It’s official.
Burbank has now banned bikes from the Mariposa Street Bridge over the LA River — whether riding, walking with one, carrying it or standing perfectly still — after speakers in favor of the ban referred to bike riders as “arrogant scofflaws and jerks,” who are apparently incapable of following the rules.
A Burbank councilwoman voted in favor of the ban, apparently because a bike rider advocating for continued access to what was originally intended as a bicycle, equestrian and pedestrian bridge looked like someone who flipped her off once.
No, seriously.
Meanwhile, horse riders arguing in favor of the ban misrepresented LA municipal codes by saying bikes are banned entirely from Griffith Park trails, when the codes actually allow people to walk their bikes like any other pedestrians.
Calls for a compromise that would allow riders to walk their bikes across the bridge, or cross when no horses were on it, were dismissed by the council.
What’s sad is that the city council not only allowed their residents and others who ride bikes to be unfairly disparaged, they seem to have agreed with them.
Which does not bode well for Burbank bicyclists.
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In case you’ve wondered why so many mountain bikers have had their bikes confiscated for straying onto military property in San Diego, this defaced sign should give you a pretty good idea.
And give the riders a pretty good defense.
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Just weeks after calling the technology highly implausible, Cycling Weekly profiles an e-bike prototype from Lightweight that uses an electromagnetic wheel, based on maglev technology, that can reportedly generate 500 watts and reach speeds up to 62 mph.
Which should greatly enhance sprinting speeds once the pros figure out how to get their hands on it.
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Michael Eisenberg forwards video of a horrifying crash in which a rider was lucky to avoid serious injury when he was sideswiped by a merging truck.
Looking at the video, the cyclists were clearly in the through lane, riding to the left of an exit lane, rather than in the middle lane as the headline suggests; they appear to be positioned exactly where they needed to be in order to continue straight on the roadway.
It’s the driver who broke the law by continuing straight instead of exiting, and merging on the painted shoulder without apparently noticing the cyclists to his left.
Or perhaps, not caring.
And trust me, you really don’t want to read the comments.
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Local
Police at LAX give a regular Tuesday/Thursday group ride an official police escort, complete with a 3-Feet Please sign; Cycling in the South Bay thanks the officers for giving the riders protection instead of tickets.
Work is scheduled to begin this week on a road diet and bike lanes on Alamitos Ave in Long Beach.
Downey will host a four hour, 5.5 mile ciclovía on May 1st.
State
Tustin’s 22-year old Coryn Rivera is riding her way to Rio after winning 71 national championships.
A Sonoma County writer says the Amgen Tour of California helped make the area bike country.
Tragic news from Santa Rosa, as a four-year old boy is killed while riding in bike in an apartment building parking lot. There is something seriously wrong when children don’t have safe places to play and ride their bikes.
National
The suspension of Colorado’s USA Pro Challenge will mean the loss of $130 million for the state’s economy.
If you’re looking to challenge yourself, you could do a lot worse than this September’s West Elk Bicycle Challenge, a 134-mile timed Western Colorado road tour — 29 miles of that on dirt — offering 9,300 feet of climbing through some of the most beautiful country on earth.
A Maine editor remembers one of her favorite weddings, when the bride and groom rode in on bikes, along with all the guests.
Homeless people in South Carolina build their own BMX park.
After trying to jack a car, a Miami man hit a bike rider as he made his getaway in another vehicle. And somehow, the local press still calls it an accident.
International
London’s assembly votes to urge the next mayor to support bicycling, and vetoes a plan to let local residents veto bikeways.
A UK parish official was fined the equivalent of just $203 for forcing four cyclists off the road on a blind curve, then flipping them off on camera afterwards.
After riding his bike across six continents in the last six years, a British doctor finds the world is a friendlier and more welcoming place than he thought. But did he do it dressed as a super hero?
Britain missed the opportunity to become a Dutch-style bicycling nation in the ‘70s by dismissing bicycles as a form of recreation; now it will take the county decades to catch up. If ever.
Spend part of your summer studying Planning the Cycling City in Amsterdam. In English.
Germany is called a nation of cyclists, as 82% of people in the country ride a bike at least infrequently, though bikes trail cars and motorcycles in popularity.
A bike rider was swept away by massive floods in Portugal.
Aussie advocates fear new restrictions on cyclists and greater enforcement of helmet laws will cut down on beachfront bicycling in Sydney. Meanwhile, riders in Canberra may soon be allowed to ride sans helmet as long as they promise to go slow.
Ride your bike to visit the best temples in Cambodia.
In today’s history lesson, Japan used 6,000 bikes in a bicycle blitzkrieg to capture Singapore in WWII.
Finally…
You could do worse than looking for love on two wheels. Every bike rider gets flats; not every rider gets the Manx Missile fix them — and on Valentines Day, no less.
And evidently, driving a Zamboni is good training for working with a cargo bike moving company.
