Tag Archive for Calbike

Morning Links: CHP almost gets left turns right, war on bikes Culver City edition, and possible $1000 CA rebate on ebike

May 6, 2019 / / One comment

After criticizing the CHP last week, it’s only fair to give them credit when it’s due.

An Orange County CHP officer got it right when he was asked whether bike riders could use left turn lanes.

Almost, anyway.

He said that bicyclists have a right to turn left just like drivers do, and even noted that they are allowed to take the full lane when traveling at the speed of traffic — an exception to the ride to the right rule most cops seem to miss.

But the CHP officer incorrectly notes that bicyclists must hug the curb in other instances. Even though the law says people on bicycles are free to take the lane anytime it’s too narrow to safely share with a bike and car side-by-side, which is the case with most righthand lanes in Southern California.

And he suggests that anyone who’s uncomfortable turning from the left turn lane should get off their bike and walk in the crosswalk.

Never mind that bicyclists have the right to ride in a crosswalk under California law.

Or that box turns work better, anyway. With or without painted turn boxes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO0_q6x5FPA

Photo from CHP website. 

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The war on bikes may have raised its ugly head right here in Southern California, after a handful of razor blades were found in a Culver City bike lane.

https://twitter.com/d_mcneary/status/1124364013721145345

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Keep your fingers crossed.

If a Calbike proposal is adopted, you could be eligible for a rebate up to $1,000 on the purchase of an ebike.

Or better yet, sign the petition.

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An ad featuring a boy walking his bike up a steep hill to deliver bread in post-war England has been named Britain’s most iconic classic ad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=w4-EjJt52ZQ

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Local

The LA Times wants to know if Bird can finally build a better scooter before it runs out of cash.

Displaying more cuteness than allowed by law, Strider Bikes hosted a series of toddler races at LA Live this past weekend.

CicLAvia shares their favorite moments from the recent Wilmington event.

There will be a meeting to support the Rowena road diet and help keep the street safe at 6 pm this Wednesday at the Friendship Auditorium.

One more reason to ride a bike. The founder of the Golden Road Brewery in Atwater Village changed her career trajectory after meeting the owner of the famed Oskar Blues Brewery while riding her bike in Colorado. Seriously, you’re not likely to meeting anyone while speeding down the same roads in your car — unless you hit them.

Roughly 75 people turned out for last week’s meeting on a proposed two-way protected bike lane on Pasadena’s Union Street.

Santa Clarita’s mayor invites you to celebrate all things cycling in the city as they mark bike month, and a visit by the Amgen Tour of California.

A bike-riding man is the chief suspect in a series of alleyway arson fires in the Cal Heights neighborhood of Long Beach.

 

State

A legendary backcountry OC mountain bike ride raises a whopping $1.25 million to aid people in Rwanda.

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss proves he’s not that snobby after all, riding this Cambria’s Eroica California on the cheapest bikes he can buy.

Authorities stopped an Amtrak train for over an hour to search for a man who was apparently struck by the train while he was walking his bike along the tracks in Pismo Beach; he turned up later in an ER with hand and arm injuries, after all searchers found was a mangled bicycle.

An East Sacramento hit-and-run driver left a bike rider lying in the street with serious injuries. Meanwhile, a mother asks the hit-and-run driver who left her bike-riding son with a serious brain injury to turns themselves in.

 

National

An Irish man rode and ran across the United States in just 36 days to raise funds in an effort to raise over a quarter million euros — $279,670 — to fight Spina Bifida.

Ai Wei Wei’s sculpture may be titled Forever Bicycles, but it won’t be displayed in Austin TX that long. Or much longer, for that matter. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

An Arkansas newspaper breaks the shocking news that you can get hurt riding a mountain bike.

Minneapolis has pulled the plug on Minnesota’s North Star Grand Prix once again after a last-ditch crowdfunding effort raised just $12,000 of the $200,000 they needed to put on a UCI women’s race

Proving once again that we all face the same problems, Boston bike riders complain about the glacial pace of implementing the city’s bike plan, arguing that the mayor’s plan is falling short.

New York held their annual Blessing of the Bicycles over the weekend; LA’s version will take place at Good Samaritan Hospital on May 14th as part of Bike Week.

A 50-year bike commuter says New York bicyclists have to do better, and calls on riders to welcome stricter enforcement by police. Sure. That’ll happen.

Today weatherman Al Roker is one of us, joining thousands of other riders for New York’s Five Boro Bike Tour.

A West Virginia bike rider urges people to control their dogs after suffering a concussion and separating his shoulder when his bike broadsided a dog that ran out in front of him. No word on how the dog fared.

Police in Charleston SC respond to rising rates of bicyclists and pedestrians by insisting that pedestrians would be safe if they just used crosswalks, rather that concluding that maybe there aren’t enough crosswalks or they’re in the wrong places. And never mind all those people in the big, dangerous machines.

Two kindhearted South Carolina cops pitched in to buy a kid a new bike after he was run down by a hit-and-run driver. Although someone should tell the TV station that the car probably had a driver.

New Orleans’ mayor sees better bus service and more dockless bikeshares — not more traffic lanes — as the solution to the city’s transportation problems.

A Key West parade celebrates human powered sculpture.

 

International

A Vancouver writer describes how she learned to love commuting by bicycle.

A Toronto business owner complains about plans for a road diet to make room for protected bike lanes, insisting that he only sees a single bike rider every few days. Which is like saying we don’t need a new bridge because you only see a few cars driving into the river.

London bicyclists donned their best Harris and Donegal woolens and mounted classic bikes for this year’s Tweed Ride.

You have exactly one month to get to the UK to ride your bike naked on the Queen’s official birthday.

An Indian man who spent five decades riding across the country has given his Trek Madone to a 15 year old cycling prodigy, after he had to quit riding due to medical problems.

An Indian paper looks back on seven Parsi men who travelled the world on their bicycles over 100 years ago.

India’s Economic Times says bicycling in Bengaluru is a cruel joke on bicyclists.

A Sydney, Australia writer says check your biases next time you hear the word cyclist or get stuck behind one in traffic, after a Facebook post about the death of a bike-riding woman got 464 comments — only four of which expressed any sympathy for the victim or her family.

An Aussie bike rider caused considerable, and reasonable, consternation after he was photographed wearing a Nazi armband.

 

Competitive Cycling

Don’t plan on seeing Colombian pro Egan Bernal in next week’s Giro d’Italia, after breaking his collarbone on a training ride.

The New York Daily News considers the meteoric rise and fall of Major Taylor, the one-time world’s fastest man, who broke cycling’s color barrier more than a century ago. Now we just need someone to do it again.

 

Finally…

Maybe next time, he’ll listen when a cop tells him to get his golf cart out of the bike lane. Apparently, a bicycle only makes you invisible if you don’t don a hideous blond wig to bike through a police dragnet.

And no, that’s not a bicycle riding in a new bike lane.

 

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

Morning Links: South LA Slasher claims more victims, AAA fights bike law change, and booby trapped SD trail

April 3, 2019 / / 2 comments

Sadly, there’s been more attacks by the bike-riding South LA Slasher.

