Tag Archive for cicLAvia

A call to keep drivers out of SaMo bike lanes, drop in CA traffic deaths, and today-only deal on select CicLAvia merch

August 25, 2023 / / Comments Off on A call to keep drivers out of SaMo bike lanes, drop in CA traffic deaths, and today-only deal on select CicLAvia merch

When is a bike lane not a bike lane?

When it becomes a parking lot. Or a traffic lane for motor vehicles.

A coalition of bike and safety advocacy groups has written an open letter to Santa Monica leaders praising their work building safer bikeways, but complaining about daily intrusions from motorists that put bike riders at needless risk.

To:  Santa Monica City Council, Santa Monica Planning Commission, City Manager David White, Mobility Manager Jason Kligier, Director of Public Works Rick Valte,  

Subject: Protecting our bikeways from motor vehicle incursions

Dear Council Members and City Leaders:

Santa Monica has become an exemplar of far-sighted bikeway design and implementation in our region.  Recent innovations seen on Ocean Ave. and 17th St. have raised the bar for creating protected bike facilities that provide the safety and comfort to allow many more people to bike for their everyday mobility. Additional protected bikeways planned in Santa Monica’s Bicycle Action Plan will bring us ever closer to realizing a citywide bikeway network that will be a game-changer for mobility, traffic reduction and meeting our Vision Zero and climate goals.   

Unfortunately, some motorists are undermining the benefits of recently-installed protected bike lanes (and standard, striped bike lanes) by parking in them and sometimes even driving in them. This behavior is photo-documented almost daily in social media posts (see examples: https://youtu.be/yYtqlHnEVVM). 

 

When motor vehicles block these lanes it forces cyclists to divert into traffic lanes, sabotaging the safety and utility of these facilities, spoiling their potential to provide safe, equitable mobility choices for greater numbers of people.  Further, when cyclists need to divert around vehicles blocking bikeways, this induces unsafe cycling behavior that might expose the city to liability as a result of negligence in maintaining proper bikeway access.

Therefore we, the undersigned organizations strongly urge the city to take steps to address this epidemic of bikeway incursions.  There appear to be several strategies that could be explored:

– Physical barriers where they are safe and appropriate to prevent or discourage drivers from entering bikeways, such as bollards at entrance points, concrete separators and modular curb elements (like seen on Broadway).

– Additional signage and pavement markings to make it blatantly clear that bikeways are off limits to cars at all times.

– Signs that stipulate substantial fines for violations.

– Enforcement by parking and traffic officers, especially where vehicles park on the sidewalk or driveway aprons. But as a general rule, officer enforcement is sporadic and therefore less effective than physical elements. 

– Perhaps photo enforcement, using something like the Automotus camera technology recently deployed in the Zero Emission Delivery Zone program.  

– A literature search to explore best practices being used by other municipalities.

Clearly, physical barriers that prevent motor vehicle incursions 24-7 without the need for enforcement personnel is the superior and likely most cost-effective choice.  And it makes sense to implement effective solutions to this problem before new bikeways are installed, so that this problem is not perpetuated and to save from having to make costly retrofits.  

Please direct staff to find effective solutions to this vexing problem so that we can fully realize the many benefits of our growing bikeway network, especially public safety, and prevent this critical investment from being compromised.

Thank you,

Kent Strumpell, Laurene von Klan, Co-chairs Climate Action Santa Monica  https://climateactionsantamonica.org/

Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance  https://samosafestreets.org/

Santa Monica Spoke  https://www.smspoke.org/

Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets  https://www.santamonicafamilies.org/

Streets For All  https://www.streetsforall.org/

BikeLA (formerly Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition)  https://www.la-bike.org/

Santa Monica Forward  https://www.santamonicaforward.org/

Let’s hope they listen. And do something about it.

Video by Caro Vilain.

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The National Safety Council is out with preliminary stats on traffic deaths for the first six months of the year, showing a slight decline nationwide.

California is one of nine states where traffic fatalities decreased more than 15% compared to last year, with a 17% drop. Maine showed the greatest improvement, with a 48% decrease.

Nine states and the District of Columbia increased more than 10%, led by Rhode Island with a horrifying 164% increase.

Meanwhile, new research examines a public health approach to road safety, considering transportation engineers as part of the public health workforce, while arguing that they should emphasize strategies that reduce risk for greater proportions of the population.

Then again, if we can’t even get the country to agree that a deadly worldwide pandemic was a public health issue, I wouldn’t hold you breathe on finding any agreement on ending traffic violence.

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CicLAvia is offering a special deal today only on the unsold t-shirts and buttons from last weekend’s cancelled Koreatown Meets Hollywood event.

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There is nothing in California even close to this, despite having the perfect environment for lengthy bikeways.

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Local 

Bicycle centric Pedaler’s Fork restaurant in Calabasas is hosting Femmes en Motion, a “film & photo gallery honoring seven prolific female photographers at the forefront of capturing women’s professional cycling.”

 

State

San Francisco Streetsblog asks why unpaid advocates can install safety infrastructure faster than the city, concluding it’s a question of leadership. Actually, they can move faster because they are unpaid advocates, with no rules to follow and no one to answer to.

A Marin op-ed argues that officials need to learn the difference between ped-assist and throttle-controlled ebikes, with kids allowed to ride the latter everywhere, while adults on a former are banned from local fire roads. I agree. We need stricter regulation of throttle-controlled ebikes, without restricting ped-assist bikes. 

A Sacramento TV station recommends pedaling to bike-friendly Davis, aka Bike City USA, to visit the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.

 

National

The Consumer Products Safety Commission is recalling Ecnup all-purpose kid’s bike helmets sold only on Amazon for failing to meet minimum safety standards.

Cycling Weekly recommends the year’s best pannier racks and bags, while Bike Rumor rates the best road bike pedals.

Schwinn scion Richard Schwinn reflects on his family’s legendary history in the bike business after shutting down his Wisconsin-based Waterford Precision Cycles; the family lost their eponymous company in bankruptcy court back in the ’90s.

A Pittsburgh company is producing an AI-powered bicycle taillight that watches for motor vehicles coming from behind you, and calculates whether they pose a risk.

Bike riders in Somerville, Massachusetts, are calling a police crackdown on bicyclists riding through red lights misguided, arguing police resources could be better spent on other matters — and at least one city councilmember agrees.

Security cam video captured a frightening Staten Island hit-and-run crash, where a 22-year old man riding a bike was nearly run over by a 26-year old woman, who briefly got out of her car before fleeing the scene.

This is who we share the road with. A New York motorcyclist is dead after a plain clothes cop threw a loaded ice chest at him as he fled from a drug bust, knocking him off balance and into a metal barricade.

There’s a special place in hell for a New Jersey man who was arrested for trafficking in kiddie porn, two years after he was busted for a failed attempt to ride his bike up to a woman dining at an outdoor table and steal her wallet.

 

International

Writing for The Conversation, a group of European researchers and professors examine how social movements are leading to the return of child-friendly urban spaces.

London bicyclists complain about a new bike lane that ends suddenly, dumping riders into bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Scottish drivers who kill bike riders or pedestrians will now be subject to tougher sentences, with the death of a vulnerable road user considered an “aggravating factor,” along with additional penalties if the death resulted from aggressive driving, such as tailgating.

A British woman just completed an epic ride around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland despite battling Multiple Sclerosis, while raising thousands of pounds to fight the disease.

An Irish coroner warns about the dangers of combining ebikes and booze.

Momentum talks with Rebecca Lowe, author of The Slow Road to Tehran, about her meandering solo bike ride from her home in the UK to the capital of Iran.

 

Competitive Cycling

Remco Evenepoel will begin his title defense as the Vuelta kicks off tomorrow, going up against the Jumbo-Visma juggernaut of two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard and thee-time Vuelta champ Primoz Roglic.

Nineteen-year old Brit Joshua Tarling became the youngest cyclist to win a WorldTour race, capturing the time trial in the 115th running of the Renewi Tour, nee Eneco Tour, then the BinckBank Tour.

USA Cycling is investigating a crash involving L39ion of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams and AUTOMATIC Racing’s Thomas Gibbons in a Denver crit earlier this month, when Williams appeared to deviate from his line on a curve; Gibbons was investigated for appearing to cause a 2019 crash, while Williams was suspended last year following a fight with another cyclist.

Forget the Vuelta, the real action action takes place in Copenhagen, where the “historic and hilarious” annual Svajerløbet street cargo bike races will roll this weekend.

More on 22-year old Welsh transgender cyclist Emily Bridges vow to fight the UK’s ban on trans athletes competing in women’s cycling “in the courts and on the streets,” while some advocates for women’s sports complain there are “thousands of fabulous athletes Vogue could have chosen” to represent women athletes instead of Bridges.

 

Finally…

Why tour with a tent when you can tow your own cabin. You shouldn’t have to be told to treat other bike riders with courtesy and respect.

And they may have SUVs, but we have saxophones.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

CicLAvia throws a hurricane party Sunday, and Finish the Ride calls for support for South Pasadena pilot bike lane

August 18, 2023 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia throws a hurricane party Sunday, and Finish the Ride calls for support for South Pasadena pilot bike lane

Let’s start with a correction.

I don’t know what the hell I was thinking yesterday when I said CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown a week from Sunday.

It’s this Sunday, of course.

The Koreatown Meets Hollywood CicLAvia follows a portion of the route first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood CicLAvia celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

Maybe someone should buy me a calendar. Or better yet, teach me how to use one.

Thanks to Joe Linton for the correction. 

Update: Sunday’s CicLAvia has been canceled due to the hurricane.

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It looks like we’re going to luck out, and get Sunday’s CicLAvia in before Los Angeles gets hit with the remnants of the Cat 4 Hurricane Hillary now moving through the Pacific.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm should roll in late Sunday, bringing possible rain and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.

We don’t get a lot of hurricanes here in Los Angeles; news reports yesterday said this would be just the third one in LA history.

However, the tradition in Louisiana is to throw a raging hurricane party when a hurricane approaches, because as Jimmy Buffet put it, if you’re going to get blown away, you might as well get blown away.

And as it just so happens, we have a party already scheduled for Hollywood and Koreatown on Sunday before it gets here.

