Our anonymous correspondent reports two more victims in the ongoing war on bikes.
As if we all didn’t have enough to worry about.
Sunday afternoon in Seal Beach, two cyclists got nailed by fishing line pulled across the river path.
One of them was my landlord, who suffered an abrasion across his cheek and a busted knee when he slammed down onto the embankment. A cyclist who stopped to help him said the same thing had just happened to him about 15 minutes prior. This happened in view of a homeless encampment.
I’ll get more info when I get home in the morning (I’m “essential,” lol). My landlord is okay, no concussion or anything, but his wife and I are nagging him to report it. Again, I’ll have more details in the morning, and hopefully confirmation that it’s been reported.
Yes, attacks like this can and should be reported to the police.
It’s not just a prank. It’s an assault a deadly weapon, which can result in serious injury — or worse — to an unsuspecting victim.
And should be treated like the serious crime it is.
Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery from Pexels.
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Horrible news from Baldwin Park, where a boy was struck by a driver while attempting to flee from robbers who wanted his bike.
https://twitter.com/yt_ivanofficial/status/1241895237057802242
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
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No surprise here, as a new study shows in-dash infotainment systems are just another form of dangerously distracted driving.
Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the link.
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Take a virtual ride with former national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati and his younger brother this evening, and every Tuesday. As much as I’d love to ride with Bahati, I’d hate to get virtually dropped. And I would.
Meanwhile, those of us who are jonesing for baseball can take a 30-minute virtual bike ride with Angels manager Joe Maddon through his Arizona neighborhood as he talks 1979, baseball and music.
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Congratulations to CiclaValley’s Zachary Rynew on bringing another bike rider into being.
Excuse my excitement. I just added a new cyclist to my family. #firstbikeride @bikinginla @philgaimon pic.twitter.com/i39IZ1z8Tk
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) March 23, 2020
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes keeps going on.
Police in El Cerrito CA are looking for a man and woman who shot a bike rider after arguing with him on a popular bike path; the victim was hospitalized with a non-life threatening bullet wound to his leg.
This is what it looks like to be knocked on your ass by a sideswiping hit-and-run driver.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in Port Hueneme busted a homeless man who was following an Amazon delivery driver around a senior complex, then tried to flee by riding salmon on a major street; he was found with meth and drug paraphernalia, and was wanted on an outstanding warrant.
A Eureka man was busted on a charge of attempted robbery after fleeing from police carrying an unconcealed knife.
Michigan police are looking for a man who rode off on a black bicycle after robbing a gas station. But at least he maintained social distancing, right?
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Local
The Los Angeles Times asks which SoCal public spaces are safe to visit during the coronavirus crisis? Trick question — none of them, if you can’t maintain a minimum six-foot distance with everyone else.
Meanwhile, a Times editorial says just stay home, already.
LA County trails were closed over the weekend; it was unclear whether LA city parks and trails would follow suit.
CiclaValley looks at how the closure of LA’s parks will affect bicycling.
Men’s Journal visits Silver Lake’s Golden Saddle, calling it LA’s most famous bike shop.
Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev is one of us. So is triple Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, as the couple went for a bike ride through the ‘Bu with her dog tucked under his arm.
State
Bike Mag examines how climate change is affecting mountain biking, with a look at California’s newly expanded fire risk.
One small plus in all this, as Newport Beach has closed the popular Back Bay Drive to vehicular traffic, while presumably remaining open to people on foot or two wheels.
Young people in San Diego practiced the opposite of social distancing on the city’s Pacific Beach boardwalk. The city closed beach parking lots to discourage such antisocial socializing, followed by closing the beaches themselves.
Joshua Tree National Park is now closed to everyone except for people traveling by foot or bicycles, which isn’t good news for people who live nearby.
Ventura County officials are reviving efforts to build a five-mile rail-to-trail bike path through the farmlands leading to Santa Paula; farmers have successfully halted it in the past by claiming bike riders and their pets will pee on crops and could be harmed by pesticides.
All Marin County Parks have been closed to cars, but people are still encouraged to walk or bike.
National
PeopleForBikes is still advocating for bicycles in today’s strange, new virus-infected world, while Cycling News explains why you’re better off riding solo. Thanks to Robert Leone for the latter link.
A writer for Bicycle Retailer and Industry News says heroic is the only word for bike shop workers who are staying open to help their customers through these trying times. And he’s right.
Bicycling manufacturers throughout the US are switching gears to make face masks and other medical gear to fight coronavirus. Which means it might be harder to find your next bike shorts or gloves, but you’ll be more likely to still be here to use them.
A writer for Gear Patrol says daytime running lights could save your life. Anecdotally, I noticed a drop in dangerous passing and angry drivers after I started using extra bright daytime lights a few years ago.
Bike shops are allowed to stay open under Oregon’s coronavirus closures.
The eight lane highway leading to Denver’s airport is an officially designated bike route, even if no one wants to use it.
The Minnesota man who killed a teenaged bike rider was drunk and stoned on a combination of booze, weed and pills at the time of the crash.
New York bike and pedestrian advocates recommend streets that should be closed to cars during the coronavirus crisis to create more space for pedestrians and people on bicycles.
A bike-riding Virginia bike mechanic stands to benefit from social distancing by being able to ride to his customers.
Once again, a bike rider has been blamed for inexplicably riding into the path of a law enforcement officer, this time in Florida. But this time, the victim will be able to tell his side of the story.
DC is shutting down the National Mall to bike riders and pedestrians to reduce the spread of Covid-19, and closing roads around the Tidal Basin’s cherry blossoms to everyone.
A DC site asks if the nation’s capital should follow the lead of New York, Philadelphia and Bogota in blocking off some streets to make more space for bicycling and walking.
A Florida newspaper questions whether police shot and killed the wrong man after attempting to stop a man riding a bike in connection with a nearby sexual assault; he was shot at six times after he tried to flee on foot.
International
The Verge says there’s no better time to take road space away from cars to promote social distancing during the pandemic.
A writer for Cyclist says it’s time to stop riding in groups, and regrets doing exactly that over the weekend.
Hats off to Pink Bike for testing eight relatively reasonably priced mountain bikes for a change, starting as low as $1,300.
While America’s president reportedly considers relaxing coronavirus restrictions put in place just last week, Britain’s prime minister ordered people to stay in their home after earlier measures failed to stop the spread of the virus; bike riding is still allowed, though, and bike shops can remain open.
Bike riding is banned in Girona, Italy, but apparently still allowed in Berlin, as long as you carry ID and ride with family members or no more than one other person.
Calls for social distancing aren’t going over all that well in Pakistan’s Punjab province, either.
India’s Hero Cycles is anticipating a big boom in demand due to the coronavirus, even though the factory is currently closed to protect workers.
Competitive Cycling
VeloNews mourns the passing of Italian writer Gianni Mura, who they describe as a giant of cycling journalism; no cause of death is given.
You can probably cancel those plans for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Vincenzo Nibali, winner of the 2018 Milan-San Remo race, led more than 4,200 people on a virtual ride over the course on the day the cancelled race was scheduled to be run.
Finally…
In case you need an emergency mid-ride espresso. Probably not the best idea to leave your bike in a cemetery after stripping for no apparent reason.
And no, that 60 mph ebike probably isn’t legal.
And you can probably forget that probably part.
