Tag Archive for Bike Talk

Happy World Bicycle Day, MOVE Culver City CEQA suit trial begins, and Bike Talk talks The Art of Cycling

June 3, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 211 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve jumped up to 1,173 signatures, so don’t stop now! I’ll forward the petition to the mayor’s office in the next few days. So urge everyone you know to sign it now! 

Photo by Ana Arantes from Pexels.

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Happy World Bicycle Day!

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Just a quick note before we get started. 

I’m finally starting to feel a little better, almost two months after falling and injuring my ribs and back, and re-injuring my shoulder. My ribs are almost back to normal, and my back is getting there. On the other hand, I think my torn rotator cuff is just screwed at this point.

Also, a very kind person reached out to me last week and offered to come over and help around our apartment — the second time that’s happened since my wife and I have both been injured, after another BikinginLA reader generously offered to come do our shopping for us. 

I won’t embarrass them by sharing their names, but I truly appreciate their offers of help. And the kindness and generosity of the readers of this site, which I see every year during our fund drive, and throughout the year. 

So my sincere thanks to both of these people, and everyone who has given from their heart to help keep this all going. 

And speaking of keeping the lights on, please take a moment to thank Pasadena bike lawyer and longtime bicycling supporter Thomas Forsyth for renewing his ad for another year. 

Thank you. 

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As you may know, I’ve been complaining for some time about Culver City’s regressive move to rip out the highly successful MOVE Culver City project.

Not only did they move quickly to remove the protected bus and bike lanes, combining them into a single shared lane, but they made the move without conducting the required environmental review.

A lawsuit contesting the removal without a CEQA review was filed in November, and will be heard Wednesday at the Los Angeles County Superior Court at 111 North Hill Street.

If you can make it, show up to show your support for the Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City, aka FFMCC, who filed the suit. And let me know what happens.

Here’s a press release from the group explaining the case.

Friends and Families for Move Culver City Invites Members of the Public to Attend the Hearing on June 5th for its Lawsuit Against City’s Planned Removal of Protected Bike Lanes and Pedestrian Protections from MOVE Culver City Project

Culver City, CA – Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City (FFMCC), a local advocacy group, invites members of the public to attend the hearing for its lawsuit to stop Culver City’s removal of critical infrastructure without proper California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review on June 5th at 1:30pm in Department 15 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The group first raised concerns and filed a lawsuit challenging the Culver City Council’s plans to remove key transportation upgrades in October 2023. The Culver City Council disregarded its own data, hundreds of public comments, letters and warnings from the community, elected officials, businesses, lawyers and environmental and mobility advocates when it first voted to begin the process of removing elements of its MOVE Culver City project in April 2023. Local advocates assert that the City Council’s approval of a CEQA exemption to these modifications is a violation of the law, as it would remove a protected bike lane and pedestrian features to accommodate an additional lane of vehicular traffic without disclosing, analyzing, or mitigating the impacts of those changes in an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Despite the warning, in January 2024, the Culver City Council voted to approve funding for a construction contract related to the removal of safety upgrades in the Move Culver City Corridor.

Following the vote, FFMCC filed a lawsuit in October 2023. A copy of the opening brief can be viewed here.

“We’re confident in the strength of our case and expect the judge to rule in our favor,” says Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero, Chair of Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City, the plaintiff in the case. “The city clearly violated CEQA by voting to exempt the project from environmental review, ignoring the indisputable fact that replacing a protected bike lane with an additional lane for cars, and removing pedestrian safety features, poses significant threats to public health and safety. This is precisely why CEQA was enacted, to provide notice to and protect communities when a planned project generates these environmental threats.” FFMCC is represented by attorneys Ellis Raskin, Jillian Ames, and Jenny Dao of Hanson Bridgett LLP.

In moving forward with this trial, FFMCC hopes to show the City that proper CEQA review pursuant to state law must be adhered to before any environmentally hostile modifications are made to the MOVE Culver City corridor.

About Friends and Families for Move Culver City

Friends and Families for Move Culver City was formed in response to the Culver City Council’s 3-2 vote to declare modifications to the MOVE Culver City project exempt from CEQA and to proceed with the removal of protected bike lanes, pedestrian protections and safety measures, and the addition of vehicle lanes along Washington Blvd and Culver Blvd in Culver City. Following the council vote on 9/11/2023, a GoFundMe was organized which raised more than $15,000 in less than two weeks, with nearly 200 donations from community members opposing the City’s plans.

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Bike Talk talks with the author of The Art of Cycling in this week’s episode, dropping on Thursday.

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The popular bike blogger known as Bike Shop Girl has created a new website focused on the cargo bike life.

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It’s now 165 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

An English bike rider suffered broken bones and a punctured lung when masked “thugs” on motorbikes pushed him off his bike while riding on a segregated bike lane, in what may or may not have been a bikejacking attempt.

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

Montreal saw a 20% jump in tickets issued to people on bicycles from 2022 to 2023. Which either means people are riding worse, or the cops are cracking down more.

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Local 

LAist explores the pushback on traffic safety efforts, as people fight to keep the roads dangerous and keep their God-given right to go zoom zoom all they want, damn the consequences.

Pasadena is already on the verge of being a 15-minute city.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive custom tricycle from a young Lawndale girl with a rare neurological disorder.

 

State

Calbike remembers the late, great Bill Walton.

A travel website selects seven surprisingly scenic and bikeable cities in California. Although they list Los Angeles at number six, just ahead of San Diego, which suggests they’ve never actually been here.

The annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride is underway, with people from around the world riding 540 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles this week; the fundraising ride will end in LA this weekend.

Sad news from Fresno, where a 50-year old man was killed riding in the downtown area; police blamed the victim for making an unsafe turn.

A new Marin County bikeway is a downpayment on a long-planned north-south bikeway reaching across the entire county.

Bay Area bike riding is about to get safer, as work begins to install 22 bicycling turnouts on deadly Mt. Diablo. Then again, when you name a mountain after the devil, you’re tempting fate, anyway.

 

National

Momentum lists the best US bike routes to check out this summer.

Paramedics in Anchorage, Alaska gave a young girl a new bicycle after a “distressing” incident that left her impaled by the brake lever on her bicycle, threatening her femoral artery.

An Arizona man says he could have been killed after he was knocked off his bike by the wing mirror of a passing RV.

Tragic news from Colorado, where an eight-year old girl was chased down and killed by a raging moose as she rode her bike.

Life is cheap in Texas, where killing a kid riding his bicycle is just an “oopsie.”

A New York man was the victim of illegal parking, killed when he crashed his ebike into an unattended semi-truck and trailer double parked in the traffic lane.

The sitting President of the United States was sitting on a bike seat in Delaware this weekend as he went for a ride with his son, Hunter, who will go on trial this week on federal gun charges.

He gets it. A writer for the Palm Beach Post says bicyclists risk their lives to ride in West Palm Beach, and it’s time the city did something to protect them.

 

International

A new study shows making a habit of riding a bicycle can keep your knees young.

Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail patiently explains why it’s not a good idea to put bike lanes in the middle of the road. Something San Francisco probably should have read before the whole Valencia Street fiasco.

A ten-year old British girl was injured when some jackass threw a kid’s bike off a multi-story housing unit, hitting the child below.

Bollywood actress Rakul Preet Singh is one of us, as she shares her thoughts on biking in Mumbai for today’s World Bicycle Day.

The India Times profiles billionaire bike rider and software entrepreneur Sridhar Vembu.

Beijing, China is experiencing an ultra-cycling boom, but hopes for the country’s hydrogen-powered bikeshare bikes are rapidly deflating.

A group of Aussie professors, lecturers and researchers examine why so few of their countrymen and women ride bikes, and offer suggestions on how to get the country back on two wheels.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australia’s Lachlan Morton and Germany’s Rosa Maria Klöser won the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively, of America’s premier gravel race, the Life Time Unbound Gravel 200 in Kansas over the weekend. Read it on AOL this time if Bicycling blocks you. 

Morton won in a record time, despite making a wrong turn on the course.