The latest came Monday morning near Florence Ave and Avalon Blvd, when the suspect rode up on a mountain bike and slashed the face of another man with a sharp object for no apparent reason.

That raises the total number of attacks to six, all in the area of South LA and Southeast Los Angeles County.

The suspect is described as an 18- to 30-year-old Latino man with short hair, about 150 pounds and 5’6″ to 5’8″, wearing a dark-colored T-shirt and pants, and riding a black and green mountain bike

Let’s hope they catch this guy before he does some serious damage.

Photos courtesy of LAPD

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Once again, AAA is standing in the way of bike safety legislation — even when the proposed law doesn’t change anything.

Streetsblog reports that Calbike has withdrawn a proposal that would have simply changed the wording of the ride to the right rule to say that bicyclists have the right to “move away from the right edge when the lane isn’t wide enough to share.”

Current wording exempts riders from the requirement to stay to the right when the lane is too narrow to share, which is the case with most right lanes in Southern California.

Not only is it not a significant change, it doesn’t change the rights or responsibilities of bike riders at all. Just simplifies the wording, bringing it in line with statutes in other states.

Yet somehow, AAA still opposed it.

Just one more example of the organization’s mindless, knee-jerk opposition to almost any legislation regarding bikes, including their fight against the three-foot passing law.

Even when it doesn’t infringe on their members’ God-given right to go “vroom, vroom” to their hearts content.

I cancelled my membership several years back when I got tired of the organization using my dues to lobby against laws intended to protect my own life.

And that of everyone else who rides a bike.

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

A San Diego bike rider was lucky to avoid serious injury when he encountered a booby trap on a popular bike trail in San Dieguito River Park near Lake Hodges. Correction: I originally said I was near Lake Hughes. Thanks to Michele Chavez for the tip.

Someone had not only strung barbed wire across the trail, but had hidden it by braiding the wire in a strand of ivy.

Anyone who tried to ride through without spotting the wire could have been seriously injured.

Which makes this an attempted assault with a deadly weapon.

Let’s hope they find the jackass responsible for this. And that police and prosecutors treat it with the seriousness the crime calls for.

Meanwhile, a man in the UK got 18 months behind bars for siccing his dogs on a pair of bike riders, because he was upset over people riding on the sidewalk.

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Local

LAist looks at the 15 people vying to become the next councilmember occupying LA’s vacant CD12 seat.

Santa Clarita is looking for one hundred more volunteers for this year’s Amgen Tour of California stage.

Long Beach residents got a street-level, one and a half hour view of the Long Beach Grand Prix course, as long as they did it without a motor.

State

This is who we share the roads with. Ten percent of drivers told AAA they “always or frequently” use their smartphones illegally while driving, while nearly 50% admit to doing it at least once. And those are just the ones honest enough to give a truthful answer; the real total is probably somewhere north of that. Far north.

Encinitas approves plans for a Complete Streets makeover of the Coast Highway in Leucadia, adding traffic circles and bike lanes to slow traffic and improve safety.

A San Diego man suffered serious injuries in a collision with a scooter rider as he was riding his bike on the Mission Beach boardwalk Tuesday afternoon.

Goleta was honored by the central coast chapter of a national public works association for the city’s bike and pedestrian master plan, as well as the Hollister Ave multi-use, Safe Routes to School path.

The popular Eroica California classic bike festival takes over Cambria this weekend.

A Pismo Beach street has been turned into a slalom course, forcing drivers to weave back and forth as construction begins on a Complete Streets makeover.

National

Outside says right now, it’s impossible to tell if Trek’s WaveCel helmet technology is as effective as the company claims; MIPS says their tests don’t back up Trek’s promises.

A new startup promises to give you airline-style miles for using non-automotive transport, such as biking, walking and transit.

How to help your mountain bike live a long, healthy and happy life.

Needless to say, Seattle bike riders are frustrated by the latest cutbacks in the bike plan for the ostensibly bike-friendly city, raising questions of what the mayor’s vision is. Or if she has one.

After exempting e-scooters from the city’s mandatory bike helmet law, Spokane questions whether the law is needed at all.

Evidently, New York state won’t be legalizing e-scooters now after all.

International

While everyone else is trying to stop drivers from parking in bike lanes, Hamilton, Ontario wants to invite them in.

A British Paralympian says we need another word for utility bicyclists to reduce the hostility many drivers have for people on bikes. Or we could just forget the semantics, and focus on changing drivers attitudes and reminding them that we’re human too.

A Scottish man on an around the world bike tour has picked up a passenger, adopting a stray kitten in Bosnia; he modified his bike to give it a space up front.

German officials blame a rise in bicycling deaths on more older people using ebikes.

Caught on video: A Kiwi bicyclist was lucky to get away without serious injuries when he got left hooked — the equivalent of our right hook — by the driver of an SUV; fortunately, he managed to push off the vehicle at the last moment.

An Aussie bike tells drivers yes, we’re human, and we all deserve respect on the road.

An Australian professor says banning tiny vehicles like e-scooters denies us smarter ways to get around urban environments.

Competitive Cycling

American legend Alexi Grewal, the only US Olympian man to win gold in cycling, regrets his winning ride, saying he selfishly rode for himself instead of supporting Davis Phinney as he had agreed.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a pair of pro riders’ Garmins after they crashed during a race.

Finally…

Apparently, riding a bike in a public park is trespassing. Who needs to pedal when you’ve got a fuel cell?

And you know your open streets event was successful when it draws more people than the annual Elks Parade.

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

Morning Links: Calbike hosts bike traffic school webinar, and celebrating history’s first two-wheeled acid trip

April 12, 2017 / / 7 comments

The California Bicycle Coalition will hold a webinar tomorrow morning to discuss how to set up a bike traffic school, similar to the traffic schools that allow drivers to take classes in lieu of paying fines.

While the schools were approved by the state legislature in concept in 2015, they have been slow to catch on with the courts in the state. Hopefully this will help change that.

Sign up here. And maybe you’ll learn how to set up that topless comedy bike traffic school you’ve always dreamed of.

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It turns out Bicycle Day is less about honoring bicycles than the trips taken on them. Or rather, one in particular, inadvertently taken by LSD inventor Albert Hoffman.

So how are you going to celebrate next Wednesday’s anniversary of the first two-wheeled acid trip?

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Evidently, it’s been online for awhile. But I just discovered I’m officially part of the history of the LA bike movement.

Albeit a very small part. And appropriately so.

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Once again, British Cycling postpones release of a report on bullying of the county’s top cyclists — especially women racers — that’s widely expected to paint an extremely unflattering picture of the organization; it’s working on a new code of conduct to avoid future problems.

The new head of the Australian cycling team promises a compassionate approach that puts riders first.

The Outer Line looks at the future of women’s cycling, and says female riders must form their own union and move to take control of the sport.

The Twenty20 bike team lost nine high-end racing bikes valued at a combined $60,000 when someone broke into their storage trailer in Corte Madera; a team sponsor is offering a $10,000 reward.

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A fellow competitor remembers Mike Hall, the endurance cyclist killed near the finish of Australia’s 3,400-mile Indian Pacific Wheel Race, calling him the man who inspired a world of cyclists.

