the US during the coronavirus pandemic.

A pair of men are now in custody for stealing a $3,500 handcycle from an Ohio man; they were captured after riding the bike in front of security cams in a Circle K parking lot.

Following a full year of international travel, bicycling helped a writer for the New York Times fall in love with the city again during the coronavirus lockdown. Thanks to David Drexler for the link.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A New York nurse who spent the past several months on the frontlines of the the Covid-19 pandemic was killed in a collision with a motorcyclist as she attempted to ride her bicycle home following a late-night shift.

 

International

Your bike might be responsible for your back problems.

Road.cc examines the results when carmakers take a stab at making bicycles.

A bighearted triathlete bought a new bike for a 16-year old Canadian boy whose bike was stolen just weeks after finishing a nearly 375-mile ride from Montreal to Toronto, raising over $8,000 to provide clean water for indigenous communities.

The Sportsman offers a nice profile of Josh Quigley, the bicyclist who set a new record for the northern crossing of Scotland, just months after he barely survived getting run down at 70 mph driver by a Texas driver while on an around the world bike tour. He was inspired to do the ride by Britain’s Sir Chris Hoy after a failed suicide attempt.

A British woman wishes she gotten on the saddle sooner, after spending most of her adult life thinking riding a bike wasn’t for her.

In a truly heartwarming story, a seven-year old girl in the UK rode her bike around her school 100 times, completing nearly 16 miles over two days to raise funds for the hospice where her grandfather spent his last days. At last count, she’d raised the equivalent of nearly $1,500.

A German man turned his bike into a mobile video game.

A writer for Outside searches for meaning by island hopping through Norway on two wheels.

An Indian movie screening on Netflix centers on a brahmin’s stolen bicycle, without hiding the country’s dehumanizing caste system.

Ex-Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong took a lap around Beirut on Sunday, leading a bike tour to raise funds and call attention to the city that was devastated by a massive explosion.

Heartbreaking news from Kenya, where a pediatric dentist who had called for the government to reduce crashes was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

A bike-riding Philippines columnist says it’s time the country has a mandatory bike helmet law. Never mind that experience around the world shows that helmet laws depress bicycling rates, which is exactly the wrong thing to do with the world facing a climate crisis — let along the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Competitive Cycling

It was a bad day for new world champ Julian Alaphilippe, who missed out on winning the rescheduled Liège-Bastogne-Liège by celebrating too soon, losing out to Primož Roglič at the finish line. Then was stripped of his podium position and relegated to fifth for an overly aggressive sprint.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Lizzie Deignan won the women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a bold breakaway, racing about half the distance as the men.

The Giro kicked off on Saturday with a mini-tour of Sicily replacing the originally planned Hungary start that was derailed by the coronavirus, which did not work to three-time former world champ Peter Sagan’s advantage.

Good news as Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel is back on his bike, just six weeks after falling off a bridge in a dramatic crash at the Il Lombardia classic.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to perform bike stunts on your 12th floor balcony, at least put some damn clothes on — and try not to fall off. That feeling when a cat finishes the around the world bike tour you’re still dreaming about.

And who says you need a car to go shopping?

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

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

More on suspension of Trump-supporting cyclist, and Vallejo cop who killed headlight-less bike rider fired

October 2, 2020 / / 2 comments

More on the suspension of 2019 junior road race world champion Quinn Simmons from the Trek-Segafredo team for posting “antagonistic comments” supporting Donald Trump.

Quinn later apologized for using a dark skinned emoji that many people interpreted as racist coming from a white cyclist, leading to a return of the #Boycotttrek hashtag originally created to protest Trek’s sale of police bikes.

Trek-Segafredo stressed that he was not suspended for his political beliefs, but for “engaging in conversation on Twitter…unbefitting a Trek athlete.”

Fox News called it a “seemingly benign social media tiff.”

As much as I disagree with Simmons politics — and his beard — I have to agree.

Go ahead and criticize him or unfollow him. But don’t cost him his career.