A columnist for Cycling Weekly says it’s okay if pro cyclists hate cycling sometimes, because the rest of us have our ups and downs, too.

Tadej Pogačar’s agent proclaims post-ride beers are good for you.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your local bikeway has been around for 126 years. Your next graphene-reinforced bike lock could be axle-grinder resistant.

And who needs a bike seat when you can weld three chairs to your mamachari bike?

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Thanks to Cassandra Fulgham for her donation to help support this site — and possibly help defray that ambulance ride and ER visit. As you probably know by now, donations of an amount, no matter how large or small, are always welcome and appreciated, whatever the reason.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

The war on bikes shifts into high gear, “There Are No Accidents” author on Bike Talk, and Paris bike boom keeps booming

March 27, 2024 / / Comments Off on The war on bikes shifts into high gear, “There Are No Accidents” author on Bike Talk, and Paris bike boom keeps booming
Just 279 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re slowly gaining signatures, up to 1,027 now, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

Photo is an 1897 military bicycle with a machine gun mounted on the handlebars. 

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My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

My Monday went to hell before I even got out of bed, and didn’t get any better until late that night, by which time I was too tired to form a thought, let alone a sentence. 

That was followed yesterday by a shot in my right eye to control bleeding in the retina, yet another of the boundless joys of diabetes.

Good times. 

But if you’re reading this, I guess that means I literally saw my way through my work tonight. So there’s that, anyway.

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It’s now 98 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

A Marin columnist says a proposal to remove the bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge on weekdays doesn’t go far enough, and he wants to give the lane back to drivers full time, even on days when they don’t need it. Because autos uber alles, evidently.

Providence, Rhode Island is considering the same thing, as city officials debate a plan to close the bike lane on a local bridge to make more room for motor vehicles. After all, it makes far more sense to remove alternatives to driving than to try to get more people out of their cars. Right?

Police in Yorkshire, England are looking for the person who ran away after pushing a woman off her bicycle in a “wholly unprovoked attack.”

New bike symbols on a London street appear to encourage people to ride in the door zone and into parked cars in an apparent attempt to thin the herd, while the city insists they were “carefully developed in line with guidance.”

Residents of a UK city are “furious” over “confusing” bicycle symbols painted on a street with no bike lanes, apparently unable to comprehend that bike riders are encourage to ride there.

British motorists slam a photo of a Dutch father carrying his five kids on his cargo bike, claiming he’s endangering them and that not one is wearing a helmet, while one driver bizarrely claims almost everyone in the Netherlands wears a helmet, in a country where almost no one does.

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

Police in Salinas posted a number to call to report kids riding their bikes recklessly and without regard for their own and drivers’ safety. Because evidently, teen and tween kids on a bikes are the real risk on the streets, not the people in the big, dangerous machines. 

Police in the Sultanate of Oman have arrested over 20 young people and seized more than 200 unlicensed motorcycles and bicycles for traffic violations, in a crackdown on reckless riding during Ramadan. Because, once again, the real danger is kids on bikes of all kinds, motor and otherwise.

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Local 

Streetsblog talks with former Bicycling editor and South Bay-based bike writer Peter Flax about his new book, Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle. Which is a lot of italics for one lousy sentence.

West Hollywood gave Bird the bird, and will now allow only Lime e-scooters to besmirch their streets.

 

State

Caltrans is finally putting its money where its Complete Streets policy is, pledging to invest a cool billion dollars into bike lanes across the state over the next four years.

Streetsblog offers a non-comprehensive list of sustainable transportation bills to watch in this year’s state legislative session. Which is better than the legislature’s usual non-comprehendible bills. 

About damn time. The hit-and-run death of fallen Oceanside bicyclist and mother Tracey Gross is raising concerns about the safety of bike riders on State Route 76, where at least eight people were injured riding bikes over the most recent five year period. Those concerns should have been raised when the first person was struck, not the latest.

The small farming community of Lamont, located southeast of Bakersfield, just got its first protected bike lane.

Bad news from Davis, where a UC freshman is in a coma after she was struck by a driver while riding her bike on campus. Parents should have a right to expect their kids will be safe when they send them off to college.

 

National

Streetsblog accuses New York officials of putting safety last, after four Brooklyn neighborhoods named Vision Zero “Bike Priority Areas” in 2017 still don’t have any protected bike lanes. To which Los Angeles says “hold my beer.”

A Manhattan community board rejected a planned ebike charging hub intended to replace an abandoned newsstand, after concluding it looked too modern.

The mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey signed a bill requiring ebike delivery riders to be licensed by the city, saying he was doing it in the “spirit of collaboration” despite shortcomings in the law. Even though no one bothered to collaborate with the low-wage workers. 

WaPo is the latest newspaper to pick up the story of the Atlanta bike rider who tows a large magnet behind his bike to clear the streets of flat-inducing nails, screws and other metallic detritus. More proof that not all heroes wear capes. Or tights, for that matter. 

 

International

Momentum offers an introductory guide to Velomobiles, and writes that “getting serious about active transportation in Europe it starts with street parking.”

A writer for Cycling Weekly debunks common myths about fat bicyclists, who turn out to be pretty much like anyone else who rides a bike, but bigger.

British Columbia authorities are investigating after a bike rider was injured by a mountie driving an unmarked car.

Hundreds of bicyclists rode for cleaner air in Birmingham, England.

A British newspaper says ebikes are the future of urban transport in the UK.

Another Cycling Weekly writer says he went to the Netherlands, and saw for himself how much better bicycling could be in the UK. And pretty much anywhere else, for that matter. 

They get it, too. The Irish government is considering new financial incentives to encourage bicycling, after the country’s Cycle to Work program failed to entice enough people to bike to work and leave their cars at home.

Pope Francis sold the Pinarello Dogma given to him by Egan Bernal for the equivalent of more than $15,000, which was half the predicted price for the holy roadie.

An Austrian study reports that an average of 600 children are injured by bicycle handlebars each year, with half involving tears and bruises to the liver, pancreas or spleen.

A drunk driver in India plowed his SUV into a car, three motorcyclists and a bicyclist, leaving the bicycle literally folded in half, and one person in critical condition. And you can probably guess which person that was.

A heartbreaking photo shows a Palestinian boy sitting next to his bicycle in front of a building destroyed by an Israeli bombardment in Rafah.

A new Chinese study shows that ebikes serve as a crucial alternative to cars, as well as complementing transit services, and that banning ebikes “would not be conducive to curbing car growth.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist answers the burning question of what the hell is a soigneur?

Bicycling reports that former Tour de France champ Egan Bernal took a remarkable third place at this year’s Volta a Catalunya, behind Tadej Pogačar and Mikel Landa, just two years after a near fatal crash in his native Colombia. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you.

 

Finally…

Your next gravel bike could cost more than a cheap new car — unless you’d rather have a track bike that costs more than a decent one. Your next full-suspension mountain bike could be made of plywood.

And this is who we share the road with. Or the river, in this case.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , ,

Flawed Metro bike map & bikeshare changes, parking reform house party, and odd non-endorsement of Newsom foe

October 19, 2022 / / One comment

We should be so past this crap by now.

A couple stories popped up this week that expose the sort of needless problems that shouldn’t even exist after decades of advocacy.

Not to mention Metro’s repeated lip service to supporting active transportation.

First up, Streets For All sent out a notice about proposed changes to the Metro Bike bikeshare program. Changes that have virtually everyone scratching their heads, trying to figure out what the hell it all means.

Here’s what Streets For All had to say on the subject.

THIS THURSDAY, Metro’s Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee has an item on its agenda to consider a staff recommendation to mostly privatize Metro Bike Share.

While we’re not against this in principle, the fact is that Metro has treated its own bike share program as the odd man out, and not like a real transportation mode.

