Tag Archive for bicycling

Chief Lunes cyclist dies in Vegas car crash, removing cops from traffic enforcement, and no 15-minute city in LA

September 28, 2020 / / 5 comments

My apologies for Friday’s unexcused absence. 

Between my diabetes, neuropathy and whatever the hell else was going on, Thursday was one of the worst nights I’ve had in recent memory.

Just one more reminder that I’m not in charge of my own body any more.

Which is a very hard thing for a formerly dedicated bicyclist to face.

And another reminder to see your doctor, improve your diet, and do whatever it takes to keep your blood sugar under control. 

Because you really don’t want this shit. Especially now. 

Photo by Sabine van Erp from Pixabay.

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Let’s start with some heartbreaking news.

Many of us got to know Spencer Sims, either directly or through sites like this, following the hit-and-run death of bike rider Frederick “Woon” Frazier in South LA two years ago.

Like Woon, Sims was a member of the Chief Lunes cycling group, and was one of the leaders in the fight for justice for Frazier, as well as his mother and infant child, who was born after his death.

For well over a year afterwards, I got emails from Sims about the status of the case and the next moves in their battle for justice.

Sadly, I won’t be getting any more.

It took awhile to confirm, but Spencer Sims was killed, along with another man, in a single-car collision outside Las Vegas last week, when 19-year old driver lost control and the car they were riding in left the road.

Neither man was wearing a seat belt.

There were apparently no witnesses to the crash; a passerby reported finding the wreckage sometime later. Just a couple more sacrifices to the motor vehicle gods.

Now Woon’s mother will be even more alone and isolated without Sims looking in on her.

And he leaves this world without ever seeing justice for his friend and fellow rider. After a retracted confession and countless delays, Mariah Candice Banks, the woman accused of killing Woon in her high-end SUV, has yet to set foot in a courtroom for anything other than her arraignment.

Her long-delayed prelim is now scheduled for November 4th.

Sims won’t be there; let’s hope he and Woon are riding together somewhere. But maybe some of us can take his place.

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LAist makes the case for why we may not really need police to enforce traffic laws and curb traffic violence, suggesting there are effective alternatives like automated enforcement and self-enforcing street design.

This summer, a group of L.A. City Council members filed a motion calling on the city’s Department of Transportation and legislative officials to work with community members and report back on alternative methods of traffic enforcement, collision investigations and other traffic safety duties currently handled by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Some potential changes that will be explored: replacing LAPD officers with a “transit ambassador program” staffed by unarmed LADOT personnel and/or automated technology to monitor and cite drivers for speeding, illegal turns and other moving violations.

“Such a move would virtually eliminate the LAPD’s role in traffic stops, one of the leading forms of interaction between police and the public,” states the motion, which was filed by L.A. City Councilmembers Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Mike Bonin, Curren Price and Herb Wesson.Breonna

It’s a challenging and thought-provoking read, well worth a few minutes of your time.

Because the current system really isn’t working for anyone.

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The C40 Cities — a group of 96 cities dedicated to taking action to fight climate change — says the concept of a 15-minute city is rapidly spreading around the world.

That’s the idea that you should be able to walk, bike or take transit to anything you need within 15 minutes of your home or office.

Except here in Los Angeles, of course.

Where the car continues to be king, nothing even slightly resembling a bike network exists anywhere outside of Downtown, and Metro just locked in major service cuts for at least the next year.

Never mind that LA Mayor Eric Garcetti is the current chair of the Metro board. Not to mention chair of C-40 Cities.

Or are we not supposed to notice that?

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up.

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This is who we share the roads with, protest edition.

A truck driver floored it after encountering a Breonna Taylor protest in Hollywood, plowing through the crowd and seriously injuring a woman who was standing directly in front of his pickup.

https://twitter.com/jessicarayerog1/status/1309347382308401153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1309347382308401153%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fcalifornia%2Fstory%2F2020-09-24%2Fbreonna-taylor-hollywood-protest

That was followed by the driver of a Prius who forced his way through the crowd before being stopped and attacked with skateboards and bicycles.

A person was injured when a pickup driver plowed through a racial justice protest in Eureka, appearing to strike several people; the regional Coalition for Responsible Transportation condemned the attack.

A Milwaukee woman was injured when a driver accidentally hit her bike as she was riding on the wrong side of the road during a protest.

A Buffalo, New York woman faces charges for intentionally driving through a Bronna Taylor protest, seriously injuring a woman working as a bike marshal,

However, an Orange County woman flipped the script, seriously injuring two people by driving through a conservative, pro-Trump rally; 40-year old Long Beach resident Tatiana Turner was arrested.

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In a truly sickening action, a Seattle bike cop deliberately rolled his police bicycle over the head of a protestor lying prone in the street.

He was immediately placed on leave after the video surfaced, pending an investigation., while the victim decried the apparent disregard for human life.

Let’s hope this is the last time that cop wears blue.

A little further south in Portland, police threw an Uber delivery rider off his bike and hogtied him, even as he insisted he was just doing his job and had nothing to do with the protests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNWHnv_hl94

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VeloNews follows along as five riders and a camera crew hope to inspire others with a 1,114-mile journey bikepacking tour exploring the Underground Railroad.

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Gravel Bike California goes riding in Puerco Canyon, as well as Latino Canyon and the iconic Rock Store.

For those Español challenged like me, that translates to Pig Canyon.

Just so you know.

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Slow Streets comes to Altadena, where most streets are, anyway.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

A New York woman recounts her recent hit-and-run, describing a deliberate attack by a driver who knew he could get away with it.

Police are looking for a man who jumped off some rocks to attack two bicyclists with a bat as they rode on a paved trail through a Philadelphia park.

A Scottish cyclist reports an elderly “gentleman” tried to run him and another rider off the road, slowing down and swerving into them just after they completed a 31-hour, 560-mile ride. Although that pretty much defies any definition of gentleman I’m familiar with.

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

Long Beach police are looking for a bike-riding gunman who killed another man in an early morning bike-by shooting.

A defense lawyer in Canada’s Northwest Territories argues that his client was too drunk to form the intent necessary for murder, after killing another man following a day of bicycling in a drunken stupor.

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Local

Metro Bike is shutting down operations on LA’s Westside for a couple months starting today, as the system expands and unifies the Westside and Central bikeshare networks, as well as bringing in the popular ebike service.

Despite the budget cuts, Metro’s new long-range budget included plans to close the long-standing eight-mile gap in the LA River bike path, and provide better bike access to DTLA. Because evidently, those must be the only places anyone would ever want to go on a bicycle.

 

State

SoCal ebike maker Electric Bike Company has opened their first showroom in Huntington Beach.

A San Diego nonprofit is working with local small businesses to train young adults to work in the bicycle industry.

A Ventura man celebrated his miraculous recovery from a near-fatal mountain bike crash by paddle boarding 14 miles back to Channel Islands Harbor Marina from Anacapa Island.

Bay Area bike riders dropped Bike to Work Day and celebrated Bike to Wherever Day last week, instead.

San Francisco finally gets around to opening a carfree route through Golden Gate Park.

Seriously? A woman who was injured riding a Jump scooter in San Francisco has filed a class action suit against several e-scooter companies, including Uber and Segway, because…wait for it…no one warned consumers that scooters don’t have turn signals. No one tell her about bicycles.

 

National

How to access bicycling directions in the latest version of Apple Maps.

The former head of the League of American Bicyclists says it’s time to stop relying on commuter data as the primary measure to make traffic planning decisions, because there’s a lot more to transportation.

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner is back in the bike business with a small line of carbon ebikes that are a far cry from the road bikes he used to be known for.

Minneapolis’ Black-led Major Taylor bike club has been working for two decades to get more people of color on bicycles.

How to navigate your next bike vacation in the Big Apple.

 

International

An op-ed from The Guardian calls for media reporting guidelines for traffic safety, arguing that how stories are reported and the language used contribute to the dangers on our roads and how the law is applied.

He gets it. Another writer for The Guardian says denying a child the joys of riding a bicycle is an abdication of parental responsibility, adding “No video game, Covid-19 lockdown or computer simulation can replace the childhood liberation of being alone on a bicycle.”

E-cargo bikes are already replacing trucks in cities around the world.

Chances are, a 13-year old dog may have visited more countries by bike than you have, traveling through 26 countries on a two-year bike tour of Europe and South America.

Cycling Weekly directs your attention to the best eco-conscious bikewear brands.

Needless to say, Vancouver bike riders aren’t happy about the closure of a popup bike lane through a park, because drivers somehow insisted they needed two lanes each way for their cars. Yes, choosing cars over people in a park.

A bighearted Cambridge University academic replaced a speech therapist’s stolen bike, because they’d helped him so much when he was diagnosed with a severe speech impediment as a child.

An 11-year old English girl rode a tandem 70 miles with her dad to visit all 12 cricket clubs in the North Staffordshire area, raising more than four times her original goal of £500 for cardiac risk assessments for young people; she’s raised the equivalent of over $2,800.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 93-year old British man raced competitively until he was 80, and still rides 150 miles a week.

A bike rider in the UK recorded 14 drivers traveling through a popup bike lane in just 35 minutes. Kind of makes you wonder how many went through it the other 23 hours and 25 minutes.

Forget CicLAvia. The entire city of Paris left their cars at home for one day for the city’s annual carfree day.

Parisian pedestrians find themselves competing for space with bike riders on the city’s busy streets.

France is introducing a new victim-blaming bike safety campaign as bicycling injuries go up with more people taking to the streets on two wheels.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero. An Indian family is alive today because an anonymous bike rider was in the right place at the right time, leaping into action to pull them to safety after their car went off the road and into a natural drain before simply riding away afterwards; sadly, though, he wasn’t able to save the family’s three-year old girl.

Bicycling violations are up as in Japan as bicycling booms during the pandemic.