And remember he’s just a 19-year old kid.

Photo from Trek-Segafredo website. 

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The police chief in Vallejo CA has fired a cop who shot and killed two Black men within a year, including a man who ultimately died because he didn’t have a light on his bike.

The city settled a civil rights case filed by the victim’s family for $5.7 million.

The fired cop was also one of a group of officers who killed an aspiring rapper who fell asleep in his car in a Taco Bell parking lot with a gun in his lap.

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Red Bull tells the story of Orange County’s Anthony Lopez, who lost over 300 pounds through his love of mountain biking.

Another reminder, if anyone needs it, that bicycling can be literally life changing.

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Apparently, when you’re rich, $2 million bail for killing two kids while — allegedly — drunk and street racing is no big deal.

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You could be breaking your bike and not even know it.

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

When a bike-riding woman stopped to take a video of the driver illegally following behind her in a bike lane, the road raging jerk swerved around her and spit a huge phlegm ball at her, striking her and her handlebars. That would incredibly rude and obnoxious behavior anytime. But in the Age of Covid-19, it’s potentially deadly — and should be prosecuted as such.

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Local

Reseda Blvd is getting a three-mile Complete Street makeover, including curb-protected bike lanes, to improve safety on the deadly street. Back in 2009, I helped expose a secret plan to remove the bike lanes on Reseda and replace them with peak hour lanes to funnel even more cars through the street, forcing the city to back down and deny they were planning to do it. And you’re welcome.

Long Beach is giving North Market Street a $10 million Complete Streets makeover.

Former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler tells 300 members of the bicycle industry that “just shut up and bike” is not the answer to racial inequity; in just a few years, Butler has risen from the LA bike nonprofit to become one of the country’s leading voices on racial justice and transportation.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department has received a $2 million grant to reduce traffic deaths and injuries, including traffic rights eduction for bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

State

The CHP has received another round of grants to enforce bike and pedestrian safety and conduct eduction campaigns.

This is the cost of traffic violence. It turns out the 77-year old woman killed by a driver while riding her bike north of Davis was a chemistry professor emeritus at UC Davis, who certainly deserved better. Few things piss me off more than the CHP’s knee-jerk reaction to blame the victim in a bike crash, when the only surviving witness is apparently the person who killed her.

Contra Costa County is now offering rebates of $150 on the purchase of an ebike, or $300 for low income residents. Which should be available everywhere, since it’s one of the best ways to get people out of their cars, while staying safe during the coronavirus crisis.

 

National

If you thought the streets were more dangerous during the coronavirus lockdown, you’re right. Road deaths reached a 16-year high, despite the lighter traffic.

Men’s Journal recommends the best bike packs for your next bikepacking trip.

Still no sign of the Colorado woman who reportedly never returned after a Mother’s Day bike ride; her brother believes she never got on her bike that day at all.

Nice. A donation from a nonprofit profit group has allowed Cincinnati to install 1,000 bike racks and five DIY repair stations to encourage bike riding in the city.

Police in Ohio were able to recover a $3,500 adaptive handcycle stolen from a man suffering from spina bifida, who calls it his lifeline; they arrested a 23-year old man for the theft, saying the “arrest also led to other discoveries,” whatever that means.

An outdoor columnist describes what he calls a life-changing bikepacking trip along New York’s Mohawk River.

A New York op-ed says the post-Covid city needs bike lanes and e-mobility.

 

International

It takes a real schmuck to stomp a ghost bike installed for a British Columbia handcycle rider who was killed by a semi driver last year; his widow compared the vandalism to grave robbing.

A Calgary transit officer used Bike Index to return an abandoned bike to its owner just 12 hours after it was stolen. Just one more reminder to register your bike for free today now. Before someone takes it. 

Police in Manitoba returned a stolen bike to its owner after busting a man for an outstanding warrant and several baggies of meth; a check revealed the bike he was riding had been stolen two years earlier. Hint: See item above.

