Tag Archive for biking while black

San Diego woman critical after hit-and-run, more on Biking While Black arrest, and CA Stop as Yield Bill up for vote tomorrow

April 21, 2021 / / Comments Off on San Diego woman critical after hit-and-run, more on Biking While Black arrest, and CA Stop as Yield Bill up for vote tomorrow

San Diego police are looking for the heartless coward who left a 39-year old woman with life threatening injuries.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding her bike on Ingraham Street near Fortuna Avenue when the driver ran her down from behind Monday night.

The suspect was driving a dark colored, four-door SUV with front-end damage; anyone with information is urged to call the SDPD’s Traffic Division at 858/495-7805.

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More details on the video of a several white cops confiscating bikes from a group of teenage riders — all of whom were people of color — and arresting a young Black bicyclist for the crime of not having a bike license or lights.

In broad daylight, no less.

No, seriously.

A longer video show the events leading up to the arrest in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where a group of teens were popping wheelies and riding salmon through traffic.

Officers were able to corner several riders who broke away from the main mass of riders, leading them to confiscate four bikes that didn’t have the city’s required bike license. Even though they were initially promised their bikes wouldn’t be taken.

The Black teen was arrested for refusing to turn over his bike.

Even though it’s highly questionable whether police have the right to confiscate bicycles for a simple infraction — let alone arrest someone for what amounts to a ticketable traffic offense.

Especially if the kids are from out of town, since a city’s licensing requirement can’t be enforced against nonresidents.

And even though licensing laws, like helmet laws, are too often enforced against people of color, often as a pretext for an otherwise illegal search.

Fortunately, the cops came to their senses and returned the bikes a few hours later, as well as releasing the young man who’d been arrested.

The head of the New Jersey chapter of the ACLU offered this take on the incident.

He added these thoughts in a later statement.

“The incident in Perth Amboy is an example of the kind of excessive criminalization that invites selective enforcement by police officers,” Sinha told NJ Advance Media. “Black and brown people are targeted and racially profiled for normal activities like riding bikes, walking down the street, or driving a car.”

“No one should be threatened with arrest or have their bike confiscated just for riding down the street rather than the sidewalk,” he added. “And we should be alarmed when police use their authority to brand normal behavior as crimes.”

Which pretty well sums up this whole sad affair of Biking While Black or Brown.

And yes, the whole damn thing could have been handled better.

Hopefully it will be, since a county prosecutor is looking into the complaint filed by the ACLU.

But I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Thanks to Al Williams for his help in identifying the location of the first video yesterday.

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It’s time to weigh in on California’s proposed Safety Stop Bill, aka the Idaho Stop Law, that would allow bike riders to legally treat stop signs as yields.

Which is exactly what many, if not most, of us already do.

Bike Talk recently discussed the bill with Burbank Assembly Woman Laura Friedman.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s state senate just passed a similar bill, which will now go back to the state house for final approval.

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Also tomorrow, take a moment to voice your support for neighborhood greenways in Pasadena.

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Florida just legalized vehicular homicide if someone you disagree with politically blocks the roadway.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Megan Lynch also forwards video of Portland bike cops violently attacking a man on a bike who tried to ride through a small group of protestors, and using their bikes to push back the other people.

https://twitter.com/Claudio_Report/status/1384734424282013703

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

Apparently, someone in New York’s Greenpoint neighborhood doesn’t like Open Streets, using a fake Amazon van to steal several barricades and toss them in a nearby Superfund site. Fortunately, community volunteers were able to rescue them from the water.

A wealthy British corporate director will spend the next six months behind bars for pushing a man off his bicycle while walking in a park, resulting in five broken ribs, while his wife got a small fine for lying to police about who did it.

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

A San Diego man rode off on a bike after snatching a duck from a community pond and stuffing it in his backpack.

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Local

A UCLA professor is using art to promote bicycling, working with the LACBC and the school’s Luskin School of Public Affairs to create interactive, digital murals that “will simultaneously connect commuters, create safe routes around the city, and allow everyone to contribute to a work of public art.”

LA County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the shooting death of a man in Huntington Park; he was found next to a bicycle, but they aren’t sure if he or his killer was riding it.

 

State

A 15-year old Rio Lindo girl is recovering from a horrific hit-and-run after a driver dragged her under his truck; to make matters worse, they know who was driving the truck, yet he still hasn’t been charged with the crime.

The owner of a Fresno bike shop is frustrated after thieves break in for the third time in less than a year, taking three bikes worth $1,500 in the latest burglary.

A memorial service with an optional bike ride will be held next month for 86-year old Joe Shami, known as the Legend of Mount Diablo, after he was killed in a collision with an SUV driver; the much-loved Shami earned fame and fans by riding up the Bay Area mountain at least once a week for 615 consecutive weeks.

Manteca removed its bicycle licensing requirement, but is keeping a ban on sidewalk riding.

UC Davis is teaming with the city to reimagine Russel Boulevard, the busy thoroughfare that forms the northern border of the campus; the street carries 8,000 bike riders and 13,000 transit users each day, topping the daily 20,000 motorists that use the street.

 

National

The Bike League is offering 40 League Cycling Instructor scholarships for riders who are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

A Canadian Olympic cycling team hopeful wants help getting her bike back, after it was stolen from a convenience store while training in Tucson.

An Iowa public radio station talks with a student in the University of Iowa’s Medical Scientist Training Program about how he overcame a near-fatal bicycling crash.

In an unusual twist, a New York State pedestrian was ticketed for walking on the wrong side of the street after dark when a 63-year old bike rider slammed into him from behind; the pedestrian was apparently uninjured, but the woman on the bike suffered a serious head injury.