Malaysian bike riders take issue with a call from the country’s road safety institute to license bicyclists and require numbered plates, saying it would not improve traffic safety.

 

Competitive Cycling

Julian Alaphilippe won the world road championships with a late attack, becoming the first Frenchman to wear the rainbow jersey in over two decades.

Anna van der Breggen continued the Dutch dominance of the women’s road worlds, as the country placed three of the four top finishers; cyclists from the Netherlands have won the event four years in a row. Van de Breggen claimed the time trial title, too.

Last week we mentioned defending champ Chloe Dygert was injured after wiping out during the women’s time trial world championships. Turns out that injury was more gruesome than any of us probably imagined.

 

Finally…

If he really was Lucifer, why would he need to steal a bike? Two hundred miles in 32 hours is pretty good — especially when you’re doing it on your daughter’s little pink girl’s bike.

And evidently, moose don’t like cars any more than people on bikes do.

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

G’mar Chatima Tovah!

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

Strava data shows LA bike rate double last year’s; and gun charges yes, but nothing for driving through Pasadena protesters

September 24, 2020 / / Comments Off on Strava data shows LA bike rate double last year’s; and gun charges yes, but nothing for driving through Pasadena protesters

One quick note. 

Santa Monica Spoke founder Cynthia Rose informs me that the 5 mph speed limit signs on the beachfront bike path we mentioned on Monday was installed temporarily for a construction project, and have been removed. 

So that’s one bit of good news to start your day. 

Photo by Ekrulila from Pexels.

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Apparently, LA’s bike boom wasn’t an illusion.

According to Strava data, bicycle use in bike-unfriendly Los Angeles nearly doubled in May, jumping 93% over this time last year.

Among the six U.S. cities for which Strava provided data, Houston and Los Angeles, two sprawling metropolises where just .5% and 1% of the respective populations biked to work in pre-pandemic times, stand out. In Houston, the total volume of cycling trips in Houston was 138% higher in May 2020 than in May 2019. In Los Angeles, the jump was 93%. Unlike their peers, these two places also saw cycling increases in April, the first full month of widespread stay-at-home order and economic shutdowns.

Never mind that Strava is still used by a subset of bike riders, meaning the actual numbers could be even higher, as the LACBC’s Eli Akira Kaufman points out.

Eli Akira Kaufman, the executive director of the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, said the data also likely leaves out many of the essential workers he’s observed hopping on bikes instead of the bus, which could mean that the numbers are even higher than what the Strava data shows. Now his thoughts are towards the future. Cities like Houston and L.A., with their thousands of miles of car-oriented streets, have their work cut out building protected bike lanes and other infrastructure to encourage cycling even after the pandemic ends

“How do we keep the riding coming?” he said. “That’s the question now.”

The obvious answer to that is to provide a safe, convenient and connected network of bikeways that allows riders to traverse the city, and their own neighborhoods.

Which is exactly what LA’s three-tiered 2010 bike plan, now part of the city’s Mobility Plan 2035, calls for.

And exactly what Los Angeles isn’t doing.

Meanwhile, bikes are still booming, as SoCal bike shops report double and triple their normal sales.

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This is who we share the roads with, protest edition.

A San Marino man who drove through a group of peaceful Pasadena protestors last month has been charged with conspiracy to transport firearms across state lines, as well as making a false statement to police.

During a search of Hung’s truck, police found a loaded semiautomatic handgun, multiple high-capacity magazines loaded with ammunition, an 18-inch machete, $3,200 in cash, a long metal pipe and a megaphone, according to the affidavit.

Evidently, endangering innocent people with a motor vehicle is just dandy, though.

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This is who we share the roads with, hit-and-run edition.

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver who ran down a 70-year old woman in Chinatown as she walked in a crosswalk with the right-of-way, leaving her with a brain bleed and a broken neck.

Security video shows the heartless coward get out of his Mercedes to look at the victim, then get back in and simply drive away.

As usual, there is a $25,000 standing reward for any hit-and-run that results in serious injuries in the City of Los Angeles.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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Streets for All has released their endorsements and Voter Guide for the November election, in both English y Español.

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They get it.

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LADOT has begun work on a curb-protected Complete Streets project on Reseda Blvd in Reseda and Northridge.

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Then there’s this.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1308948399929143303

Secure bike parking is a good thing. But maybe we can do a better job of considering the needs of disabled riders next time.

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Germans know how to promote World Car Free Day.

https://twitter.com/BirgitHebein/status/1308390818756079618

That tweet translates to,

Take public transport, walk or cycle and thus set an example for more space in the city.

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It’s not everyday a hospital ad is worth sharing.

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Bike stunts, without the bike.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

A London bike rider suffered a broken shoulder when a road raging bus driver allegedly swerved into him, knocking him off his bike; passengers on the bus reportedly begged the hit-and-run driver to stop.

An Aussie man faces charges for pushing a friend in a shopping cart into a group of bicyclists traveling at over 25 mph, taking out a number of riders. The man, who had been drinking for a dozen hours, claims his actions weren’t deliberate and he just lost control of the cart, despite how it looks on security cam video.

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

In a tragic story from Milwaukee, a 54-year old man was fatally gunned down by a bike rider in a dispute over a traffic “mishap.” There is no excuse for violence, especially at the risk of someone’s life. Just suck it up and ride away, already.

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Local

Los Angeles joined with New York, London, Berlin and eight other cities in Europe and North America in pledging to divest from fossil fuel companies to fight climate change.

LADOT wants your help in identifying low-stress travel corridors in Central Los Angeles.

A new self-guided audio bike tour through DTLA leads you through the hidden histories of Latino Los Angeles, while the slower pace on a bike allows you to take it all in.

Metro is pulling the plug on its smart bike bikeshare program on LA’s Westside, replacing them with “classic” bikeshare bikes in Venice, Palms, Playa Vista and Santa Monica, while adding nine more docks.

REI is offering adult classes on how to ride bike in Redondo Beach next month, as well as one-on-one adult instruction in Redondo Beach and Santa Monica; the outdoor co-op is also offering kid’s classes in Santa Monica.

 

State

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order banning the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in the state by 2035. Unfortunately, he didn’t take any action to encourage bike riding, walking or transit use to make those vehicles unnecessary.

Hold your pony in check. Newport Beach adopts an ordinance aimed at ebike users on the city’s boardwalk, stating that no one may exceed the posted 8 mph speed limit, regardless of what they’re riding.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies will crack down on traffic safety violations that endanger bicyclists and pedestrians in Dana Point today, regardless of who commits them. The usual protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit lines, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

San Diego’s new Mid-City Bikeway project is nearly half-finished, as the city unveiled eight new traffic circles installed to improve safety at intersections.

Condolences to San Diego bike riders, who will soon be stuck with the city’s first sharrows on a three block section of Hancock Street. As we’ve said before, sharrows only serve to help drivers improve their aim in an effort to thin the bike riding herd.

Our friend Michael Wagner of CLR Effect visited Santa Barbara’s newly closed State Street, saying restaurants and businesses are benefitting from the carfree foot and bike traffic, and comparing it to a 24/7 CicLAvia. Which sounds like a damn good idea to me.

I’ve found lots of things while riding a bike. Fortunately, a human skull on a Tahoe bike trail ain’t one of them.

 

National

Good news for my fellow diabetics, as a new study shows bike riding reduces cardiovascular mortality in diabetes, as well as mortality risk from all causes. If the coronavirus doesn’t get us first, that is.

The Verge visits the makers of Rain-Bow bike fenders.

C|net reviews Garmin’s new rearview bike radar systems and rides away impressed.

Mashable says Ridepanda is your one-stop shop for all things ebike and e-scooter.

Specialized gets spanked by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which has rejected the company’s trademark application for its latest bike, ruling it’s too similar to a tire brand.

Singer-songwriter Laura Veirs is one of us, riding her bike “all over Portland” to cope with her divorce after 20 years of marriage.

A manager with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission patiently explains why allowing bike riders to treat stops signs as yields is better for everyone.

Add this one to your bike bucket list, with an easy bike tour around Aspen and Snowmass, Colorado.

A new Indianapolis mural will honor Black cycling legend Major Taylor — even if it means removing another mural that has been there for 45 years.

Kindhearted Connecticut cops pitched in to buy a little boy a new bike after his was stolen.

A New York State assembly member says the state must subsidize ebike purchases. The same goes for California, except more so.

Nearly 130 people rode their bikes 300 miles from New York to DC last month to protest police brutality and racial injustice as part of the March on Washington. As usual, you can read the story on Yahoo if you’re blocked by Bicycling’s draconian paywall.

DC adopts a Vision Zero bill intended to eliminate traffic deaths within the next four years, including plans for red light and stop sign cams, as well as bus lane cameras. Let’s hope they have better luck with it than we did, since LA’s Vision Zero has devolved into a nearly forgotten footnote in city history.

I want to be like him when I grow up, too. A Georgia man on the cusp of 90 has been buying and refurbishing bicycles for the past decade, giving away the finished bikes to children, schools and charities.

They get it, too. Miami is planning to permanently ban cars from the city’s beachfront Ocean Drive, while prioritizing pedestrians first in the city’s entertainment district, followed by bicyclists and transit, with personal vehicles last.

 

International

Medical staff with Britain’s National Health Service continue to be targeted by bike thieves, as one man has now had two bikes stolen in just the past three months.

Electric cars won’t solve the UK’s pollution problem. Or California’s, for that matter.

Blue-tired, Netherlands-based Swapfiets is reportedly taking Europe by storm with its long-term bike rental business model, and a promise to fix your flats for you.

Cyprus intends to invest half a million euros to encourage more people to walk and bike. However, that only equates to $585,000, which won’t go very far.

Los Angeles could soon get lapped by Tehran, as Dutch officials offer recommendations to get the city on the right track for bicycling, while noting that several Iranian cities have the potential to be bike friendly.

