I’ve been battling low blood sugar for over four hours now, as I’ve struggled to finish today’s post. Despite my best efforts, I’ve finally reached the point where I have to throw in the towel.
Unfortunately, I’ve only gotten about halfway through today’s news, so let’s just call this Morning Links lite.
And we’ll catch up with the rest tomorrow.
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In today’s photo, Patrick Pascal sends proof that DTLA’s Olive Street bike lane is becoming a reality, looking south from 8th Street.
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This may be the most important video you see today.
Or maybe this year.
Tuesday evening, LA’s Velo Club La Grange hosted a two hour online discussion of racism, and what it’s like to be a Black bicyclist in the City of Angels.
This is how they describe it.
On Tuesday, July 7, 2020, Velo Club La Grange hosted a virtual Town Hall where a number of local Black cyclists shared their perspective and experiences and engaged in an interactive question and answer session. We invite you to watch this critically important conversation.
But that doesn’t begin to do it justice.
The panelists — a group of successful Black professionals — didn’t say anything I haven’t heard before from other people.
Yet hearing so many variations of the same hateful story, calmly told by so many people, was absolutely devastating.
Seriously, block out some time, and watch it. It may change the way you view race forever.
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When is a bike lane not a bike lane?
When its a parking lot.
Twitter post
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Help BikeSD raise funds for the Climate Ride this weekend.
Except that study was already conducted ten years ago, when the city studies, and unanimously adopted, an entire network of Slow Streets, then called Bicycle Friendly Streets, as part of the 2010 bike plan.
A plan whose entire existence seems to be forgotten these days.
He’s the 2-time defending national champ in a sport you may not be familiar with. From South Central LA, Justin Williams is the best Criterium Cyclist in the country and one of the only African-American riders. Now, he’s using his platform to grow his sport and support the current protests in a push for equality everywhere.
Note: If the video doesn’t show up on your browser, just click the link above.
Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.
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Major cities around the world are taking advantage of the pandemic slowdowns to install popup and permanent bikeways and pedestrian improvements.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Pasadena police busted a bike-riding armed robber after recognizing the description given by the victim as a local transient; officers recovered some of the money, as well as the bike he was riding. Which is cop talk for saying that was probably stolen, too.
Car clogged Mumbai is getting 24 bicycle councilors, one for each of the city’s 24 districts, with a goal of making the city the bicycling capital of the world by 2030.
June 26, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Lime supports local bike advocacy, Bicycling calls for racial diversity on bikes, and dogs (and a monkey) on bikes
E-scooter riders have come to appreciate the value of bike lanes as much as anyone.
The company is launching their new Lime Action program in partnership with a number of advocacy groups across the US, including the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.
“As people around the world are taking action to support racial justice, safer streets and cleaner air, we are excited to provide a platform for our millions of riders to turn their passion into action,” said Katie Stevens, Head of Global Policy at Lime. “Lime Action connects our riders with local grassroots organizations making meaningful change in their communities. We’re proud to help riders strengthen their hometowns by getting involved in efforts to create safer, calmer streets, reduce congestion and harmful emissions from car traffic, and fight systemic racism and injustice.”
Lime will provide their partner organizations with access to a number of advocacy tools, as well as directing their users to get involved with local organizations like the LACBC.
However, it light of today’s issues, safer streets in the traditional sense are just part of the fight.
The Lime Action partnerships and organizations will enable our riders to engage on issues that range from those directly impacting their rides, such as safer streets, to making transportation and our cities as a whole more equitable, and to helping make our world more sustainable:
Safer Streets: Lime riders are often encountering bike lanes for the first time on a scooter– and quickly discover how street space issues between cars and other modes of transportation can affect their safety. Lime Action will provide a way to translate this awareness into action to support campaigns for safer street infrastructure, including bike lanes, greenways, and cycle tracks.
Social Justice: Lime believes in strengthening our cities, and that goes beyond safe infrastructure. That’s why Lime Action partners with local organizations supporting re-entry for formerly incarcerated people, addressing institutional racism, providing career training and meaningful employment, and increasing opportunities for underprivileged youth.
Sustainability: The COVID-19 crisis has driven home the impact car travel has on our local air quality, with major improvements to clean air in cities when car use is minimized — but these reductions are already being erased as cities begin to recover. Lime riders already help to contribute to reductions in car use, with a quarter of all rides replacing a car trip, and all trips being powered by 100% renewable energy. Lime Action provides additional ways to support cleaner air by getting involved in local environmental and sustainability campaigns.