Regardless of which model the bike share program ultimately becomes, the next phase must include:

  1. A major expansion, based on equity, starting in our most underinvested neighborhoods
  2. The ability to put bike share stations at Metro train and bus stations (right now, Metro’s employee union blocks this)
  3. Treating bike share like a real transportation mode part of Metro’s bus/rail system, not an afterthought. This means real funding and integration into the rest of the system.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

CALL INTO METRO’S COMMITTEE MEETING THURDAY AT 12:30PM

EMAIL THE COMMITTEE IN ADVANCE

The second issue came up when Metro released the interactive map we linked to yesterday showing the agency’s Draft Prioritized Active Transportation Network, which purports to show bikeways, pedestrian districts and first-last-mile station improvements prioritized by the agency.

The problem is, they can’t even get the existing infrastructure right.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton was the first to call out the problem, noting a number of errors in the following Twitter thread.

It raises obvious questions of how we can count on Metro to plan future bikeway and pedestrian improvements when they don’t even know what the hell we already have.

And combined with the Metro Bike changes, makes it clear active transportation continues to be an afterthought at the county transportation agency, and the lack of seriousness with which they consider it.

Let alone address it.

And by extension, the local governments that make up the Metro board, who certainly should know better by now.

Then again, why bother with a million dollar bikeway when they can keep flushing billions down the toilet with more induced demand-inducing highway projects in the midst of a climate emergency?

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Another notice that popped up in my email yesterday was a reminder from Bike Talk’s Nick Richert about tomorrow’s parking reform house party, with special guest UCLA parking meister and The High Cost of Free Parking author Donald Shoup.

I’m reaching out to invite you to a fundraising house party for an organization that I believe is doing important work on an issue that doesn’t get enough attention … parking reform!

We’ll be gathering at the home of Lindsay Sturman, in Larchmont Village, LA on Thursday, October 20th. Drinks and Socializing at 7:00PM, with a short program at 7:30 PM

Car parking can be enormously  expensive – often costing upwards of $40K per stall to construct – and takes up so much space – an average parking space, including aisles, is 300 square feet. Because of outdated rules that ensure we’ll continue to over-build parking whether we need it or not, these costs are baked into our cities … and we are just beginning to pay the full tab.

The Parking Reform Network is a 501(c)3 non profit organization with a mission to accelerate the adoption of critical parking reforms through research, coalition-building, and direct advocacy.

Over the last two years, PRN has released a widely cited map of US cities that eliminated parking mandates, produced a how-to guide for advocates working to create new  parking benefit districts, worked with Congressman Blumenauer’s office to introduce federal legislation introducing a parking cash-out benefit (HR 8555), and built a membership of nearly 300 practitioners, activists, and academics worldwide.

This fundraiser will support:

  • Grants and organizational support to local reform campaigns
  • Developing presentations and training speakers to educate policymakers and stakeholders about parking reforms.
  • Creating materials to advise government agencies who are in the thick of parking reforms, and need technical and/or communication support to get their plans across the finish line.

Please RSVP via this web page, or email la-party@parkingreform.org, and also let us know if you’re planning to bring a +1.

On behalf of all our party co-hosts: Lindsay Sturman, Tony Gittelson, Terence Heuston, Jennifer Levin, Eduardo Mendoza, Gerhard Mayer, Thomas Small, Abundant Housing LA, Livable Communities Initiative, Hang Out Do Good, Culver City Forward, Bike Talk, Sunset4All, and Culver City Forward …

We hope to see you there!

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Um, okay.

An editorial from the Southern California News Group says nothing will change as long as Gavin Newsom is governor, citing among his many perceived flaws “diverting” funds collected for road maintenance to “perceived climate-friendlier projects such as bike lanes.”

Yet oddly, they don’t endorse the other guy running against him.

Never mind that anyone who doesn’t recognize that bike lanes are better for the climate than highway projects probably shouldn’t be writing editorials in the first place.

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Enough said.

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

A Denver bike rider was intentionally run down by a road raging driver, for the crime of accidentally brushing the maniac’s mirror.

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

An apparent homeless man riding a baby blue beach cruiser was arrested for attacking a Catholic priest in La Jolla with a box cutter and half a pair of scissors when the pastor asked him to leave the Catholic school parking lot.

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Local

Northridge-Chatsworth Patch reminds us that Cal State Northridge is hosting its first BikeFest this Sunday.

An op-ed in the Loyola Marymount University student newspaper says forget more parking, and build safe infrastructure to encourage more students to bike to campus, instead.

A Long Beach man pled not guilty in the September murder of a man outside a gay bar in the city, and the stabbing of his partner; 56-year old Michael Smalls allegedly rode up on a bicycle as the couple was trying to disarm a man with a Taser, and stabbed them both. He’s being held on $3 million bond.

 

State 

An op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune says closing the successful Diamond Street Slow Street in Pacific Beach would be a mistake, despite the calls from some residents.

San Diego and Caltrans are preparing to flush $39 million down the toilet by widening State Route 56 from four to six lanes, promising it will reduce congestion, even though both science and experience show it will just result in more induced demand. But at least the project includes a new bike bridge and extending an existing bike path.

A kindhearted Mountain View cop bought a new bicycle for a toddler who was struck by a driver, along with his father, outside the local library; fortunately, both father and son escaped with minor injuries.

A Streetsblog op-ed calls for a dedicated political action committee, aka PAC, for safe streets in San Francisco. They’ve got a point. Los Angeles street safety PAC Streets For All has made a huge difference in just a few short years.

 

National

Apparently, it’s not just the flesh and blood drivers you have to worry about.

Consumer Reports recommends their picks for the best foldies. But you’ll have to be a member if you want to see it.

A San Francisco site argues that while the city dithers on street design, Seattle is demonstrating that bikes drive local business. Meanwhile, Seattle is committing just $8.3 million to fund its Vision Zero program, despite the deadliest year for traffic deaths since 2006.

Nice move from my platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community hometown, which is raising funds to provide a free bicycle for every 2nd grade student in the local school system.

Speaking of Colorado, the state has renamed a classic bikeway as the Mestaa’Ėhehe Pass ride, replacing a racial slur for indigenous women.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, after a man on a ebike led a moose away from a Wyoming soccer pitch after it crashed a kids match.

The 67-year old person of interest in the gruesome murder and dismemberment of four Oklahoma friends who disappeared on a bike ride was arrested 1,200 miles away in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida; Joseph Kennedy is being held without bail on an unrelated charge pending extradition.

More on the white Milwaukee man seen on video grabbing a Black man by the neck while accusing the victim’s friends of stealing a bicycle from the white man’s friend; despite initial reports that the victim was a boy, he’s actually a 24-year old man.

In another tragic reminder to always carry ID when you ride, a missing Tennessee man’s family finally learned of his death two weeks after he was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

A compact-framed 1890’s direct-drive safety bicycle sold at auction in New York for $52,800, vastly exceeding initial estimates of $4,000 to $6,000.

A travel site highlights three “amazing” bike rides along the Great Allegheny Passage.

A Georgia teenager will spend the rest of his life behind bars for fatally shooting a 60-year old man at a bus stop, just to steal his bicycle. As we’ve said before, no bike is worth a human life.

 

International

Road.cc review’s Knog’s new bike alarm and tracker, designed to fit beneath your water bottle holder.

Cycling Weekly considers the difference between gravel and road bikes. Maybe I should start my own magazine for people who ride like I do these days; we could call it Cycling Weakly.

So much for that. A campaign by London’s mayor to keep drivers out of bike lanes has resulted in just 12 citations in three months.

A giant hedgehog on a bicycle, built with the help of local children, was crowned the winner of the national Tour of Britain’s land art competition.

Introducing a new French-made ebike apparently designed for people who really want to pretend they’re riding a motorcycle, instead. No word on whether it makes vroom! vroom! noises, or if you have to provide those yourself. 

Globalization in action, as Ukrainian ebike brand Delfast introduces their new U-frame Delfast California model; the bikemaker has managed to remain active despite the Russian invasion.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 78-year old former Santa Monica resident describes setting a record as the oldest person to complete the Kona Ironman competition.

A Welsh triathlete is being remembered as a “warrior princess” after she was killed in a crash while riding her bike last weekend.