You know what to do.

Let’s all turn out, and make this one a CicLAvia for the ages.

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Finish the Ride is calling for your support for a pilot bike lane in South Pasadena, in the face of the seemingly inevitable NIMBY opposition.

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Speaking of Finish the Ride, the group is gearing up for their annual Halloween event in Santa Clarita in just over two months.

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Bike Walk Glendale is hosting a walk through the city tomorrow, followed by an advocacy workshop on Wednesday.

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Gravel Bike California celebrates the annual Tour de Big Bear, calling it “perfectly timed and extremely well-organized” and complementing “a fantastic course which is hard to imagine being so close to LA.”

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More proof that a bike is your best way to get around before, during or after a disaster.

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The Bike League is less than $26,000 away from their relatively modest $50,000 fundraising goal, which will turn into a cool hundred grand if they make it.

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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 writer for Britain’s conservative The Spectator warns about the dangers of cargo bikes, calling them hell for motorists “piloted either by smug yet very stressed parents or by delivery hipsters with ironic facial hair, retro clothing, flexible sexuality and a heavily-worn social conscience.” And yes, he claims to be a bike rider himself — a “member of the Lycra lancers” — which is always a red flag. 

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

A North Carolina bike rider had to be airlifted to a hospital after colliding with another bike rider traveling in the same direction, knocking each other out.

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Local 

A British expat living in LA’s Westchester neighborhood takes a century ride to get some fish and chips in Port Hueneme.

The Greening America’s Cities initiative of the Bezos Earth Fund will address heat-related social inequity in the LA area by providing $3.5 million to fund a greenbelt and a biking and walking path along the Pacoima Wash, replacing the existing concrete embankment with a less heat-absorbent surface.

 

State

A guest commentary from Cal Matters refutes the argument that adding speed cams to California cities will target people of color, but will protect them, instead.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department says thieves are targeting ebikes in North County cities, as riders run into Target or Walmart stores without locking their bikes. Which is yet another reminder to always lock your bike everywhere, unless you take it with you.

A 51-year old bike rider suffered serious, but non-life threatening, injuries when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver in La Mesa, who got out of his pickup following the crash, but drove away before police arrived.

Bad news from Fresno, where a 50-year old man was critically injured when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in a crosswalk, reportedly against the light. As always, who was actually at fault depends on whether there were any independent witnesses who saw the crash, other than the driver who hit him.

Oakland underground cartoonist and muralist Fred Noland is one of us, as the Black artist prepares to release a 250-page biographical comic about the legendary Major Taylor.

More bad news, this time from Sacramento, where a man riding a bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver early Thursday morning.

 

National

Legendary union leader and American socialist Eugene Debs was one of us. Because of course he was.

Outside offers advice on how to avoid being taken in by greenwashing.

Sports Illustrated rates the best rear racks for every kind of bike.

Seattle readers report having a love/fear relationship with biking in the city. Which pretty much goes for bike riders anywhere in America.

Trek donated a quarter of a million dollars to restart expansion plans for a bike park in Idaho Springs, west of Denver.

An inspector with a Connecticut state attorney’s office — the equivalent of a district attorney — faces charges for hitting a 17-year old bike rider after failing to come to a full stop at a red light, and leaving the scene afterwards — twice.

Life is cheap in Staten Island, where a 35-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for killing a 52-year old man riding a bicycle, despite originally being charged with criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.

Streetsblog complains there’s too much green on Brooklyn greenways, as the New York borough neglects overgrown weeds lining the bike paths.

New York is banning ebikes and scooters that haven’t been certified for safety starting next month, in the wake of a rash of deadly ebike battery fires.

A Florida state trooper explains who has the right-of-way when a driver is making a right turn across a bike lane and a bike rider is going straight. And surprisingly, gets it right.

 

International

Momentum considers the best cities around the world to fall in love with bicycling all over again. None of which is Los Angeles. Or anywhere else in Southern California, for that matter.

Road.cc offers “essential” money-saving tips to keep riding without breaking the bank.

Following the lead of competitive cycling, the world’s top chess federation has ruled that trans women can’t compete in women’s chess events, apparently concluding that their birth sex somehow gives them a unfair advantage in the Sicilian Defense.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old Winnipeg, Manitoba man rode his bike over 1,800 miles to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.

In a pleasant change, a spokesperson for a British bicycling group says Belfast, Northern Ireland, businesses are firmly behind calls for less car parking and more emphasis on active travel.

An Irish columnist says the country’s police and Road Safety Authority don’t have the resources to keep bicyclists safe.

Cyclist takes a rare route up France’s legendary Mont Ventoux.

In what could be an intriguing matchup, the electric scooter unit of British Formula One engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied is reportedly in advanced talks to buy bankrupt Dutch ebike maker VanMoof.

China Daily reports the bike business is booming in the Middle Kingdom.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo says this could be the best start list ever for the Vuelta, with the reigning champs of all three grand tours set to clash at the Spanish grand tour.

The one-day Maryland Cycling Classic is now America’s top race, with a “star-studded preliminary roster” featuring leading American cyclists and Tour de France stage winners.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a paracycling champ without arms wins a pair of high-end watches. Or when you lose your KOM — or QOM — to a Dutch cycling champ.

And why that bike crash was definitely your fault.

No matter how it happened.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Fountain & SaMo bike lanes back in WeHo, K’town to H’wood CicLAvia, and new Adventure Cycling LA short routes

August 17, 2023 / / 2 comments

There may be hope yet in WeHo.

Nine months after proposals for new and enhanced bike lanes on Fountain Ave and Santa Monica Blvd were nearly derailed over concerns about increased traffic and lost parking spaces, WeHoVille reports they will be back before the West Hollywood city council next week.

According to the paper, the Fountain Ave proposal is planned for two phases.

The first phase of the study, known as Phase 1 PS&E (Planning, Specifications, and Estimates), focuses on the design of protected bike lanes, with specific plans to reduce travel lanes from four to two and remove approximately 150 on-street parking spaces on the north side of Fountain Avenue. This phase includes an 11-month timeline, with an expected conclusion in July 2024. The construction phase is anticipated to begin in early 2025, taking another 4-6 months. The preliminary construction cost for Phase 1 is estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million…

As the study progresses to Phase 2, the focus shifts to the permanent installation of protected bike lanes and the redesign of sidewalks along Fountain Avenue. The timeline for Phase 2 spans 16 months, starting in January 2024, with potential construction beginning in Q1 or Q2 of 2026. The construction of Phase 2 is estimated to be between $30 million and $35 million.

Meanwhile, the council directed the city to study the feasibility of upgrading the existing painted bike lanes on the western portion of Santa Monica Blvd to protected bike lanes.

City staff were also told to conduct a block-by-block analysis of the feasibility of installing painted bike lanes on the narrower eastern segment of the boulevard, which would likely involve narrowing traffic lanes and the removal of parking spaces.

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CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown this Sunday with a return of the Koreatown Meets Hollywood route, first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood route celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

According to a press release from CicLAvia,

On Sunday, August 20; between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., CicLAvia – Koreatown meets Hollywood, presented by Metro, and in partnership with LADOT, welcomes everyone of all ages and abilities to its 47th car-free open streets event connecting Hollywood and Koreatown along Vine St, Melrose Ave, Western Ave, and Wilshire Blvd, for participants to jog, ride, bike, skate, run, walk, skateboard, spectate, play, to enjoy the 5-mile route. Always free, CicLAvia participants just show up anywhere along the route at any time to enjoy the open streets and to take the time to explore two of L.A.’s iconic communities. Participants are encouraged to take Metro.

There are many local gems, activities, and businesses to check out near and along the route – discover them through CicLAvia’s new Interactive Digital Map. Hubs have family-friendly activities, restrooms, free water refilling stations, free basic bike repair, bike parking, and first aid. In addition, free pedicab rides, sponsored by AARP, are available at each information booth. Activities along the route can be found here.

A press conference kicking off the event will be held starting at 8:30 am on Sunday, August 20th, at 1750 Vine Street, at the Hollywood Hub next to Capitol Records.

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Adventure Cycling announced the launch of their Short Routes Program, featuring shorter bike touring routes designed to break down barriers accessibility and make bike travel more approachable, regardless of experience level or how much time someone has available.

The program launches with routes starting from Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Austin and Seattle.

Anyone can submit a route in the US that a beginner can bike in two to five days, with approximately 20-50 miles of riding each day.

According to the group, there are three short routes currently available in the Los Angeles area:

Carpinteria to Refugio

Created by tour leader, Johnny Lam, this route has camping available at both ends, in Carpinteria — where riders can easily get to by Amtrak or car with many amenities including a great coffee shop and various restaurants — and Refugio, where the hiker biker site is given the best plot of land looking over a beach and the Pacific Ocean.

LA to Catalina Island

Created by local transportation planner Danielle Parnes, this is a fun bikepacking trip full of beautiful beaches, mountains, and wildlife. It’s relatively easy to get to from L.A. via a ferry departing near Long Beach but feels like a faraway destination. Campsites on this route are only accessible by hiking or biking, making for calm, quiet evenings, and the dirt roads have few cars.

Santa Monicas Overnight

Also created by Danielle Parnes, the Santa Monicas Overnight route leaves from West LA and goes up fire roads into the Santa Monica Mountains, camping in Topanga State Park, and then down to the beach, with a mix of city, desert mountains, and ocean views and swims. This route starts and ends at Expo line light rail stations in West LA, for easy access from downtown or other parts of the city.

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Streets For All announced a call to remove the three-mile 90 Freeway in Marina del Rey, converting the remaining stub of the otherwise unbuilt highway into a linear park.

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Good point.

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Remember these tables from a tweet by traffic planner and co-host of The Planning Commission Podcast Don Kostelec the next time someone complains about the great ebike menace.

And remind them what the real danger is.

 

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Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić one of us, riding his bike to a horse track in his native Serbia.

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

A British news producer was slammed for comments comparing 20 mph speed limits for motorists to bicyclists using training wheels, while sarcastically suggesting that maybe cars should have giant beanbags attached to them, as well. Actually, I might be in favor of that one.