Ocean City NJ is planning to crackdown on teen “bike gangs” they accuse of menacing the city’s boardwalk.

A Savannah, Georgia woman says some of the happiest, most liberated people she knows ride bikes. No argument here.

 

International

Road.cc considers the best ti bikes, starting at a relatively low $1,700.

Cycling Tips finds what they call the silliest bike campaign on Kickstarter, a low-end carbon fiber mountain bike that appears to have been cobbled together using spare parts from Alibaba, China’s ubiquitous Amazon equivalent.

You’ve got to be kidding. An English city council member is accused of insulting overly sensitive Covid victims by saying that scrapping a temporary bike lane would be a tragedy.

Ireland’s Image magazine suggests several cute women’s outfits for your next bike ride. The outfits are cute, not necessarily the women wearing them. Although they might be, too.

 

Competitive Cycling

A trio of Ventura County TV stations offer an introduction to Ayesha McGowan, the first Black American women’s pro cyclist.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the coronavirus pandemic means you’ll have to ride naked by yourself. Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is one of us, too.

And at last, a solution for the age old problem of never having a speed bump when and where you really need one.

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

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

Driver busted for Hawthorne hit-and-run, 16 LA-area bike riders shot by police, and bike-riding woman murders Metro worker

October 19, 2020 / / Comments Off on Driver busted for Hawthorne hit-and-run, 16 LA-area bike riders shot by police, and bike-riding woman murders Metro worker

A couple quick notes before we start. 

Today is the last day to register to vote before next month’s presidential and city council elections, along with a number of other important federal, state and local offices. Not to mention a massive number of California state propositions. 

So take a few minutes to make sure your voice is heard.

Also, my apologies to everyone who tipped me to news stories over the weekend; with a few exceptions, I’ve somehow managed to lose track of who sent what. 

But please accept my thanks anyway. I always appreciate the help, even if my feeble brain fails me from time to time. 

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Hawthorne police have busted the driver who fled the scene after running a red light and slamming into a 14-year old boy as he rode his bike in a crosswalk on Rosecrans Avenue earlier this month.

Twenty-eight-year old Darlene Delgadillo confessed to driving the car after police traced it to a home in Gardena.

Meanwhile, the now-15 year old victim remains in a coma with major head trauma, as well as a broken leg, arm and feet, more than two weeks after the crash.

Yet despite the horrific harm she allegedly caused, Delgadillo will face a maximum of just four years behind bars for felony hit-and-run under California law.

Maybe someday we’ll get our elected leaders to take this crime seriously.

Because they sure as hell aren’t doing it now.

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Apparently, Dijon Kizzee was just the tip of the iceberg.

An investigative report from the LA Times reveals that 16 bike riders have been shot by police or sheriff’s deputies in LA County over the past 15 years for what started out as simple traffic violations.

Eleven of those were killed.

The Times identified 16 cases since 2005 where a stop for bike violations in Los Angeles County resulted in a police shooting, according to interviews and a review of public records from the district attorney, coroner and various court cases. Most of the stops occurred in communities made up largely of Black and Latino residents. In 11 incidents, including Kizzee’s, the bicyclists — all male and Black or Latino — were killed.

Among those 16 cases, violations ranged from riding on the sidewalk to biking without a light or on the wrong side of the road. In 11 cases, authorities said they found a firearm. In one shooting, deputies found an airsoft gun they said looked like a semiautomatic handgun.

It’s an important read, because constantly having to worry about getting stopped by the cops for biking while Black or brown is bad enough.

But something is seriously wrong when people of color also have to worry about getting the death penalty for a simple traffic violation.

Thanks to everyone who sent this one to my attention.

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Police are on the lookout for a bike-riding woman who fatally stabbed an 18-year Metro employee Friday night following a dispute at the 7th and Metro station in DTLA.

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The city council’s Transportation Committee will consider the fate of the city’s current Slow Streets at 1 pm today, with options ranging from making them more permanent, to removing them entirely.

Here’s how to join in.

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Public radio station KPFK is in deep financial danger, and could take the popular Bike Talk program down with it without your help.

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Bicycling and SRAM will examine the issues facing people who have been swept under the rug for far too long.

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This is who we share the road with.

There’s a special place in hell for a Montana man who was charged with a sex crime involving an 11-year old girl, after he was previously charged with intentionally running down a man on a bicycle, claiming it was his bike. Although you’d think if it was really his bike, he wouldn’t want to run it over with his car.

You don’t need to speak Spanish to get that maybe this driver should pay attention to the road instead of complaining about people on two wheels.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the tip.

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This will restore your faith in humanity.

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Now this is art.

The newest Banksy that popped up on a Nottingham, England street incorporates an actual beat-up bicycle chained to a pole in front of wall art of a girl using the missing bike tire as a hula hoop.

Seriously, he can paint that on my wall anytime.

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Speaking of art, the annual Bicycle Film Festival is back on this weekend, after going virtual due to the coronavirus crisis.

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

Police in Chico, California are looking for a woman who fled the scene after flooring her car and slamming into a woman on a bicycle in an apparently intentional attack, before continuing on to run over an employee at a gas station; police have recovered her car, but the driver is still on the run.

Someone ripped out the plastic bollards marking a popup bike lane in Glasgow, Scotland, and tossed them into a canal.

A New Zealand bike rider was the victim of a road raging driver who repeatedly honked and rammed the back of his bike, before finally knocking him off; the 65-year old driver faces a charge of dangerous driving causing injury.

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

A 19-year old New York man could face a murder charge after a group of bike-riding teens argued with a 79-year man before pushing him to the ground; the victim died later after being rushed to a hospital. There’s not a pit in hell deep enough.

Police in Edinburgh are looking for the masked bike-riding man who stole a woman’s watch and diamond rings as she was walking on a bike path.