 

Finally…

Maybe he should stick to driving spaceships. No one has ever had to draw from the strategic oil reserve to support bicycling.

And seriously, who doesn’t need pumpkin spiced, uh…chain lube?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Bike rider killed in horrific Arkansas hit-and-run, Bike Talk talks Healthy Streets LA initiate, and Taylor Yard Bridge opening off

February 22, 2022 / / 2 comments

Unbelievable.

In one of the most horrifying examples of traffic violence in recent memory, police in Fort Smith, Arkansas discovered a hit-and-run had taken place when someone found a severed leg lying in the street Saturday morning.

They found the rest of the 57-year old victim’s body in the back of a man’s pickup, where it had been since the driver had crashed into his bike around 12 hours earlier.

The driver claimed he didn’t know the victim’s body was there until he got home — and then apparently just went inside and left him there to die once he did.

Graphics by tomexploresla

Which presumably would have given the man plenty of time to sober up before the cops found the body in his truck.

And how anyone could do something like that without being drunk or stoned is beyond me.

The crash is reminiscent of the infamous 2014 case in which a hit-and-run driver drove home with a bike rider embedded in his windshield, and didn’t notice until he came back out the next morning.

Fortunately, that one had a happier ending.

Seriously, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough.

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Bike Talk talks with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider about the organization’s Healthy Streets LA initiative to force Los Angeles to build out the city’s mobility plan when streets get repaved.

That’s followed by a segment with Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss discussing the Idaho Stop Law, which allows bike riders to treat stop signs like yields, and — at least in Idaho’s original version — treat red lights like stop signs.

A version of which was vetoed by California Governor Newsom last year.

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Remember what we said yesterday about the new Taylor Yard Bridge opening next month?

Yeah, not so much.

LA officials say the official opening has been cancelled. No reason or makeup date has been announced.

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British singer, songwriter and producer James Blunt is one of us.

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

A road-raging British driver walked without a single day behind bars for chasing down and ramming a bike rider who damaged his wing mirror; adding insult to injury, the driver was ordered to pay the equivalent of just $1,359 in compensation, despite totaling the victim’s $9,500 bicycle.

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

Police in London busted a sexual assault suspect who used a bikeshare bike in the attack, which allowed police to identify him from his credit card.

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Local

Momentum Magazine asks if Los Angeles can shake its anti-bicycling reputation, and seems to conclude, “maybe.”

On a similar note, a graduate student at Northwestern examines LA’s Vision Zero program, saying it brings both hope and skepticism to the city. Which most Los Angeles bike riders can relate to.

 

State 

No surprise here. San Diego’s KPBS says families of traffic violence victims often feel let down by the criminal justice system.

A 32-year old man was injured when he was struck by a driver in Santa Rosa after allegedly riding his bike through a red light while under the influence.

 

National

A Las Vegas optician may need his own eyes examined, after confessing that he was one of the bike riders charged by a bull captured on a viral video during the recent Rock Cobbler offroad race.

An Ohio mayor is oddly up in arms over a former rival’s donation of a $3,600 police bike to the local police department, as well as giving her late firefighter husband’s rescue gear to the fire department, calling them ethics violations; opponents call the ethics flap just an effort to keep her off the city council.

A paper in Worcester, Massachusetts marks Black History Month by tracing several key sites in the adopted hometown of legendary cyclist Major Taylor, as well as historic locations relating to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, among others.

After a 15-year old boy accidentally ride his bike off a bridge, a Massachusetts cop is credited with his rescue.

New York’s legislature is considering a package of bike and pedestrian safety bills that would give cities more control over speed limits, encourage them to build safer sidewalks and bike lanes, and require drivers to study more safety topics for their license test.

You know you have a problem when two people on bicycles are run down by hit-and-run drivers on the same stretch of a Florida street, the same time of day, just one mile and three days apart. Or when four people have been killed at the same Orlando intersection in four months, the latest victim was a 15-year old boy right-hooked while riding in a crosswalk.

 

International

Bike Radar’s podcast considers how to make this your best year yet on your bike. That’s easy. 1) Just ride, and 2) just ride more. And don’t take it so damn seriously.

Bike riders debate the relative merits of daytime running lights, after Road.cc reposts a 2015 article about their use.

A writer for Jalopnik says the “Freedom Convoy” that paralyzed Ottawa, Canada in recent weeks shows why cars and trucks should be banned from cities.

Canadian bicyclists are mourning the loss of longtime Toronto bike advocate Robert “Bicycle Bob” Silverman, who fought for bike lanes long before the city had any, and helped set it on its current bike-friendly course; Silverman passed away Sunday at age 88.

Good news on the bike theft front, as reports from more than 40 British police agencies indicate the crime fell over 11% last year.

A delivery rider in the UK says he’s never more than one crash away from financial disaster, after his earnings have dropped almost in half over the past few years.

A self-described die-hard Indian cyclist writes in defense of the humble bicycle, after the country’s prime minister cast aspersions on bikes in attacking another political party that uses one as its symbol; the head of that party calls the prime minister’s comments “an insult to the nation.”

 

Competitive Cycling

UCI may be ditching Red Bull for coverage of the Mountain Bike World Cup after this season, entering into exclusive negotiations with Discovery Sports.

Colombian cyclist Daniel Martínez calls injured countryman Egan Bernal a champion on and off the bike, as Martínez opens the European campaign with a third-place finish in the Volta ao Algarve.

Dutch pro Tom Dumoulin says he’s happy to be back on the WorldTour after walking away from the sport for several months last year.

 

Finally…

Go ahead and ride straight, even if the bike path isn’t. And sometimes you have to pedal upstream in life.

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

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

CicLAvia returns with 3 dates this year, a first-hand view of traffic violence, and bike rider shoots driver in self-defense

July 6, 2021 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia returns with 3 dates this year, a first-hand view of traffic violence, and bike rider shoots driver in self-defense

We all have something to look forward to this year, with the return of America’s largest and most successful open streets festival.

In the best news we’ve had in a pandemic plagued year and a half, CicLAvia will return next month in Wilmington on August 10th.

That’s followed by the traditional Heart of LA route in Downtown Los Angeles on October 10th — the same date as the first CicLAvia, also in DTLA, eleven years earlier.

And last but far from least, a long-awaited return to South Los Angeles on October 5th.

Here’s what our bike-riding friend at KCBS2/KCAL9 have to say on the subject.

https://twitter.com/JeffVaughn/status/1411175401552896004

Photo of an earlier CicLAvia in DTLA by yours truly.

………

Every day as I search through the news, I find heartbreaking stories about fatal and near fatal crashes from across the US.

For every one I link to, there may be a dozen or more I don’t.

Just more collateral damage in our incessant obsession with getting from here to there as quickly and inefficiently as possible

Like this story from the very tip of the Pacific Northwest, a stone’s throw from Canada, about a 76-year-old man struck by a trailer pulled by a pickup driver while riding his bike.

Normally I’d read it, maybe mutter a quick prayer, and move on. Just another every day tragic occurrence.

Except this time, the details dovetailed with an email I received yesterday, in the form of a script, from fellow bike rider and corgi aficionado Mike Burk, who moved from SoCal to the cooler and cloudier clime a few years ago.

Fade in:

Late morning, driver’s POV.

Coming home from town this morning when we’re diverted off the highway to a side road because of a road block. At the intersection, noticed a truck towing a poorly loaded trailer carrying an old backhoe. The truck was stopped, the driver getting a ticket by a couple of sheriff’s deputies.

Finally back on the highway and two or three miles down the road. Flashing lights ahead. As we inched along I noticed a bicycle on its side and no rider around. Whatever happened is over (it had been only 90 minutes since we came that way into town).

Seeing the bike and the emergency vehicles, I got a picture.

Photo by Mike Burk

Dissolve to:

Early afternoon, POV over shoulder, sitting at computer.