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

A man carrying a cross somehow managed to ride his bicycle through burned-out Lahaina, Hawaii, despite being closed to the public after the town was destroyed by a wildfire last week.

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Local 

An op-ed from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider calls for banning cars from streets around schools, which would greatly improve safety for kids, and everyone else.

The Los Angeles Times considers the benefits and challenges of living carfree in the City of Cars, uh, Angels.

The Eastsider reports a final design has been chosen for the 12-acre Paseo del Rio greenway being created on the former Taylor Yard railroad property next to the LA River.

 

State

Sad news from Ridgecrest, where a 48-year old man was killed when he apparently struck the center median with his ebike; police suspect he was riding under the influence.

This is who we share the road with. A 71-year old woman was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and failing to yield to pedestrians after killing a four-year old girl crossing a San Francisco street with her parents, and critically injuring her father. But at least she stayed at the scene, so there’s that.

The partner of fallen San Francisco cyclist David Sexton is still looking for answers, over a month after he was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the East Bay city of Richmond. A tragic reminder that most California hit-and-runs are never solved. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. According to the LA Times, 20 bears have been killed by motorists in Lake Tahoe, and nearly as many seriously injured.

 

National

NACTO calls out six things to look for in the forthcoming revision of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, which sets the standard for traffic control laws and devices in the US, including elimination of the deadly 85th Percentile Rule.

The bike industry is rallying around a pair of bike shops destroyed in the Lahaina wildfire.

An Albuquerque NM man faces a murder charge for allegedly stabbing another man 15 times in a dispute over a stolen bike.

My Colorado hometown newspaper examines the causes of bike and pedestrian crashes in the platinum level bicycle-friendly community, as bicycling collisions trend downward, but remain the most common crashes affecting vulnerable road users — including another one injured by an SUV driver just two days ago.

No surprise here, as the website for Colorado’s new ebike rebate program crashed due to overwhelming demand. Meanwhile, California’s program still suffers from failure to launch.

Four years after Cape Cod voters rejected plans to extend a 25.5-mile bikeway, there are still no options to replace the proposal.

Bizarre tragedy in Mississippi, where a 64-year old man was killed when a trailer being towed by a pickup broke loose and fell off an Interstate Highway flyover, striking the man as he rode his bike on the shoulder of a another freeway down below.

De Soto County in central Florida is the deadliest county for bicyclists in the nation’s deadliest state.

 

International

Ouch. A new international report finds that senior leadership within the bike industry remains overwhelmingly white, male and heterosexual, and that efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion were described as “tokenistic and shallow” at best, while revealing “cultures of harassment and unfair treatment.”

A Scottish man is called the “unluckiest cyclist in Scotland” when he was run down by a driver for the third time in two years, but at least this driver stopped, unlike the first two. Although considering he survived all three, I’d call him pretty damn lucky.

Missing Iranian cyclist Mohammad Ganjkhanlou has reportedly been granted asylum in the UK, a week after he disappeared following the world championships, where he placed 66th in the time trial.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the nascent National Cycling League, and says there may be hope for its fan-first format.

I want to be like them when I grow up. A pair of 81 and 79-year old men will complete in Maine’s Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, 50 years after competing in the inaugural race up the tallest mountain in the Northwest. Meanwhile, a man who’s suffered from Parkinson’s disease for nearly five decades will once again compete in the annual race, after finishing the difficult climb in just under one hour and twelve minutes last year.

Former Syracuse basketball player Terrence Roberts suffered three broken ribs and a collapsed lung after crashing with another bicyclist on a June training ride, just three days after the 6’10” former forward completed in his first crit with LA’s Major Motion Cycling team.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the 122-year old, first-ever motorized bicycle prototype goes on display, even if it is a replica. How to tell when a roadie rides a mountain bike.

And how cars took over American streets, explained.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Explore the Venice Corridor with LADOT and CicLAvia Sunday, and East Side Riders expands to Huntington Park

July 21, 2023 / / Comments Off on Explore the Venice Corridor with LADOT and CicLAvia Sunday, and East Side Riders expands to Huntington Park

CicLAvia offers more details on Sunday’s event to celebrate and explore the new dedicated bus lanes and protected bike lane extensions on Venice Blvd.

And since I’m worn out after a too long, too hard and too busy week, I’ll let them tell you about it.

WHAT:

On Sunday, July 23, from 2-6 p.m., Venice Boulevard: Explore the Corridor presented by Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) and powered by CicLAvia, celebrates the recent transportation safety improvements along Venice Boulevard.

This free public event will feature a series of guided group bike rides and walks along the new protected bike lanes and safety features on Venice Boulevard, between National and Sepulveda, as well as routes through the surrounding neighborhoods. Venice Boulevard will remain open to cars, and we encourage participants to explore the area safely. Bicycles, roller skates, skateboards, scooters, strollers, walkers, and runners are all welcome.

WHERE:

There will be a Hub at Venice and Bagley (9390 Venice Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232) with music, street games and other activities for all ages and abilities.

WHEN:

Sunday, July 23, 2023; 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Illustration shows the new Venice Blvd bus/bike corridor. 

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The Watts-based East Side Riders Bike Club made a handful of announcements, starting with news of a second location in Huntington Park serving the Southeast LA communities.

Huntington Park Community News.

We recently secured a location in the city of Huntington Park to help is serve the Southeast (SELA) communities.

We’re looking forward to launching our summer Tuesday and Thursday community bike rides, teaching bicycle safety and education and lunching our SELA E-Bike loan program in HP.

Our Friday Night Rides (FNR) and Sunday Rides will now start and finish in Huntington Park.

Friday Night Rides

Every other Friday @ 6:00 pm

Sunday Rides

Weekly at 10:00 am

6013 State Street, Huntington Park CA 90255

The group also issued a Save the Date notice for the Watts Non-Profit Day.

Save The Date!!

Join East Side Riders and you the community as we host our first Nonprofit Day in Watts.

National Nonprofit Day is commemorated on August 17 each year to recognize nonprofit organizations’ ongoing efforts to serve the local community. If you’ve ever volunteered, you’re well aware of the significance of these charitable organizations.

This is a day to bring NPO’s in Watts together along with our elected officials so we can all get to know one another and share resources with the community.

Our Nonprofit Day will be held on

Sunday August 20th, 2023

11:00 am – 4:00 pm

Located on 103rd Street between Success and Compton in Watts.

For more information or to RSVP email Monica Sanchez, monica.sanchez@esrbc.org

 

Finally, the East Side Riders announced their free, all-ages after school activities program.

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Gravel Bike California looks forward to California’s Gravel Event Calendar as the fall / winter season picks up.

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Mountain bike brand Forbidden says quit your job, and ride a bike.

Works for me.

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

The Conservative Party’s candidate for London mayor threatens to undo years of progress for active travel, in sharp contrast with other European mayors; she insists she’s not insists she’s not anti-bike, despite describing bike riders as lawless and dangerous, while calling for mandatory registration for bicyclists, and claiming bike lanes cause congestion. Makes you wonder whether she’d consider anything short of calling for the death and dismemberment of people on two wheels as being anti-bike.

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

A Utah bike rider was captured on live TV lifting his bicycle over a barricade closing a bike trail, after a woman was killed when a tree fell on her during a storm (see story under National news).

There’s a special place in hell for the Pennsylvania man who stole a 15-year old boy’s bicycle, then used it to chase the boy’s teenaged sisters on their bikes, until an adult couple confronted the man.

Police in Singapore are looking for a Caucasian hit-and-run bicyclist who crashed into a woman and her toddler daughter, leaving them both banged up and shaken. Yet another reminder that you have the same obligation to remain after a crash as drivers do, even if too many of them don’t.

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Local 

LA’s experiment with placing cool paint on Pacoima streets is paying off, as the newest surface coatings are reducing ambient temperatures by three degrees throughout the ten-block test area.

 

State

Velo’s Urbanist Update argues that San Raphael state Assemblyman Damon Connolly is wrong when he cites the bike lanes on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for causing pollution, because removing the bike lane would only move the bottleneck to the other end of the bridge. Besides, the real problem is the 80,000 drivers who insist on using it every day, not the people on bikes.

 

National

PeopleForBikes latest bikeability ratings of American cities continues to make waves, as EcoWatch looks at eight of the top-rated cities, including my Colorado hometown.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned people to immediately stop using SQM bicycle helmets because they don’t comply with positional stability and certification requirements, and can fail to protect riders in a crash.

Inmates at a Las Vegas correctional institution are fixing up abandoned bicycles collected from police around Nevada to donate to veterans, kids and the homeless.

For the second time this week, a bike rider had been killed by a falling tree branch, after a 68-year old Utah woman was killed when a tree fell on her as she rode on a bike trail during a thunderstorm.

Chicago Streetsblog calls PeopleForBikes’ low ranking for the city silly, but applauds the push for lower speed limits and a citywide protected bike network.

That’s more like it. A 32-year old Michigan man faces up to 15 years behind bars after he was convicted for the high-speed hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bicycle, while driving at over three times the legal alcohol limit — although prosecutors had asked for a second-degree murder conviction, with a possible life sentence.

Life is cheap in Pennsylvania, where a 39-year old woman got a whole 30 days behind bars for the hit-and-run collision that left a bike-riding man with a broken neck. But at least she’ll have to wear a monitoring anklet for another three months.

A grieving Georgia mother kicked off a traffic safety campaign after her ten-year old son was killed just trying to cross a street on his bike to get home.

 

International

Momentum Magazine offers a beginner’s guide to choosing the right ‘bent.

A writer for Condé Nast Traveler says her favorite Airbnb experience was riding an ebike on a 19-mile trail through Brazil’s Tijuca National Park, in the rainforests outside Rio de Janeiro.

Frightening video from Toronto, where dashcam captured a driver attempting to pass a bike rider on the right before running over him; fortunately, the victim pops back up after the crash. Be sure you really want to see it before you click on the clink, because you can’t unsee the image.

 

Competitive Cycling

Danish cyclist Kasper Asgreen foiled what was supposed to be a sprinter’s stage in yesterday’s stage 18 of the Tour de France, winning the stage with a lengthy four-man breakaway as multiple teams tried to chase them down at the finish.