The BBC examines how the coronavirus crisis sparked a bicycling revolution in Europe, including a 20 million euro investment in Parisian bikeways, and 26 miles of new bike lanes on the busiest roads in Brussels.

Police in Paris are responding to the huge increase in bike riding by cracking down on bicycling violations.

Thirty years after reunification, the formerly militarized border between East and West Germany has become a bikeable green oasis.

Japanese wrestling star Cima is one of us, recovering from serious injuries after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike.

This is why people continue to die on the streets. A New Zealand man was out on bail, despite six previous DUI convictions, when he killed a bike rider while high on meth, and nearly killed the victim’s daughter as they were riding together.

 

Competitive Cycling

The new Pro Cyclist Foundation has been founded to support riders on the pro tour. As usual, read it on Yahoo if you’re block by Bicycling.

Ten-time world road champ Chloe Dygert is on her way back home to Indiana to rehab a nasty leg wound after being released from the hospital following a horrific crash at this year’s worlds.

Pez Cycling News considers why the pros crash so much.

 

Finally…

Avid cyclist by day, award-winning wine maker by…uh, the rest of the day. Nothing like a deer in the roadway to teach you how to fly.

And that pretty well sums it up, alright.

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

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

Socialite kills brothers in alleged drunken street racing crash, more endorsements, and Burbank bike/ped overpass opens

October 1, 2020 / / Comments Off on Socialite kills brothers in alleged drunken street racing crash, more endorsements, and Burbank bike/ped overpass opens

This is who we share the roads with.

Two young boys were killed when they were struck by a driver in Westlake Village while crossing the street in a crosswalk.

KCBS-2 reports the victims were brothers, who were just eleven and nine years old.

The hit-and-run driver had apparently been drinking, and may have engaged in street racing at the time of the crash.

According to KCBS-2, she was identified as a 57-year old socialite and humanitarian, who should have known better.

Rebecca Grossman, 57, was arrested on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and is being held on $2 million bail. She did not stay on the scene, and her white Mercedes with front-end damage was towed away about a half-mile from where the boys were struck.

Grossman is the founder and chair of the Grossman Burn Foundation, and has also been recognized for her humanitarian work across the world.

Now two little boys will never grow up.

And if there’s any justice, it will be a long time before she sees the light of day again.

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Bike the Vote LA urges you to vote yes on Measure J, and offers their endorsements on council races in Santa Monica and South Pasadena.

Meanwhile, California Streetsblog offers their endorsements on this year’s extensive list of ballot propositions, as well as local issues in LA County and the Bay Area.

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Chris Buonomo reports a new Burbank bicycle/pedestrian bridge is finally open, complete with nifty curved fencing to keep anyone from throwing things over the side. Or jumping.

https://twitter.com/cbuonomo2/status/1311531265556803585

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More people are needed to sign up for California’s proposed bike-themed license plates; it will take 7,500 orders before the state will begin production.

Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

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This is why you need to register your bike.

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This is definitely not the bike rider’s fault.

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GCN offers advice on riding roadies in wet weather.

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

No bias here. The Daily Mail says proposed media guidelines for UK newspapers would ban the use of terms like Lycra Louts to describe bike riders, as well as the term “accident.” The Guardian’s Laura Laker responds that the Daily Mail’s story is “so riddled with errors, it’s hard to know where to start.

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

Pennsylvania police are looking for a pair of bike-riding jerks who defaced a memorial to a fallen officer.

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Local

No bias here, either. A new study shows 61% of low-level traffic tickets issued by the LAPD went to Black people, despite making up just seven percent of LA’s population.

The new replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge is scheduled to open to motor vehicle traffic next week, but the bridge’s walk and bike path could be delayed for another two years to allow time to build a connector bridge.

 

State

A major ruling from a California appeals court, which overturned one of the biggest limitations on damage awards for injured bike riders, ruling that encountering a giant pothole is not an inherent risk of long-distance bicycling. That could open the way for all kinds of damage awards for bike riders — especially if the people responsible for the roadway already knew about the problem. Thanks to Phillip Young and Richard Duquette for the heads-up.