Me, during a Zoom meeting with our homeowner’s association Publications Committee. Going over articles for our next month’s Kala Pointer Newsletter. One of the committee members asked, “Did you hear about Stan Cummings this morning? He was riding his bike…”

You can guess the rest. Yes, that was Stan’s bike. He was medivacced (sp) to Harborview Hospital in Seattle (40 miles… if you’re a crow). He’s in their TBI unit, not expected to recover well, if at all.

It didn’t take too long for someone following to dial 911 — and then for the sheriffs, local police, and state police to locate and stop the truck.

Stan is active in the community and on his bike. We’ll see what happens.

Fade to black.

Burk adds this final thought.

I forget that this can happen anywhere. We’re in a REALLY small town. Even after all the miles I’ve put on my bike, the thought of getting out on that highway (WA19 and WA20) up here just terrifies me. I keep to the back roads.

Sadly, that’s exactly the case.

The news stories I see come from everywhere English is spoken, and many places it’s not.

From big cities and tiny towns in every state throughout the US, as well as Canada, Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, the UK, Europe, India, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. And virtually everywhere else, on every kind of roadway.

Yet somehow, the onus for safety inevitably rests on our narrow, unprotected shoulders, rather than the people in the big, dangerous machines who pose the danger to people on bikes, and everyone else.

It’s like living in a village where monsters roam the streets, dragging people off at random. And instead of doing something about them, we merely tell the villagers to be careful and lock their doors at night.

Like this rabidly auto-centric anti-Vision Zero diatribe, in other words.

Which is kind of like telling gunshot victims to dodge the bullets, rather than suggesting that maybe gun owners shouldn’t shoot them.

Frankly, I don’t have the answers anymore.

I just know I’m so damn tired of reading every day about still more innocent people dragged off by the monsters.

And worrying that one day they’ll grab me, too.

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Bike Talk talks protected bike lanes, from every angle.

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Speaking of which, the protected bike lane on Oakland’s Telegraph Ave has been so successful, the city wants to tear it out.

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Apparently, Minnesota’s annual Freedom From Pants Ride went off without a…well, you get the idea.

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.

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Megan Lynch forwards this piece about a man seven years into a diagnosis of dementia, yet still riding his bike across Nova Scotia to fight the disease.

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Evidently, the Dutch city of Groningen was been a bicycle city for awhile.

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British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid explores England’s old Great North Road from London to Newcastle, traveling in style in a classic Morgan sports car, accompanied by a Brompton foldie in the passenger seat.

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

In a truly bizarre case, a man on a bike shot a road raging Houston driver in self-defense when the male driver told a bike-riding couple they couldn’t ride in that neighborhood, then deliberately knocked the woman off her bike; her pistol-packing partner was let go, while the driver was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon.

No bias here. After a driver intentionally knocks a British man off his bike, she claims to be an ex-cop, and the current cops don’t hesitate to blame the victim. And a driving instructor uses the incident for a training video.

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

A man on a bicycle remains at large after shooting an Arleta man following an argument Sunday night.

Seriously? There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for a 23-year old English man who was caught masturbating on his bicycle, riding one-handed as he pursued women and young girls. Yet the bike-riding perv somehow avoided jail despite doing it not once, not twice or even thrice, but four times, apparently because the judge thought he’s a “promising student.”

A Singapore bicyclist was criticized for leaving a painted bike lane to draft behind a trio of dump trucks. Although that would be perfectly legal in the US, though not necessarily smart, where most, if not all, states allow bike riders to take the lane if they’re riding the speed of traffic.

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Local

The Gateway Cities Council of Governments will discuss the ill-advised plan to widen the 710 Freeway, displacing homeowners and fouling the air to create more induced demand. A much better option would be to spend the same amount on transit, bikeways and pedestrian improvements so people don’t have to drive the damn thing.

Brooklyn Beckham is one of us, as soccer great David Beckham’s grownup son goes for a Beverly Hills bike ride with a friend.

 

State

Just days after a woman was killed riding her bike on North Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla near UC San Diego, another bike rider was injured when a suspected drunk driver drifted into the bike lane he was riding in, less than half a mile from where the first woman was run down.

The San Diego Union-Tribune considers how North Park’s new 30th Street protected bike lane will affect the community.

A Santa Barbara librarian says her new ebike was the best thing to come out of 2020.

San Jose police busted an alleged fence who specialized in high-end bicycles and construction equipment, while paying thieves a fraction of their actual value; he was caught with an estimated $100,000 of hot merch at the time of his arrest. If you’re missing an expensive bike anywhere in the Bay Area, give ’em a call, just in case.

Tragic news from South Sacramento, where a 76-year old man riding a bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver who briefly stopped following the collision, then ran over the victim to make her getaway.

For anyone up in the Sacramento area, the Davis Bicycling, Street Safety and Transportation Commission will meet on Thursday to discuss a number of proposals, including a newly funded plan to widen the I-80 corridor (bad), while possibly adding bicycling improvements (good). Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

 

National

Seriously? Women’s Health asks if outdoor bike riding is good for weight loss. Hint: A resounding yes!

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, after a California man raised $13,000 to provide running water to families in the impoverished Navajo Nation by riding his bike from California to New Mexico.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico school is tapping into federal funds to get more kids to bike and walk to school. Which is something every school should be working on.

Boulder CO police say there’s a nationwide bike shortage, so use a damn U-lock, already. Although they may not have said it quite that way.

More proof that collisions with pedestrians are just as dangerous for the person on the bike, as a 28-year old New York woman was left clinging to life after she crashed into a pedestrian walking in a Prospect Park crosswalk while she was riding in the bike lane. Seriously, ride carefully around pedestrians, who are just as unpredictable as people on bikes. And in cars.

An Atlanta bike rider flagged down paramedics after an 18-year old backup quarterback at Kennesaw State University was fatally shot near Pensacola, Florida; his 19-year old passenger suffered multiple gunshot wounds when their attackers fired over 50 rounds at their car.

 

International

TechRadar rates the “super smart” Cowboy 4 as their top ebike, saying it feels like the future of bicycling.

Mashable offers tips on what to think about before entering the ebike world. But they get the first tip wrong, suggesting that ebiking is just a seasonal thing for everyone but the most extreme bicyclists.

Offroad.cc shares their thoughts on what to look for in a used mountain bike.

Um, okay. Pink Bike looks at all the things that didn’t happen in the world of bicycling last month.

Life is cheap in British Columbia, where a hit-and-run driver walked without a single day in jail for killing an 18-year old man riding a bike. But at least he called 911 before driving off.

A young Black man plans to file a complaint against the Montreal cops who roughed him up and handcuffed him for the crime of not having a reflector on his front wheel. Or maybe because he stopped to watch them question another man.

Life is cheap in the UK, too, where a truck driver walked without spending a day behind bars for killing a 73-year old ebike rider, because the judge thought he showed “genuine and enduring” remorse. Which, oddly, won’t do a damn thing to bring his victim back.

A Singapore bike rider unfairly gets the blame for riding in the traffic lane when a driver slams into him from behind, throwing him onto the windshield before landing in the roadway; the victim sat up following the crash, so hopefully he’s okay. Warning: The dashcam video of the crash is absolutely horrifying, so be sure you really want to see it before you click on it.

 

Competitive Cycling

By now, you should have had plenty of time to catch up on the Tour de France. So it shouldn’t come as a spoiler to reveal that last year’s winner Tadej Pogacar not only reclaimed the yellow jersey, but tightened his grip on it before Monday’s rest day.

Breakaway specialist Thomas De Gendt argues the level of competition is much higher at this year’s Tour de France, thanks to a rash of young riders making their presence known.

Cavendish says he may be struggling, but don’t write off four-time Tour champ Chris Froome yet.

Mathieu van der Poel pulled out of the Tour after losing the yellow jersey to focus on winning mountain bike gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Judging by the video below, he might just have a shot.

A sports physicist considers how many calories you’d have to consume to ride like a pro in the Tour de France.

Nicholas Dlamini, the first Black South African to compete in the Tour, received a round of “rapturous” applause when he crossed the finish line on Sunday’s ninth stage of the Tour, despite failing to make the cut following a crash.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get so drunk you can’t remember stealing a $1,000 bike. That feeling when you’re glad the bear only ate your bike seat.