Talk about not getting it. A Philippine city is considering a proposal to mandate helmets and reflectorized vests for bike riders, as well as limiting riders to carrying minimal loads, since “bicycles are not designed to carry much cargo.” Which would come as a hell of a surprise to many bike commuters and cargo bike owners.

 

Competitive Cycling

Rouleur profiles Trinidadian cycling star Teniel Campbell, saying she’s on the brink of breaking big in women’s cycling.

Red Bull shares the playlists that get mountain bike, ‘cross and cross-country pros ready to ride.

Former Vuelta and Giro winner Nairo Quintana has denied any wrongdoing in a doping investigation targeting members of his entourage. Then again, that’s what Lance said. And Landis. And Contador. And…

 

Finally…

If you’re going to propose on the Brooklyn Bridge, tell your photographer to stay out of the bike lane. If you didn’t drive on a narrow bike trail, your Jeep wouldn’t need to be rescued in the first place; thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

And you be you.

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

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

5 mph speed limit on SaMo bike path, Kizzee protestors sue Sheriff, and bike rider gives his life to save his daughter

September 22, 2020 / / 6 comments

They’ve got to be kidding.

David Drexler writes that Santa Monica has finally installed a curb separating bike riders and pedestrians on the newly widened Marvin Braude bike path through the city’s beaches.

But at the same time, they’ve installed a ridiculous 5 mph speed limit on the pathway, which is a fast walking pace, and slower than most people run. And almost half the 8 mph speed limit in Hermosa Beach.

Never mind that, as he points out, it’s hard to ride a bike that slowly without falling over, even on a cruiser bike.

Just more evidence of biking rules being set by people who’ve never ridden one.

Photos by David Drexler.

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Los Angeles County protestors aren’t backing down in the ongoing street confrontations with the Sheriff’s Department.

A group of people have filed for a temporary restraining order against the LASD’s use of nonlethal weapons during sometimes violent crackdowns against protestors following the shooting of Compton bike rider Dijon Kizzee.

Deputies have insisted that they are justified in cracking down on the protests, citing things like bike helmets and shields as proof of protestors’ violent intent.

Meanwhile, the people protesting Kizzee’s shooting have decried what they consider heavy-handed assaults on largely peaceful protestors.

It’s hard to say who’s right, since the department has gone out of its way to intimidate and arrest legitimate members of the press.

Meanwhile, bike riders in many parts of the county continue to express a fear of being harassed or arrested by sheriff’s deputies for Biking while Black or Brown.

Which is something no one should ever have to fear.

Let alone experience.

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Once again, a bike rider was a hero.

Tragically, this time.

A 45-year old Tracy CA man was riding bikes with his nine-year old daughter when a speeding driver suddenly drove directly towards them; his final act was urging his daughter to safety before the careening car took his life.

Compounding the tragedy, the formerly two lane street where the crash occurred has suffered from speeding drivers since being widened to four lanes earlier this year.

We’ll never know if he and his daughter might have both made it home to their family if it hadn’t been.

And someone should ask Sacramento’s ABC10 why it took until the next-to-last of 17 paragraphs in their story to mention that the damn car even had a driver.

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A frequent bike rider, who asked not to be named, forwarded this dashcam video taken during a recent drive through Santa Monica, demonstrating why stopping for red lights matters.

Or at least observing the right-of-way.

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A new short film documents life in Los Angeles for people on two wheels, with a veritable who’s who of LA bike luminaries.

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Former pro Phil Gaimon explains why bicyclists ride in the road, answering the question countless clueless drivers have hurled at him over the years.

Got to hand it to Gaimon.

He may not have set the world on fire in the pro peloton, but he’s become one of the most effective and entertaining ex-pros after retiring.

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

No bias here. A BBC crime program ostensibly about bike theft wasted its time with an unrelated call for mandatory helmets for bike riders. Call me crazy, but even 100% helmet compliance would do nothing to stop the theft of a single bicycle.

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

Police arrested a San Mateo CA man as he attempted to flee by bike after shooting up his neighbors’ mobile homes, then barricading himself inside his trailer.

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Local

You could get the Bird for your birthday or some other special event. Or just buy your own from the Santa Monica-based company for the low, low price of $599.

Pasadena police ticketed 79 drivers during the city’s latest bike and pedestrian safety crackdown, along with 12 bicycle riders and 12 pedestrians.

 

State

More bad news from Northern California, where a San Jose bike rider was killed in a collision Sunday night.

No surprise here, as Bay Area advocates complain about city officials and employees speeding in San Francisco and willfully blocking safety infrastructure in Oakland.

Good news for Bay Area bike riders, as Colorado’s bike-friendly New Belgian Brewery is establishing its first West Coast outlet in San Francisco’s Mission Bay.

San Francisco authorities are struggling to identify a hospitalized man who was seriously injured when he was hit by a driver while riding his bike. This is why you should always have some form of ID that’s not likely to get lost or stolen when you ride your bike. I always wear my RoadID, but you can also carry a card with your name and emergency contact information.

 

National

Tech Crunch likes the new Lumos smart helmet.

Now we’re getting somewhere. A small DIY ebike conversion kit attaches to the disk brake mount on your mountain bike — although it will set you back nearly two grand.

A rider for Jalopnik is fascinated by the process when he takes an old steel Schwinn to an expert framebuilder to have his broken frame repaired.

Four years after an Iowa collision in the middle of a coast-to-coast bike ride left a man confined to a wheelchair, he’s back to finish the ride using a handcycle. And raising funds for a cancer charity.

Kindhearted cops bought a pair of new bikes for a couple of Detroit sisters after learning the girls had to share a single bicycle.

New York bike riders will be on their own, as city officials plan to close part of the Hudson River Greenway for reconstruction work with no safety provisions for riders forced to detour onto the streets; the pathway is the busiest bike path in North America. Which is saying something for anyone who’s ever tried to ride the Venice bike path on a holiday weekend.

A Philly bike messenger offers advice on how to bike commute with confidence. Although that the last bit of advice to “Act like you’re in a car,” could taking up too much space, emitting noxious gasses, and threatening everyone else on the road. And yes, you can read it on Yahoo if you’ve been blocked by Bicycling’s draconian firewall. Which kind of makes you wonder what’s the point of having it.

A Virginia billboard honors five-year old Cannon Hinnant, who was fatally shot point blank by a neighbor for the crime of riding a bicycle on his lawn earlier this year.

In a near mirror image of the Tracy crash, an angry Florida family wants to find the hit-and-run driver who injured a seven-year old boy as he was riding bikes with his father.

 

International

Cycling News explains the difference between mountain and gravel bikes.

Vancouver has just quadrupled the fine for dooring a bike rider. Although the new $368 fine still seems too low. And that’s Canadian dollars.

A British military vet says losing his right arm and shoulder in a motorcycle crash is the best thing that ever happened to him, after competing as a paracyclist in the Invictus Games and becoming an advocate for positive body images.

Owners of Belgium’s Cowboy ebikes will get a free GPS-enabled crash detection system through a software update to alert emergency contacts with their exact location; the company says the risk of a false alarm is “near zero.”

Berlin police are engaged in a bicycle and pedestrian safety crackdown of their own in the face of a rising traffic death toll.

Great idea. Mumbai bike riders can get free emergency IDs issued by the city to provide their name and emergency contacts, as well as doctors and vital health information, in the event of a crash. That San Francisco unidentified bicyclist could have used something like that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News looks back at eight memorable moments from this year’s Tour de France.

Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar ditched his power meter and relied on the Force for the pivotal ascent during Saturday’s time trial. Okay, so maybe the Force reference was just a metaphor.

French judicial authorities are investigating doping accusations against Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana’s Arkea-Samsic team, as well as entourage members who aren’t actually with the team. However, that does not necessarily mean Quintana or other team leaders have been implicated. Good thing the era of doping is over though. Right?

 

Finally…

Evidently, even mountain lions like to watch kids ride bikes — unless maybe they’re just looking for dinner. Who needs to actually ride a mountain bike when you can just play it on your phone?

And when you’re carrying funny money, oxy laced with fentanyl, pipes, scales, knives and brass knuckles on your bike, put a damn light on it, already.

And poop before you go out.

Seriously.

………

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

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

Happy virtual Bike Week, Bike the Vote makes Culver City endorsements, and the time to reimagine public transport is now

September 21, 2020 / / One comment

Welcome to the long-delayed Bike Week for the Age of Covid-19, where not much is going on, and like everything else in this plague infested year, what does will be mostly virtual.

The one actual semi-activity to hit the streets will be tomorrow’s Ride A Bike Day, on what is otherwise known as Worldwide Car Free Day, in which you’re encouraged to ride your bike somewhere.

Or anywhere.

The Bike League simply calls it Bike There Day, wherever there happens to be.

So do what you’d probably do anyway, and get out on your bike to enjoy what passes for relatively smoke-free fall weather here in Southern California.

But give yourself a pat on the back for it.

Meanwhile, Ventura County has a number of eco-friendly activities to get you involved.

And enjoy this from Pedal Love.

Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels.

………

With the upcoming election is just over a month away, Bike the Vote LA is offering their endorsements in the Culver City race.

There are three out of five council seats on the ballot. Only one incumbent is running (Mayor Goran Erickson), as Bike The Vote L.A.-endorsed Meghan Sahli-Wells is termed out and bike-friendly Councilmember Thomas Small decided not to seek re-election. Five of the eight candidates running responded to Bike The Vote’s questionnaire. Each of the responses were promising, but Bike The Vote’s Cuvler City committee determined that these three candidates stood out as worthy of endorsements.

Meanwhile, San Diego’s BikeSD offers their own endorsements in local races.

And consider this my endorsement for Downey’s bike friendly Alexandria Contreras for city council in District One.

………

The NRDC says the moment to reimagine public transportation is right now.