American Sepp Kuss looks back at his role as a key lieutenant for Tour leader Jonas Vingegaard, saying the team knew what they had to do to break two-time winner Tadej Pogačar on the Col de la Loze.

Pogačar aims to finish the Tour on his terms, as his UAE Team Emirates looks towards two spots on the final podium, even if he’ll be denied a third yellow jersey.

Belgian Wout van Aert has what may be the best excuse for dropping out of the Tour, after leaving to be with his wife for the birth of their second child.

Canadian cyclists will be able to compete under their chosen gender in non-UCI sanctioned events for the rest of this year, after the governing body for bike racing banned trans athletes from competing in women’s races.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can prevent close passes with your very own inflatable spiky bikepack. That feeling when authorities give you a shuttle bus instead of a bike lane.

And when a self-deprecating f-bomb wins you more fans for keeping it real.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

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

Update: Boerner introduces bill to require ebike licenses, ban young riders; and bike rider severely injured in Moreno Vally crash

July 17, 2023 / / One comment

The news isn’t great on the bill to create an ebike licensing program.

Sponsored by 77th District Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, AB 530, which cannibalized an earlier bill, would —

1) Prohibit anyone under 12 from riding any class of ebike.

2) Require a photo ID for anyone over 16 who doesn’t have a valid driver’s license.

3) Existing state law requires that anyone riding a Class 3 ebike, defined as a ped-assist bike capable of speeds up to 28 mph, to wear a bike helmet that meets standards from the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Correction: I originally wrote that the bill would require an ebike license for anyone who doesn’t have a driver’s license.

However, that understanding came from the press release posted below, which says the bill would “Require an online written test and a state-issued photo identification for those without a valid driver’s license.”

I’m told that the bill actually requires that anyone over 16 without a driver’s license would be required to carry photo ID to ride an ebike, though I’m not sure what that would be, since not everyone has one. 

The bill would also establish a working group with a goal of creating a license for ebike riders. 

Although as we’ve repeatedly been told, there’s no way to create a bicycle license that would pencil out financially, so I’m not sure that would work out. Not to mention all the other reasons bike licensing isn’t viable. 

I don’t actually have a problem with the first requirement. Ebikes are powerful machines that young children may not be able to handle. Although I’d exclude handicapped children who may not be able to ride a standard bicycle.

I do have a problem with requiring a license for any adult to ride any kind of bicycle, electric or otherwise. There are countless reasons why someone might not have a driver’s license, which have nothing to do with their ability to ride a bicycle.

Someone who has been riding a bicycle for 20, 30 or 40 years is perfectly capable of riding an ebike without having to pass a test to get a license. And it creates a very slippery slope to the demands of some drivers that all bike riders should be licensed.

Once we require licenses for one group of bicyclists, it’s a very small step to require them for all.

Never mind that it’s exactly the wrong thing to do when California is literally on fire, overly congested traffic is grinding to halt, and our air and climate are fouled by motor vehicles.

We should be encouraging alternatives to driving, rather than throwing up still more barriers.

What would make far more sense is to create a separate class for throttle-controlled ebikes, which require no physical exertion to operate, and can easily reach speeds beyond what inexperienced riders are capable of safely controlling.

Like this one. Or this.

I’m sure Tasha Boerner’s heart is in the right place — although I’d like to know why the hell she pulled AB 73, which would have allowed bike riders to treat stop signs as yields when safe to do so, when it appeared to be on track to pass the legislature.

Especially since I’ve heard Gavin Newsom may have looked more favorably on it this time, after vetoing two earlier versions of the bill.

But this bill, AB 530, should be dead on arrival without major revisions.

Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

………

Sad news from Moreno Valley, where a man riding a bicycle was severely injured in a head-on collision Friday night.

The victim was riding east on Box Springs Road at Pine Cone Lane around 9 pm when he allegedly crossed onto the wrong side of the road, and was struck by the driver of a 2006 Honda Civic.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Deputy Andrew Galbreath of the Moreno Valley sheriff’s station at 951/486-6700.

………

CicLAvia is teaming with LADOT to explore the newly extended protected bike lanes and safety improvements on Venice Blvd this Sunday, though the street will remain open to motor vehicles.

………

Streets For All is back with their monthly virtual happy hour on Wednesday, with Caltrans District 7 Director Gloria Roberts as special guest.

Which means this is your perfect chance to ask questions about safety improvements and Complete Streets requirements on state roadways.

………

A Shakespeare put it, “’tis true ’tis pity, and pity ’tis, ’tis true.”

………

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

Talk about not getting it. A London writer and bike rider says we don’t need any bike cam vigilantes, arguing that a road raging driver who went ballistic after being challenged for texting behind the wheel wasn’t endangering anyone because he was stuck in stationary traffic. Never mind that texting drivers often lurch forward without looking after someone honks at them for not moving when the light changes. 

A road-raging Porsche driver ran over a bike after a group of bike riders participating in a London ride-out blocked the driver’s path.

A couple in the UK were ordered to remove their DIY cargo bike parking space after the local council concluded that the planter they used for protection might hurt the poor cars.

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

Police in Northern Ireland have spoken to a bike rider regarding his conduct, after the “intolerant and ignorant” man shouted obscenities as he rode past a Protestant parade. More proof that The Troubles aren’t entirely in the past.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton visits my neighborhood to offer his thoughts on the new peak-hour bus lanes on La Brea Blvd, which he suggests could be even quicker and cheaper to build; he also notes that CD10 Councilmemember Heather Hutt is working to maintain the street’s auto-centric focus by indefinitely blocking the project south of Olympic Blvd. It’s worth noting that Hutt, who cites a lack of public consensus for blocking the project was appointed by the council to fill a vacancy, and has yet to face the voters.

 

State

Solana Beach officials discussed the city’s response to mounting ebike injuries, after neighboring Carlsbad and Encinitas declared a local state of emergency earlier this year.

The Ventura County Transportation Commission wants your input on planning the future of mobility for the county.

San Francisco Streetsblog takes a self-guided, unofficial tour of the new Gilman Street pedestrian and bicycle bridge over I-80, even though it’s not scheduled to open until October.

A Chico driver may have saved the life of a bike rider, stopping her car to intervene when she saw around eight pit bulls attacking a man riding his bike on a bike path, before the dogs turned on her; the dogs were captured at a nearby homeless encampment after both victims managed to get away

 

National

A travel website wants you to explore Mexico City by bicycle.

Streetsblog reposts a Substack article offering advice on how to talk to strangers to accomplish your bike and transit goals, saying even if you’re an introvert, you have to win others over to your cause.

Oregon officials are planning to build a 172-mile bicycle network in the scenic southwest portion of the state, though just what form it will take is still to be determined.

A new Oregon law reduces the penalties for biking under the influence, as lawmakers recognize the reduced damage an intoxicated bike rider can cause, compared to people in the big, dangerous machines.

A tragic warning about riding in extreme heat, after an Arizona man in his 70s died from apparent heat-related causes after suffering a flat, and attempting to walk his bike to a nearby fire station to wait for his wife.

This is who we share the road with. An Idaho woman is in a medically induced coma after she was run down by a 14-year old driver on the 4th of July while riding her bike; she was in treatment for a meth addiction and 120 days sober when she was injured. A crowdfunding campaign to defray her medical expenses has raised just over ten percent of the $50,000 goal.

A Nebraska bike rider became the latest person to be run down by a cop while riding a bicycle, after he was right hooked while riding on the sidewalk.

There’s a special place in hell for the adult thief who pushed a Detroit boy off his bike as the kid was riding it, then pedaled off on it; the thief turned himself into the police, while a state legislator gave the boy a new bike.

An Indiana man will spend the next 35 years behind bars after he was convicted of attempted murder for shooting a man on a bicycle in the back, while shouting that the victim had stolen his car.

A Kentucky state park worker is being praised for jumping into the water to save a ten-year old boy who accidentally rode his bike off a 15-foot cliff, then dove back in to retrieve the boy’s bicycle.

They get it, too. The leaders of a Boston-area city want the city’s police to stop ticketing bicyclists who ride through red lights without putting anyone else at risk.

Tragic news from DC, where a fixture in the local bicycling scene was fatally gunned down early Saturday; 27-year old Dzhoy Zuckerman was killed just blocks from his home by an unknown attacker. No word on whether he was riding his bike at the time, or any motive for the shooting. A crowdfunding campaign to support his partner has raised over $3,800 of the $10,000 goal in the first few hours.

 

International

Bike Biz asks if rising bicycle prices have become a barrier to sales.

A small new Canadian study suggest one factor causing crashes is that drivers just aren’t looking for people on bicycles.

A man riding his bike across Canada to raise awareness for mental health lost all of his gear when someone stole his bike outside a Winnipeg coffee shop; he says he was warned about Winnipeg.

A new Scottish study concludes that drivers are more likely to be at fault in crashes with bicyclists.

They must be doing something right, as British bicycling deaths drop 24% to their lowest level in 30 years. Exactly the opposite of what’s happening in this country, for reasons that should be self evident.

Forty people from four continents, including survivors of the 2017 New York bike path attack climbed the Grand Colombier before the Tour de France stage to honor the victims of terrorism.

Now you can carry your kids with what is in effect a three-wheeled ped-assist pedicab, thanks to a collaboration between Germany’s Cube and BMW.

A Singapore writer says it’s not easy being a casual bike rider in the island city-state. But apparently, it’s not any easier being a serious bicyclist, as 26 Singaporean roadies were fined for exceeding the limits on group rides, which specify no more than five bicyclists can ride together at any given time.

 

Competitive Cycling

This year’s Tour de France is threatening to descend into chaos, marring what is turning into an epic battle between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar.

Exhibit one is the race motos that halted an attack by Pogačar on the Col de Joux Plane on Saturday’s stage 14, which may have kept him from claiming the yellow jersey.

Velo questions whether the race motos could prove decisive, as Pogačar lost out on a time bonus that could have cut Vingegaard’s lead to just four seconds, while the riders and passengers of both motos were suspended for one whole stage for their transgressions.

Exhibit two is a mass crash shortly after the start of Saturday’s stage that forced three riders to abandon, while holding up the race for half an hour to attend to the injured cyclist; two other riders were forced to abandon when they both crashed on a fast descent shortly after the restart.