And John and Yoko were both one of us.

Thanks to author Richard Risemburg for the heads-up.

………

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

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

Top Gear host says bikes are guests on the roads, street-racing Rocking Rod let off the hook, and LeMond gets his Gold

December 7, 2020 / / Comments Off on Top Gear host says bikes are guests on the roads, street-racing Rocking Rod let off the hook, and LeMond gets his Gold

Welcome to Week Three of the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Jean C, Glen S, Phillip Y, Douglas M, Megan Lynch, Eric G and Luke Klipp for their generous donations to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy, from around the corner and around the world!

So what are you waiting for? 

Take a few minutes right now to help keep all the freshest bike news coming your way every day!

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No bias here.

British gearhead Jeremy Clarkson, the former host of Top Gear and the current Grand Tour host, claimed bike lanes are causing tension between the UK’s “normal people and its raving lunatics.”

He’s got a point, as long as he thinks the people on two wheels are the normal ones.

But then he added this gem.

I sometimes ride a bicycle in London but I am well aware that when I do so, I am a guest in the world of the car.

Which is why I would NEVER cycle on Kensington High Street. It’s too bloody dangerous.

Even though the point of striping bike lanes on the street was to make the street safer for everyone.

Let alone that bike riders have the same right to the roadway that drivers do, in the UK and in the US.

More, in fact, since bike riders aren’t required to have a license, which can be revoked to take away a driver’s privilege — not right — to the road.

If more drivers thought of themselves guests in a world of humans, we’d all be better off.

Meanwhile, bike-riding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly went ballistic after a bike lane was ripped out in London’s tony Kensington neighborhood, over the objections of the country’s cycling czar.

………

This is why people continue to die on our streets.

Rod Stewart was stopped by a Beverly Hills cop for street racing with two friends on a residential street.

The three were driving cars from his sports car collection, including a right-hand drive Lamborghini Countach. And wanted to see how fast they could go between stop signs, hitting 60 mph in the process.

But instead of throwing them all in jail and impounding the cars, or at least ticketing the trio, the cop reportedly got flustered when he saw who was behind the wheel of a high-end Porsche, and let them all go.

So evidently, the law really is different for the rich and famous when they threaten the lives of everyone else on the street than it is for the rest of us.

Got it.

………

It’s official.

America’s last remaining Tour de France champ is the first cyclist to be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, and one of just ten individual athletes to receive the honor.

………

Listen to CD5 city council candidate Scott Epstein’s appearance on Bike Talk.

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If you’re looking for a good cause to support, you could do a lot worse than this one.

And do a lot of good in the process.

https://twitter.com/philgaimon/status/1335450733345296393

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What happens when a couple of innocent motorist stumble into a bike bar.

No, the other kind.

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We all wish we could do this sometimes.

Or maybe all the time.

For the Spanish-challenged among us, like me, that translates to,

This would not have happened if this crossing had a speed bump.

………

No surprise here.

The internet took that story about the $1,000 Specialized carbon balance bike and ran with it.

………

Follow along as mountain biker Gee Atherton rides a ridiculous series of Ridgeline jumps.

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

After a Portland pickup driver subjected a bike-riding couple to a punishment pass, he got out of his truck and threatened to fight them when they tried to confront him at a red light.

An 18-year old New Zealand bicyclist was deliberately knocked off his bike by a driver who yelled and honked at him before swerving into his bike; it marked the third time in two years angry motorists have run him off the road.

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Local

Twitter may think Chris Pratt is a clown. But anyone who takes his kid out for a bike ride is doing oaky in the dad department.

 

State

Santa Barbara considers options to rebuild or replace a nearly 140-ear old bridge on Mission Canyon Road, including options for a new bike lane.

 

National

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss says step away from your Zwift trainer and enjoy the lost art of winter riding, because it’s almost never too cold to ride.

A Kansas City woman rode her bike to get through her divorce; now she’s using it to cope with being newly jobless during the pandemic.

PeopleForBikes blames Chicago’s default 30 mph speed limit for the city’s mediocre bikeability rating, instead of 25 mph in most of the US. Unlike Los Angeles, where drivers universally ignore the 25 mph speed limit on most residential streets. Along with pretty much every other speed limit in the city.

A Syracuse NY bike shop owner couldn’t do any more than watch on security cam as a teenage boy tried to break into his shop on Thanksgiving Day, causing $6,000 in damage even if he wasn’t able to take anything; the kid was caught by police trying to break into another shop down the street.

‘Tis the season. A program developed by the former GM of Philadelphia’s transportation authority just gave away its 1,000th bike to children in need over the past eight years.

No bias here. After a Florida sheriff’s deputy crashed into an ebike rider, they immediately blamed the victim, insisting he crashed into the deputy’s massive SUV while riding in the crosswalk against the Don’t Walk signal. As if the driver had no responsibility to check for anyone using the crosswalk or sidewalk, regardless of whether he was crossing with the light.

 

International

The World Economic Forum says dockless bikeshare symbolizes the future of our cities.

Cycling Weekly takes a look at health warning signs for bicyclists. I’d also include an inability to maintain muscle mass, which was the first major warning sign of my diabetes and neuropathy, and could have led to a diagnosis and treatment years earlier.

Cycling News looks at the best luxury gifts for bicyclists. Although a decent bike cam is really more of a necessity these days, GoPro or otherwise.

They get it. The UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that bike helmets won’t prevent a crash, but can be an important secondary safety feature if you get in one; the story goes on to address first aid for various bicycling injuries.

Nearly 60 years later, the iconic bicycle designed by Dr. Alex Moulton is still made in the English town of Bradford on Avon. Which is more than an hour away from that other famous Avon town.

Edinburgh bicyclists complain about having to ride in traffic after the city failed to plow the snow from protected bike lanes.

Horrible murder in the UK, where a man was beaten to death after allegedly pushing a 13-year old boy off his bike, when the boy rode too close to him as he was walking to the market. He may have been an ass for pushing the boy off his bike, but it shouldn’t have called for a vigilante death penalty.

A 60-year old Colombian man was killed in a Hong Kong wreck when a firefighter somehow lost control of the fire engine he was driving, striking the victim’s bicycle before crashing into a park car.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly wonders how far Sepp Kuss can climb in the world of cycling, citing the 26-year old American’s rapid rise in the sport. 

Former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas shared his X-rays to show he was okay after taking a bad fall on a training ride on Sunday.

Heartbreaking news, as 21-year old Italian cyclist Michael Antonelli died of Covid-19; his death came after two years of struggling to recover from major brain trauma suffered in a fall off a cliff in one of his first races after turning pro.

A group of ten cyclists were injured crashing into a police motorcycle on the first lap of an Australian race when a cop leading the peloton stopped to let a car out of a driveway, without realizing they were right behind him; the most seriously injured rider was okay following surgery, after he was initially place in an induced coma with severe leg injuries.

Cycling News recalls the 25 most compelling cycling personalities of the last 25 years.

Rouleur complains about pro cycling’s toxic masculinity problem, saying cyclists should be able to cry like a baby if they feel the need. Seriously? I’d rank podium girls, and pay and race inequalities for women cyclists, far ahead of “big boys don’t cry” on a scale of toxic masculinity in the sport.

Speaking of which, it’s about damn time a woman was named sports director, aka directeur sportif, of a WorldTour cycling team, as Cherie Pridham was hired to manage Israel Start-Up Nation, new home to former TdF champ Chris Froome.

An Aspen CO writer asks Lance to forgive him for being so hard on the former Tour de France champ for his doping, lying and bullying. Um, sure. Let’s go with that.

 

Finally…

If you want to be an internet sensation, just ride around the world with a cat on your shoulders. When the world gives you a pandemic pub lockdown, start a bicycle beer delivery service.

And that feeling when you find a giant fish carcass on your beachfront bike ride.

Or maybe a 5,000-year old whale.

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

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

New Streets for All endorsements, taking on NIMBY group Fix the City, and Calbike rolls out quick-build bike lane guide

October 14, 2020 / / One comment

It’s a relatively light news day in the world of bicycling, so let’s get right to it.