A Belfast, Northern Ireland bike rider says he’s really, really sorry for stabbing two women and punching two others in a one-day assault spree, for no apparent reason; fortunately, none of the women suffered life-threatening injuries.

A 67-year old Australian man recovering from open heart surgery was left bloodied and banged up after he was hit from behind by a bike rider while walking on a pedestrian bridge. Yet another reminder to alway ride with extra caution around pedestrians. Not only are people unpredictable, but they’re the only ones out there more vulnerable than we are.

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Local

A local paper profiles 26-year old Alexandria Contreras as she runs for a seat on the Downey city council; the bike-riding candidate is a big supporter of community involvement, housing, urban safety and the environment.

Kindhearted members of the Rotary Club of Santa Clarita donated 17 bicycles to veterans in need. Although those little kids don’t look like veterans to me. But what do I know?

 

State

A 49-year old San Diego man suffered a broken leg and broken ribs when a motorcyclist slammed into a group of bike riders in the city’s Pacific Beach neighborhood; the motorcyclist walked away with road rash.

The Los Angeles Times offers more information about the 14-year old boy facing a possible hate crime charge for punching a San Diego rabbi.

More bad new from Northern California, where a 14-year old boy was killed in a crash while riding his bike in Elk Grove.

 

National

Here’s your chance to buy that really cool, but really strange hubless ebike for under two grand; the bikemaker promises it’s virtually theft proof.

Despite last spring’s lighter traffic, the rate of traffic deaths jumped nearly twenty percent, mostly because of who was driving, and how. Or rather, how fast.

A new AARP survey examines bicycling among the over 50 set, concluding that many older American’s can’t imagine not being able to ride a bike.

Cycling Savvy offers a discussion of what to look for in rear view bike mirrors. Besides cars, that is.

Apparently, soap star Susan Lucci is one of us; Katie Holmes is one of us, too.

The kindhearted members of a Utah Masonic lodge gave new bicycles to 68 elementary school students as a reward for reading.

Tragic news from Texas, where a longtime scout for the NBA’s Houston Rockets was killed after he hit an open culvert in a construction zone with his bike.

A New York bus driver who killed a bikeshare user in 2017 isn’t content with the slap on the wrist he received, going to court in an attempt to have the city’s failure to yield law invalidated — even though he only got a paltry 30 days behind bars.

The partner of a New York man has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was critically injured by falling off a defective VanMoof ebike during a test ride, because missing screws allegedly allowed the fender to come in contact with the rear wheel; the victim remains in a coma over two weeks after the crash.

Speaking of New York, the bike boom means increasing numbers of bike riders are using the city’s bridges — but avoiding the iconic, if cramped and crowded, Brooklyn Bridge.

 

International

If you’re looking for speed, roll on latex in your tires.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 80-year old English woman celebrated her birthday with an 80-mile bike ride.

A British man set a new record for riding a bike without getting anywhere, riding a stationary bike for more than 11 days.

Seriously? Police in Dubai seized 370 bicycles in a single week because their owners violated traffic laws, in a bizarre campaign to improve traffic safety. If they were serious about improving safety, they’d seize cars from scofflaw drivers, instead.

A South African writer talks with Black and white bike riders, and concludes it’s the feeling of freedom that keeps us riding year after year.

Aussies are warned that the worldwide bike shortage means you need to do something now if you want to get a new bicycle by Christmas.

 

Competitive Cycling

An American cyclist is an unexpected hair’s breadth from the Giro podium. Twenty-two-year old Phoenix resident and former world junior time trial champ Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates rode to a third place finish in the individual time trial on Saturday, leaping from 12th to 4th, with another brief time trial in the final stage.

VeloNews offers a recap of who did well, and who cracked in Saturday’s time trial.

Thirty-nine-year old Aussie Adam Hansen is throwing in the towel after 13 years and 29 grand tours, saying he’s “kind of done with it now,” and looks forward to switching to triathlons next year.

Congratulations if you had Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel in your Tour of Flanders pool.

Great French hope Julian Alaphilippe broke his hand in two places when he became just the latest cyclist to crash into a race moto in the Tour of Flanders. Once again, there is no excuse for allowing motorcycles in the peloton. Keep them in front of the cyclists or well behind, for everyone sake.

Hats off to Swiss cyclist Camille Balanche, who became the first out and proud gay woman to win the world Downhill Mountain Biking World Championship.

 

Finally…

When is a bike path not a bike path? When there’s a big frigging utility pole in the middle of it. Your next bike helmet could be soft and squishy.

And maybe people don’t really love their cars after all.

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

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

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

October 2, 2020 / / 2 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo from Trek-Segafredo website. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Local

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

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

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

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

 

State

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

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

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

 

National

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

International

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Competitive Cycling

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

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

Pez Cycling News considers why the pros crash so much.

 

Finally…

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

And that pretty well sums it up, alright.

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

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

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

September 30, 2020 / / 2 comments

About damn time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the forward.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Local

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

 

State

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

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

 

National

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

International

Add a Jamaican bicycle tour to your bike bucket list.

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

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

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

 

Competitive Cycling

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

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

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

 

Finally…

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

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

Even if it is for a good cause.

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

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

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 .

 

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.

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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. 

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

Racism poses challenge for Black bike riders, Long Beach gets grant to fight racism, and who we share the road with ppl

September 4, 2020 / / One comment

A Boston public radio station says racism is often the first obstacle for Black bicyclists.

And talks with former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler, who has become a national leader on the subject of racism and equity.