Exhibit three is another mass crash on Sunday’s stage, when a spectator taking a selfie came in contact with American rider Sepp Kuss, triggering a massive chain reaction crash.

Vingegaard responded to questions about increases in speeds, as he and Pogačar have broken several climbing records in recent years, crediting it on improving bicycle tech, while acknowledging that he can understand why people would wonder if he’s on something.

American riders Neilson Powless and Lawson Craddock lit up Sunday’s “monster climbing stage” in stage 15, as Powless defended the King of the Mountain jersey he’s worn for two weeks, while Craddock just missed the podium with a career-best fourth.

UCI has reversed its policy for transgender cyclists, ruling that transgender women who transition after puberty will be barred from competing in women’s cycling events in all categories and disciplines. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Huh? A bizarre story from South Korea, where a transgender cyclist says she won a woman’s race to prove a point to “selfish” trans athletes that biological men are physically superior to biological women.

Citing a recent court decision, a Colorado landowner is now requiring liability waivers from all the competitors, support staff and spectators for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, after allowing the race to traverse his land for the previous four years he’s owned it. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can carry a concealed weapon on your bicycle (just give a fake birthday to get past the NRA’s intrusive age check). That feeling when your bike brand shares a name with a late rock star.

And when popping wheelies and bunny hopping makes you “the NBA of the streets.”

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

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

Juneteenth celebration at CicLAvia, settlement reached in Kizzee shooting, and 16-to-life for killer DUI bike path driver

June 12, 2023 / / Comments Off on Juneteenth celebration at CicLAvia, settlement reached in Kizzee shooting, and 16-to-life for killer DUI bike path driver

Let’s start with a reminder about Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia.

The upcoming CicLAvia, arguably the nation’s largest and most popular open streets event, will run directly down Vermont Ave from Exposition to Century Blvd, before taking a three-block dogleg to the left along Century.

The Father’s Day event will undoubtedly see multiple celebrations of dads along the route, officially or otherwise.

It will also celebrate Monday’s Juneteenth legal holiday, which marks the day enslaved Americans in south Texas finally heard the long-delayed news of their freedom — marking the last of the southern slaves to be freed following the Civil War.

………

The father and aunt of Dijon Kizzee, who was fatally shot by a pair of sheriff’s deputies while riding a bike in South LA three years ago, have reached a conditional settlement in their lawsuit against Los Angeles County.

Settlement terms for the $35 million lawsuit were not announced.

Kizzee was shot 15 times as he tried to flee from the deputies over what began as a traffic stop for riding on the wrong side of the street.

Kizzee allegedly struggled with one of the deputies, striking him in the face and dropping a gun he was carrying; he was shot after he picked it up, even though he was running away from the deputies and didn’t point the gun in their direction.

His shooting came amid the protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, leading many to argue he was killed for biking while Black.

No one was ever charged in the case.

………

The Sacramento driver who killed a 76-year old man while driving drunk on a riverfront bike path has been sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars, with the possibility of life imprisonment.

Michael Dodson was riding his bike on the American River bike path when he was run down by 27-year old Armando Moreno-Rodriguez, who had somehow driven onto the ostensibly carfree pathway.

After crashing into Dodson, Moreno-Rodriguez drove another four miles on the path at speeds up to 35 mph before his car shut down, officials said.

Moreno-Rodriguez was convicted on charges of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run involving death, and driving with a suspended license.

He had signed a Watson advisement after three previous due convictions, which states that he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

Which he did.

Moreno-Rodriguez had blood alcohol level of .27, over three times the legal limit.

………

Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets sent out a notice that the city’s new 17th Street protected bike lanes could be at risk.

Councilmember Phil Brock is has placed an item on the agenda for this Tuesday’s city council meeting tasking staff with looking into significantly undermining the new 17th St protected bike lane.

Let the City Council know that you support the bike lane by sending them an email.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

………

The Ballona Creek bike path will be closed from 8 am to 3 pm on Wednesday and Thursday between Duquesne and Jackson Aves in Culver City.

As a result, last Saturday’s volunteer bush clearing effort was cancelled.

………

Good question.

Will LA’s largely apathetic bike community ever stage a large-scale protest ride on Wilshire Blvd?

Or anywhere else, for that matter?

………

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

No bias here. An Arizona letter writer complains about scofflaw bike riders blatantly disregarding traffic laws, arguing they make other bicyclists look bad and should all appear in court. Apparently failing to notice the people in the big, dangerous machines speeding, failing to signal lane changes and turns, and watching their phones instead of the street in front of them.

Horrible news from the Baltimore area, where a man is accused of intentionally running down a bike rider with his pickup, then getting out and physically attacking the victim until police arrived to halt the assault; the victim was lucky to escape without life-threatening injuries.

A Vancouver driver apparently tried to drive over a metal bollard thinking it was a plastic car-tickler bendie-post, while driving on what should have been a carfree bikeway.

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

A letter writer complains that while older bike riders stopped to help as she walked back to her car after suffering a flat while riding with her toddler, bike riders in their 20s just seemed annoyed that they existed.

A road raging bike rider and van driver engaged in a tug-of-war over the rider’s bicycle, after he had reached into the van and grabbed the driver’s keys before throwing them down the roadway.

………

Local 

This is who we share the road with. A La Puente homeowner was lucky to escape without major damage after two California Highway Patrol officers chasing a motorcyclist collided and crashed into the home’s front yard.

A Santa Monica resident complains that crime, including bike theft, is the beach city’s biggest wave.

 

State

The LA Daily News notes the passage of AB 645 last month, which would establish a speed cam pilot program in California, with just seven dissenting votes in the state Assembly; the bill must pass out of the Senate Transportation Committee by July 14 to stay alive. 

No surprise here, as Black bike riders and pedestrians in San Diego are four times more likely to be stopped by police than white people, just like they are in Los Angeles and the rest of the state.

British Prince Archie is one of us, after the four-year old son of Prince Harry and Megan Markle was given a $250 kids bike with removable training wheels, courtesy of Santa Barbara’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen bike shop.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a $10,000 bicycle from a rider participating in the AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride as they passed through Lompoc.

 

National

Your Strava privacy could be at risk.

An Oregon group donated over 400 refurbished bicycles to more than 300 families in need to help get kids on bikes this summer.

A Scottsdale, Arizona council member assures listeners the city “is not run by morons” as he defends a decision to build a road diet, despite opposition from three of the seven members of the city council.

After thieves stole the new ebike a well-known 70-something social and climate activist used as his only form of transportation, his fellow Longmont, Colorado residents have stepped up to replace it, raising over two grand of the $3,500 goal.

Speaking of Juneteenth, a 60-mile Texas bike ride traveled the route the newly freed people took from Galveston to Houston.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer complains about the city’s Schrödinger’s bike lanes, which appear to be simultaneously safe and unsafe due to the city’s incomplete data.

A Boston neighborhood group gets out the torches and pitchforks over a plan for a protected bike lane on the city’s Back Bay leading to Fenway Park, bizarrely arguing that improving safety for bike riders will somehow make it more dangerous for everyone. Which is exactly the opposite of what studies have shown. 

 

International

Bike theft in Vancouver has dropped 52% since the city began a free bike registration program with 529 Garage in 2015, declining every year since it was adopted.

A new London play uses bicycles to power the production about the disproportionate effects of the climate crisis for marginalized communities.

Fifteen Birmingham, England advocacy groups signed a letter calling for an “end to road violence” after three people riding bicycles were killed in three weeks, including a 12-year old boy; a vigil was held as drivers ignored a nearby red light.

British bikemaker Planet X will live on, after the company was sold in bankruptcy to Britain’s Winlong Garments Ltd.

Your next gravel bike could be an actual Lamborghini, yours for the low, low price of nine grand.

Italy’s transportation minister is calling for mandatory license plates, liability insurance, bike helmets and turn signals for bicycles and e-scooters, putting the burden to improve safety on the victims, rather than doing anything about the big, dangerous machines that actually pose the risk to everyone on the streets; even the UK’s conservative The Spectator calls it a step too far.

An Indian man tells the local press not to write any sad stories about him, as he uses a rented bike to make food deliveries because he can’t afford to buy a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

The three stage women’s Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées was halted during the final stage, after riders protested the dangers posed by “oncoming traffic, parked cars and trucks blocking roads, hazardous motorbikes, and spectators wandering on the roads.”

 

Finally…

Why settle for magic beans when your bike could run on “intelligent beads” — and with all-wheel drive? We may have to deal with venomous LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to deal with actual rattlesnakes — on city streets, anyway.

And this may be my favorite Banksy-style street art. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

LA Planning’s “vacuous” and misleading report, tell Bass to focus on safer streets, and another successful CicLAvia

April 17, 2023 / / Comments Off on LA Planning’s “vacuous” and misleading report, tell Bass to focus on safer streets, and another successful CicLAvia

As we discussed Friday, the Los Angeles Planning Department’s recent report on the state of the city’s mobility plan is, as Streetsblog’s Joe Linton put it, “vacuous.”

Streets For All was a little harsher in their judgement.

Telling City Council and the general public that 67% of the mobility plan is complete just because it’s been started is an insult to our intelligence.

As they’ve previously reported, the actual figure is closer to three percent in the seven years since the transformational plan was overwhelmingly approved by the city council.

At that pace, the city will be lucky to complete ten percent by the 2035 expiration date.

If that pisses you off as much as it does me, let the city council know how you feel.

Especially since a Freudian slip by LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto seems to recognize just how little vision the city has when it comes to traffic safety.

Graphic by tomexploresla.

………

As new Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass prepares for her first State of the City speech and releasing her first budget, the Daily News says she’s likely to focus on homelessness and alternatives to armed police responses.

But that may not be not all she should focus on, according to the paper.

Michael Schneider, CEO of Streets For All, which advocates for street improvements such as additional bike or bus lanes and other pedestrian improvements, said he doesn’t expect Bass to increase funding to the city’s transportation department – but that she should.

In L.A., traffic fatalities surpassed 300 last year, the first time in two decades the city had reached that grim milestone, according to a report this year. From 2021 to 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased by more than 19% while cyclist deaths rose 24%.