Photo by Florencia Potter from Pexels.

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Streets for All offers their voter’s guide for next month’s general election, including endorsements for Holly Mitchell for county supervisor, and David Kim in California’s 34th Congressional District.

The active transportation PAC also pulls back the curtain on self-appointed NIMBY watchdog group Fix the City, and their connections to CD4 councilmember David Ryu.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1316032298077360129

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Bike Talk reprises last week’s conversation with bike-friendly Downey city council candidate Alexandria Contreras.

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Calbike wants to make it faster and easier for your city to build out bike lanes.

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Great idea. Colorado is now providing ebikes to help essential workers get there without driving.

https://twitter.com/COEnergyOffice/status/1316069041501396993

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

A small group of Washington bicyclists were attacked by a man when they stopped at a diner while on a 400-mile ride, when their attacker evidently confused their cycling tights for pantyhose.

A British bike advocacy group says the study we linked to yesterday saying most bike riders don’t know the law is “the sort of nonsense which can create a toxic road environment.”

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

Horrible story from Milwaukee, where a road raging salmon cyclist faces a first degree murder charge for fatally shooting a driver who complained, with his windows down, about being forced to swerve around him.

Police in Belfast, Northern Ireland are looking for a man on a mountain bike who’s accused of attacking five women in a single night, stabbing three of them.

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Local

The founder of Bird calls on Santa Monica to amend the city’s Bike Action Plan to increase the number of protected bike lanes.

Speaking of SaMo, the city wants your input on plans to improve safety and speed bus traffic on deadly Lincoln Blvd, although they don’t include bike lanes — yet.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a 76-year old man died a month after he was hit by a driver who swerved into the bike lane he was riding in to get around another vehicle, apparently while passing illegally on the right. Remarkably, no charges have been filed for what was clearly an unsafe pass.

More bad news from the Bay Area, where a 57-year old Antioch woman was killed in a collision while riding her bike.

The curb-protected bike lane on San Francisco’s Embarcadero is slowly starting to take shape.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever has been shooting people and cars in Davis with paintball guns in a series of drive-bys over the past several days, starting with a pair of 14-year old twin boys who were riding bikes with their father.

 

National

New grants supported by major players in the bike industry are now available for to reduce the barriers to bicycle adventures for BIPOC individuals — Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Better yet, the recipients get to define just what “adventure” means to them.

Portland officials hope to follow in the path of New York and the UK, and allow doctors to prescribe bikeshare use to Black residents who are pre-diabetic, diabetic or have hypertension.

A Portland bike shop lost nine bikes worth twenty grand when someone smashed the front window with a rock before making off with several bikes, while a delayed police response allowed other people to walk out with additional bicycles.

The coronavirus-inspired bike shortage has manifested in a record year for Denver bike thefts.

For the past 20 years, a Kansas man has been restoring bikes in his garage and giving them to the homeless.

A San Antonio, Texas bicyclist offers five tips on how to become a cyclist. Or you could just get a bike and start riding.

A Milwaukee woman rode her bike 70 miles for a checkup with her doctors, 20 years after she received a heat transplant.

Bicycling deaths are rising and city streets are becoming gridlocked as New York emerges from the coronavirus lockdown, while Mayor Bill de Blasio ignores his own transportation experts.

 

International

Road.cc offers a beginner’s guide to ‘cross.

Bicycling profiles Toronto’s new ManDem Cycling Club, devoted to increasing inclusion and diversity on two wheels. You can read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you out.

A new study shows London is the UK’s worst major city for bicyclists; 54% of bike riders say they don’t feel safe on London streets due to the city’s aggressive drivers.

Unbelievable. Gutless English officials ripped out a newly installed multi-bike rack after just 24 hours when entitled drivers complained about it taking up an entire parking space. Never mind that it provided parking for five bikes in the same amount of space as a single car.

That’s more like it. Traffic signals will be reconfigured in three major British cities to give people on bicycles priority over motor vehicles.

City Lab looks at the fight over popup bike lanes on Berlin streets.

The City Fix examines how Oslo reduced bike and pedestrian deaths down to zero, and how other cities can apply what they learned.

 

Competitive Cycling

The NBA put all their teams in a bubble, while the Giro forced cyclists to share a hotel buffet with tourists in the middle of a pandemic.

But seriously, what could possibly go wrong? Other than the entire race possibly collapsing when two entire teams and several top riders were forced to drop out after testing positive for Covid-19.

 

Finally…

Your new bike frame could reinflate your next flat. And yet another reminder that past need not be prologue.

Thanks to Hap Dougherty for the link.

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

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

Morning Links: Crosswalk running parking cop, talking bike theft on Bike Talk, and Blessing of the Bicycles set

March 6, 2018 / / 2 comments

Curbed says city officials think Angelenos don’t understand how dangerous our streets really are, while bike and pedestrian advocates just wish they’d commit to fixing them.

On the other hand, our streets might be safer if LADOT’s parking enforcement officers stopped for people in crosswalks, too.

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The latest edition of Bike Talk feature’s Bryan Hance of Bike Index talking bike theft and prevention with yours truly and Carlos Morales of Stan’s Bike Shop.

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My favorite event of the annual LA Bike Week is set for May 15th, with the nondenominational Blessing of the Bicycles at Good Sam Hospital.

This year they’ll be honoring Metro with the Golden Spoke Award.

Here’s the spoke card for the event.

………

It was a bad day for a bike-riding refugee kid in Texas, and stroller-riding kids in New York.

The Netherlands became safer when they got tired of burying children killed by cars. But you have to wonder if America’s kindermord moment will ever come, if it hasn’t already.

Then again, we don’t seem to place much value on kids killed by guns, either.

………

Local

The LAPD is looking for a missing 16-year old girl suffering from autism and depression, who may be riding a bicycle.

The Capital & Main website says Elon Musk’s Boring Co. tunnel could just make things worse for Los Angeles by amplifying existing inequities. And the real solution is to get more cars off the road, not trying to reinvent the subway.

A new ranking of America’s best fondos rates Phil Gaimon’s Phil’s Cookie Fondo #8 in the US in just its 3rd year; last weekend’s Malibu GRANFONDO was ranked 13th, and the Campagnolo GranFondo San Diego was 3rd.

Maybe there really will be a Marathon Crash Ride this year after all.

 

State

Officials have broken ground on bike and pedestrian projects in Encinitas designed to provide safe routes under an I-5 overpass.

A Santa Cruz writer says safe and convenient biking and walking can reduce the county’s deep social inequality.

The National Park Service could reopen an off-road trail to give bicyclists crossing the Golden Gate Bridge a safer route into Sausalito.

An Oakland letter writer says putting in a road diet is an “experiment by the traffic calming industry that is using social engineering and behavior modification” to force people onto bikeshare bikes. They’re onto us, comrades.

A Sacramento paper says dockless bikeshare could reduce traffic and ease commutes on a local highway.

Chico bicyclists ride to remember a man who remained a dedicated bike advocate up to his death five years ago, even after a collision that left him a quadriplegic.

 

National

Hawaii bicyclists are calling for the passage of a three-foot passing law. Twentynine states currently require at least a three-foot distance to pass a bicyclist, including California.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a ghost bike for a Las Vegas mom.

Would you want to ride on the Donald J. Trump Utah National Parks Highway?

A road-raging Santa Fe NM driver admits to slamming on his brakes and backing into a senior citizens bike club, sending one rider to the hospital. Of course, in his telling, he’s the innocent victim of the rude and offensive riders who slammed into his car, then wanted to fight him; fortunately, he fled the scene before granny could kick his ass. And needless to say, he got off with a just a traffic ticket. 

Oklahoma City opens a new eight-mile bike path named after the late, great Will Rogers.

In what could be a huge leap in rehabilitation, a man who was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a bike crash was able to feed himself with his own hand and arm at an Ohio University, thanks to electrical brain implants connected to a computer system.