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Local

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work. Roscoe Blvd gets a road diet and LA’s first pavement-embedded crossing lights in West Hills, at an intersection where two women were killed, along with their dog, crossing the street last year. Now if they could just figure out how to do it before someone gets killed.

Riding across the US from Los Angeles to New York on a heavy single speed bike, chained to the frame on a bet by silent film star Fatty Arbuckle. And back. And back again.

An Aussie bike magazine compares a bike coffee shop in Melbourne with our own Arts District favorite The Wheelhouse. Speaking of which, The Wheelhouse will sponsor the LACBC’s next Sunday Funday ride on May 7th.

 

State

A meeting will be held tonight to discuss plans to renovate the Mariner’s Mile along the Coast Highway in Newport Beach, including possible bike lanes.

Overstating the obvious, the Coronado newspaper says there’s not much chance the $210 million bike and pedestrian tube under the Coronado Bay Bridge will actually be built. Although citing induced demand creating bike and pedestrian congestion as a argument against it seems pretty ridiculous.

A Santa Barbara writer says if you think the proposed Idaho Stop law unfairly favors bicyclists, get out on your bike to add some data points to your thinking.

Around 750 cyclist from 40 different countries turned out on vintage bikes for last weekend’s Eroica in Paso Robles.

A group of up to ten teenagers swarmed and pepper sprayed a San Francisco man as he was unlocking his bicycle, taking it along with his cell phone.

 

National

Bicycling says go ahead and patch that tube again. And again.

Here’s your tutorial on simple mountain bike tricks anyone can do. Assuming you have a mountain bike, that is.

Turn any bicycle into an ebike with a conversion kit.

A bighearted Las Vegas cop buys a new bicycle for an eight-year old boy after his was stolen about six weeks ago; the kid had to get up early to walk to school since he couldn’t ride there anymore after his bike was taken.

BYU students create a special adaptive pedal allowing a boy with one leg longer than the other to ride his bike using both legs for the first time.

Bikeshare is moving into middle America, as Wichita KS votes to install a 20-station system in the downtown area.

Now living in New York, Amsterdam’s bike mayor says the city has possibilities for bicycling if it would build more infrastructure and fix the holes in the street.

A New York ebike shop owner employs the lessons he learned riding a bike towards running his business.

Famke Janssen is one of us, riding in New York with her boyfriend and dog.

An NYC councilmember calls for safety improvements when a bicyclist is critically injured at the same intersection where another rider was killed less than two weeks earlier.

A Virginia man riding his bike to Canada faces a murder charge for allegedly beating a Pennsylvania man to death with a shovel after breaking into his home to steal $8.75 and some canned goods, telling the judge he was starving and just trying to survive. He could get three meals a day now, for the next 40 years to life.

 

International

Vancouver considers investing a quarter of a million dollars to jumpstart a pair of community bike rides expected to draw 10,000 people each.

Royal-in-law Pippa Middleton is still one of us, going shopping in London fashionably dressed on her city bike, complete with wicker basket.

Cambridge, England residents are up in arms over floating bus stops, saying they may protect bike riders but put older people at risk; one person says people who ride a bike on the sidewalk should be fined for possessing an offensive weapon.

I want to be like him when I grow up. The 85-year old head of a British bike club stars in a commercial promoting TV coverage of the Tour of Yorkshire.

A British man was swarmed and attacked by a group of teens who stabbed him in the head with the frame of his own bike.

Two Dutch companies are talking merger to create the world’s largest bicycle company, combining Cervelo, Gazelle, Union, Santa Cruz, Diamondback, Raleigh, Redline, XLC and Lapierre under one roof.

A Ugandan cycling club trains for the Olympics 2020 doing double duty as a Kampala bicycle courier service.

So much for atoning for his sins. The head of an African faith group is asking for his conviction to be overturned for fatally running down a Zimbabwean bike rider while speeding and driving negligently.

If you really want to see Eastern Taiwan, you need to go by bicycle.

 

Finally…

Before you show kids how to ride a bike down a flight of stairs, make sure you can ride a bike down a flight of stairs. Ride 20 miles on Friday, 20 miles on Saturday, and drive a few hundred miles around a big oval on Sunday.

And if you’re going to take an illegal ride in a tunnel to deliver a pizza, at least take the damn lane.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Leading San Diego bike advocate dies, CA bicycle car license plates, and 2017 Tour de France route

October 19, 2016 / / One comment

Heartbreaking news from San Diego, as one of the city’s leading bike advocates has passed away.

The news came this morning that Bill Davidson, a passionate fighter for the rights of bicyclists, had died earlier this month of undisclosed causes.

screen-shot-2016-10-18-at-11-09-14-am

Bill was a reader of this site, and had contributed to it in the past. And he was quick to shoot me an email if there something he thought we should know, or to correct any perceived mistakes.

While I didn’t always agree with him, I always listened to him and respected his opinion. And more than once he managed to change my mind through his detailed and impassioned reasoning. Or at the very least, get me to see things in a different way.

The California bicycling community will be much poorer without him.

Services will be held at 4 pm today.

He was only 53.

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David Drexler forwards a photo of a bicycling automotive license plate from Oregon, and asks how we can get something like that here in California.

Oregon Share the Road License Plate

Actually, Calbike is already on it.

Even if their webpages aren’t loading properly, for some reason.

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The Tour de France unveils its route for next year’s edition of the race. The Telegraph says it’s designed to break the dominance of Chris Froome’s Team Sky, while the Guardian says it’s designed for sprinters like Froome. Reuters says it will favor aggressive riders.

Bike racing returns to Colorado following the collapse of the USA Pro Challenge, with the four-day Tour of Colorado stage race; the race is part of the UCI Americas Tour, along with another new four day race in Richmond VA.

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Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton looks at Sunday’s CicLAvia, and the changes LA has seen in the six years since the first one.

In a rare moment of wisdom, the LA County Board of Supervisors votes to bring all the various interest groups together to craft a single, unified master plan for the LA River; hopefully, that will include bicyclists.

KNBC-4 reports on the call to ban bikes from the LA River bike path in Elysian Park. There’s almost no chance of an actual ban, but it’s yet another reminder to always ride safely around people who are walking.

Evidently, we have a budding bike racer in the making, as Pink’s five-year old daughter takes third in her first BMX race; her father is former motocross champ Corey Hart.

Pasadena’s Gooden Center will host their fourth annual Richard Selje Ride for Recovery on Saturday the 29th, with rides of 100, 62 and 25 miles benfitting Pasadena’s oldest non-profit recovery center.

Someone stole three bikes worth $1000 each in a smash and grab burglary from the ElectroBike store on Main Street in Santa Monica.

Serious Cycling in Agoura Hills is hosting a SoCalCross Happy Hour Tour this evening, ending with a few cold beers at Ladyface Ale after the ride.

 

State

A Costa Mesa man dropped his bike and fled onto the 405 Freeway to avoid a drug bust, shutting the freeway down for ten minutes early Tuesday morning.

Police seek witnesses after a 92-year old Newport Beach bike rider suffered major injuries in a crash Monday night.

Irvine’s ARB Cyclery is holding a shop ride, followed by a screening of a new documentary about Ride 2 Recovery a week from tonight.