“I understand why the mayor is so laser-focused on homelessness … but we are a big, multi-faceted city,” Schneider said. “We need to be able to do multiple things at the same time. And right now, we’re not. The mayor’s office is paying almost zero attention to transportation. Angelenos are paying a price for that.”

………

By all reports, Sunday’s Mid-City Meets Pico Union CicLAvia was another typical success, with a good time had by all.

Or nearly all, anyway.

Unfortunately, though, there’s not a lot of information available yet.

Although a story from KCBS-2 demonstrates how to write about CicLAvia while saying virtually nothing. But at least this story from KABC-7 had a little useful information.

KNBC-4 had a good report from the scene, but it doesn’t appear to be online yet. So check their website later.

https://twitter.com/Atticuz85/status/1647698155562209280

The next CicLAvia will be considerably shorter, as the event moves to Watts with the first-ever CicLAmini.

But really, there’s no reason to wait that long.

………

How to bring joy to a bike advocate’s heart.

………

The people who want to rip out the Move Culver City bus and bike lanes insist no one uses them.

Evidently, this is what no one looks like.

https://twitter.com/AlexFischCC/status/1647685802917494786

………

That DIY handlebar basket is pretty impressive.

………

Apparently, spokes must be hard to draw.

………

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

A writer for San Francisco Streetsblog is harassed by cops wrongly accusing him of running red lights, while ignoring violations by wrong way motorists.

No bias here. An Ohio radio station bizarrely tries to tie ebike battery fires to Democratic politicians who support alternative transportation.

There’s a special place in hell for the Aussie driver who appeared to deliberately target a bike rider, then dragged his bike 100 yards down the road as he lay sprawled on the ground.

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

Police in New York are looking for a couple men who are using the city’s bikeshare ebikes to snatch headphones off women’s heads.

Classic English rock group The Hollies got off the ground when lead singer Allan Clarke swapped the Christmas bicycle his dad gave him for an amp, to his father’s chagrin.

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the convicted British child killer who rode his bicycle around his English community the day of the Queen’s funeral, in an attempt to intimidate witnesses. Because bicycles are so intimidating, apparently.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Santa Clara County could get the region’s first bicycle superhighway, if the county transportation authority approves plans for a 10-mile protected bike lane between San Jose and Santa Clara.

A Sacramento TV staton says Pebble Beach’s 17-Mile Drive’s $11.25 entry fee doesn’t apply to bike riders, who can ride one of California’s most celebrated scenic roadways without charge. Now if we can just get them to charge drivers to use the state’s other roads, too.

 

National

Singletracks says the bike shortage pendulum has swung the other way, creating a glut of used bicycles on the market.

SRAM has applied for a patent to make bike wheels from natural fibers including flax, hemp, jute, kenaf and sisal to improve comfort, control and safety, as well as avoiding carbon fiber’s interference with electronic signals.

Even car-centric website The Drive recognizes the danger SUVs pose to people on bicycles due to their ever-higher hood lines and sheer bulk.

The Denver community steps up to save a nonprofit bike shop after the owner died, and his daughter took over.

A Rhode Island magazine says it’s an uphill battle for bicyclists in the state, as people who began riding during the pandemic compete for road space with drivers who think they own the streets.

Data from New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare demonstrates the need for safer routes through the city’s Central Park.

A Pennsylvania teenager founded his own nonprofit group to repair used bicycles and donate them to people in need, as well as staging clinics to teach people how to ride them safely.

DC bicycling and pedestrian death spiked 37% last year.

 

International

Bike Radar raises the lid on the best commuter bike helmets.

Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is one of us, as she goes for a sunny, and apparently joyful, Brazilian bike ride, without soon-to-be ex Tom Brady.

Hundreds of people turned out for a bike ride to honor a fallen Hamilton, Ontario patrolman.

Bikes and dogs are now allowed on Montreal’s metro system anytime, as long as you avoid morning and evening rush hours.

A Welsh woman operates a thriving e-cargo bike-based business selling Masala Chai tea, thanks to a government program that provided her with the bike.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, with a 150-mile bike route past the scenic coast and castles of Kent, England. Or take a 158-mile journey through Italy from Assisi to Rome, past seven abbeys and three archeological sites.

Scottish stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill got his ten grand bike back, two years after it was snatched in a burglary, along with over $4,000 worth of other items.

A quartet of British teenagers were arrested for an attempted strong-arm bikejacking that left a man with broken fingers and a swollen face after he was brutally beaten with a metal bar.

Fans of the iconic Dursley Pedersen bicycle, with its unique uptilted diamond-shaped frame, turned out in Pedersen’s Danish hometown to mark the bike’s 130th anniversary.

A new German study shows riding a bicycle can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes, as well as high blood pressure and obesity — and the benefits of riding an ebike almost equal a traditional bike.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling bicycling blog predicts a rosy future for bikes, with bicycles now considered an essential element of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.

A Nigerian woman goes viral when a brief video shows her riding a bicycle with her three kids onboard, including a toddler strapped to her back.

A Zimbabwean paper profiles a local bike mechanic who maintains a busy business at his outdoor shop in a suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital city.

Mongolia’s capital of Ulan Bator addressed traffic congestion by hosting an event in the city’s central square to boost the use of bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar won Sunday’s Amstel Gold one-day classic, after Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix winner Mathieu van der Poel opted to sit it out; Pogačar says he owes van der Poel a thank you note for his advice on when to attack.

Pogačar won despite allegations of an unfair advantage after a pass by close-driving race vehicle.

With his victory, Tadej Pogačar became the first cyclist to win Paris-Nice, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Amstel Gold the same year.

VeloNews takes a dive into Strava data from competitors in last week’s Paris-Roubaix to demonstrate why it’s called The Hell of the North.

L39ion of Los Angeles swept both crits in stage four of the Tour of Redlands, with Skylar Schneider winning the women’s race and Cory Williams taking the men’s race; Schneider’s sister Samantha also made the podium after sprinting for third.

Former professional triathlete Heather Jackson made a successful transition to gravel, winning the women’s San Diego Belgian Waffle Ride with a solo breakaway; no word yet on who won the men’s race.

How to write about the United States Pro Cup Mountain Bike Series wrapping up in Fayetteville, Arkansas without mentioning who won.

 

Finally…

Your next e-foldie could be made by an iconic German car speaker company. That feeling when your wife somehow objects to you performing bike stunts dangling from a hot air ballon 2,000 feet above the ground.

And anyone can build a tall bike.

Bur how about a double decker bike for four?

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month. 

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Busy bike weekend coming up, fight to preserve Move Culver City, and Chubby Checker resurrected to stop doorings

April 11, 2023 / / Comments Off on Busy bike weekend coming up, fight to preserve Move Culver City, and Chubby Checker resurrected to stop doorings

Before we start, let’s take a moment to thank Cohen Law Partners for renewing their sponsorship of this site for another year. 

It’s thanks to them, and our other sponsors, that I can to do this full-time, and keep bringing you all the best bike news and advocacy every day. 

Hopefully, you never need a good bike lawyer. But I’d trust any one of the people over there on the right if it was my life and rights on the line. 

………

BikeLA invites you to kick off your CicLAvia weekend festivities with their Earth Month edition of the Cruise & Connect ride series this Saturday.

The advocacy nonprofit, formerly knows as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, aka LACBC, promises a 15-mile “relaxed and fun-filled ride along the scenic LA River Bike Path.”

That’s followed the next day by the Mid-City meets Pico Union CicLAvia, the second of eight planned open streets events presented by CicLAvia and Metro this year, including two new CicLAminis.

Best of all, California’s seemingly endless series of atmospheric rivers resulted in a disaster declaration for most of the state, including Los Angeles County.

Which means you have an extra six months to do your taxes. So you can enjoy a bike-filled weekend without worrying about getting them done.

Thanks to Atticuz for the heads-up. 

………

Speaking of BikeLA, the advocacy group is helping bicycle researchers at Portland State University conduct a survey for ebike owners.

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Former Culver City Councilmember Alex Fisch continues to fight for the Complete Streets makeover of downtown Culver City, despite the conservative NIMBY takeover of the council that ousted him.

https://twitter.com/AlexFischCC/status/1645634068363759616

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New York resurrects early rock and roll legend Chubby Checker to rebrand the Dutch Reach as the New York Twist in an effort to prevent doorings.

………

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

A Las Vegas writer explores a “spectacular” 34-mile trail through the foothills of Boulder City. But has to dodge a lost motorist blissfully traveling along the paved pathway.

No bias here. NIMBYs in New York’s wealthy Upper West Side are getting out the torches and pitchforks to fight a plan to convert an abandoned newsstand into an ebike charging stand and rest space for low income delivery workers, calling it a “horrendously inappropriate location” and a “very, very dangerous thing to do.”

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

A San Antonio bike rider apparently faked a crash to rob a Good Samaritan who stopped to help. Although the story is hidden behind a paywall, so it’s hard to say for sure.

A Chinese man learns the hard way that when you’re smuggling 6,000 microSD cards hidden inside your bicycle, try not to look so guilty when you go through customs.

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Local 

Streetsblog offers more information about the new Westwood Connected campaign announced by Streets For All last week to improve safety and connectivity for people who choose to travel the car-choked Westwood streets by some other means.

Metro is offering free Earth Day rides on Saturday, April 22 in recognition of “transit’s role in improving our environment and public health…and fighting climate change.” And yes, that includes the full Metro Bike system.

 

State

Bad news from San Jose, where police are investigating a hit-and-run that left a woman riding a bicycle with life-threatening injuries.

A Sacramento school is investing $6,000 in bicycles and helmets to teach every kindergarten student how to ride a bike.

 

National

Momentum Magazine says bicycling in a dress or skirt is not as difficult as you might think. Unless you live in Tennessee, where you may be subjected to a physical inspection to verify you have the right to wear one.

Lebanese-American author Nassim Taleb is one of us, returning to bicycling after discovering that weightlifting alone isn’t good for your heart.

A handful of Portland riders ignored the rain, and donned their finest wool garments for the city’s annual Tweed Ride. Which is actually the kind of weather tweed is made for, anyway. 