The environmental organization lists three key themes, including —

  • Streets are not just for cars
  • Public transportation infrastructure needs and deserves investment
  • Access to safe, effective transit is very much a racial justice issue

That’s exactly what’s being done in cities around the world, particularly when it comes to bicycle access during the coronavirus pandemic.

And exactly what we need to do here in Los Angeles.

………

They get it.

Lyft has partnered with several New York advocacy groups to pen a white paper calling on New York City to create resilient streets for transit, biking and walking.

(You can find an edited version of the piece on New York Streetsblog if you’ve used up all your free Medium visits for the month.)

At the risk of repeating myself, that’s exactly what we need to do here in Los Angeles, where the need may be even greater than in Gotham.

And exactly what the city has been pledging, and failing, to do for the past decade.

………

Speaking of which, when is a bike lane not a bike lane?

………

Some people are seriously effed up.

Drivers in London’s upscale Hackney borough compare limited access Low Traffic Neighborhood with Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip — and the Holocaust.

………

Malaysian are aghast at the sight of a bike rider drafting a truck.

https://twitter.com/Aweeff/status/1307172043171872770

The tweet awkwardly translates to this, which appears to be saying that all bike riders get blamed for one rider’s actions.

Because a drop of tilapia spoils the milk of an orange. Deck because of a cyclist’s suicide act exhausted all cyclists are beaten equally.

Which, sadly, is all too true.

And seriously, kids. Don’t do that.

………

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

Canadian authorities are looking for a man who yelled at a pair of bike-riding women, then used a telescoping camera pole to knock them off their bicycles.

No bias here. When the Queensland, Australia Department of Transportation asked online about the minimum passing distance on a road with a 43 mph speed limit, readers insisted the bike rider shouldn’t be on the road to begin with.

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

A Philadelphia bike rider opened fire on three plainclothes cops when they slowed down to ask if he was okay; another man joined the firefight after the officers got out of their car to exchange fire. Fortunately, none of the cops were seriously injured.

A road raging Irish bike rider was bitten in the nose by a passenger in a car, after the passenger got out and attacked the bicyclist for shattering the car’s windshield with his bike; both men face well-deserved charges.

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman offers a frame-by-frame analysis of the video the LA Sheriff’s Department says is proof that their deputies were justified in shooting Compton bike rider Dijon Kizzee, and says bullshit.

A Silver Lake gym owner and social justice advocate is riding his bike across the US, accompanied by a documentary crew, to explore American’s attitudes and show we’re stronger together than apart. Yahoo mirrored the story in case you can’t access the Times site. 

 

State

An ad hoc group of Bakersfield bicyclists are turning out for weekly half century rides on a local bike path to keep in shape during the coronavirus lockdown.

 

National

Former basketball player Damen Bell and professional skier Connor Ryan moved their Break the (Bi)cycle” ride from the left coast to the Rocky Mountain states after fires in Washington and Oregon forced them to change their route; they’re riding to call attention to mental health for Black and Indigenous men.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Montana man celebrated his 84th birthday by riding 84 miles along the Bitterroot Trail.

A former Michigan college student was reunited with her stolen bicycle when it unexpectedly turned up four years later. Which probably means it was taken by a fellow student.

They get it, too, Michigan’s Department of Transportation says most crashes aren’t accidents.

A New York bike commuter says the laws have to be changed to better protect people on bikes from road raging drivers.

The New York Times examines the anatomy of a protest, including the role of bike blockers to protect protesters.

Leftovers star Justine Theroux is one of us, taking an apparently chilly ride through New York, a day after speaking in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

New Orleans police release a video they say proves a bike rider ran a red light before being struck by the driver of a police cruiser. Except the video doesn’t show traffic signal, which could have changed before the rider went through.

A drunken hit-and-run driver in Florida faces charges for killing a bike rider, then driving another two and a half miles down the highway dragging the victim’s bike beneath his car before police pulled him over.

 

International

Yet another study shows that both drivers and bike riders break the law. But drivers do it to save time, while people on bicycles do it to save lives.

Cycling Weekly considers the best comfort hybrid bikes, and offers advice on how to buy a bike on a budget without needing an upgrade six months later.

A Montreal bikemaker uses recycled steel, ethical suppliers and local labor to build high-end bikes.

The New York Times asks whether Canada’s bike boom will last through the winter.

Scottish cyclist Josh Quigley set a new world’s record by riding the 516-mile North Coast 500 route through the Scottish Highlands in just 31 hours and 17 minutes, less than a year after he barely survived being struck by a Texas driver doing 70 mph while attempting to ride across the US.

Seventy-three-year old former Tour de France winner Joop Zoetemelk broke both his legs when a driver knocked him off his bike, 40 years after he wore the yellow jersey in Paris.

A European court ruled that Barcelona soccer star Messi clearly ain’t Spanish bikemaker Massi.

After news got out about an Indian boy who made a bicycle for his younger sister out of newspaper, a kindhearted local business owner gave him a real one.

Hundreds of Nairobi, Kenya residents rode to protest harassment of people on bicycles, after a bike rider was killed when the driver of a private minibus cut him off.

A group of Chinese bike riders are using their bikes for good, riding up to 1,200 miles to buy agricultural products to support poor villagers, and delivering food and milk to those in need.

Indonesian bike riders are now required to wear a helmet and ride a bicycle certified to meet the country’s safety standards.

Ebike sales are projected to surpass car sales in New Zealand in the next three years.

 

Competitive Cycling

The biggest surprise in this year’s Tour de France is that they actually made it to the finish in Paris in the midst of a pandemic. The second biggest surprise came in Saturday’s time trial, where 21-year-old Tadej Pogačar upset everyone to became the youngest winner of the Tour de France in 116 years, following an epic collapse by leader Primož Roglič.

Cycling News calls Tadej Pogačar a shark in sheep’s clothing, while Cycling Tips asks what do you say to someone who just lost the Tour de France.

Nice move from the pro peloton, which came together on Sunday’s final stage to condemn racism, after Kévin Reza, the only Black rider in this year’s Tour, was subjected to racist abuse from at least one rider.

More on Oneida Tribe member Neilson Powless, the only Native American to compete in this year’s Tour de France, or any other year for that matter — including a couple of near-podium finishes.

Business Insider ranks the bikes ridden in the Tour this year, giving the win to Astana’s Wilier Zero SLR, even if the team didn’t.

Bicycling recounts the biggest and craziest comeback victories in the Tour de France; here’s the Yahoo link for the firewall deprived. Greg LeMond certainly belongs there, although I’m not sure I’d include Floyd Landis’ pyrrhic victory.

The Tour of Luxembourg took place at the same time as the other, better known Tour.

Cycling Tips catches up with everything you missed in this year’s Giro Rosa — which is probably everything, since the most important stage race in women’s cycling was nowhere to be found on TV, as usual. Italy’s Longo Borghini got the win, her first after six previous top ten finishes.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could have an Apple logo. Or maybe be spokeless.

And forget a Covid mask. Just put your bike helmet on under this.

………

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

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

LASD exonerates itself in Kizzee shooting amid calls for sheriff to resign, and e-scooters just ain’t the problem

September 18, 2020 / / Comments Off on LASD exonerates itself in Kizzee shooting amid calls for sheriff to resign, and e-scooters just ain’t the problem

No surprise here.

Nearly three weeks after LA County Sheriff’s Deputies shot and killed Compton bike rider Dijon Kizzee, the department held it’s first press conference.

Not surprisingly, it exonerated itself completely, even while multiple investigations are still ongoing.

And even as community activist Najee Ali accused the Sheriff’s Department of trying to “blame a Black man unjustly shot … for his own murder by his deputies” while speaking on behalf of family members.

According to a department spokesperson, deputies originally attempted to stop Kizzee for riding salmon, a crime that does not normally carry the death penalty.

Kizzee reportedly was carrying a gun that had been stolen in Las Vegas, which he was not legally allowed to have due to a prior felony conviction and a restraining order.

Deputies fired at least 15 shots after spotting the weapon when he dropped it, along with some clothes he’d been carrying.

However, after giving the deputies over two weeks to get their stories straight talk to investigators, the gun somehow went from the ground, as the sheriff’s department originally stated, into Kizzee’s hand as claimed in the new report.

Never mind that security video appears to show the deputies shooting at Kizzee as he ran away.

Unfortunately, we may never know for sure what happened, since LA County Sheriff’s Deputies aren’t currently required to wear body cams.

But the shooting does raise questions, especially in a department where gang-like groups wear matching tattoos and call themselves names like the Executioners.

It doesn’t matter who Kizzee was, or whether he had a record. It also doesn’t matter that he ran from the deputies, or briefly tussled with one when they tried to tackle him.

For the crime of riding on the wrong side of the street.

What matters is whether the deputies had a legitimate reason to fear for their own lives, or that of the public, before opening fire.

Let alone whether the department can, or will, conduct an honest investigation of its own deputies. Especially under the current administration.

Because this one doesn’t begin to pass the smell test.

………

On a closely related subject, the LA Times says LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has repeatedly ignored subpoenas and attempted to dodge civilian oversight, is the best advisement for the need for “muscular” oversight.

In addition, several city and county officials are calling on Villanueva to resign, including LA Councilmember David Ryu and county supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl.

Yeah, that’ll happen.

………

CBS News says micromobility is proving increasingly deadly, citing 41 deaths linked to e-scooters, ebikes and hoverboards over a three-year period.

Which compares to roughly 112,500 people killed in motor vehicle collisions over the same period.

Admittedly, I’ve never been very good at math, but I’m pretty sure 41 is less that 112,500.

A lot less.

So which one is really the problem on our streets?

………

Something is seriously wrong when you’re not even safe from cars and their drivers in your own home.

………

Here’s one for weight weenies, as GCN investigates whether bike weight really matters in the Tour de France.

………

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

Police in San Diego busted a bike-riding arsonist who used “molotov cocktail-like devices” to repeatedly set shrubs on fire outside a police station.