Sad news from Davis, where a 77-year old woman was killed riding her bike on a private road.

 

National

Ebike prices continue to fall. You can now buy an entry level Pedego bike for less than $1,500.

Portland bicyclists will ride sans culottes — or anything else — to protest the rush to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

More on the Idaho Stop Law’s new home in Washington State.

A Missouri bike advocate calls for more defensive driving. And defensive walking and bicycling, too.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive bike from a ten-year old Illinois boy with epilepsy. And one right next to it for the jerk who stole a handcycle from a disabled Ohio man.

Sad news from Michigan, where BMX legend Ronald McDonald — no, not that one — passed away from pancreatic cancer last week, just five weeks after he was diagnosed.

City Limits examines how to make New York’s open streets permanent and equitable, improving the quality of life while setting a world-class example.

No surprise here, as a New Jersey town rolls out new sharrows to underwhelming acclaim.

Kindhearted community members pitch in to buy a new three-wheeled ebike for a Virginia man after his bike was destroyed in a collision.

Miami Beach gets its first parking protected bike lane.

 

International

He gets it. A Vancouver-area writer says children need to be taken into account on any discussion of bike lanes, saying it’s even more important to separate inexperienced riders from traffic.

A new study shows new Toronto bike lanes have the potential to drastically prevent injuries and fatalities.

A Montreal website discovers that not all business owners oppose a new bike lane, and some actually get that it could be good for them.

An English letter writer says new plastic bollards on a protected bike lane look more like a slalom course. Which is probably exactly what I’d use them for.

The annual Eurobike trade show will take place in person this year, but with less than a third of the exhibitors and attendance limited to more people than actually attended last year.

South Korea eases restrictions on e-scooters, despite fears it could lead to more injuries.

A bike-riding Aussie family says not owning a car is worth it, even if it’s not easy.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews runs down the teams that will be competing in this year’s Giro d’Italia, which kicks off this weekend.

This year’s long-delayed Amstel Gold race has been officially canceled due to coronavirus restrictions in the Netherlands.

Trek-Segafredo cyclist Quinn Simmons may have committed career suicide with online comments suggesting his support fo President Trump, with the white rider using a black hand emoji to wave goodbye; the bike team was none too pleased, calling the comments “divisive, incendiary, and detrimental.”

 

Finally…

Maybe someone should tell them there are clothes that are actually made for riding bikes. These days, Daisy would probably prefer an electric bicycle built for two.

And forget U-locks, just put a little fake bird poop on your bike to deter thieves.

No, really.

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A special thanks to Matthew R for his very generous ongoing support for this site.

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

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

DA candidate Gascón pledges to reopen shooting of Gardena bike theft victim, and new bike lane on Manchester Blvd

September 30, 2020 / / 2 comments

About damn time.

DA candidate George Gascón pledges he’ll reopen four police shootings that were swept under the rug by current DA Jackie Lacey, including the killing of Ricardo Diaz Zeferino by three Gardena cops seven years ago.

Zeferino was the unarmed, Spanish-speaking brother of a bike theft victim who was fatally shot as he tried to tell the trigger-happy cops that the men they had detained weren’t thieves, but had been helping the victim look for his stolen bike.

Lacey inexplicably ruled that the shooting was justified, because Zeferino gestured as he as speaking, and failed to understand the orders shouted to him at gunpoint in English.

At last report, all three officers were still working as Gardena cops, without so much as a slap on the wrist.

Which is more than enough reason to give my vote to Gascón.

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Ted Faber reports there are new bike lanes on Manchester Blvd.

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A writer for Bike Magazine pens a challenging piece on the question of race, saying when you’re black, “just ride” isn’t an option.

When conversations about race within the cycling industry come up, white cyclists often say things like, “The trail/bike/biking doesn’t care what color you are … just ride.”

When I’m feeling generous, I can write this off as naiveté. When I’m being brutally honest, I understand this as a dangerous distraction from the real issue.