They get it. A university student newspaper says Tacoma, Washington needs a Vision Zero program to make traffic fatalities a completely avoidable tragedy. Although with a few notable exceptions — hello Hoboken — American Vision Zero programs have had decidedly mixed results. And that’s if they actually get funded, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.

A Denver website profiles bike shop owner Scott Baker, saying he turns bicycles into an art form.

Upscale Colorado resort town Vail is joining Denver and nearby Avon in offering an ebike rebate program, with residents who buy one from a local bike shop eligible for rebates up to $500.

New York is on pace to have its deadliest year ever for bicyclists, with ten people killed riding bikes already this year, despite the city’s rapid expansion of protected bike lanes. As usual, read the second link on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

More tragic news from New York, where two children became the latest victims of defective ebike batteries; their father and three other children were able to jump out of a window to escape the fast-moving flames, but they were unable to escape.

A Philadelphia woman is launching the free Black Girl Joy Bike Rides to promote joy, self-care and a sense of community for Black women.

 

International

Forbes goes beyond the usual suspects to “vet” the seven best gravel bikes, three of which are actually retail for less than four grand.

The UK’s rapid prime minister churn has resulted in the latest Conservative government’s scrapping of the Zero Emission Transport City project, putting plans for 1,000 bike hangers and 250 electric buses in Bristol at risk.

A European website explains why you should consider Türkiye, the country formerly known as Turkey, for your next bicycle tourism trip.

 

Competitive Cycling

Steamboat, Colorado gravel race SBT GRVL is teaming with nonprofit organization Ride for Racial Justice to increase equity in gravel racing.

A participant in a Belize cross-country race says he’s “еmоtіоnаllу brоkеn іntо а thоuѕаnd ріесеѕ lіkе а рuzzlе” after crashing into a traffic control cop while trying to gain time at a roundabout.

 

Finally…

Vienna considers requiring bike parking in multi-family housing — no, the other Vienna. Put your money into bike helmet stocks.

And who needs tires when you can have square treads, instead?

………

Chag Pesach Sameach to all observing Passover. 

And Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month. 

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Family looks for answers in Newport Beach crash, CicLAvia rolls at tax time, and share your thoughts on CA bicycling

March 28, 2023 / / Comments Off on Family looks for answers in Newport Beach crash, CicLAvia rolls at tax time, and share your thoughts on CA bicycling

Let’s start with an update on Sunday’s Newport Beach crash that appeared to leave a bike rider seriously injured.

The crash, which occurred on on the west side of Newport Coast Drive just south of San Joaquin Hills Rd, resulted in an hours long road closure as police investigated.

Yesterday I heard from a lawyer for the victim’s family, who shared that he survived the impact, but remains very seriously injured and unable to communicate.

As a result, they are desperate for any information to understand what happened to their loved one.

So if you saw the crash, or have any information about it, call Pajman Jassim of Jassim Law at 619/395-2668.

And be sure to keep the victim of this crash in your thoughts or prayers, or whatever you’re comfortable with.

………

Mark your calendar for the next CicLAvia in less than three weeks.

CicLAvia — Mid City meets Pico Union rolls on Sunday, April 16th, on a four-mile route along Venice and Washington boulevards between Hoover and La Brea.

California’s multiple disaster designations means the deadline to file your federal and state taxes has been extended until October 15th, so you won’t have to rush home to get your taxes forms in order for the next day.

Let’s just hope the seemingly endless series of atmospheric rivers is over by then, so we can count on a typically sunny SoCal spring morning.

………

UC Berkeley’s SafeTREK program is conducting a survey about conditions facing bicyclists in the state of California.

You are invited to participate in a UC Berkeley study about the factors that make roads more or less bicycle friendly. The survey involves answering some questions about your cycling experience and then viewing and responding to short videos of bicycling on road segments. The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete. The closing date for the survey is Friday, April 14, 2023.

Those who complete the online survey at the link below may enter a drawing to receive one of six gift cards. One $150 card, two $75 cards, and three $50 cards are available. Please encourage your peers and colleagues to complete this survey as well. Download our flyer: English | Spanish.

Click here to take the survey in English.

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Santa Monica wants to know what you think about a proposal to allow pedicabs on the beachfront bike path through the city.

My take is the path is just too crowded as it is, particularly on weekends and summer afternoons and evenings, and adding commercial activity would just make a bad situation worse.

But maybe they could consider offering it during off-peak hours.

………

Go ahead. Make my day.

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Disconnected bike lanes that don’t go anywhere don’t really help anyone, and clearly demonstrate just how little city and state officials actually care.

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Portland officials are moving quickly to address a decline in ridership by introducing a purple cartoon frog.

Yeah, that should fix everything.

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A new scientific journal will focus on research into bicycling and micromobility.

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Lady Gaga is one of us.

Although we may not want to admit it until she loses that weird whale hat.

Or maybe it’s a dolphin. Or a shark.

………

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

No bias here. A Toledo, Ohio bike path already under construction is on hold in a dispute over property rights next to a local country club, as the club argues it would be unsafe because an errant shot might hit a car, and the driver could crash into people on the bike path. Or maybe a unicorn might dart out of the 7th hole and stampede into bike riders on the path, which seems almost as probable. 

The bizarre war on 15-minute cities and the UK’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods — the equivalent of Slow Streets in the US — continues, as a successful petition drive results in an independent investigation into LTNs, and calls for a referendum on implementing 15-minute cities in the country.

A writer for Bicycling describes getting buzzed by a driver while riding two abreast in Spain, and reacting by flipping the driver off and exchanging obscenities — resulting in a road rage chase as they rode uphill, followed by threats with a tire iron, folding chair and razor blade before the driver and his passenger finally calmed down. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

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

A Florida home health aide learned the hard way that if you’re going to steal a gun from your 76-year old patient, maybe don’t ride home with the gun in plain site in your bike basket.

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Local 

Streetsblog rides the newly extended parking-protected bike lanes on eastbound Venice Blvd between McLaughlin and Overland avenues. Which at least use chunkier plastic bollards that won’t actually stop a car, but look like they might.

An op-ed by former Santa Monica city manager and Los Angeles assistant mayor Rick Cole considers a historic opportunity to reunify the heart of Pasadena by reclaiming the scars left by Caltrans for the abandoned 710 Freeway stub.

We’ve mention Long Beach teenager Liam Garner’s bike ride from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina before, but didn’t know the 17-year old didn’t even tell his dad he was going until he was already on the road.

 

State

San Diego residents took advantage of a rare opportunity to ride their bikes on the closed SR-15 Freeway.

Santa Barbara continues to extend its bike network, building a series of bike paths and bicycle friendly streets that will connect the east and west sides of the city. And unlike LA’s flimsy plastic car-ticklers, they are using actual steel bollards to protect bike riders from motorists.

This is who we share the road with. Police in San Jose arrested a suspect who allegedly fled the scene after running down a woman and her daughter as they were walking their dog; the mother and dog died at the scene, while the little girl is hospitalized.

SF Gate explains everything you need to know about the Wiggle, San Francisco’s two-mile long zig-zagging bike route that avoids the city’s infamous hills.

A Yuba County woman will spend the next ten years behind bars after accepting a plea deal in the DUI death of a 37-year old neighbor as he was riding his bike; she was trying to drive home at twice the legal limit after having multiple drinks at a local bar.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Jalopnik says it’s not the bike lane’s fault that you’re a bad driver, and maybe people should pay attention when they drive instead of complaining about them.

Bicycling lists nine Subreddits you should follow to connect with other riders and get answers to all your bike questions. However, the article is an exclusive for Bicycling members, which doesn’t explain why it’s also available on Yahoo, as well as AOL.

The popular Colorado certified pre-owned bicycle dealership The Pro’s Closet will henceforth be known simply as TPC.

It’s a sad commentary when neighbors say crashes happen all the time at a Texas intersection where drivers ignore stop signs, leading to a motorist crashing into the bike trailer carrying a six-year old girl; fortunately, both she and her father, who was riding the bike pulling the trailer, will be okay.

A Florida man and his small dog were both killed when they were struck by a pickup driver while he was walking the dog alongside his bicycle; the dog suddenly darted into the road, pulling his bike into the traffic lane.

 

International

A Canadian website explain why mandatory bike registration and requiring bike riders to pay for our own infrastructure probably isn’t a good idea.

A Nova Scotia newspaper offers decent advice on how drivers can safely share the road with people on bicycles, although they fail to mention passing at a safe distance. But then spoil it by framing the story as “How to drive with cyclists at your bumper,” as if we all tailgate en masse.

A writer for The Guardian insists on seeing the death of a 77-year old English woman who was knocked off her bike by an angry pedestrian as nothing more than a tragic oopsie, rather than the result of a sidewalk vigilante attempting to enforce the law against sidewalk riding herself.

New bicycles, children’s bikes and ebikes are selling at discounts up to 80% in a massive online auction after a British bike distributor went belly up. But you have to live in the UK to get it.

Your next trip to Paris could feature on-demand, chauffeur-driven, covered e-pedicab service.

French composer Ernest Chausson was one of us, dying in a bicycling crash at the height of his career when he lost control of his bike on a steep hill and crashed into a brick wall in 1899.

Sad news from Italy, where famed framebuilder Ugo De Rosa passed away at the ripe old age of 89; the company will continue under his sons. Once again, read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you. 

Tragic news from Bangladesh, where a man took his six-year old daughter to the hospital, and was beaten to death by ambulance drivers and Islamic militia members after he was mistaken for a bicycle thief.

A new Australian study says women just want to ride their bikes without fear or harassment, which can be addressed by building more separated bikeways.

 

Competitive Cycling

Over 1,000 high school and middle school mountain bikers will compete in the annual Granite Bay Grinder this weekend at the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area; the race returns following a three-year pandemic hiatus.

 

Finally…

It’s a lot like riding a bike on a high wire line, but a lot closer to the ground. Your next fully functional bicycle could be less than a foot high.

And that feeling when an AI bot writes a better anti-bike screed than the famed bike hater it’s imitating.

………

Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month. 

……….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

AZ driver plows into club ride killing 2 and injuring 11, a successful CicLAvia, and a more walkable bikeable Eagle Rock

February 27, 2023 / / 2 comments

It’s happened again.