Chicago authorities are on the lookout for a masked bike-riding groper who has assaulted several women.

………

Local

The LA Times catches up with the founder of the magical Venice Electric Light Parade weekly bike ride.

A former LA city planner accuses Los Angeles officials of being closet climate change deniers in environmentalist clothing.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a temporary halt to the Long Beach State Cycling Club, which is unable to keep riding under current university restrictions

 

State

Seriously? San Diego washed away a series of children’s chalk drawings supporting Black Lives Matter on a La Jolla bike path just days after they were finished, citing complaints that they were “hate speech.”

Santa Barbara is looking for a way for bike riders to coexist with pedestrians after the city closed a popular street to make room for shopping and dining while social distancing, which was also the spine of the city’s bike network.

 

National

The Idaho Stop Law is slowly spreading across the US, allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields.

A writer for Bicycling says never mind the cliche about never forgetting to ride a bike, because the truth is, you never forget how good it feels to ride one. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you out. 

Good question. Wired wonders why Uber wasn’t charged in the death of an Arizona bike rider who was killed by one of their driverless cars, instead of the admittedly distracted human behind the wheel.

A new study from Portland’s Alta Planning and Design says don’t cut corners on corner design to prevent unsafe turns by drivers.

A kindhearted Texas cop replaced a nine-year old boy’s bike after it was stolen.

An Arlington Texas police detective was released from the hospital following a crash that killed a fellow bicyclist when a driver plowed into the group they were riding with. But since the driver remained at the scene, it’s evidently okay.

A Houston reverend will bike 500 mies through Michigan to raise funds to fight hunger in Guatemala.

Martha Stewart is one of us, enjoying the coronavirus quarantine while popping her new line of CBD-infused fruit pate and riding her ebike around her 153-acre New York state farm.

He gets it. A New York assembly member says the state should subsidize ebike purchases to wean people off of cars. We need to start hearing that from California officials, too.

 

International

A Scottish bicyclist who was nearly killed in a Texas collision while riding across the US will attempt to set a new record for riding nonstop over 500 miles through the Scottish Highlands, taking aim at the existing record of 31 hours and 23 minutes.

Paris is the latest major city to announce that 31 miles of popup bike lanes that were installed at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown will be made permanent. That compares favorably to Los Angeles, which will make zero lanes permanent, out of the zero popup bike lanes that were installed. 

Here’s something you won’t see in the US. The king and queen of the Netherlands took a casual bike ride while meeting with local officials, wearing a suit, gown and practical pumps.

A Singapore letter writer says licensing drivers doesn’t seem to make them any safer, so maybe it’s not the answer for bike riders, either.

 

Competitive Cycling

The 600 pound gorilla that is Team Ineos finally performs as expected in the Tour de France, at least for one stage.

The president of Slovenia is pretty pumped that two of his countrymen could be standing on the final podium when the Tour gets to Paris.

The director for leading team Jumbo-Visma got the boot from the Tour after losing his cool when inspectors allegedly damaged leader Primož Roglič’s bike checking for signs of motor doping.

Defending champ Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands is out of next week’s worlds after crashing while leading the Giro Rosa. 

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be made of wood. Seriously, don’t bite the guy whose bike you just stole.

And don’t put dog poop in Trump supporters mailboxes.

On a bike or otherwise.

………

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

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

LADOT wants input on deadly Lincoln Blvd, Koretz recall effort announced, and wear your damn golf helmet

September 17, 2020 / / Comments Off on LADOT wants input on deadly Lincoln Blvd, Koretz recall effort announced, and wear your damn golf helmet

LADOT wants your input on a proposal to install rush hour bus lanes and other safety improvements on deadly Lincoln Blvd south of the Santa Monica border, which could be used for parking and biking at other hours.

Since this one is in Councilmember Mike Bonin’s district, it might actually happen; he’s one of the few friends traffic safety advocates have left on the city council.

Although maybe we’d be better served by a shared bus and bike lane during rush hour that converts to a floating bike lane during off hours.

Thanks to Kent Strumpell for the heads-up.

………

Anger is boiling over in LA’s fifth council district, as a new effort to recall Paul Koretz gets underway.

If I still lived in the district I called home for a quarter of a century, I’d be the first to sign the petition.

The only real question is what took so long?

………

Maybe they should wear helmets.

A new survey says you’re more likely to get hurt playing golf than you are riding a bike. (Scroll down if the story doesn’t load correctly.)

Unless, like me, you wouldn’t be caught dead on a golf course.

………

When is a bike lane not a bike lane?

When it’s filled with patrol cars from cops grabbing lunch.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the tip.

………

Bike Angeles takes you riding on Latigo Canyon, calling it the most essential climb in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Thanks to Zachary Rynew for the heads-up.

………

The only thing worse than a near miss is a pass that doesn’t.

Miss, that is.

………

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

Life is cheap in the UK, where a road raging English farmer walked without a single day behind bars for intentionally slamming into a bike rider in reverse.

No bias here. British business owners insist that popup bike lanes are a pain in the backside and an accident waiting to happen.

………

Local

London and Long Beach based Zwift is now a one billion dollar company.

The replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge in the Port of Long Beach is set to open next month, including the long awaited Mark Bixby bike lanes.

 

State

San Jose develops an innovative plan to improve safety on a pair of three lane one-way streets by installing a frontage lane to keep cars out of a curb protected bike lane, along with protected intersections.

Sunnyvale is dropping the speed limit on El Camino Real to 35 mph to match the speed in other nearby cities, while considering a plan to add bike lanes.

The US Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis unveils this year’s inductees.

 

National

Next City calls freight delivery the forgotten part of Vision Zero, saying streets need to be designed so delivery vehicles can operate safely in mixed traffic. Or better yet, replace delivery trucks and vans with more efficient ebikes. Although in Los Angeles, it’s Vision Zero itself that’s been forgotten.

Spin looks at the success of Slow Streets programs around the US.

Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club maps out routes into the city from West Seattle. Something we could use here in LA to navigate the city’s fractured bikeways.

Bike riders are discovering the joys of biking on gravel in Texas, where there’s lots of it.

Busted for Biking While Black at just ten years old. Michelle Obama — yes, that Michelle Obama — tells the story of how her own brother was stopped by a pair of Chicago cops who refused to believe the bike he was riding belonged him.

Speaking of Chicago, the police are finally releasing bicycles that were seized during the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year. But not in the same condition they were in when they seized.

Bike trails to check out the fall foliage for your next trip to the Big Apple.

The brother of a Brooklyn assistant DA who was killed in a collision while riding her bike last week says the city failed her, and all new bike riders.

Nice story about a writer’s friendship with a noted Florida chef, and tracking down the bespoke bike he passed along. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if you’re blocked out by Bicycling’s paywall.

 

International

Axios traces the timeline of the coronavirus bike boom, saying it remains to be seen if it’s a long-term trend that will outlive the virus itself.

Cycling News offers advice on how to safely lock-up your bike to help ensure it’s still there when you get back.

Cycling Weekly says it’s time to up your sock game.

A 155-year old British sports publication talks with American mom Denise Mueller-Korenek, the world’s fastest assisted bicyclist, clocked at just this side of an incredible 184 mph.

A woman in the UK credits the Busby app with saving her life when she was knocked unconscious after a driver forced her bike off the road.

Dutch bikemaker Van Moof raises $40 million to further expand worldwide, as it sets its sites on an IPO.

Turkey wants to integrate bicycles into the country’s transportation network.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yesterday’s stage of the Tour de France ended with a nail-biting attack on the on the Col de la Loze.

Team USA profiles Sepp Kuss as he works to keep Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič in yellow.

Fans aren’t exactly social distancing at the Tour, as fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogačar had to push a fan out of the way as he neared the summit.

The only Black bike rider in this year’s Tour says he hasn’t seen a lot of solidarity and support on the pro tour.

Somehow, cycling is never far from doping in the news, as the leaders of a massive blood doping ring involving pro cyclists and Nordic athletes went on trial yesterday.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you design a bike that shouldn’t work, yet somehow it does. Still shaving his legs after 29 years and 1,450 twin blade cartridges.

And who doesn’t want to see a bunny on a bicycle?

Thanks to Megan Lynch for this one.

………

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

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

Virtual Sea Otter Classic opens tomorrow, lasting Covid heart damage in athletes, and Madrid builds greenbelt bikeway

September 16, 2020 / / Comments Off on Virtual Sea Otter Classic opens tomorrow, lasting Covid heart damage in athletes, and Madrid builds greenbelt bikeway

One quick thought before we leave the Uplift Melrose project behind us, which we’ve been discussing the past few days.

Whether you supported or opposed the project, or something in between, you had a right to be heard.

By unilaterally killing the project at the beginning of the public comment process, CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz took that away from you.

And all of us.

Never mind that actions like that inevitably lead to suspicions of undue influence, if not outright corruption, on a city council tarred by the Englander and Huizar bribery scandals.

We all deserve open, honest and democratic government from our elected leaders.

Not crap like this.

Photo by Visually Us from Pexels.

………

A new Sea Otter Classic for the Covid Age opens online tomorrow, with over 250 brands participating.

The event is free for consumers.

………

You might want to pass on the hard rides for awhile if you’ve had Covid-19.

Studies are showing that even if you’ve recovered from the virus, it can cause long-lasting heart damage. And not just in serious cases, but in people who’ve had just mild or no symptoms, as well.

………

This is what can be done if you really want to make a difference fighting pollution.

………

Now that’s how you introduce your eponymous new mountain bike helmet line.

………

Local

Thirteen things to know about Dijon Kizzee, the Black bike rider fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies in South LA last week — including that he loved riding anything with two wheels.

You can now find LA’s Slow Streets on Google Maps.

Eastside LA bike repairs are booming, too.