A Charlotte NC business site says developers have to do their part if it’s going to become a bike city.

A North Carolina man gets 28 years behind bars for beating a bike rider to death after the victim complained about a too-close pass — and possibly used racial slurs. The driver’s son, who was 16-years old at the time of the attack, faces charges for joining in the road rage attack.

 

International

Cycling Tips unwraps the mysteries of handlebar tape.

Carlton Reid of Bike Biz says bike mechanics are worth their weight in gold. Seriously, when you find a good wrench, you should treat him or her like your bike’s best friend. Because they are.

Great idea. An English community group is looking for volunteers to help disabled riders go mountain biking on adult tricycles and three-wheeled handcycles.

The Evening Standard offers tips on how to travel with your bike.

Britain’s proposed law banning dangerous cycling could carry a life sentence for fatal crashes; drivers currently face a maximum of 14 years, though that may be raised to match the bike bill.

Unbelievable. An Irish court rules that a driver had no obligation to back out carefully from a walled-off driveway with no view of the sidewalk, after bicyclist crashed into the side of his car.

Even in the Netherlands, you need to know how to ride your bike safely.

The UN is getting into the bikeshare business, opening a system for staff and visitors at their Nairobi office.

Britain’s Daily Mail says an “activist” cycling group in Melbourne, Australia, is fighting to remove fines for not wearing a bike helmet.  Which seems like a perfectly reasonable thing for “activists” to advocate for.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins says allegations that he doped are part of a malicious smear campaign. Which is pretty much what everyone who has been caught doping has said.

The Guardian says the evidence of doping around Team Sky cyclists and other pro athletes shows deep corruption and a “culture of studied evasion.”

 

Finally…

If you can’t get a bikeshare bike in Paris, just buy one already. How do you take the lane when you’re riding in boat traffic?

And evidently, you need to put turn signals on your bike. Because those darn hand signals are just so 2017.

 

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

Morning Links: LA cyclist dies from heart attack, Finish the Ride comes to the Valley, and I talk bikes on Bike Talk

December 22, 2015 / / 2 comments

Just a quick update today, due to too many other obligations. We’ll have a full Morning Links tomorrow.

………

Sad news today, as an LA cyclist has passed away after suffering a heart attack while riding his bike.

According to Breitbart.com, conservative activist Avi Davis passed away peacefully at the UCLA Medical Center on Monday, after he was placed into a induced coma following his December 10th coronary.

He leaves behind two sons, as well as his parents and three siblings.

A memorial will be held at 11:00 am today at Home of Peace Cemetery, 4334 Whittier Blvd in Los Angeles.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Avi Davis and his loved ones. Thanks to Asher for the heads-up.

………

FTR_HH_email11-22-2015The first two Finish the Rides were huge hits, bringing hundreds of riders, walkers and rollers together for a fun day supporting the fight for safer streets and an end to hit-and-run.

Now the event comes to the San Fernando Valley for the first time with a ride and festival this Sunday — the perfect way to end the year on a high note.

Spokeswoman Dayna Galbreath sends this information.

Finish The Ride, Run, Walk ‘N Roll Across The Valley 2015

Brought To You By Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE)

Support safe city streets and help end hit and run crimes by taking part in Finish the Ride, Run, Walk ‘N Roll Across The Valley!! All proceeds will benefit Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE) and Happy House.

Join us on Sunday, December 27th, 2015 for an awesome event to end the year!  Registration is open RIGHT NOW so register TODAY at www.FinishTheRide.org/register.

Plans for FTR Across The Valley 2015 include:

  • Ride= Two routes including a 25 Mile Finish The Ride and a Metric Century
  • Run =  5K, 10K and Half Marathon
  • Roll= 10K
  • FREE 2K Walk/Roll for the kids!
  • Timing and medals awarded for selected events
  • Cool goodie bag and free t-shirt with registration
  • Great live music and dancing
  • Free festival and safety expo with giveaways, raffles, prizes and activities for kids and adults alike and much more!  Feel free to bring the whole family!

For details on the FTR Across The Valley 2015 event, click here.

To join the FTR volunteer team, click here.

Join FTR Across The Valley 2015 not only for yourself, but for those who survived, those who didn’t and the safety of ALL!

#FTRValley #EndHitandRuns

For more information on the event itself, registration questions or other customer service inquiries, e-mail us at register@FinishTheRide.org or call (844) 884-7233 Ext. 801.

Meanwhile, CiclaValley interviews FTR founder Damian Kevitt.

………

I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, so check out last week’s Bike Talk, wherein I was one of the guests, to see — or rather, hear — once again why I’m a writer instead of a radio pundit.

Here’s how the website describes the show.

TJ Flexer, Zachary Rynew, Nick Richert

TJ puts together this show with bloggers Zachary Rynew of Ciclavalley.org and Ted Rogers of bikinginla.com. With Steve Messer, President of the Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association, Jim Cadenhead, founding co-host of Bike Talk and Orange 20 bikes, and Neil Shirley, Bike racer, journalist, and fundraiser for World Bicycle Relief.

This past Saturday’s show sounds interesting, too.

………

Just a few more quick notes.

Frightening stat, as LA leads the nation in traffic fatalities among major cities, with 6.27 deaths per 100,000 people in 2012. San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco also make the top ten.

Bicycles are now specifically included in the law requiring slow moving vehicles to pull over to let traffic pass. However, that only applies on two lane roadways when five or more vehicles are backed up and unable to pass; it does not give police cart blanche to ticket someone riding in the traffic lane, or impatient drivers the right to harass anyone in front of them.

Ventura police bust a high-end bike thief.

That bike-riding Colorado bus boy who returned $3,000 in cash that a customer left behind will now get even more than that, as a gofundme account set up for him has raised over $5,100.

Now that’s love. A British man rides 12,000 miles to Australia just to spend the holidays with his girlfriend.

Evidently convinced that bikes are just as dangerous as cars, Australia’s New South Wales introduces draconian fines for law-breaking bicyclists, quadrupling the amount in some cases. Riders will now pay over $300 for not wearing a helmet, $425 for going through a red light, and will be subject to a $105 fine if they’re caught without ID — even though licenses aren’t required to ride a bike. The one bit of good news is they’re also experimenting with the equivalent of a three-foot passing law.

………

Finally…

If you’re going to get Tased for riding salmon while carrying meth and wanted on an outstanding warrant, at least make sure you’re wearing a heavy down jacket.

Then there’s this.

And let’s end with a heartwarming video from Foster City CA. After a little girl was hit by a car while riding her bike, bystanders lifted the car off her, and police pitched in to buy her a new bicycle.

………

Just three more days to support the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive; thanks to Karen Karabell, John P. Lynch and Mark Ganzer for their generous contributions.

Don't make her beg. Support the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

Don’t make her dress up like this for nothing. Support the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

Category: Bike Events, Bikes & the Law, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Good news and bad news

August 21, 2013 / / Comments Off on Good news and bad news

Okay, so the bad news is that I didn’t get to write today’s post last night. And since I’m guest editing LA Streetsblog today, I won’t have a chance to make up for it this morning.

The good news is, the reason I couldn’t write it was because I was hosting a discussion on bike education for KPFK’s Bike Talk program.

Bike Talk host Nick Richert, C.I.C.L.E.‘s Julia Lippe-Klein, LACBC Education Director Colin Bogart, Jim Shanman of Walk and Rollers, Tana Ball, Education Director of Youth Education Sports, and Cynthia Rose, Director of Santa Monica Spoke all joined in on a free-flowing and informative talk about the need for educating beginning cyclists as well as more experienced riders.

Not to mention teaching motorists and the general public about the rights of cyclists, and how to ride around bicycles.

It was a great conversation, and I thank everyone who participated. Especially for keeping me from sounding like a complete idiot my first time hosting a radio show.

A partial idiot, I can live with.

The unedited version is online now; the edited discussion should be available later today.

Meanwhile, here’s a recent helmet cam video showing that sometimes, it’s the unexpected dangers you have to worry about at intersections.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Bike Cam Video / Tags: , , ,
 
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