The lack of bike lanes, bike shops, and even bike racks is noticeable in communities of color across the country. Tamika Butler, former head of the LA county Bicycling Coalition, says there is a misperception that Black and brown people don’t ride as much as white people. But a 2012 report from the League of American Bicyclists found bicycling was increasing more in communities of color than it is in white communities. The report found that between 2001 and 2009 there was a 100% increase in African-Americans biking, and a 50% increase in Hispanics as compared to a 22% increase for whites.

“So, this idea that Black and brown folk aren’t biking and that’s why there’s not infrastructure there because they’re not using it, just isn’t factually true,” Butler said in a recent panel discussion GBH hosted on racism in cycling. “It’s because they’re there, and they’re Black and brown that resources aren’t being invested there.”

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read.

Because this is the issue confronting the entire country right now. As well as our own two-wheeled part of it.

Then there’s this.

https://twitter.com/DuquannSweeney/status/1301693608140181505

Photo by Life Matters from Pexels.

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Speaking of Tamika Butler, she will help mentor ten cities which received a $25,000 grant from NACTO — the National Association of City Transportation Officials — to use open streets to fight systemic racism, as well as Covid-19.

One of those grants will be given to Long Beach to “help non-white and low-income business owners thrive through outdoor dining, shopping or commerce.”

The other grants will go to Denver, Philadelphia, Portland, Detroit, Alexandria VA, New York City, Atlanta and Minneapolis.

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This is who we share the road with.

A New York driver dangerously plowed through Black Lives Matter protesters in Times Square; NYPD officials denied it was a police vehicle, despite speculation by protesters.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up, who notes auto-centric New York Bill DeBlasio can’t even manage to condemn the act.

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A 12-year old Boulder, Colorado boy was allegedly attacked by a mo-ped riding woman, who struck him several times in an effort to snatch the Trump yard sign he had attached to his bike.

Seriously, I don’t care what your politics are, some things are just wrong.

Especially when it comes to kids.

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Now this is how you ride a mountain bike.

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

Residents of a British town are up in arms over temporary orange bollards marking a new protected bike lane, calling them “eyesores” amid fears they’ll become permanent. Because obviously, esthetics matter more than the lives of people on bicycles.

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Local

Bike the Vote offers advice on how to make sure your vote is counted this November.

Santa Clarita residents, who already enjoy one of the area’s best bike trail networks, like it enough that their top priority for the streets is more multi-use trails and safer routes.

Speaking of Santa Clarita, sheriff’s deputies wrote 40 tickets for traffic violations that endanger bicyclists and pedestrians during a crackdown on Wednesday, but didn’t break down just who those tickets went to.

LAist looks at the soon-to-open replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, including the first bike and walking paths across the Port of Long Beach.

 

State

Authorities in San Diego are looking for the driver of a white Honda CRV who fled the scene after running down a bike rider, who suffered undisclosed back and am injuries.

Ventura police use bait bikes to bust a homeless man who is accused of stealing over 45 bicycles; not surprisingly, he had a number of outstanding warrants for petty crimes.

San Jose is introducing a “Better Bike Plan” focusing on safety and equity, and representing a significant upgrade over the current plan.

Robert Leone forwards news that Fremont plans to spend $750,000 to upgrade ten miles of bike lanes — prompting his parents to ask, “what are bollards?”

The US Bicycle Route System continues to grow, including a new 233-mile route linking Lake Tahoe to the Bay Area.

 

National

No surprise here, as a new study confirms that angled parking reduces available road space while increasing danger, particularly for people on bicycles.

Jeep’s new all-terrain ebike is finally ready to hit the streets, eight months after Bill Murray briefly introduced it during this year’s Super Bowl.

The rich get richer. Bike Portland goes for a ride on the city’s new neighborhood greenways.

Surprisingly, Reno NV is confronting many of the same problems as Los Angeles, as a local columnist lists ten things he’d do to improve the city, including improving bike lanes.

At the same time LA-area cities are shutting down their bikeshare programs, Fort Worth’s bikeshare is booming, with a 50% increase over this time last year.

We so need this here. A Chicago man has introduced a safe cycling app to help people find non-threatening routes to ride across the busy city.

A Chicago alderman continues to recover bicycles confiscated by police, seven weeks after they were seized during a July Black Lives Matter protest.

New York City’s controller apparently hopes to ride bikes to the mayor’s office by proposing 75 miles of protected bike lanes around 50 high schools.

An influential New York community board is calling for a crosstown protected bike lane on a busy Manhattan boulevard.

A Florida man faces charge for assaulting a bike cop escorting Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in DC last week, following the conclusion of the Republican National Convention.

Some good news, anyway. The dog that was seriously injured in a South Carolina collision that killed his owner is recovering; she suffered serious head trauma, brain swelling, lacerations and a broken jaw when they were struck while riding from New York to Florida.

No irony here. A drunk Florida driver crashed his car into a sign reading “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.” Thanks again to Robert Leone for the link.

 

International

Cycling Weekly attempts to answer the eternal question of balance bikes versus training wheels.

Nice move by the London Times, which is launching an online tool to help bike commuters find the safest routes. Maybe we can talk the LA Times into joining them. 

No surprise here. A new Norwegian study shows that ebike owners progressively use their car less.

The Turkish province of Konya has introduced a tram exclusively for bicyclists in an effort to encourage bicycle riding.

 

Competitive Cycling

Thursday’s Tour de France stage didn’t significantly shake up the standings, with the win going to a relative unknown and an American just missing the podium; Cycling Weekly offers five talking points about the stage.

Appropriately, an Irishman is wearing the green Points jersey, for the first time in 31 years.

Bicycling examines whether Tour de France cyclists are really healthy. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the Bicycling site blocks you.

GCN considers which cycling teams went cheap on their bikes for the Tour.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your Strava busts you for violating the curfew during the protests — but got away with it because you’re the mayor. Your next bike shorts could have patented 3D pouch technology.