San Diego beach communities continue to fight against bikeshare stations, while the owner of a bike rental business claims the city’s bikeshare system has cost him $120,000 over the past two years.

Apple Valley will begin work on a 2.75 mile multi-use path along the Mojave River next week.

Calbike honors the founder of Santa Barbara’s Bici Centro with the organization’s 2016 Dreamer Award.

Sad news from Kern County, where a bike rider was killed in California City Monday morning.

 

National

A new bike helmet will monitor your heart, signal your turns, allow you to communicate with other riders, and send a text alert if you fall off your bike; no word on whether it will actually protect your skull.

The historic Colorado casino town of Black Hawk, which famously — and unsuccessfully — tried to ban bicycles a few years back, is now trying to lure mountain bikers by building 12 miles of singletrack in the mountains above town. Which is not the same as welcoming bicyclists on the main street through town.

Once again, a bike was a getaway vehicle, as Kansas grocery store was robbed by a man with a mask who made his escape by bicycle.

A St. Louis man is alive today because his heart rate monitor warned he was having a heart attack while he rode. And the first person who came along after he got off his bike just happened to be a doctor.

A Chicago cyclist won the title as the fastest bike messenger at the North American Cycle Courier Championship last week.

Chicago advocates call for an unbroken, 27-mile long bikeway along both branches of the city’s eponymous river.

A road raging Connecticut driver faces charges for assaulting a bicyclist and throwing his bike across the road after he right hooked the rider, who had responded by yelling what “may” have been a swear word.

In a bizarre case from upstate New York, a woman committed suicide by handcuffing herself to a mountain bike and riding into a lake.

New York hopes more protected bike lanes will help the city close the cycling gender gap. Meanwhile, an editor for Gear Junkie takes a white-knuckle ride with a bike messenger through the city’s streets.

A South Carolina teacher starts a crowdfunding campaign to give all 650 students in her school a new bicycle for Christmas; GoFundMe tossed in another $10,000 for winning the company’s competition for the most successful school crowdfunding campaign.

 

International

Vancouver business leaders oppose construction of a permanent separated bike lane on a busy commercial street, citing stats saying only seven percent of shoppers arrive there by bike. Which is kind of like saying don’t build a bridge because only a handful of people currently swim across the river.

Many cyclists ask motorists to give them at least an arm’s length passing distance; a Montreal man will settle for a pool noodle. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

Caught on video: A London bike rider is knocked on his ass when a scooter rider cuts directly into him.

A new short film from Apple shows Rapha designers crafting their new line on iPads.

The award for learning Gaelic goes to an Italian cyclist.

A Kiwi cyclist was saved by his fellow riders when he suffered a heart attack during a crit while medical staff were occupied with a crash.

Even in extremely auto-centric Australia, the city of Adelaide decides future streets will be built to favor pedestrians and cyclists while reducing vehicular traffic; naturally, one city councilor complains that it’s social engineering.

 

Finally…

Anyone can lead police on a car chase; it takes skill to lead police on a 20-minute bike chase because you don’t want a ticket for an open container. Clowns may be creepy, but they’re not bike thieves.

And once again, don’t ride your bike over another man’s Lamborghini.

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Thanks to everyone for your kind words yesterday. It’s been a rough 24 hours, but I’m glad to be back at work.

 

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

Morning Links: Bike the Vote rates county sups, email for Active Trans funding, and The Cannibal comes to CC

June 1, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bike the Vote rates county sups, email for Active Trans funding, and The Cannibal comes to CC

We ended the first-ever May BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive with 35 new or renewing members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition — beating our revised goal of signing up an average of one new member a day!

Thank you to everyone who joined as part of the drive to help make this a more bikeable and livable community. And if you missed out on the membership drive, you can still join any time.

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Bike the Vote LA grades candidates for county supervisor in next week’s California primary election.

BTVLA County Sup

You are planning to vote — and cast your ballot to support bicycling — right?

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Calbike is asking you to email your state legislators to support a proposal to add $100 million dollars for active transportation funding to the state budget.

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The long-promised Culver City branch of the bike-friendly, meat-themed New York restaurant The Cannibal — named after cycling legend Eddy Merckx — has finally opened; where else can you grab some cochinita pibil pig head and chain lube after your ride? And according to LA Magazine, you’ll get a free beer if you ride your bike there.

Speaking of Merckx, things aren’t looking good for the restaurant’s namesake, as he could be facing kickback charges to supply bicycles to Belgian police.

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As long as we’re on the topic of restaurants, Adam Ginsberg reminds us about the No Kid Hungry program to end childhood hunger in America and ensure every kid has enough to eat. Over 200 chefs and restaurant professionals will ride from Carmel to Santa Barbara at the end of this month to raise funds for the charity and call attention to the problem of childhood hunger; so far they’ve raised just over 40% of the $1 million goal.

Meanwhile, members of my college fraternity will be departing from Long Beach on the 17th on one of three cross-country bike rides to raise funds for people with disabilities; the annual ride typically brings in over half a million dollars for charity.

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Local

Richard Risemberg says there was substantial community support for a road diet on dangerous Sixth Street, from Fairfax to La Brea, at last week’s community meeting; in fact, one speaker was upset the plan didn’t extend east of La Brea.

The LAPD is adding extra patrols on five of the city’s most dangerous intersections, including two each on Alvarado and Broadway.

Santa Clarita junior high students performed a concert on Tuesday to remember fallen Santa Clarita cyclist Rod Bennett; when cyclists arrived to place a ghost bike for Bennett Tuesday evening, they found one was already there. Meanwhile, a memorial will be held for the popular music and math teacher on June 9th, with a Ride of Silence in his honor on the 11th.

Santa Monica elementary school students rode to class as part of the city’s Bike It Walk It campaign. Thanks to Evan G. for the link.

Adam Sandler is one of us, as he bikes the ‘Bu with his feline helmeted daughter.

 

State

A 22-year old San Diego man is under arrest for the drunken hit-and-run that left a 13-year old bike rider with serious, but thankfully non-life threatening, injuries. Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up.

San Diego Magazine recommends four area group rides to check out.

 

National

Bicycling lists five group rides that are all about having fun.

Consumer Reports rates kids bike helmets.

A financial website offers five ways your bike can make you richer. They forgot #6 — use your bike as a getaway vehicle. Or maybe that comes under commuting to work.

The Car Connection is the latest site to call for an end to using accident to describe car crashes. Nice to see the movement has spread to the automotive world.

A North Dakota woman says it should be a felony to kill someone with your car, after her husband was killed while riding his bike.

A Michigan motorist says bikes don’t belong on roads because we have other places to ride. And apparently, because cars don’t have brakes.

A Buffalo NY letter writer says if the city is stuck with bike lanes, then riders should be licensed, forced to wear reflective gear, and police must crack down on all those law-flouting cyclists. Because evidently, every driver in the city now obeys the letter of the law.

God apparently needs those New York bike lanes for church parking more than the people on bikes do for riding.

Who has the right of way when a DC bike rider calls dibs on passing?

A Maryland pastor has written a book sharing the insights he’s gained while riding his bike.

New Orleans says it’s done talking, and should be ready for bikeshare next year.