Although it would be nice to see the company put its money where its mouth is, by committing to donate a few cents from every ride to the advocacy groups they partner with, which could provide a steady revenue stream for groups that desperately need it.
But this is a great start. Because scooter users need safe and fair streets as much as we do.
And we can definitely use their help to demand change from our elected leaders.
All of which are worthy of your time, money and efforts.
But I’d also include local standouts like East Side Riders Bike Club, which is feeding hundreds of people who might otherwise go hungry this summer, and South LA’s Black Kids on Bikes, just to name a few.
In all this forced solitude and isolation, people are rediscovering the simple joys of one of mankind’s greatest inventions: the bicycle. Not to state the obvious, but there are few better ways to get out and about while maintaining a safe social distance. Hazards and Bicycle Bob’s report their bike repair waiting lists longer than Trump’s Tulsa rally reservation list — only there are no K-Pop agitators and saboteurs involved. Bikes that sell for $500 flew out the door a month ago. Electric bikes are everywhere.
With so few cars on the road, the streets are safer. For a while, every day felt just like Sunday morning.
He goes on to criticize plans to ban bikes from the plaza, as we noted a few days ago.
And ends with this line.
There’s hope. Humans, after all, remain the only species that can ride a bike or snap their fingers.
So someone should tell him about this.
And this.
And this.
And yes, this.
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You’re invited to Ride Against Racism this Sunday to support Black Lives Matter and protest police brutality.
Unfortunately, there are far too many bikeways like this in the US, too.
Twitter post
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Former pro Phil Gaimon is back with another video, explaining five common bike collisions and how to avoid them, no matter how man wheels you travel on.
The LA Times recommends nine Los Angeles trails to ride your bike. Although they take a very expansive view of LA, including anything north of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
After years of ticketing and confiscating bicycles from immigrant delivery workers, New York City has finally gotten around to legalizing ebikes. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they’ll be giving all those bikes back and refunding their money.
Pope Francis has joined people around the world in expressing his support for Alex Zanardi, as the Paralympic champ fights to recover from a horrifying handcycling crash; doctors are worried that Zanardi, who already lost his legs in a car racing crash, may lose his eyesight or suffer brain damage.
June 22, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on America bikes for racial justice, cars become weapons against protesters, and H’wood k-rails protect mural not bike riders
Not everyone was marching for racial justice this past weekend.
I got in trouble with someone on Twitter over the weekend after mistakenly saying Zanardi lost his legs in a Formula 1 crash, rather that in CART, trusting nearly 20-year old memories rather than pausing to look it up.
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This is who we share the roads with.
A Corona driver rear-ended a motorcyclist. Then kept driving with the motorbike stuck under his minivan.
The Urban Cycling Institute goes in-depth to examine the great French street reclamation, as Paris and Nice respond to the pandemic by stepping up plans to reimagine what our streets can be.
But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Santa Rosa nurse says she was punched in the face by a man on a bike, after she was accused of driving recklessly through a group of protesters who shattered her windshield with a skateboard and a bicycle. Seriously, don’t do that. Take video, take photos and take down the license. But don’t resort to violence. And don’t abuse your bike.
The Redding bike rider killed in a solo crash earlier this month is described as someone who “did good deeds for everyone;” he was killed when he his head on a curb while riding without a helmet. Crashes like this are exactly what bike helmets were designed for; they were never intended to protect against motor vehicles.
More bad news from Chico, where a man was killed riding his bike in a collision with an apparently driverless car; the victim was blamed for riding through a stop sign. Thanks to John McBrearty for the link.
The founder of the Dirty Kanza gravel race has been fired after a social media post calling the Atlanta shooting of Rayshard Brooks justified. However, the name of the race is also problematic; Kanza is another name for the Kaw Nation and its people, which means Dirty Kanza could be read as “dirty Indian.”
June 19, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on “I can’t breathe”: Las Vegas bike rider killed by cops over bike light; over $110,000 raised for SoCal cycling diversity
Nine months ago, it was a needless tragedy.
Today it stands as yet another reminder why so many people of all races are taking to the streets to demand justice, and change.
It was last September when a man died in police custody after a Las Vegas cop kneeled on his back, ignoring his repeated cries of “I can’t breathe.”