For many white cyclists, the bike is often separate from their sociopolitical lives; it’s a means of escape, a recreational machine reserved for fitness or fun.

For many BIPOC cyclists, the bike is a tool that is intimately connected to the way we experience the world.

For those of us who are white, it’s impossible to know what it’s like to experience our streets as a person of color, unless we take the time to actually listen.

Pieces like this may not celebrate the world of bicycling that we know and love.

But they are vitally important to make riding a bike, and our world, more inclusive for everyone.

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Here’s your chance to enter Dutch academia, while working on the science of bicycling.

https://twitter.com/moorepants/status/1310513496774397952

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the forward.

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Pink Bike offers tips and tricks on how to set up your new bike.

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

Portland bike riders were subjected to an illegal checkpoint by armed men representing the Proud Boys hate group. Yet another example of the dangerous times we’re living in. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

No bias here. After a Texas driver was confronted by a bike rider enraged by his close pass, he responded by suggesting that a) bike riders should be licensed, b) bikes are too slow to be allowed on roads, and c) bike cops should get tickets for not signaling their turns. Apparently d) maybe he should try driving a little more safely next time never crossed his mind. (Scroll down)

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

Police in Idaho are looking for a major scumbag who used his bike to make a teenage girl fall off hers on a bike path, then groped and threatened her until an approaching rider frightened him off.

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Local

Culver City continues to leap past Los Angeles in repurposing the streets, including a new protected bike lane on Washington Blvd. Although it seems to be best protected from pedestrians and diners, with only thin plastic bollards to keep the cars away.

 

State

You’ve got to be kidding. After a Paso Robles bike rider suffered back and leg injuries when he was hit by a car, the local police were quick to blame the victim and stress that he wasn’t wearing a helmet. Which wouldn’t have done a damn thing to prevent his injuries even if he had been.

Bay Area residents are celebrating the governor’s signing of SB 288, which streamlines bike and transit projects by exempting many projects from the environmental reviews that were too often used as a cynical tool to stop them. We should be celebrating that one down here, too.

 

National

Streetsblog says a surprising number of cities don’t even bother to map out the streets on their High Injury Network. At least Los Angeles does that much, although after four years, it could probably stand to be updated.

A writer for Green Biz says now is the time to reimagine public transportation, including recognizing that streets aren’t just for cars.

Bicycling offers a mathematically challenged list of five things you should do after falling off your bike. I count seven myself, but I was an English major. Here’s the Yahoo link if you’re blocked from the Bicycling site.

The body of an Aspen CO man was found near a local bike trail after he’d gone missing over the weekend, when someone spotted his John Deere bike on the path.

When a Forth Worth, Texas high school student’s bicycle was stolen, the school’s football team pitched in to buy him a new one.

After an Illinois man returned from shopping to find his bike had been stolen, support poured in from kindhearted people, raising $400 in the first ten minutes; the crowdfunding campaign is now up to over $1,500.

A Massachusetts Streetsblog op-ed wonders whether the Covid-inspired bike boom will continue, saying we have a real opportunity to create a “safer, more resilient, and more equitable transportation future.”

The Wall Street Journal appears to tell the story of a digital advertising salesman who rode the crest of the bike boom with a used bike business after losing his job. But we may never know, since it’s blocked by the paper’s draconian paywall. And there’s no Yahoo mirror site for the Journal. 

After a Florida fundraising ride to fight childhood cancer was canceled due to the coronavirus, a bighearted Florida cop set out on a 1,000-mile solo journey to call attention to the disease.

 

International

Add a Jamaican bicycle tour to your bike bucket list.

Oh, well if that’s all. A Welsh driver got 42 months behind bars for fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider, claiming he was tired from partying on coke with a pair of prostitutes.

A new Korean dual beam bike light promises bright illumination without blinding people coming from the opposite direction.