Pasadena police will be conducting another bicycle and pedestrian safety crackdown on Friday. The usual protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State

Santa Barbara police bust a 19-year old bike thief who rode off from a local bike shop on a $12,500 Specialized S-Works bike, then came back to take another; he was in the process of painting over the serial number when he was arrested.

Tragic news from Oakland, where a 67-year old woman was killed in a left hook collision while riding her bike. Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.

 

National

CleanTechnica reviews the new Lumos Ultra smart helmet with built-in lighting and turn signals.

GQ gets recommendations for the best gear for the pandemic bike boom from seven riders, including LA’s own Phil Gaimon. Meanwhile, demand is so high for certified used bikes right now that some are selling for more than the sticker price.

Forbes considers whether you need insurance for your bike in case of theft or damage. Yes, unless you ride a cheap bike you can easily afford to replace.

Market Watch considers where to retire to a bike and beer friendly city, if you can’t afford to live in my hometown.

Now you, too, can ride with actor Patrick Dempsey’s Dempsey Challenge. Virtually, anyway.

The person behind the wheel in the self-driving Uber car crash that killed 49-year-old bike rider Elaine Herzberg in Tempe AZ last year has been charged with negligent homicide for watching The Voice on her phone when she should have been watching traffic.

Streetsblog says South Dakota AG Jason Ravnsborg will probably get away with the hit-and-run death of a bike rider.

Where to ride your bike to see spectacular fall colors in the Chicago area in the Age of Covid-19.

Build leg strength and lung capacity like a Chicago bike messenger.

Great idea. A Marquette, Michigan project titled Words to Live and Bike By is enlisting local artists to paint murals along a bike path, each revolving around a single word, like hope, dream, respect, gratitude and remember.

They get it. As the nation literally burns, a Cleveland website suggests commuting with something other that a single occupancy vehicle once in awhile.

A Lancaster NY driver faces multiple felony charges for the drunken hit-and-run crash that killed one teenage boy and seriously injured another as they were riding their bikes last month.

North Carolina is launching their Watch for Me NC campaign urging drivers to make space for bike riders and pedestrians.

 

International

How to figure out what size bike you really need.

CNN considers how cargo bikes went from novelty to practicality, calling them the Swiss Army knife of bicycles

Cycling News looks at the best ebikes for under a grand or so, along with their picks for the best bike mirrors.

British Columbia’s Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island is building a $51 million, 25 mile bike path along the coast connecting two surfing towns.

You’ve got to be kidding. A British delivery driver removed his license plate in order to get away with driving on the UK equivalent of a Slow Street.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a careless driver walks without a single day behind bars for killing a bike rider.

Outside rides along with Italian two-wheeled heartthrob, stunt cyclist and bicycle vigilante Vittorio Brumotti.

Seoul, South Korea proves it can be done, opening a new bicycle-only road next year as part of a planned 750-mile bicycle road network, along with a 14-mile network of bicycle highways completely separated from motor vehicles.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour de France is entering the final week, in one of the closest races in recent memory.

No need to worry about spoilers here, as Marianne Vox sprints to victory in Tuesday’s stage 5 of the women’s Giro Rosa. Since no one caries women’s cycling anyway.

Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Tinker Juarez shares his secret for beating cyclists half his age.

 

Finally…

Nothing like setting a new hour record for riding a wheelie long distance.  The Mounties always get their man. Or bike, anyway.

And who doesn’t need a tire sealant that is literally bulletproof?

………

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Alleged San Diego hit-and-run driver pleads not guilty, and more on NIMBY Koretz killing Melrose project

September 15, 2020 / / 5 comments

Twentynine-year old Mauricio Flores pled not guilty to felony hit-and-run in San Diego on Monday.

Flores is the minivan driver who allegedly slammed into a 66-year old bike rider near the city’s airport last month, leaving the victim with a life-threatening head injury.

In actions captured on video, he allegedly got out of his van, along with a passenger identified as 50-year old Jessica Bailey, examined the victim lying in the roadway, then calmly removed his bike from under their van and drove away.

They were captured in Kern County less than two weeks later.

There’s no word on whether Bailey is in custody, or if she will face any charges.

And no word on the identity or condition of the victim.

There are several stories from other news outlets, like this one, but they’re all virtually identical. Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.

………

Streets For All founder Michael Schneider lays out in painful, step-by-step detail just what went wrong with the Uplift Melrose plan to improve the iconic, if deadly, LA street.

And how the environmentally friendly project was killed by a single LA councilmember, acting on behalf of a notorious NIMBY group.

Just after the Mid City West meeting, the NIMBYs sprang into action. They viewed Uplift Melrose as a threat to the sacred space of vehicles in this city, and were outraged that a project would even be considered that would rellocate space from cars for a bike lane. Those bike lane thieves, trying to take away sacred car space! And while the project was so much more than a bike lane — it was wider sidewalks, new trees, raised crosswalks, new lighting… all they could see was the bike lane.

Jim O’Sullivan, co-founder of Fix The City — a litigious organization that sues over nearly every bike lane and high density housing project using money from questionable funding sources — started sending threatening emails to Councilmember Koretz and eventually to the entire city council. They also posted misinformation on Next Door. When NIMBYs can’t win on the merits of something, then they simply resort to the tired and true “there wasn’t enough outreach” argument.

It’s worth taking a few minutes — okay, nine, according to the article — to read the whole thing.

Because this is what we’re up against.

And what we will continue to confront — and too often, lose — as long as we continue to elect regressive leaders in environmentalist sheep’s clothing.

Speaking of which, Bike the Vote LA is encouraging you to phonebank for CD4 candidate Nithya Raman this Sunday to support an actual environmentalist.

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Something is seriously wrong when the person charged with enforcing a state’s laws doesn’t obey them himself.

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg killed a man riding his bike Saturday night, then continued driving home without bothering to stop, later claiming he thought he’d hit a deer.

An excuse used by countless other hit-and-run drivers, in a usually failed attempt to avoid responsibility for their crimes.

It remains to be seen whether Ravnsborg, who has a long record of speeding and other traffic violations, will be held accountable. Or if his position will shield him from blame.

Although it doesn’t bode well that the state’s Department of Public Safety is withholding key details of the investigation.

Ravnsborg was reportedly driving home from a Republican fundraising dinner, where he swears he didn’t drink.

Even though any rational and sober person would stop to see what they hit after an impact like that.

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Still more proof you can literally carry anything on a bicycle.

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

An American marine biologist in the Philippines with a bad case of windshield bias questions why road space is being given to bike riders when motor vehicles bring in much more “revinue” for the government. He may be many things, but an environmentalist clearly ain’t one of them, regardless of what the headline says.

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Local

Bruce Willis is one of us, riding his Trek ebike through the streets of LA, even if the story somehow comes by way of Islamabad. Yippie-ki-yay, indeed.

Olympic boarder Shaun White and Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev are two of us. Or make that three, as they went for a bike ride through the ‘Bu with her dog in his arms.

 

State

A recovering Newport Beach stroke victim reached his goal of swimming 100 miles Labor Day weekend, then walked a couple miles to where he’d left his bicycle to ride back home.

A San Diego letter writer questions the city’s 42 percent increase in bike ridership, saying it’s meaningless without knowing how many riders there were before. Hate to say it, but he’s got a point.

 

National

Washington state is adopting the Idaho Stop Law next month, allowing bike riders to treat stops as yields — but not treat red lights like stop signs, as is legal in Idaho.

This is how it works in other places. Austin, Texas is going to make permanent a popup bike lane installed during the coronavirus crisis after it proved successful. Unfortunately, unlike countless other cities around the world, auto-centric Los Angeles never bothered to install any temporary bike lanes during the lockdown period to begin with.

Dozens of Louisville KY residents rode to apartment where Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by police, who were looking for her former boyfriend, to see where it happened and demand justice for her.

Chicago is responding to the increase in bike riders by installing a curb and post protected bike lane on a busy street, removing 100 parking spaces to make room.

Boston is raising Austin’s ante by making an entire Downtown popup bike network permanent. Although Boston’s bike boom has also been reflected in a corresponding jump in bike thefts.

Now that’s how to campaign. A New York state assemblyman is riding his bike 116 miles across the state’s 116th Assembly District to raise funds for his campaign.

A 73-year old Franciscan friar in Pennsylvania is riding nearly 400 miles along the Erie Canal to raise funds for an outreach center serving people struggling with rural poverty; it’s the stage-4 colon cancer survivor’s tenth annual ride.

Billy Connolly is one of us, too. The Scottish comic, who suffers from Parkinsons, suffered an eye injury falling off his ebike near his home in Key West.

Unbelievable. Authorities dropped aggravated assault charges against a Florida driver who aggressively drove into a crowd of protesters, then pulled a gun on them when they surrounded his car.

Police in Florida have arrested four men for the January, 2019 shooting death of a man riding his bike, who was apparently collateral damage in a shootout between the occupants of two cars.

 

International

The World Resources Institute says 80 percent of urban freight begins or ends in cities, and it’s time to take it seriously — including using e-cargo bikes to make deliveries.

A bike rider goes skitching, hanging on to a semi-truck trailer on a Toronto highway. Although someone should tell Narcity that there’s no need to pedal when you’re being pulled by a truck.

A Canadian woman explains how Covid-19 finally encouraged her to learn how to ride a bike at the ripe old age of 33.

Financial Times profiles famed British bike rider and designer Paul Smith, calling him the most loved man in fashion.

He gets it. An English cycling instructor says a new protected bike lane isn’t intended to make it easier to drive, but to improve safety for people on bicycles and in cars.

France ie encouraging more people to ride bikes by paying them the equivalent of nearly $60 to get their bikes repaired.

 

Competitive Cycling

Defending Tour de France champ Egan Bernal dropped out after Sunday’s 15th stage, complaining that he just didn’t have any power.

Cyclist looks at Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar, calling him cycling’s newest sensation.