 

International

A Toronto columnist says never mind all the vehicles parked in bike lanes, it’s those damn scofflaw cyclists that are the problem.

A British writer projects that at the country’s current rate of spending on bicycle projects, it will only take another 2,297 years to catch up to the Dutch.

Apparently unconcerned with claims of sexism and bullying women riders, Britain’s Chris Boardman says the country’s cycling director was forced out by a lynch mob. Because as long as you’re winning medals, it doesn’t really matter how you treat women cyclists, right?

Romania plans to promote bike commuting by providing vouchers to purchase a bike to ride to work.

Tragic news from Cameroon, as one of the nation’s top cyclists was killed when the peloton crashed into a security official escorting a mentally disturbed woman off the race course.

A South African court uncovers a price fixing scheme that caused the price of bicycles and accessories to shoot up since 2008.

Melbourne, Australia is the latest city to propose building a network of elevated bikeways to get cyclists off the streets. Which is what happens when bike riders are seen as a problem to be solved, rather than people to accommodate.

 

Finally…

No, seriously. If you fall off your bike when a cop tries to stop you, don’t get up and pull a gun after the paramedics treat you. Nothing mends a celebrity marriage like a bike ride on a tropical island.

And evidently, nothing stops a bike thief like a smoke bomb.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Former CM Rosendahl passes away, Calbike endorsements, and holding hands to stop texting

March 31, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Former CM Rosendahl passes away, Calbike endorsements, and holding hands to stop texting

Sad news on Wednesday, as former Westside city Councilmember Bill Rosendahl lost his long battle with cancer.

Streetblog’s Damien Newton considers how his friend changed the conversation regarding bikes and transportation in the City of Angeles, while current Councilmember Mike Bonin remembers his mentor.

I won’t bore you again with my own thoughts; I offered them last month upon learning that Rosendahl was nearing the end.

But I will say that LA is a better city today than it was just a few short years ago, and he had a lot to do with that.

And we are a much poorer city today without him.

………

Somehow I missed Calbike’s endorsements of candidates for the state legislature in the upcoming June primary, including several in the LA, OC and San Diego areas.

………

Maybe they get it, after all.

Specialized has killed their Playboy-branded ebike a week after a Playboy-themed promotion at the Berlin bike show blew up in their faces, saying “it does not align with our brand values.”

Specialized had already apologised for the PR stunt, with chief marketing officer Slate Olson saying the brand “stands strong with female riders and we do not support the objectification of women in any way, in any region.”

………

A New Zealand PSA shows how to stop a texting driver, and maybe get a little closer at the same time. Although it would be a kind of awkward from the seat of your bike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM75ulDRkhI

………

Not only has gambler and Instagram idiot star Dan Bilzerian begun his ride to Las Vegas to win a $1.2 million bet, at last report, he was just 25 miles from the finish line.

Then again, give me two chefs, a masseuse, doctor, bike mechanic and a police escort, and I’ll do it for half of that.

………

Local

The LADOT Bike Program officially unveils its shiny new website.

More on the planned opening of the new Modern Times microbrewery in DTLA’s South Park neighborhood; the founder of the San Diego craft brew maker says he was drawn, in part, by Downtown’s expanding bike lane network.

Construction is nearing completion on a several major projects in downtown Santa Monica, including a number of bicycling improvements.

Whittier police warn bike thieves to beware of their sting. It would be nice to see LAPD fight bike theft with a bait bike or two of their own.

 

State

Remarkably, some Encinitas residents fear turning a dirt trail that runs along a railroad track through Cardiff into a paved bike path, which will eventually run 44 miles from Oceanside to downtown San Diego, will somehow ruin the character of the city.

CiclaValley says Legoland could use a little Copenhagenization.

I want to be like him when I grow up. Congratulations to 91-year old Santa Maria resident Bob Mettauer, who reached his goal of riding 90,000 miles before his 92nd birthday.

A San Jose writer offers advice on how to ride a bike with your dog.

Caught on video: The Bay Area’s public TV station looks at Oakland’s Scraper Bike Team.

Nice piece by a Bay Area bike writer, who says sometimes bikes slow down cars — and sometimes cars slow down cars — and that’s okay.

San Francisco’s Bicycle Advisory Committee works for better bicycling by the bay. LA has one, as well; although it usually gets ignored by city officials, and most councilmembers seldom, if ever, meet with their representatives on the committee. And the city won’t even give them an actual website.

 

National

Gizmodo says building highways through cities was a huge, but fixable, mistake.

Portland restripes a bike lane, just one day after the Department of DIY struck by placing orange cones to mark the fading lines.

A Portland woman gets her bike back five years after it was stolen, thanks to registering it with Bike Index. You have registered yours, right? They offer free lifetime registration right at the top of this page, so don’t wait until it’s too late.

Now that’s more like it. A proposal in the Illinois legislature would require drivers on a highway to yield the right-of-way to any person riding a bicycle.

Protected bike lanes could be coming to the main drag of the Motor City.

A Vermont website explains what bike turn signals mean, while suggesting it might be better just to point out where you’re going.

A Pennsylvania court says a cyclist can’t sue for his injuries because he can’t prove the state DOT knew the pothole he hit was there.

WaPo says real estate developers are offering more “trail-oriented” communities to meet the demand for bikeable and walkable places to live and work.

 

International

A Canadian writer says cycling’s real image problem is that it’s just too much fun.

A Windsor, Ontario letter writer says cyclists have to take responsibility for making drivers feel haunted by the memory of killing them.

A writer for London’s Telegraph says if safety was really pro cycling’s foremost priority, they’d stop cycling.

Caught on video: A British driver compiles “shocking” dashcam video of scofflaw cyclists, saying this is how accidents happen. Except none of the riders he shows seem to cause any collisions, and few, if any, close calls.

UK police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who broke a three-year old boy’s leg while riding on the sidewalk. Seriously, in any collision with a pedestrian — or another rider — stick around until you know they’re okay. Especially a little kid.

A new carfree Amsterdam tunnel uses design and lighting to create separate spaces for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Twenty-five Pakistani women ride to reclaim their space on the roads in the face of harassment, cheered on by around 60 supporters.

A new Aussie bike helmet with built-in cams records a 320 degree view of everything around you while offering a live rear view.

 

Finally…

Maybe the real problem is crappy headlights instead of ninja cyclists. Will a new bike shop disturb a part-man, part-goat, part-sheep creature who lives under a railroad trestle?

And threatening a clerk with your U-lock to steal pornography probably isn’t the best use for it.

I’m just saying.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Bike beats car in race to beach, Calbike wants your take on bike politics, and BMX legend dies

February 5, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Bike beats car in race to beach, Calbike wants your take on bike politics, and BMX legend dies

No surprise, really.

KPCC challenged three staffers to race from Union Station to the Santa Monica Pier in Monday morning rush hour traffic, travelling by bike, bus and car. Or rather, a funky three-wheeled motorcycle equivalent.

But whatever.

And just as has happened in other cities that have run similar races, the bike came out on top. Even though the rider failed to plan out his route, and dropped down to pothole-ridden Venice Blvd for his journey to the pier.