A Japanese man beat a bike theft charge after convincing the judge that he was only borrowing the bike without permission. Repeatedly.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling greats and former dopers Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador have teamed up to introduce a new bike line, starting with a UCI-legal road-racing bike. No word on whether you need to consume clenbuterol-tainted meat or attempt blood doping to ride it. But hey, the era of doping is over, right? Here’s the Yahoo link for the Bicycling banned. 

VeloNews examines the disastrous front end wobble that sent American Chloé Dygert over a guardrail and down an embankment at the road worlds.

Two of the three remaining stages of the BinkBank Tour in the Netherlands have been cancelled due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

 

Finally…

Take your coffee with you when you ride — and sell it along the way. Probably not the best idea to crash into the mayor with your e-scooter.

And the perfect bike for people with more dollars than sense.

Even if it is for a good cause.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNXGbZlZAo&feature=emb_logo

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A special thanks to Margaret W and Dennis E for their generous contributions to help support this site. And thanks to Terry E for his kind words yesterday. That’s what keeps me going these days. 

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

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

Lyft e-bikeshare coming to Santa Monica, Arroyo Seco bike path finally patched, and new survey on bike helmet laws

September 29, 2020 / / Comments Off on Lyft e-bikeshare coming to Santa Monica, Arroyo Seco bike path finally patched, and new survey on bike helmet laws

E-bikeshare is back in Santa Monica, following the demise of Jump Bikes after their sale to Lime earlier this year.

Now Lyft is introducing a new ebike system in partnership with the city.

The bikes will be docked at the existing Breeze bikeshare docks, after Santa Monica’s municipal bikeshare bites the dust this November, eventually expanding to 500 bikes.

Here’s what the company has to say.

The new ebikes allow riders to travel around Santa Monica and West Los Angeles with less effort. When the rider pedals, the ebikes use a small electric motor to boost the rider’s pedal power, making longer trips easier and more accessible. Users will be able to rent ebikes in the Lyft app for $1 to unlock and $0.34 per minute – just scan the QR code and go. Riders can lock the bikes to any one of 80 Breeze stations with the attached cable, or to any public bike rack within the service area for an extra $1. For more about pricing and service area, visit the Lyft website…

Lyft also offers a Community Pass for bikes and scooters in Santa Monica. The Lyft Community Pass is a reduced-fare membership program for qualifying residents of Santa Monica and LA. Membership costs $5/month and includes discounted ebike rides at $0.05/min. The Community Pass program is available to residents ages 18 and older who qualify for the Big Blue Bus Low Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) program, Calfresh, Medicaid, SNAP, or the SCE Energy Savings Assistance Program and to qualifying Santa Monica Community College students.

 

Correction: I originally wrote that Jump had been acquired by Lyft, but they were actually purchased by Lime. My apologies for the error.

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Speaking of Santa Monica, David Drexler confirms that the 5 mph speed limit signs have been removed from the newly widened beachfront Marvin Braude bike path through the city.

As we noted last week, the signs with the ridiculously low speed limit were installed temporarily as part of a construction project.

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It looks like they’ve finally gotten around to patching that gaping hole in the Arroyo Seco Bike Path, which should be open again soon.

The lengthy delay in getting it fixed could stem from the mishmash of public agencies involved in the repair work, including, but possibly not limited to,

  • LADOT
  • Bureau of Engineering
  • Board of Public Works
  • LA County
  • Regional Water Quality Control Board
  • StreetsLA (nee Bureau of Street Services)

Maybe someone should form a single umbrella agency to manage the city and county river channel bikeways so it doesn’t take the local equivalent of a UN Security Council negotiation every time something goes wrong.

I’m told credit goes to LA Bicycle Advisory Committee member John Laue for getting this done.

Thanks to Kent Strumpell for the heads up.

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Researchers at San Jose State University want your input on a survey exploring the relationship between mandatory helmet use regulations and adult cyclists’ behavior in California.

Scroll all the way down to agree to participate.

Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.

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You may remember Christopher Kidd from his days running the LADOT Bike Blog, which is about the last time the agency communicated effectively to the general public.

Since then, he’s been building a successful career as a Complete Streets planner in the Bay Area.