An excerpt from a new book examines the troubled legacy of cycling great Marco Pantani; the 1998 Tour de France winner died of a coke overdose just six years later.

Women’s cycling is still going strong, despite the media’s best efforts to ignore it, including the longest ever stage of the Giro Rosa.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the disabled parking is in the middle of the street. Your next bike could be a folding mountain ebike for just 600 bucks.

And what does it say when the streets aren’t safe enough for police to conduct a bike safety sting?

………

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

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

People’s Court frowns on wacky driver lawsuit, Oregon bike riders ferry food to burn zones, and biking can be bananas

September 14, 2020 / / Comments Off on People’s Court frowns on wacky driver lawsuit, Oregon bike riders ferry food to burn zones, and biking can be bananas

Maybe the arc of the moral universe really does bend towards justice.

The case of the bike rider who was sued by the driver who rear-ended him finally concluded on Friday, after it was heard in America’s highest court.

And by that I mean The People’s Court, of course.

Rochester NY bicyclist Bryan Agnello was sued for $700 for damage to the schmuck’s driver’s car, despite suffering $2,500 in medical bills and damage to his bike.

In his court filing, (driver Jovonte) Cook stated that Agnello was riding his bike on I-490 at about 60 mph and that he “didn’t see him coming at me at all due to bad weather.” It was raining when the collision occurred.

During an interview with CITY, Cook estimated Agnello was traveling 80 mph and “came out of nowhere and splashed on my front windshield” while Cook was driving on I-490 while on his way to his job delivering pizzas.

Never mind that, according to the police, the crash occurred on a city street, not a divided freeway. And anyone who can ride 80 mph on level ground in a driving rain without an engine would easily be the greatest cyclist of all time.

Then again, anyone who could walk away from a crash at that speed should probably be wearing tights and a cape.

Needless to say, Judge Marilyn Milian dismissed the case. And reportedly was none too pleased with the man who brought it.

Photo from The People’s Court Facebook page.

………

Once again, bike riders are heroes.

NPR reports on the efforts of a group of people using bicycles to bring much needed food and water to Oregon towns devastated by the ongoing fires.

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More proof you can literally carry anything on a bicycle.

Unfortunately, I lost track of who sent this one to me, but thank you, anyway.

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How to get a good bike, more or less, for $50 bucks, more or less.

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You might want to take your dramamine before you watch this downhill run.

I wish I had.

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

A driver in Maui got out of his pickup and repeatedly attacked a bike rider with a golf club in an unprovoked attack.

Delivery riders say they are routinely attacked in large swaths of Dublin and other Irish cities, whether on motor scooters or bicycles.

A South African bicyclist was pulled off his bike by a passing pedestrian in an apparently random attack caught on security cam.

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

Apparently, the biggest problem in Manteca CA is a bunch of finger-snapping kids on bikes.

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Local

The Los Angeles Times reports on the renewed vitality of LA’s Leimert Park, where Black-owned businesses are thriving in the post-George Floyd era, including the Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-Op run by Adé Neff.

Congratulations to former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler on being named Private Sector Professional of the Year by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.

Santa Clarita has officially unveiled its long-awaited new seven-acre bike park.

 

State

A San Diego missing person’s investigator passed away last month after years of battling liver failure — but even at her sickest, she attached an e-bike motor to her bicycle so she could ride along with marchers on a three-day breast cancer awareness event. And when the engine gave out, she got off and pushed it to keep up.

Ventura County opened the second phase of a nearly six-mile bike lane on Potrero Road bordering unincorporated Thousand Oaks.

San Jose-area residents say bike riders have no right to ride in fire zones where drivers have been ordered out.

No surprise here, as San Francisco is searching for new solutions to protect the city’s Slow Streets, as drivers plow through signs indicating the streets are closed to through traffic.

San Francisco allows one person to delay eco-friendly projects in the middle of a climate crisis. Unfortunately, the Chronicle’s paywall won’t let me read this one; maybe you’ll have better luck. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up. 

A Rohnert Park man faces charges after using a fake gun to steal a bike from Walmart. The joke’s on him, though, because he probably got a fake bike, anyway.

 

National

Somehow we missed this piece from Vogue UK on famous, mostly female bike riders of the past 60 or so years. Audrey Hepburn looks as good on a bike as anyone could, although Bogie is no small shakes himself. And Queen Latifah can ride with me anytime. 

A Las Vegas letter writer is happy to see the bike boom hit Sin City.

A Denver op-ed calls for making it a denser, walkable and bikeable 15-minute city.

A Colorado man gained a new faith in humanity by biking 3,300 miles across the US, and talking and staying with all kinds of Americans, including sleeping with homeless people in Los Angeles.

When a Nebraska man found a kid’s bike the previous owners of his new home had left in the garage, he used it to spark a bicycle ministry through his church.

Streetsblog Chicago calls for installing cheap plastic-curb protected bike lanes throughout the city.

Kindhearted Tennessee sheriff’s deputies gave a new bike to a ten-year old boy after his was stolen.

Actress Minka Kelly is one of us, as she rides the streets of New York on her bigass ebike.

After a New York man was killed riding his bike in a supposedly carfree park, the police say he died in a tragic fall, while friends and family members insist he was hit by a driver — most likely in a police car.

In a moving gesture, hundreds of New York Black Lives Matter protestors dedicated Friday’s march to a supporter of the movement who was killed in a collision while riding her bike last week.

Family members were reunited with the injured dog who survived the South Carolina wreck that killed their son and brother, as the pair were riding from New York to Florida.

 

International

That new Lamborghini-inspired Cervelo can be yours for a mere eighteen grand.

Vancouver residents rally to demand the return of a traffic lane that was converted to a bike and walkway through a city park. Because evidently one lane of traffic in each direction through a park — keyword park — just isn’t enough for their motor-driven little hearts.

Montreal is expanding a pilot bicycle delivery program to year-round after it proves to be faster than the country’s postal service.

Here’s something to look forward to. The new album by Nova Scotia indie rocker Rich Aucoin, due out this Friday, was inspired by his 2018 journey by bike across the US from Los Angeles to New York.

Dublin’s Lord Mayor is one of us. And a city bus driver may be in trouble for honking at her after she fell off her bike, and continuing to honk until she got up and dragged herself off the road.

A UK paper explains to uncomprehending drivers why close passes are just a tad upsetting. And no, it’s not a victimless crime.

A Parisian fixie rider sparks the basis for an award-winning graphic memoir of an American student in Paris.

Famed Pakistani bicycle adventurer Samar Khan reports she was groped by a passing motor scooter rider while riding her bike in the capital city of Islamabad. But don’t be too judgmental; that happens far too often in this country, too.

A Ghanian-Belgian writer calls for making bicycling a safe means of transport in the African country.

Uganda will celebrate World Tourism Day with a 124-mile bike ride.

A Singapore letter writer says bike riders who use public roads should be licensed, while exempting those who only use bike paths. Apparently assuming the latter will never have to use roads to bridge a gap between bikeways, unlike pretty much everywhere else on earth.

 

Competitive Cycling

It was a big day for Slovenia in yesterday’s 15th stage of the Tour de France, while the yellow jersey continues to rest on a man who used to be a world class ski jumper.

The race doctor for the Tour passes the buck after Romain Bardet finished stage 13 with a concussion and small hemorrhage following a fall, insisting his life was never in danger and it was the team doctor’s responsibility, anyway.

The Tour’s only Black bike rider says he’s ready to make a statement in support of Black Lives Matter. Then again, the fact that he’s the only one in the entire peloton makes a pretty big statement of its own.

ESPN profiles Neilson Powless, the first Native American to compete in the Tour de France, and one of just three Americans to start the race; he’s currently 54th out of 156 riders still competing in the general classification after Sunday’s stage.

Thanks to this year’s Covid-compressed racing schedule, the Tour de France isn’t the only game in town this year. Or Europe, anyway.

Belgium’s Wout van Aert is making his mark in the pro WorldTour, just two years after making the jump from three-time world ‘cross champ.

American pro Tejay van Garderen is donating last year’s bike to benefit Peace Peloton, a bicycling nonprofit supporting Black empowerment; a $50 donation to the group before this Sunday will enter you in a drawing to win the bike.

A Belfast paper remembers Debbie Barclay, who blazed the way for women’s cyclists in Northern Ireland until she was paralyzed from the waist down after crashing on a descent in a 1988 English stage race; she died last week of an undisclosed cause.

 

Finally…

Royals may not be able to walk on water, but apparently, they can bike on it. Throwing your bike on the hood of a parked car is not a recommended use.

And seriously, who doesn’t need Winnie the Pooh bike shorts?

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

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

Bike League addresses South LA bike rider killed by deputies, Streetsie Awards announced, and don’t be a schmuck

September 11, 2020 / / 3 comments

I may have to start a new religion. 

Three days after my laptop died, it somehow miraculously resurrected itself yesterday morning. 

No assurances that it’s up and running for good, but at least it gives me a chance to catch up on this week’s news. And maybe buy a little time to come up with the money to replace it. 

Photo by Life Matters from Pexels.

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The Bike League offered a statement on the killing of Black bike rider Dijon Kizzee in South LA last week, seemingly shot in the back by sheriff’s deputies as he tried to run away from a traffic stop.

I’d planned on just posting an except from it, but the whole thing is worth reading.

Dijon Kizzee was a bicyclist. He was a person on a bike. He was a Black man in America on a bike.

According to police reports he was doing something illegal on a bike, violating a section of the traffic code. As most people who bike know, most of the traffic code was not created for them; is not known by many people, including law enforcement; and is enforced in a highly discretionary manner. Much of the traffic code that deals with bicycling is focused on protecting the rider from the drivers of motor vehicles that we share streets with. We as an organization are committed to doing whatever we can to make bicycling safe for everyone, including reducing interactions between bicyclists and the police that can escalate into violence.

A biking code violation should never lead to police violence and deadly force.