Had he planned it better, he could have cut a big chunk of time off his commute by taking Wilshire Blvd, which runs directly to the coast, and where bikes are allowed in the Bus Only lanes that operate during morning and evening rush hours. Even though the lanes skip Beverly Hills and the condo corridor in Westwood.

A simple jump over to the bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd through Century City, then cut over to the Broadway bike lanes in Santa Monica and coast down to the coast.

He might have even been able to slow down a little.

And wear something other than spandex.

………

Calbike wants your input on candidates and issues that affect bicyclists, to help develop their endorsement strategy for the coming year; you can take the survey here.

………

Sad news from Greenville NC, as BMX legend and X Games star Dave Mirra died of an apparent suicide on Thursday.

If you’re thinking about hurting yourself, talk to someone. Anyone. There are people who care and want to help, no matter how bad things may seem now.

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Local

Richard Risemberg doesn’t pull any punches, depicting CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo as the carpetbagger-in-chief while calling for a movement to draft Flying Pigeon owner Josef Bray-Ali to run against him. Somehow I missed this one when it was originally posted. And yes, Councilmember Bray-Ali does have a certain ring to it.

The Eagle Rock and Boyle Heights areas receive nearly $18 million in Complete Streets funding, including bike and pedestrian improvements.

Great piece from LAist, as they talk to the guy who rode a New York bikeshare bike across the US, ending in Santa Monica last week.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports the Ride Report app for iOS has gone national; the app is designed to run in the background, allowing riders to track and rate their trips while crowdsourcing riding data.

 

State

San Diego’s KPBS discusses women’s professional bike racing, saying women riders are making progress, but there’s still a way to go.

Last year, we discussed the mobile bike repair shops from Beeline Bikes; now one is rolling into the Conejo Valley to serve cyclists in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills.

A Salinas writer observes our streets are safe for everyone but people.

A writer from Modesto is up in arms that the city is paying $75,000 to house and feed riders in the Amgen Tour of California for one night. Never mind that the race will likely bring in a lot more that to local businesses.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is barring bikes — and trees — from a proposed public park in Mountain View, apparently because other parks elsewhere have had problems with connectivity. Which is sort of like blaming all bike riders because you saw one run a red light once.

 

National

Horrible story of road rage from Portland. As usual, the police refuse to do anything about it unless the rider ends up bleeding in the street.

The Chicago Trib says riding a bike on the Las Vegas strip is just too damn scary. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been there.

Why does my Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly hometown have to keep making bicycling improvements decades after I left? What, they couldn’t have done any of this while I was still there?

Forget three feet, an Iowa legislator proposes a bill that would require drivers to change lanes to pass a bike rider. Thanks to Cyclelicious for the link.

Caught on video: A Michigan bike rider beats a ticket for obstructing traffic when a state trooper gets the law wrong, using the cop’s own dash cam video to make his case.

Not all DC churches think bike lanes infringe upon their freedom of religion; an African American church in the same neighborhood as the one fighting tooth and nail against a bike lane says protected bike lanes make the streets safer for everyone.

 

International

The owner of the UK’s Vulpine bikewear company says the great helmet debate only serves to put people off bicycling, while concluding: “Cycling is not a major killer. Putting people off cycling is.”

A British website says more needs to be done to make bicycling a safe and normal activity.

Let’s hope it was a damn good bike. A Brit entrepreneur traded his stake in the Swiftkey mobile phone app for a bike, only to watch his former partners sell it to Microsoft for $252 million.

Russian women’s track cycling champ Elena Brezhniva gets a four-year ban for an unspecified doping offense; her coach naturally writes it off as a case of mere negligence. Because no cyclist would ever intentionally cheat, right?

A Philippine bicyclist takes a thrilling and scary ride through Manilla’s Quezon City.

An Aussie driver talks to the mother of a teenage boy who rode out in front of her car.

 

Finally…

Someday, every bike with come with its own mushroom knife and fire pit. Now you can get a pedal-assist motor doping bike of your very own; meanwhile, Dutch researchers will pay you to dope as you climb Mr. Ventoux.

And how to discover if anyone on your club ride is motor doping.

It’s easy to tell if I have a hidden motor on my bike. Just watch to see if I pass someone. Anyone.

No, really.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Car vs Bike, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Bikes aid Paris healing, Calbike wants to know what you want, and Wilshire bus/bike lanes open

November 16, 2015 / / One comment

A nice moment amid all the tragedy, as a German musician towed his piano behind his bike to the Bataclan Theater following Friday’s Paris attacks, where he played John Lennon’s Imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfbph4VCVtk

Initial reports also indicated that that many Parisians used the city’s Vélib’ bikeshare system to get home following the attacks, though those stories seem to have disappeared.

Pro cyclists respond to the attacks, while former world time trial champ Michael Rogers worries that bike races could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks because of the close proximity of fans, who don’t undergo any security checks. Anyone who watched last year’s races where riders were punched and splashed with urine by spectators knows it’s only a matter of time before something more serious happens.

………

Calbike wants to know what you think they should address in the coming legislative session.

I’m asking for bikes to have unquestioned right-of-way in bike lanes, and clarification on whether bicyclists can ride in crosswalks. Even if it does feel like I’m sending my letter to Santa.

………

The final section of the Wilshire Blvd bus lanes opens today in West LA. Cars aren’t allowed to use the lanes during rush hour, but bikes can.

………

I’ve long been a fan of Ride 2 Recovery and their efforts to help wounded veterans overcome the trauma of war. I’m even more a fan now, after learning they also help female vets overcome abuse.

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Local

A warrant has been issued for the man accused of pushing a young boy off the bike he’d just won at Ted Watkins Park and riding away with it; he’s considered armed and dangerous. And not above attacking a little kid.

UCLA’s Daily Bruin profiles engineering student Philippe Videau, who helped develop a unique foldable bike helmet made from mushrooms.

The CSUN student paper talks with a professor who bikes 25-miles from Pasadena to the Northridge campus twice a week.

Richard Risemberg wishes NIMBY’s would just try riding a bike to work instead of claiming people like him can’t do it.

Santa Monica authorities consider whether to explicitly ban all motorized vehicles from the beachfront bike path, including Segways and hoverboards, while possibly lifting the ban on pedicabs.

EcoVillage is hosting a Carfree Chat Tuesday night with Streetsblog Editor Joe Linton, and anthropologist and editor Adonia Lugo.

 

State

The Orange County Register looks back at the recent Tour de Coop in Laguna Beach.

National City drivers have to figure out how to back into angled parking spaces designed to increase the number of parking spaces and improve safety for bicyclists.

A Chula Vista man is found safe on Friday after somehow suffering a head injury while riding his bike; he had failed to return home after going for a ride the night before.

A Santa Maria family is looking for donations to provide new bikes to needy children for the holidays in honor of their son, who died 10 years ago. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

The driver of a San Francisco tour bus somehow lost control on Friday, hitting virtually everything in its path for nearly two blocks, including a bicyclist; four people were critically injured.

San Francisco cyclists get their first raised cycle track. And needless to say, want more.

Even though the investigation is officially ongoing, the CHP is quick to blame the victim in a fatal bike wreck when the driver is a Superior Court judge.