And why let a little thing like a missing wheel stop you?

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

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

Father seeks witness in Irvine bike crash, powerful look at race and bicycling, and more on the lack of UC accessibility

July 31, 2020 / / Comments Off on Father seeks witness in Irvine bike crash, powerful look at race and bicycling, and more on the lack of UC accessibility

The father of Barbora Kabatova, the 26-year old woman killed riding her bike near the Jeffrey Road connection to the 405 Freeway is begging anyone with information to come forward to help find justice for her.

I am trying to find any witness of this tragic accident.
Any camera on the ground or on the car, anyone biking, driving, walking around when this has happen.
Are there any witnesses do you know someone who witnessed this?
This is big intersection there must have been many people around.
I am desperate. Please help.
Juraj Kabat
Barbora’s dad

Seriously, if you know anything, share it with the police.

Before they find a way to blame the victim for causing her own death.

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Biking While Black seems to be the ongoing theme of the week, as a familiar LA face took over Bicycling for a much-needed conversation about race.

And the magazine has lowered its new paywall on these important stories so everyone can read them.

The founder of Atlanta’s Civil Bikes says there’s a tremendous untold story of Black people on bikes.

A product development quality engineer at SRAM describes growing up surrounded by bias, which didn’t change when he started winning races, saying the more he won, the bigger barriers he faced.

The cofounder of Pedal 2 the People describes what it’s like, and what it means, to never see Black people like her riding bicycles.

A pro cyclist for B&B Hotels–Vital Concept argues that racism in pro cycling should be treated like doping violations, saying no one ever faced consequences for the slurs he encountered from competitors in the peloton.

The founder of Black Girls Do Bike says if you love bicycling, you need to have uncomfortable conversations about race.

The Director of Mobility for the Oakland Mayor’s Office dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling without having to worry about anything else, noting there are challenges Black people face riding through any space that others don’t. Seriously, anyone who poses for a national bike magazine holding a corgi is more than okay in my book.

The owner of LA’s Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-op describes being stopped by Beverly Hills cops because he “fit a description;” in other words, he was Black and on a bike.

According to the co-director of PGM ONE Summit, claiming bicycling is colorblind doesn’t help anyone because bikes may not discriminate, but the people on them do.

LA’s own Nelson Vails, the first African American to medal in Olympic cycling, tells a somewhat different story, saying he never felt discrimination in his racing career, but Black Lives Matter opened his eyes to the need to rase the bar on equality.

Ayesha McGowan, America’s first Black women’s pro cyclist, says it’s exhausting making people in white spaces comfortable with her blackness.

The founder of the Level Up Cycling Movement questions how something as innocent as riding a bicycle can make another human being feel discarded, saying she was treated like she didn’t exist when she started riding.

Former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler offers advice on how to become anti-racist, on or off your bike. And explains on her own site how this extraordinary edition came together, and why it was necessary.

At this point, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that Black bike riders are stopped by police far more often than white riders, and face a much higher risk when they are.

Meanwhile, PeopleForBikes shares their commitment to rooting out racism in the bicycling industry. Maybe they can tackle the industry’s blatant sexism while they’re at it.

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Another reminder that the UC system isn’t accessible until it’s accessible to all.

https://twitter.com/AccessUc/status/1288904877628772353

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Regardless of politics, some things just aren’t right. In Portland, New York, or anywhere else.

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We missed this one earlier in the week, as we lost the last living link to old Hollywood. Along with a truly iconic bike rider.

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Evidently, motorized scooters are nothing new.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for forwarding the tweet.

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Thanks to Adam Ginsberg for sending what instantly became my favorite email of the week.

I’ll look forward to trying the same thing with our new four-footed intern.

After all, if she’s going to work for a bike site, she needs to know what it’s like, right?

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

A Coachella man will face charges for jumping out of his car and shooting at a group of bike riders, for unknown reasons. Thankfully, his aim seems to suck. Thanks to Victor Bale and Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

A Utah man faces a murder charge for allegedly running over his roommate as the other man was riding his bicycle. Maybe next time, don’t leave your license plate behind at the crash scene. Just a suggestion.

Anti-bike vigilantes are accused of ripping out the plastic ballards protecting a British bike lane. Although a thin, bendable plastic post doesn’t offer much protection anyway.

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

Riverside County deputies busted a cruiser bike-riding man for sexually assaulting a woman on a Temecula bike path.

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Local

LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds worries that LA traffic may be worse than ever post-pandemic. Or maybe not, because an economic collapse could mean fewer people can afford to drive. Although both of those problems could be helped with the sort of bikeways other cities are building, but LA isn’t.

Yelp maps out all things bicycle in the City of Angels. As long as your idea of Los Angeles doesn’t extend more than a few blocks south of I-10, or east of the LA River. Thanks to Brandi D’Amore for the tip. 

The Glendale City Council will discuss plans for the Verdugo Wash in an online meeting starting at 6 pm this Tuesday; if you live or ride in the city, let them know what you think.

Pasadena police are planning yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation next Friday, ticketing any violations that endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who does it. As always, plan to ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State

Seriously? San Diego business owners worry about plans for a socially distanced bicycle scavenger hunt that promises to bring more customers to their community, because they’re unsure about coronavirus protocols. But people coming in cars are perfectly fine, apparently.

The kindhearted members of an Oxnard hip hop organization raised $750 to replace a bike stolen from a 15-year old member of the group.

A pair of coastal bike paths north of Ventura will close for construction this weekend; one will close during the day, while the other will just see overnight closures.

San Francisco opens a new one-third mile, two-way protected cycle track across the Lefty O’Doul Bridge, improving connections with a nearby protected bikeway. Which is exactly what Los Angeles should be doing, but isn’t.