Just 18 months after a driver plowed through a master’s bike race in Show Low, Arizona, killing one man and injuring seven others, another driver has done virtually the same thing just 200 miles away.

According to multiple sources, a pickup driver towing a trailer plowed through a group of bicyclists with the West Valley Cycling club in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear, Arizona Saturday morning, killing two people and leaving eleven others with “very serious injuries.”

One woman died at the scene, the other victim died after being taken to a local hospital. At least one of the injured bike riders was still in critical condition a day later.

The driver, 26-year old Pedro Quintana-Lujan, was booked on charges including two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment, and two counts of causing serious injury or death by a moving violation.

CNN reports that Maricopa County jail records show Quintana-Lujan was being held on $250,000 bond.

The owner of a Phoenix Trek bike shop said one his employees was among the injured, saying it will be a long time the 65-year old man will be able to work again.

Another bike shop owner said a recently retired friend and customer had already undergone two surgeries to stabilize his cerebral spine, with more in his future.

No word yet on whether Quintana-Lujan was distracted or under the influence. Or why he was apparently unable to see a couple dozen people on bicycles directly ahead of his truck.

Thanks to Victor Bale and Phillip Young for the heads-up.

Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.

………

By all accounts, the year’s first CicLAvia was a success, even if the cold and cloudy weather may have dampened turnout.

Spirits clearly weren’t dampened, however.

Even one of California’s newly elected state senators was among the people enjoying the carfree street.

And for one day, at least, the San Fernando Valley looked a lot like Paris and Guadalajara.

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You have just two more weeks to voice your support for a bikeable, walkable and livable Colorado Blvd through Eagle Rock.

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The bizarre 15-minute city conspiracy theory continues to gain ground, as proponents argue that the benign urban planning philosophy is somehow “a plot by ‘tyrannical bureaucrats’ to take our cars and control our lives, which could lead to a real-life Hunger Games scenario.”

Um, okay.

Meanwhile, CNN reports an Oxford, England politician received death threats — many from outside the country — for proposing a plan to filter traffic using traffic cams to limit drivers from cutting through a neighborhood at peak times.

As we’ve discussed before, nothing in the 15-minute city concept prevents motorists from leaving their own neighborhoods, or driving through the city. It merely means that everything you need for daily life should be found within 15 minutes of your home.

According to CNN, the conspiracy theory originally gained traction among Q-Anon theorists and climate change deniers. And Fox News and other conservative media were only happy to fan the flames.

Which led to this —

In December, Canadian clinical psychologist and climate skeptic Jordan Peterson posted a tweet attacking 15-minute cities: “The idea that neighborhoods should be walkable is lovely. The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you’re ‘allowed’ to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea.”

In early February, UK politician Nick Fletcher raised the conspiracy in Parliament, calling 15-minute cities an “international socialist concept” and claimed they “will cost us our personal freedom.”

And last weekend, online theories spilled into real life protests, as thousands of people, many from outside the area, took to the streets of Oxford to protest the traffic filtering and 15-minute city proposals.

Let’s hope the world regains its sanity. Because walkable, bikeable 15-minute cities are the solution.

Not the problem.

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Legendary jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon was one of us.

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A young Elizabeth Taylor was one of us, too.

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A backwards Penny Farthing was apparently the BMX of its day.

More proof you can carry anything on two wheels.

Or one, even.

And nothing actually says your unicycle has to have a wheel.

Click on the photo to see the full image. Trust me, it’s worth it. 

………

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

A Cleveland website says an Ohio legislator needs to explain his overreach on bike lanes, which would have banned a planned center lane cycle track in Cleveland.

Apparently having no grasp of physics, and little on reality, nearly two-thirds of British drivers believe aggressive bicyclists are a threat to their safety, and a bigger danger than they were just three years earlier.

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

An Ontario, Canada man faces charges for getting off his bicycle, and using it to assault a woman pedestrian after demanding money from her.

A lawsuit by a Taipei ebike rider backfired after a judge ruled he was at fault for riding into the back of a double parked car, saying he had plenty of room to go around it.

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Local 

He gets it. Paul Thornton, the Letters Editor for the Los Angeles Times, asks if LA drivers have suddenly become more okay with endangering lives, arguing that “sitting behind a steering wheel can turn a reasonable person into a borderline psychopath, willing to threaten the life of anyone in the way.” Which was one of the many reasons I quit driving, because I didn’t like who I became behind the wheel.

A letter writer in the Times argues that the best way to protect yourself is to ride with a camera facing in every direction, and get a good lawyer.

Pomona has received a $11.3 million grant to build a 3.5-mile trail along the San Jose Creek that will take pedestrians and cyclists from Cal Poly Pomona to the LA County Fairplex.

 

State

California Walks and UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, aka SafeTREC, are offering free training on how to assess current conditions and identify ways to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Costa Mesa quietly revoked its bike licensing requirement last week, after similar licensing laws were banned as part of last year’s Omnibus Bike Bill passed by the state legislature; two Costa Mesa safe streets advocates were instrumental in getting the ban included in the bill, after discovering the city’s licensing requirement had been used primarily to target the homeless and people of color.

Ebike collisions continue to rise in San Diego’s coastal North County area. Although a rise in injuries could simply be attributable to an increase in ebike ridership.

Melissa Gonzalez, the San Diego driver facing a slap on the wrist for killing Matthew Keenan in a wrong way, head-on crash as he rode his bike in Mission Valley two years ago, defied expectations by pleading not guilty, and will face trial in May, as his widow demands more accountability for the crash.

That’s more like it. A 35-year old man was sentenced to 16 years and 4 months to life behind bars for the drunken Palm Springs motor vehicle crash that killed a 56-year old man. Although as Victor Bale suggested in forwarding this, if the victim had been on a bicycle, he probably would have gotten a slap on the wrist, too.

Troubled pop star Britney Spears received a warning from Ventura County animal control after her two-year old doberman escaped her Thousand Oaks compound, and bit a 71-year old man riding his bicycle nearby.

Up to a thousand people are expected to turn out for Saturday’s Solvang Century Bike Ride through Santa Barbara County

Berkeley is inviting low-income residents to apply for a lottery to get an ebike for long-term use as part of a city-funded program. Although they define low-income a lot differently than I do, with incomes up to $74,000 for an individual, or $106,000 for a family of four. 

 

National

A writer for the Competitive Enterprise Institute says we won’t need more lithium and other rare minerals for EV batteries if we just ban cars and suburbs. Except he somehow seems to think that’s a bad thing.

The president of a Colorado trucking association calls on Denver to rethink its Vision Zero program, arguing that deaths will continue to soar without an increased emphasis on enforcement of traffic laws.

A Texas driver accepted a plea for seven-years behind bars for killing a well-known 67-year old Galveston physician as she was riding her bike last March.

An “activist” bicycling group in Rochester, New York is riding to protest police violence and fight for a more inclusive society.

That’s more like it. After a Manhattan taxi driver jumped the curbed after hitting a bike rider, trapping two people under the cab, New York’s mayor announced that a three block section of Broadway where the crash occurred will be closed to motor vehicles between 8 am and 11 pm. Then again, the street was already a bicyclist’s paradise in the 1890s.

Life is cheap in New York, where a US Postal Service driver faces just one month behind bars and a lousy $250 fine after being convicted of misdemeanor failure to yield for killing a 71-year old man riding a bicycle in a right hook crash; his attorney tried to blame the victim for his own death, insisting he could have braked to avoid the impact. Spoken like someone who has never been right hooked on a bike. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

A quick-thinking Atlanta cop is credited with saving the life of a bike-riding man, who collapsed unexpectedly moments after the officer waved him through an intersection.

The Tampa Bay Times says a 40-year old woman riding a bike has been killed by Florida Highway Patrol car. Which was apparently driving itself, since the story doesn’t mention a human being, let alone a sworn officer, having anything to do with the crash.

 

International

Move Electric examines how common ebike theft is, and what you can do to prevent it.

They get it, too. A Canadian website says Toronto’s Vision Zero plan is all that stands between bike riders and total road anarchy, with “lot more fear, anger and impatience on the roads, and the veneer of civil behavior badly eroded.”

An American woman was left with a nearly $17,000 hospital bill after hitting a pothole while riding her bike on a Scottish roadway.

A day after we mentioned a British woman on trial for pushing a 77-year old woman off her bike, she was convicted of manslaughter, and will be sentenced on Thursday; she claimed she was just gesturing wildly as she complained about the woman riding on the sidewalk, and may have inadvertently hit her. The jury clearly didn’t believe her, either.

Road.cc considers why former BBC host Dan Walker’s call to wear a helmet is controversial, after he credited his with saving his life.

Stockholm, Sweden is getting its first bicycle street, where bicycles will receive priority over other forms of traffic. Which has no known equivalent in Southern California, let alone Los Angeles. 

They get it. A South African website says bicycling could solve transportation problems in Cape Town, calling for an integrated transportation network with bicycling at its heart.

A new documentary looks at the two decade old case of a disabled Japanese man who died in custody, after fleeing from police on his bicycle when they tried to stop him for “acting suspiciously.”

Bicycling Australia chooses their gear of the year, noting the bicycling products that captured their attention. Many, if not most, of which should be available here in the US. 

 

Competitive Cycling

The New York Times offers a deep dive profile on 33-year old individual pursuit world champ and record holder Ashton Lambie, who was working at a bike shop and randonneuring before he took his first ride on a grass velodrome in Kansas, on a borrowed bike, less than seven years ago. And won, of course.

Twenty-three-year old world champ Remco Evenepoel added another notch on his belt with a victory in the UAE Tour.

Colombian Egan Bernal will not be racing in this week’s Paris-Nice after being sidelined by a knee injury, as he returns to racing after last year’s near fatal training crash.

USA Cycling could be looking for you, as the national cycling body set off a “new talent-identification program aimed at underrepresented and more diverse communities” for its track cycling program. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

 

Finally…

We may have to deal with feral LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to use our ebike’s turbo boost to outrun a pack of hungry wolves; thanks again to Phillip Young. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about being trampled to death by elephants, either.

And unlike most bike-riding dogs, cats don’t need a basket.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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