 

National

Even in Missoula MT, the transportation planning manager understands that crashes aren’t accidents.

The newly formed Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition calls for safer roads; they urge an end to referring to crashes as accidents, as well.

New York’s Mayor De Blasio recommits to Vision Zero, noting that speed limits have been lowered to 25 mph, and 130 streets have been redesigned to improve safety. We’ve got a long way to go to catch up, and lawsuits trying to block LA’s Vision Zero-based Mobility Plan don’t help.

 

International

Clearly, winter cycling means something entirely different for riders in the Great White North than it does here in LA.

A British man rode 5,334 miles around the coast of England and Wales to raise money for a children’s hospice.

The BBC looks at the year’s most beautiful bicycles in 10 separate categories. Not one of which is a hi-tech carbon road bike.

Eurostar backs off on a requirement that cyclists dismantle their bikes before using the London-to-Paris train beneath the English Channel.

A planned Copenhagen bike bridge will carry riders and pedestrians more than 200 feet over the harbor.

Russians are becoming more physically active, including loosely organized rides called pokatushki, similar to LA’s own Midnight Ridazz.

Add this one to your bucket list. A new 37 mile dirt bike trail circles the Thimphu Valley in Bhutan.

Over 10,000 Philippine cyclists took to the streets of Manila to support bicycling as alternative transportation and support the coming climate talks in Paris.

A Thai bike shop serves food and drinks for potential customers. Although the name of the shop seems better suited for Colorado or Washington.

Over 3,000 people attend a Taiwanese bicycling festival at Sun Moon Lake, with riders from 13 foreign countries, including the US; CNN declared the trail around the lake one of the world’s 10 Breathtaking Cycling Routes.

 

Finally…

If you’re feeling particularly fierce, how about a women’s bike inspired by The Hunger Games? Caught on video: a baby buggy attaches to a bike to form a sidecar, although the baby in it would be in his or her 60s by now; thanks to Michael Eisenberg for the heads-up.

And who needs a golf cart when you can ride a bike?

 

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

Morning Links: Calbike ranks LA area state legislators, and no charges in the Texas death of a San Diego cyclist

November 4, 2015 / / 4 comments

Great chart from Calbike showing the voting records of LA area legislators on bicycle issues in the recent legislative session.

I’m pleased to see my Assembly Member has a 100% rating.

……….

Sad news from Texas, as a San Diego man on a cross-country ride to bring awareness to homeless vets was killed in a collision last week.

Stephen Michael Clift was riding eastbound on I-40 near Groom, Texas, when he was rear-ended by a driver who admitted looking away and never seeing Clift’s bike before he ran him down.

Apparently, that’s a good enough excuse for drivers in the Lone Star State, since police announced he won’t face charges. Evidently Texas drivers have no responsibility to pay attention while operating multi-ton machines, let alone avoid killing innocent people.

The former participant in the Occupy movement had reportedly given up everything he owned to take part in the March Across America for Homeless Veterans bike tour.

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Local

A video from Metro flies viewers through the plans for an improved Union Station, including a bikeshare station scheduled for next year, and a new Bike Hub due in two years.

CiclaValley details the first part of his journey from LA to San Diego by bike for the recent Calbike Bicycle Summit.

The Santa Monica Spoke offers details on the official launch of the Breeze bikeshare program a week from tomorrow in front of SaMo City Hall.

The Long Beach city council considers improving access to the LA River bike path, including a traffic signal opposed by some residents.

Former Long Beachers The Path Less Pedaled are headed back down to SoCal for a visit.

 

State

A student at Fullerton College explains why she is afraid to ride a bike to campus. Although she’s mistaken about one thing; bicyclists are allowed to ride in the full lane on any street where the right lane is too narrow to safely share with a motor vehicle.

San Diego responds to the death of a 15-year old boy by looking into safety improvements on the street, including bike lanes.

The San Diego Union-Tribune offers advice for runners and riders on how to stay safe after dark, including a warning to watch out for wild animals.

Still more news from San Diego, as the suspected bike thief who stabbed a cop trying to stop him pleads not guilty to four counts, including attempted murder of a police officer.

Sad news from Palo Alto, as well, as a bike rider was killed while riding on a popular bike route Tuesday morning.

The mother of a fallen San Francisco cyclist calls for safer streets in the wake of his death; police say he was thrown into the path of a bus after his bike got caught in streetcar tracks.

Napa County gets its first green bike lanes in St. Helena.

A Napa bicyclist suffered serious injuries after she allegedly went through a stop sign and was hit by a car. Once again, reports that she actually blew the stop should be taken with a grain of salt unless it can be confirmed by independent witnesses.

 

National

The Daily Beast looks at what it call the inevitable event when a self-driving car kills someone on a bike.

The next time you need a royalty-free photo of someone riding in a bike lane, People for Bikes has you covered.

Since Washington state legalized marijuana use, the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes with THC in their systems has nearly doubled.

Gizmodo explains how a former video game designer helped create Salt Lake City’s first-in-the-nation protected intersection.

An Aspen CO man is arrested for DUI twice in just three hours.

The cyclist killed in the Colorado Springs Halloween Day shooting spree was an Iraq veteran and a father of two. Sadly, it might have been prevented; a woman called police to report a disturbed-looking man walking down the street with an assault rifle prior to the shooting, only to be told they couldn’t do anything because the city has an open carry law.

Now that’s taking traffic crime seriously. A Michigan woman will spend the next 25 to 50 years behind bars for the DUI hit-and-run death of an eight-year old boy while he was riding his bike; she had heroin, cocaine and Xanax in her system at the time of the crash.

The Orlando paper offers a reminder not to buy a big box store bicycle-shaped object for the holidays, and suggests getting a clearance bike from your local bike shop for close to the same price instead.

 

International

Unbelievable. Not one day behind bars for a Vancouver cop convicted of punching a bicyclist in the head — while handcuffing him for running a red light. He also gets to keep his job, although he does have to pay a whopping $100 restitution.

Evidently, Edmonton’s bike corrals have to hibernate for the winter.

The Guardian looks askance at the crowdfunded proposal to build a floating bikeway through the heart of London on the Thames River. The people behind pseudo-visionary projects like this miss the point; one of the joys of bicycling is the ability to immerse yourself in the city and go wherever you want, rather than be totally isolated from it. Although it might be fun to ride on the famed river once or twice.

Scottish police are looking for a cyclist who pushed a 72-year old bike rider off his bike and punched him repeatedly while riding on a bike path. Sad to see the road rage that has become far too common among motorists spreading to the bike world.

PRI looks deeper into why some refugees are riding bikes across the border between Russia and Norway.

Olso, Norway is investing the equivalent of half a billion dollars in bicycle infrastructure.

A Turkish cyclist explains why he’s traveling the world by bicycle; he hopes to finish his journey by 2020.

 

Finally…

If you swerve your truck to crash into your bike-riding friend because he took it the night before and owes you money, you’re probably not really friends. Evidently, an e-bike has to look cool before commuters will use it.

And TV’s Supergirl not only rides a bike, she has one tattooed on her ankle. Like they couldn’t have found a photo of it?