He was found with drugs and a gun, and had slipped an ankle monitor, which explains why he ran.
But what it doesn’t explain is why police didn’t respond to his complaint about not being able to breathe once they had him in custody.
And why they allowed a traffic stop to escalate into a lethal use of force.
What’s missing there is any reference to the victim’s race.
In retrospect, it almost goes without saying that he was Black, although the only reference to his race was a photo from the police press conference and a news report showing the victim’s grieving family.
And he had a name.
Byron Lee Williams.
I didn’t mention it at the time; I don’t normally mention the names of people outside of Southern California, and often not then.
But in retrospect, I should have.
Because he joins a long and growing list of black people unjustly killed by police.
Names like Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and Michael Brown.
And Byron Lee Williams.
Which is not so say Williams didn’t do anything wrong. But nothing he did called for the death penalty. Or a summary execution without the benefit of a judge and jury.
And it never should have been allowed to escalate from something as minor as a simple traffic stop for a missing damn bike light.
Thompkins and Scott said the additional video showed officers dragging Williams around a corner, his body still limp, before dropping him on the ground. At one point, Thompkins said, the video showed Williams asking for an ambulance and an officer telling Williams that nobody was coming to help him.
Williams then fell silent, lying on the ground as the officers laughed and discussed weekend plans, Thompkins said.
I’ve known a lot of cops over the years, and worked with several as part of the LAPD’s bike liaison program.
With a few notable exceptions, most have struck me as caring men and women who want to do the right thing. And many want bad cops off the force as much as anyone else.
Although their union is another matter.
I’ve been quick to call the police out when they do something wrong. But I also recognize that my white skin means my experience isn’t the same as what my Black and brown friends have to go through at their hands.
And it’s entirely possible to recognize that police officers have dangerous jobs, and hope they all make it home at the end of his or her shift, while still recognizing that things have to change. Major, systemic changes.
It isn’t a matter of Black and white, liberal or conservative.
Just right and wrong.
Because we all have a right to get back home safely, and in one piece.
Regardless of skin color.
Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.
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Great news from former national road, crit and track champ Justin Williams, whose crowdfunding campaign for his Legion of Los Angeles cycling team has raised well over twice the original $50,000 goal to promote diversity in the sport.
“Wow, that’s been crazy,” said Williams of the fundraiser. “We set the mark at $50,000 because we thought that would be a decent number, and I want to share with you guys what we are going to put all of that toward. It’s more than doubled so we will figure out more stuff to put it toward, but for the most part we will put the money toward team infrastructure.
“The funds will allows us to do team camps and more community engagement, which is something I really like to do. We will bring back junior day camps and BBQs, and elevate what that was. We’ll break it up into three and four hours with the whole L39ION team, and then break up into groups … and it will be open to every junior team.”
He was killed when a driver speeding at least twice the posted 35 mph speed limit slammed into him before crashing into a local restaurant.
The driver, a woman in her 70s, said her car began to accelerate when she tried to slow it down, and only drove onto the wrong side of the road to avoid crashing into other vehicles.
Which sounds less like a mechanical failure than yet another argument for testing older drivers on a regular basis, before they mistake the gas pedal for the brakes.
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The latest video from GCN explores the eternal question of whether you should get a roadie or a gravel bike.
If you can even find one in this market, that is.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Vancouver woman says a decision to close a local park to cars while a bike lane is built is just an example of knee-jerk anti-car hostility, and accuses the “bike lobby” of bullying. Funny how people who oppose bike projects are just concerned citizens, but supporters always seem to be part of some shadowy bike lobby.
Sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Streetsblog says this could be micromobility’s big moment as it experiences “stratospheric jumps” in usage around the US despite, or maybe because of, the pandemic.
Kindhearted Virginia cops dipped into their own pockets to buy a new bike for a young boy whose new bicycle was stolen just four hours after he got it, then they recovered his original bike in a creek; the boy’s parents say they’ll fix it up and give it to someone who needs one.
No bias here, either. A letter writer in Key Biscayne, Florida demands a vote on a proposed new bike lane, saying bicyclists “don’t pay tolls or add to the economy, and in fact are just not good neighbors.” And swears locals will never give up their golf carts for a bike.
A Scottish op-ed calls bicyclists a threat to mature walkers, noting that older people may not be able to hear whistles or spoken warnings. Always ride with care around pedestrians of any age, and give them as wide a berth as possible, for their safety and yours.