Which should make this an interesting talk.

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Local

Bike the Vote LA’s Michael MacDonald has written his own progressive guide to the 2020 election in LA County.

 

State

Governor Newsom has signed SB-288, which removes CEQA oversight of bike, pedestrian, light rail and bus rapid transit projects, eliminating a tool too often abused by opponents to halt environmentally friendly projects.

La Jolla Black Lives Matter supporters say they’re going to keep drawing chalk signs on the bike path supporting the movement, no matter how many times the city washes them off.

A San Diego op-ed argues that riding a bike isn’t just good for your health, but for your career, as well, allowing you to work out work problems while you ride. I’ve done some of my best work on my bike; it’s particularly effective to get out and ride when you feel stuck.

 

National

An urban planner writes that we have an “opportunity to make a generational shift to supporting walking, cycling and public transit over vehicular” transportation, and to reclaim our neighborhoods.

WaPo offers advice on how to safely and politely travel bike trails during the Age of Coronavirus.

Outside recommends accessories to make your gravel riding smoother and more comfortable.

Singletracks offers their choices for the best bike seats to bring your toddler along on your mountain bike. But maybe avoid flying down those downhill trails until they get the hang of it.

No bias here. Time Out picks the best bike trails to view fall foliage. But somehow doesn’t manage to name anything west of Texas.

A Seattle man speaks out after a bike cop was caught on video rolling a bicycle over his head during a racial justice protest, saying he was roughed up by arresting officers after the incident, and received no medical attention during the four hours he spent behind bars.

Washington bike riders will now be able to treat stop signs as yields, as the state becomes just the latest to adopt a modified form of the Idaho Stop Law. California should join Oregon and Washington in adopting the law, making it uniform throughout the West Coast.

Denver bike riders are scouring homeless encampments looking for their stolen bicycles.

A Nebraska bike nonprofit is looking for a new home after losing their current location; the organization rescues and restores bicycles, and allows at-risk kids to work on them to earn their first bikes.

He gets it. A Houston writer explains that ghost bikes are memorials to the failure of drivers to pay attention to the road around them.

Michigan conducted a bike safety enforcement crackdown of their own earlier this month, ticketing 186 motorists and giving warnings to 116 drivers and 117 bike riders.

Usage stats for New York’s bridges show the bike boom is still going strong, with ridership up as much as 88 percent over March’s pre-pandemic levels.

 

International

How to maintain your ebike.

Cycling Weekly offers advice on how to keep your bike safe at home. My best advice is to keep your bike inside your home if at all possible; if you have to use a garage, make sure it’s locked to something that’s secretly anchored.

A new bike wheel promises to literally suck the smog out of the air from all those stinky cars around you.

A new Brit bike taillight flashes brighter to warn drivers when they’re too close.

In the latest non-scandal to hit the UK, a London councilmember admits he wants to take advantage of the Covid-19 traffic slowdown to make popup bike lanes and street closures permanent. Which was kind of the idea behind the whole thing to begin with.

Stardom has changed life for the better for the 15-year old Indian girl who rode a bike over 700 miles to carry her injured father home earlier this year; she now has a new home, eight bikes, two possible movie deals and an offer to train with the national cycling team when the pandemic loses its grip.

A South African man says he barely survived a bike-jacking when a masked gunman fired at him, because the gun jammed; he was able to escape a second shot on his bike.

A Kiwi writer with a cool name discusses the humiliating yet thrilling experience of learning how to ride a bike as an adult.

A new book argues that Australian police botched the investigation into the death of endurance cyclist Mike Hall during the 2017 Indian Pacific Wheel Race across the continent; Hall was killed by a 19-year old provisional driver, who police absolved of responsibility by claiming Hall was hard to see, despite an array of ultrabright taillights.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a Beemer — although I like this one better. Before you build a new bike path, maybe make sure you own the land.

And anyone can ride across the country. But how many can claim they rode from Poo Poo Point to Pee Pee Creek?

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

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