………

Come back later this morning, when we’ll have a great guest post from LA BAC member Jonathan Weiss explaining your rights to ride two or more abreast in California, reposted from the Velo Club La Grange newsletter.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: The Cannibal comes to Culver City, San Fran debates stop signs, and ride the coast with Calbike

October 1, 2015 / / 2 comments

Los Angeles is getting another bike-friendly restaurant.

Following in the footsteps — or pedal strokes, perhaps — of Pedalers Fork in Calabasas and Frogtown’s Spoke Bicycle Café, New York-based The Cannibal is opening a West Coast outpost in Culver City.

According to the LA Times, bike racing co-owner Christian Pappanicholas promises a meat-forward beer and butcher-focused menu, as well as rice-based energy bars and musette bags for riders on the go.

There’s even a bike valet. And if you show up in your full riding kit, your second beer is free.

So expect to see a few wobbly spandex-clad riders making their way past Sony Studios.

Although we may have to talk to him about showing people who ride in street clothes a little love, too.

And the name is not a not to Hannibal Lector or the Donner Party, but rather, a reference to the great Eddy Merckx .

………

The debate goes on over bikes vs stop signs in Bagdad by the Bay.

A columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle says no one understands the city’s proposed Idaho stop ordinance. Including him, apparently, since it would require riders to observe the right-of-way and only go through a stop when it’s safe to do so.

According to Streetsblog SF, San Francisco police have a bias against bike riders, including a demonstrated lack of knowledge regarding bike laws. Few cops ever get more than a cursory introduction to the laws governing bicyclists.

And Bicycling takes up the question of whether or not to stop, ending with the most important rule — don’t be a dick.

Which seems to be what Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius was trying to say, as well.

………

Filmmakers are invited to participate in the Urbanism Filmmaking Challenge, where you’ll be paired with a noted urban designer, planner or architect to make a two-to-five minute film, with the possibility of a $300 prize.

………

Registration has been extended to tomorrow for Calbike’s fundraising ride along the coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego, according to an email from the California Bicycle Coalition’s Debbie Brubaker.

I just wanted to let you know that we decided to extend the registration deadline for the California Dream Ride to this Friday. The ride is going to be a lot of fun — I hope you can join us! We’ll be riding for 5 days along gorgeous bikeways from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and we’ll have several fun parties along the way: a Halloween party, a happy hour in Santa Monica, a special lunch with the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, and a cool auction and party at MADE in Long Beach (a maker space).

The ride runs five days, from October 30th to November 4th, and promises “comfortable hotels, great food, fun people, and a behind-the-scenes look into the world of bicycle advocacy.”

You might want to pack your Halloween costume. Unless, like many of us, you look scary enough in spandex.

………

Peloton Magazine says Peter Sagan is a new-style champion with old-style panache.

The route for next year’s Giro d’Italia was leaked online in advance Monday’s official announcement.

Maybe it’s good news, as the owners of Colorado’s USA Pro Challenge pull out after years of financial losses, enabling the state to seek more varied and stable investors. Although if new ownership doesn’t emerge, it could mean the end of the popular race. Maybe the Amgen Tour of California can step in and create a two week Colorado to California grand tour. We can dream, right?

And a Belgian prosecutor plans to go after pro cyclists Alexandre Vinokourov and Alexandr Kolobnev after Kolobnev allegedly threw the 2010 Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic in favor of his fellow Russian for a $167,000 payoff.

………

Local

Caught on video: The frustration of angry drivers cutting through side streets surrounding the Rowena road diet boils over. But does that mean the problem is with the road diet, or a lack of traffic mitigation in the surrounding are?

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton talks bikeshare, bike safety and Idaho stop laws with KCRW’s Madeline Brand and WeHo Mayor Lindsey Horvath.

Free bike pumps will be installed by the USC student government around the traditionally bike-unfriendly university.

A new Cypress Park bike courier service promises to deliver food, flowers, artwork and more; delivery within a two-mile radius costs just five bucks.

The rebuilt California Incline is on track for completion next spring, including a separated bike lane and sidewalk leading to and from the beach.

October’s edition of the LACBC’s Sunday Funday Ride rolls 22 miles through Pasadena on the 4th.

 

State

Three-hundred kids got free helmets and bike safety training at a pair of OC bike rodeos.

Sad news from San Luis Obispo, as a bike rider was killed in a collision with a pickup Wednesday afternoon.

A problematic Los Altos intersection gets a new intelligent traffic signal that promises to recognize bicycles and treat them like any other vehicle. Which makes it smarter than most drivers and public officials.

San Francisco police are looking for a Caddy driver who gave a cyclist an unwanted hood ride when he tried to take a photo of the car’s license after it sideswiped him; naturally, police stress that there may be another side to the story.

Cyclelicious explains how police got it wrong in that time trial death in Yolo County, going out of their way to find a new way to blame the bike-riding victim.

Lakeport police arrested the 28-year old driver who fled the scene after seriously injuring two bike riders, as well as booking his mother as an accessory. The family that flees together stays together, albeit behind bars.

 

National

A new report raises red flags over drug-impaired driving as a result of the legalization, or near legalization, of marijuana in 23 states, including California. Although in most cases, it doesn’t seem to be a problem unless it’s combined with other drugs or alcohol.

A new Indiegogo project promises to take the popular MonkeyLectric wheel lights a step further with 376 full color LED lights forming patterns while you ride; lights for one wheel will set you back $99.

Seriously? A Portland man was driving carelessly, had no insurance and violated a cyclist’s right-of-way in the collision that cost a rider his leg earlier this year. But won’t face charges because prosecutors can’t prove he did it on purpose.

A Seattle area man discovers his stolen bike being sold on eBay by a 70-year old Idaho domestic violence victim associated with a known bike thief. Police are trying to help him get it back.

Even though people in the Southwest are driving less and using transit more, transportation spending continues to follow the same old auto-centric patterns.

Smart idea. Phoenix places new signs warning salmon cyclists to ride with traffic on the back of existing street signs.

Denver’s Westword provides an in-depth look at Boulder’s decision to scrap a road diet and protected bike lanes, even though it was proven successful through the first eight weeks.

Grand Rapids MI just passed it’s own five — yes, five — foot passing law.

Yet another bighearted cop digs into his own pocket to buy a little girl a new bike after hers was stolen, this time in Indiana.

 

International

England announces what may be the first national e-bike bikeshare system to entice people who don’t normally ride or who live in hilly areas; a Brit paper says any kind of bicycling should be encouraged. Agreed.

Interesting debate at the Guardian, as one writer says plans for bikeways must reach beyond “two-wheel boy racers in Wiggo kits,” while another says we should leave class out of discussions of bicycling. One of the great things about bicycling is it’s very democratic; anyone can ride a bike, and we should consider all riders when making plans and improvements.

Two of the first black African riders to compete in the Tour de France discuss efforts to transform Africa by using bikes to provide better access to education.

 

Finally…

It may be a tad late, but it’s still pretty impressive when Al Roker — or at least his bike — gives Steve Isaacs’ Sweet Ride a shout out. Don’t threaten a pair of women walking on a trail, let alone return to hit one with your bike.

And oh, the places you’ll go! as a man discovers his foldie can take him more places than he thought.

With apologies to Dr. Seuss, of course.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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