Dijon Kizzee died after being stopped while bicycling. A protected bike lane or statutory change would be unlikely to change that.

Racism is much larger than bicycling, but to make safe streets for everyone requires confronting racism. Confronting institutional racism in our justice systems, police practices, and cycles of investment is necessary to make safe streets for everyone.

To make sure that #BlackLivesMatter to us as a bicycling organization, bicycling while Black must be treated as a threat to the safety of bicycling in the same way that we treat lack of infrastructure, distracted driving, drunk driving, speeding, and the many other things that people think of when they think of bicycle safety.

Los Angles Sheriff Alex Villanueva says the department has almost concluded its investigation of the shooting, and is just waiting to interview one of the deputies, who still hasn’t spoken with investigators over ten days after the shooting.

Meanwhile, there’s this hard-hitting piece by a Black writer, who wonders when we’ll talk about the fear Black people experience as they walk their dogs, ride their bikes and work in their yards, as opposed to a fear of Blackness.

An Asian man in Garden Grove was the victim of a racist rant from a neighbor as he rode a stationary bike in his garage; the woman only left after he picked up a knife. Needless to say, the woman’s husband insisted she’s not racist and it was all a misunderstanding. Hint: If you don’t recognize your own neighbor, and describe him as having “slanted eyes,” you’re pretty damn racist.

And an Illinois woman faces hate crime charges for trying to run Black bike riders off the Winnetka Pier, falsely telling them they needed a permit to be there. Correction: I originally wrote that the incident took place on Chicago’s Navy Pier, rather than Winnetka. Thanks to Andy Stow for the correction.

………

Congratulations to BikinginLA sponsors Jim Pocrass and Josh Cohen on being honored with this year’s Streetsblog LA Streetsie Awards.

Other honorees include LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Culver City Councilmember and former Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, LA City Commissioner and CicLAvia Chief Strategist Tafarai Bayne, and climate advocacy group Climate Resolve.

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This one’s definitely worth the click. And maybe even a few copycats.

Thanks to W. Corylus for the heads-up.

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That feeling when you can’t decide whether to build a cycle track or a pump track.

bike lane in Körmend, Hungary
by inUrbanHell

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Leslie Jones is one of us now, too.

https://twitter.com/Lesdoggg/status/1302365492070379520

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It takes a major schmuck to tell a handicapped bicyclist who doesn’t have use of his legs that he can’t use his mobility device on public trail.

Whether or not it’s technically within the rules.

Seriously, don’t be this guy.

https://twitter.com/KalhanR/status/1304259089262931969

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

An unlicensed driver faces charges for intentionally trying to run down a mother riding with her young daughter, after they complained he was blocking a San Francisco bike lane.

DC authorities are looking for a driver who intentionally ran down a man riding a bike; for a change, the police are treating it as a homicide.

An Ontario, Canada letter writer says bike lanes should be built on a “use it or lose it” basis, suggesting they should be removed if not enough people use them. Maybe we should put the same rule in place for motor vehicles.

No bias here. A British tabloid exposes the “secret” hand signs that bicyclists use to warn other riders about road hazards, which drivers apparently aren’t supposed to know about.

No bias here, either. A British motoring magazine says Covid-19 is being used as an excuse to rob drivers of their precious traffic lanes, and motorists need to keep fighting to claw them back.

Or here, as a British tabloid goes ballistic claiming a fire truck became stuck by a planter intended to block traffic on a Slow Street — even though the fire captain said in the same article that they didn’t get stuck, and supported the traffic restrictions as a safety measure.

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

A group of New York firefighters chased down and detained a bike-riding man who swerved onto the sidewalk to punch a 60-year old woman, apparently at random.

A Saskatchewan woman suffered serious injures when she was struck by a bike rider who rang his bell before plowing into her; the crash may or may not have been his fault, but leaving the scene afterwards was.

Seriously, don’t be that person, part two. A woman on a bike rode off without an apology after being confronted by a child’s mother for hitting and dragging her one-year old daughter in a London Park.

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Local

Surprise! It’s Bike Month in LA County, such as it is this year. Instead of Bike to Work Day, we’ll have Ride a Bike Day on Tuesday the 22nd, aka World Car Free Day; you can celebrate virtually with Burbank and the LACBC.

This is how you change the world. South LA’s East Side Riders Bike Club has been serving a free breakfast to the community all summer; now they’re extending hours to feed children before school, and working on serving lunch.

Look, we get it. It’s great that the former Governator is one of us. But we really don’t need to see daily photos of his daily ebike rides through Santa Monica.

 

State

The bike boom is going full force in San Diego, where a new study shows bicycling rates shot up 40% over last year since the Covid-19 stay at home order was issued.

Highland police will conduct a bike and pedestrian safety enforcement crackdown today. Standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

A Big Bear bike rider says it’s time to dust off the local bike plans, because there are too many drivers “who either don’t see cyclists or don’t like cyclists on the road.”

The family of a Vallejo bike rider will receive a $6 million settlement from the city, after he was fatally shot by a cop who wanted to warn him about riding on a busy street.

A Los Altos bike rider describes roads emptied by the fires in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties as a cycling Nirvana. Even if everyone was being asked to stay off them.

Santa Clara-based chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is getting into the bike business with a pair of eponymous ebikes.

 

National

Nice read from a new bike rider, who comes to the realization that it’s okay to take up space on a bike. And that some drivers insist on getting in front, even when it’s not smart.

Cannondale is recalling defective front racks on some of its Treadwell bike models.

A bike rider documented the destruction from a wildfire that ravaged his southern Oregon town.

Now that’s more like it. A Nebraska man got 18 years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a Colorado bike rider; that compares with just four years for a similar crime in Los Angeles.

A Texas man is riding 3,000 miles around the perimeter of the state, after previously riding 4,900 miles through every street in Austin.

This is why you don’t chase down a bike thief. A Wisconsin teenager faces an attempted murder charge for repeatedly shooting a man who chased after him when the teen allegedly stole a bike from his property.

Chicago has seen a spike in bicycling fatalities, with seven deaths so far this year, including the first death on city’s e-bikeshare.

This is the cost of traffic violence. An assistant Brooklyn DA and experienced bicyclist was killed when she was struck by the driver of a charter bus while riding her bike; advocates point the finger at New York Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to make the city safer. De Blasio responded by saying if you think riding a bike in the city sucks now, just imagine what it would be like without him.

New York’s spare mayor, who would take over if de Blasio stepped down for any reason, says he worries about his own safety while riding a bike, after getting hit by a driver while riding last week.

New York bike advocates call on the NYPD to stop prematurely blaming bike riders for their own deaths before even conducting an investigation.

No charges have been filed against a pro-Trump driver who plowed into a group of bike riders last week at a Black Lives Matter protest in New York’s Times Square.

Someone please tell “Northern Virginia’s leading news source” that robbing, assaulting and exposing yourself to people on a local bike trail is not the same as aggressive bicycling.

A group of North Carolina seniors were heroes after finding four grand in cash while on a bike ride, then tracking down the money’s owner who had literally lost his nest egg.

 

International

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, as a Canadian medical resident biking home from work came across someone passed out in the street, and was able to save their life with a dose of naxalone.

One of Canada’s best-know tech investors was paralyzed from the waist down when he was struck by the driver of jackknifed truck as he was riding his bike last week.

London bicyclists were twice as likely to be seriously injured or killed by speeding drivers during the city’s coronavirus lockdown.

Life is cheap in Wales, where a driver walked after playing the universal Get Out of Jail Free card, claiming he couldn’t see the bike-riding man he killed because the sun was in his eyes. A second driver played the same card in the same crash, but a jury didn’t buy it in her case.

Good for her. The wife of a fallen British bicyclist unleashed her fury on the court for the lenient sentence given her husband’s killer, who got just six months for hitting him head-on while speeding on the wrong side of the road.

Tragic news, as a well-known 86-year old UK bicyclist died while trying to ride the length of the country for a second time, after he was found in the roadway suffering from serious head injuries; he’d completed the 621-mile ride once before when he was 77.

A Berlin court ordered city officials to remove popup bike lanes that had been installed during the pandemic, after opponents accused them of using it to push through their traffic agenda.

Bollywood star Salmon Khan is one of us. Then again, he’s also an accused hit-and-run driver who was never held accountable.

An Indian man had a little time on his hands during the country’s coronavirus lockdown. So he used it to build an eco-friendly wooden bicycle.

Kenyans are taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis to fall in love with bicycling again.

Tokyo responds to the worldwide bike boom by doing exactly what Los Angeles has failed to do, building bike lanes on 62 miles of major roadways to accommodate the increase in bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

By now, it’s not a spoiler to report Britain’s Adam Yates put up a fight before losing the yellow jersey earlier this week, and said leading the Tour de France was fun while it lasted.

French favorite Julian Alaphilippe faltered when his legs gave out on a breakaway yesterday.

Italy’s Fabio Aru had to abandon the Tour due to physical issues that the Former Vuelta winner doesn’t understand himself.

Cycling Weekly catches up with everyone who’s gotten a financial slap on the wrist in this year’s Tour.

Bicycling offers 14 fun facts about the Tour de France you can use to impress your friends. Even though most American’s don’t care in the post-Lance fiasco age.

Seriously, if you’re going to get in the face of the competitors in the peloton, put your damn mask on.

And when people complain about the disparity between men’s and women’s cycling, this is exactly what they mean .

https://twitter.com/DreVorak/status/1302224388159188993

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a Lamborghini. If you barely get out of the parking lot, you didn’t escape following a bank robbery, whether on a bike or anything else.

And apparently, victory does not always go to the sweaty guys in spandex.

https://twitter.com/AmericanFietser/status/1301911734844895234

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I continue to be amazed by the kindness and generosity of the people who read this site. Thanks to James L, Fred D, and Janice H for their very generous donations to help me get it up and running again.

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

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