 

National

Essence explains why everyone on your timeline is riding a bike right now. Hint: It’s fun. And good for you. 

Business is thriving for the owner of a Denver coffee bike, after he lost his other job to the pandemic.

A Colorado mountain biker recommends criding — crying while riding a bike — to maintain your sanity in these trying times. Which may just be my new favorite word. Although indignorant is still pretty hard to top.

A Pittsburgh writer says slowing traffic and improving safety on city streets will actually make them more dangerous for kids. No, really.

Former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin is one of us. Although he may wish he wasn’t right now, after another rider clipped his wheel, leaving him with four fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a bleeding head wound.

New York’s Westchester County considers mandating bike helmets for all bike riders. Apparently attempting to drive down bicycling rates while doing little to actually improve safety. Or at least that’s been the experience in other places that have done it.

 

International

A British Columbia woman is looking for two Good Samaritans and a cop who helped save her life following a crash just days into a cross-country bike tour.

Now there’s a first. London police are asking bike riders to wear helmet cams to help them catch and prosecute dangerous drivers.

The UK’s new focus on bicycling gives local residents the power to close streets to through traffic, as well as prohibiting local governments from building substandard bike lanes. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the link.

Nearly a hundred bike riders died on the streets of Great Britain last year, which represents an improvement of exactly one, as the fatality rate dropped from 99 to 98.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to drive drunk through a drive through, at least secure your bike and fix your flat tire — and maybe leave the machete at home. It may not the best idea to take a shortcut by riding through a shooting range.

And always practice good social distancing when dining.

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

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

Biking While Black: Violently arrested buying bike in Walmart, kid manhandled by cops, and man detains bike-riding teen

July 30, 2020 / / 2 comments

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

You know I’m having a bad night when I can’t even manage to post something to say I won’t be posting anything. 

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A preliminary hearing has been postponed in the case of the Pennsylvania man violently wrestled to the ground and arrested for the crime of…wait for it…Biking While Black.

In Walmart.

And legally paying for the bike he’d been test riding as a gift for his kid.

In the video, you can hear him repeatedly asking why he was being arrested, and insisting that he had paid for the bike.

Security camera video shows him riding up and down the aisles without posing a danger to anyone; the only visible risk in the video comes from a woman who pushed her shopping cart into a man.

He was also accused of shouting obscenities at other shoppers, though witnesses at the scene reported that he was simply exuberantly wishing them a good day.

Apparently, that’s a crime now.

If you’re black, anyway.

………

Speaking of Biking While Black, a pair of New Jersey cops are under fire for manhandling a 15-year old kid during a bicycle flash mob, apparently for the crime of riding a bike in an annoying manner.

………

And while we’re on the subject, a Florida man faces charges for illegally detaining a 15-year old Black teenager who was just riding his bike to basketball practice.

………

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

Milwaukee police are looking for a bike-riding man who fatally shot a Black Rastafarian Trump supporter.

A group of Chicago bikeshare riders were caught on security cam carjacking an 82-year old man.

A British hit-and-run bike rider will face charges of manslaughter and causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving for a collision with a pedestrian.

Cyclists in Ghana are keeping fit by riding in the midst of Covid-19.

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Local

Construction is underway on the new Elysian Valley walk/bike bridge connecting Frogtown to the upcoming Taylor Yards project.

Cal Matters says no, Los Angeles and other cities aren’t playing Big Brother by tracking dockless ebikes and scooters.

 

State

The national president of insurance brokerage firm Hub International died of a heart attack while riding his bike, apparently in San Diego; David Reich was just 50 years old.

It’s not unusual to find things while riding a bicycle, although a driver’s severed foot following a violent collision in Templeton is another matter.

Tragic news from the Bay Area, where a ten-year old boy was killed by an Amazon delivery driver while riding his bike in Lafayette.

 

National

A competition to design better protected bike lane barriers resulted in a number of innovative designs; the winning entry converts recycled car tires into planters to create an effective barrier any city can afford.

Gear Junkie explains how to pump up a bike tire in nine easy steps. Or you could just get a pump that matches your valve stem, and fill the damn thing. 

After spending the last five months indoors, a writer for Vox says maybe Peloton isn’t so bad.

Now that’s more like it. Portland is fining the feds $500 for every 15 minutes they illegally keep unpermitted fencing blocking a bike lane.

A Montana columnist says maybe bad drivers should get a time out.

After some jerk stole a seven-year old boy’s bicycle, kindhearted Arkansas cops stepped up to give him a new one, along with a birthday parade.

Hundreds of Chicago bike riders turned out for a Ride Against Racism.

Tragic news from a Chicago suburb, where one bike rider was killed and another critically injured when a driver fleeing police slammed into them.

They get it. A New Hampshire letter writer says don’t blame the new bike lane for a bike rider getting doored, blame the driver.

A group of unruly Long Island teenagers are accused to harassing people at a gym, before riding their bikes to Wendy’s and throwing drinks at other customers.

New York’s dockless moped company Revel shut down after a second rider was killed in just ten days.

 

International

They get it, too. The UK is creating a new government agency with a five-year budget equivalent to $2.57 billion to promote active transportation and improve cycle and pedestrian infrastructure across the country; the agency is as much about improving health as it is curbing pollution.

No surprise here, as a British program offering vouchers worth the equivalent of $65 to get bikes repaired proved so popular it crashed the website on the first day.

British bikemaker Raleigh is introducing a line of bakfiets-style e-cargo bikes.

A pair of women from Great Britain now officially hold the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by tandem bike.

A British paper asks who was in the right when a turning driver left crossed a Boston bike rider, even though they both had the green light — forgetting that a vehicle going straight always has the right-of-way over a turning vehicle.

The family behind Ferrari is getting into the ebike business by investing in Belgian bikemaker Cowboy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Bike League introduced the new Kittie Knox award for equity, diversity and inclusion in bicycling, with the award going to Ayesha McGowan, the first Black American woman’s pro cyclist. Although someone should tell them it won’t be an annual award until they do it again next year.

Three-time Austrian Olympic cyclist Johann Lienhart got a ten-year ban for helping his triathlete son dope. Evidently, the family that dopes together stays together. But seriously, the era of doping is over, right?

 

Finally…

Your next Yamaha could have pedals and climb hills. Why buy a bike when you can buy the entire company?

And stealing a lousy $72 from Burger King seems like a waste of a perfectly good getaway bike.

………

Meet the newest member of the BikinginLA team.

Our new intern is taking awhile to get up to speed after joining us on Monday. But she should be able to contribute more once she learns to stop pooping inside. 

You can follow her new adventures in Hollywood, if you’re so inclined. 

………

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

PA man tased and hogtied for buying bike while Black, and LADOT plans North Valley protected bike lane

July 22, 2020 / / 2 comments

As if Biking While Black wasn’t bad enough, you can add buying a bike while Black.

Pennsylvania police were caught on video tasing and hogtying a Black man who was buying a bike for his son at Walmart.

The store manager accused him of riding recklessly through the aisle and disturbing other shoppers, while some witnesses said he was just test riding the bike and telling people to have a nice day.

https://twitter.com/labousaab44/status/1285372331502772226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1285372331502772226%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D42378action%3Dedit

Police threw the book at him, filing charges of aggravated and simple assault, disarming a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.

So instead of a bicycle for his birthday, his son will get to see his father behind bars.

And remarkably, it only took a single day for the DA to absolve the officers of any wrongdoing.

………

LADOT appears to be waking from their coronavirus slumber.

In addition to new bike lanes in DTLA, they released videos explaining two upcoming projects, including this one in the North San Fernando Valley.

Let’s hope this is just the start of long-delayed action to make the streets safer for people on two wheels.

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CiclaValley takes you gravel riding up Mt. Lowe above Altadena.

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

A driver in Australia’s Queensland state is accused of intentionally crashing into five cars and three bike riders in eight separate incidents over a single three hour period; fortunately, no one was killed.

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

Police are looking for a bike-riding man who may have sexually assaulted two women on a Temecula bike path.

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Local

Metro Bike wants to know what you think about LA’s bikeshare system, with a chance to win a $200 gift card.

Los Angeles Magazine readers voted Helen’s Cycle’s the city’s best bike shop, although the magazine only seems to know about two of the LA area chain’s locations.

 

State

No bias here. Tomorrow Riverside police are planning yet another of the frequent safety operations targeting violations by bike riders and drivers that put bicyclists at risk. Yet My News LA, which usually does better, suggests the operation is targeting unsafe bicycling. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

The CHP blamed a bike rider for a Fresno collision, saying he shouldn’t have been riding  on the limited access highway.

A local news site has more on the death of 23-year old fixie rider Andrew Sanders, who died on Sunday following a crash with a skateboarder during last week’s Hill Bomb on San Francisco’s Dolores Street.

 

National

Google Maps is promising to up their bike game.

The newest version of the Lumos smart bike helmet set a Kickstarter record by raising nearly $3 million.

Seattle bike riders formed a line to protect marchers demanding racial, climate, economic, worker and social justice.

Denver bike shop owners say don’t count on getting a mountain bike until next year.

He gets it. An op-ed from a Colorado environmental design professor says this is the time to reinvent our roadways and how we use them while the coronavirus pandemic results in fewer cars on the streets.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a three-wheeled adaptive bike from a nonverbal autistic man in an Iowa town.

A Chicago Streetsblog editor teamed with a local weekly to publish an illustrated low-stress bicycle map of the city showing the most comfortable riding routes.

Good question. A Chicago public radio station wants to know what happened to 76 bicycles police seized from people at a recent protest.

A Champaign IL bike rider was pushed off his bike, punched in the mouth and robbed of his money by a knife-wielding man.

An Illinois hit-and-run driver turned himself in after smashing into a bike rider because he felt bad about what he’d done. Every hit-and-run driver should feel the same way. And do the same thing.

Life is cheap in Michigan, where a sleepy driver got just 20 days for the fiery crash that killed a postal worker after lawmakers wiped negligent homicide off the books, which would have carried a two-year penalty. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

It takes a real schmuck to steal a ghost bike installed for a Pittsburgh area man. Or any other ghost bike, for that matter.

 

International

Mexico City is expanding its bicycle network to encourage more riding during the Covid-19 crisis.

Kindhearted strangers pitched in to buy a new bike for a British Columbia boy after his BMX bike was stolen.

He gets it, too. A writer for the conservative London Times calls on officials to stand up to anti-cycling NIMBYs if the “golden age of cycling” promised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ever going to become a reality.

David Beckham is one of us, although Esquire seems more impressed with the former LA Galaxy and English soccer great’s shorts than anything else.

No bias here, either. A British taxi site blames an elderly man for damaging a cab with his bike and fists during a road rage incident, when the cab driver interfered in a dispute the older man was having with someone else after “purposely inconveniencing” other people on the road. Purposely inconveniencing people usually just means legally riding a bicycle in the roadway in front of impatient drivers.

The founders of music sharing platform SoundCloud are starting an all-inclusive ebike subscription service, beginning in Berlin.

Tern’s e-cargo bikes were among the first to exceed Germany’s still new safety standards.

German arts curator Hella Mewis was kidnapped by unknown assailants as she was riding her bicycle home from her office in Bagdad, Iraq Monday night.

Four Australian kids were killed by an alleged drunk and stoned in a horrifying crash as they walked on a sidewalk to get ice cream this past February; of the five cousins, only one boy who was riding a bicycle behind the others survived the brutal crash.

Despite the pandemic, bike and pedestrian deaths in Australia’s Queensland state are going the wrong way, with fatalities more than doubling compared to last year.

A road raging Singapore driver had his appeal for intentionally swerving into a bike rider denied, and will spend the next seven weeks behind bars; the rider he was arguing with got a $2,800 fine for his part in the dispute.

 

Competitive Cycling

Women’s pro cycling gets back to racing in Spain tomorrow after a four month coronavirus hiatus; the Women’s WorldTour fires up next week with the Strade Bianche.

 

Finally…

Who needs a front wheel when you’ve got a ski? Block parties are out, bike the block parties are in.

And bicycles are officially cool again.

As if they ever weren’t.

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

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

White bar owner pulls gun on Black bike rider, pre-ride bike checks in the age of Covid-19, and support Sunset4All today

July 8, 2020 / / Comments Off on White bar owner pulls gun on Black bike rider, pre-ride bike checks in the age of Covid-19, and support Sunset4All today

Unbelievable.

When a bike-riding Black man stopped next to a Philadelphia bar to urge people on the patio to wear masks and social distance, the bar’s white owner responded by standing up and threatening him with a gun while shouting Trump campaign slogans.

A couple of women responded by quickly stepping between them and urging the owner to put the gun away, while the man on the bike armed himself with a U-lock in self defense.

Which probably wouldn’t do much to stop a bullet.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Remarkably, the police haven’t taken any action yet, despite clear video evidence of assault with a deadly weapon.

Apparently Black lives don’t matter that much in the City of Brotherly Love.

Or maybe it’s just Black bike riders.

………

Lots of people still need to get their bikes ready to ride before taking them out during the pandemic.

USA Today offers tips on things to check before resurrecting your bike during the age of Covid-19.

Popular Science — yes, it’s still here — provides their own advice on how to bring your old bike back to life.

Surprisingly, they both get it right. And credit USA Today for not even mentioning helmets until the last line.

Then again, Popular Science doesn’t bring it up at all.

While you’re at it, you’re going to need some good chain lube, too.

And C|net tells you how to keep your ebike battery in top shape.

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Once again, you’re urged to support protected bike lanes on LA’s Sunset Blvd by spending your money to support a local business along the corridor; this time, it’s The Kitchen on Fountain Ave.

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

An upstate New York man faces charges for shooting at a boy riding a bicycle; fortunately, he only hit the bike.

Call it a bike hate crime. Someone used a four-wheel drive vehicle to pull down a giant bicycle sculpture on a Virginia trailhead, as well as ripping out bus benches, trash cans and porta-potties.

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

Seven young kittens had to be rescued from a UK barn, after their mother was hit and killed in a collision with a bicyclist.

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Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Six long Bay Area rides that begin in urban centers, for your next trip to the area.

 

National

A $25 donation to the Davis Phinney Foundation could get you a $9,400 Allied Cycle Works Able road bike hand painted by former pro Taylor Phinney.

Bicycle Retailer examines what companies in the bike industry received loans as part of the federal Payroll Protection Program; the only LA-area company appears to be offroad ebike maker BM E-bikes.

Tim Blumenthal is stepping down as president of PeopleForBikes after leading the bike industry advocacy group for the past 16 years; current COO Jenn Dice was scheduled to take his place on of the first of this month.

Reviewers for Outside suffered through weeks of trail riding just to help you pick the best mountain bike helmet.

A Denver TV station says car-mounted bike racks are in short supply now, too.

The new Pikes, Peaks and Prairie Route route plotted out by the Adventure Cycling Association runs 1,300 miles from Yellowstone to Minneapolis, past the Devil’s Tower, Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills.

Milwaukee Brewers utility player Brock Holt is one of us, after his wife bought him a bike to ride to practice sessions during the coronavirus lockdown.

Chicago bike shops say the pandemic bike boom is leading to the best bike year in history.

Streetsblog says New York’s open streets program isn’t working for everyone, with most located in wealthier and predominantly white areas.

A Philadelphia high school football coach sadly remembers a 15-year old boy who was fatally shot while riding his bike during a violent weekend in the city.

Police in North Carolina are looking for a Charlotte man with dementia, who may be riding his bike to Statesville, roughly 41-miles away.

 

International

Cyclingnews considers the best all-around bike for commuting, riding and racing.

A Canadian woman has raised over $30,000 to fight ovarian cancer while setting a new record for bicycling across the country, covering 3,667 miles in just 20 days.

London’s police insist an officer accused of stopping a man for Biking While Black said he didn’t have any lights displayed, rather than saying he didn’t have a license plate, which isn’t required in the UK. Never mind that the stop was made in broad daylight.

An English driver got ten months behind bars for crashing into a woman who was riding her bike while driving at twice the legal alcohol limit; he’ll also lose his license for 27 months.

A new study shows a third of Scottish drivers don’t give bike riders the required five-foot passing distance, as police warn they could face fines.

The British edition of Runner’s World offers tips on how to prevent and treat knee pain from bicycling.

Police in the UK are looking for a BMX rider who shouted a racially abusive comment at a woman as she walked along a roadway.

Britain’s largest bike chain predicts the bike boom will last throughout this year.

More evidence of the pandemic bike boom, as bike sales under the UK’s Bike to Work program have doubled over last year.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be a submarine. And get off the damn sidewalk, already.

………

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

Category: Product Reviews / Tags: , , , , , ,
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