Tag Archive for Colin Bogart

Local LCI takes NPR bike/ped advice to task, San Bernardino sucks for biking and walking, and surreal NJ story gets more so

Day 279 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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I received a lot of news links over the weekend that I didn’t have time to get to for today’s post.

So if you sent me something, don’t worry. I’ll try to catch up on everything tomorrow.

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Longtime bike advocate, League Cycling Instructor, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition member and NPR listener Colin Bogart gave the public radio network a piece of his mind.

Something I’ve had to stop doing because I don’t have many pieces left these days.

Bogart addressed a Life Kit article we touched on recently offering tips for bike and pedestrian safety, zeroing in on the problems with it much more effectively than I did.

Here’s just a portion of what he wrote.

I’m sure your intent was good, but there is so much we don’t do in our country to protect vulnerable road users that a piece like yours becomes victim blaming.  The advice isn’t inherently bad (well, some of it is), but in the context of how poorly we as a country prevent crashes, it becomes ridiculous if you don’t address drivers directly.

You mentioned in your piece, “DON’T put yourself in danger just because you have the right of way. While drivers are responsible for driving safely, road safety is everyone’s responsibility.” I could pick apart every single recommendation you gave, but this is the worst part of your piece. No bicyclist can ride on the road, no pedestrian can cross a street, without the expectation that one’s right of way will be respected. To then say that road safety is everyone’s responsibility ignores the imbalance between vulnerable road users and motor vehicle drivers. My responsibility as a bicyclist is NOT the same as someone driving a two ton vehicle capable of high speed. It simply isn’t the same. The responsibility of the driver is far greater. And that’s why we are required to have a driver’s license and insurance to operate a motor vehicle and we’re not required to be licensed to ride a bike or walk. But it doesn’t end with a license or an insurance payment. It extends to behavior on the road and drivers should be held to a much higher standard than they currently are. We’ve lost sight of the inherent differences between drivers and vulnerable road users by stating that we’re all equally responsible. That statement also doesn’t take into account children, the elderly, or people with disabilities. There should be more onus placed on licensed drivers, simply because the act of driving a motor vehicle creates the greater risk in the first place.

And yes, it’s worth clicking on the link to read the whole thing.

Preferably after reading the Life Kit piece, which seems pretty benign at first glance, until you give it a little more thought.

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Congratulations to San Bernardino on being named the nation’s fifth most dangerous city for bike riders and pedestrians, behind only Baton Rouge, Tucson, Las Vegas and Jacksonville, Florida.

On the other hand, Irvine and Santa Clarita deserve props for making the list of the top ten safest cities, led by New York and Boston.

Which will probably shock the hell out of New York bike riders.

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We keep learning more about the alleged intentional crash that killed two 17-year old girls riding an ebike in Cranford, New Jersey, just 18 miles from New York City.

He was allegedly driving 70 mph when he steered his car at the victims and slammed into them, nearly three times the posted 15 mph speed limit.

Authorities have not named the suspect because he’s still a minor. But that didn’t stop CNN and other outlets, naming a 17-year old boy who received 15 separate traffic tickets the afternoon of the crash, with details that line up with the accusations.

The New York Times says things took a surreal turn the night of the crash — as if the whole damn thing wasn’t surreal enough — when the alleged suspect broadcast live on YouTube.

“What’s going on everybody?” he said breezily. “We’re back with another stream and this one is going to be a little different from the previous ones.”

A few minutes later, he started to explain: “In a neighboring town, unfortunately, two girls were killed in a hit-and-run crash,” he said. “There has been a lot of misinformation going on over the internet. But I will say this: I wish my sincerest condolences to those girls, lost in that tragic accident.” He then said that he was “not authorized to talk about the whole thing,” and moved on.

No shit.

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Gravel Bike California goes riding with current gravel world champ and Paris-Roubaix winner Mathieu Van Der Poel.

Lucky bastards.

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

Life is cheap in Ukraine, where a 44-year old motorist was sentenced to a lousy 30 days behind bars for beating a Kyiv bicyclist unconscious, after the rider complained about his parking in a bike lane. Then again, they do have other things to worry about over there. 

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

A Singapore man riding an ebike killed an 88-year old woman by crashing into her as she walked in the street.

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Local 

Pasadena students are encouraged to walk, bike or roll to school on this Wednesday for National Walk and Roll to School Day.

 

State

A 70-year old man suffered serious injuries when he allegedly turned left in front of a pickup driver while riding his bike in San Diego’s Midway neighborhood.

A San Diego bike rider reportedly suffered a compound leg fracture when he was struck by a light rail trolley east of the Santa Fe Depot.

A 36-year old woman was busted for allegedly driving under the influence of both alcohol and drugs for causing major injuries when she crashed into a 13-year old boy in Victorville.

Nearly 600 Palo Alto bicyclists rode to a local elementary school yesterday to promote safe rides to school and a more bicycle-friendly city.

 

National

A new 12-month randomized trial showed that fast bicycling can slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

NPR talks with retired US Ambassador to Ukraine George Kent about his cross-country bike ride to raise awareness and funds for the country’s war effort.

Police in Odessa, Texas arrested a man for beating a bike rider with a crowbar to steal his mountain bike.

Pittsburgh bike riders rode through the city to raise funds for local playgrounds in honor of an FBI agent killed in the line of duty in 1994.

A Hornell, New York man known locally as The Bikeman was honored as the city’s citizen of the year for donating 400 refurbished bikes so kids in need can ride; he’s donated 1,540 rebuilt bicycles over the past four years.

The witches are riding once again in Florida’s Delray Beach at the end of this month.

 

International

Results of a survey published in the journal Human Reproduction show that riding a bike with a padded saddle could reduce your chances of becoming a father, showing up to a 25% lower chance of getting a partner pregnant; riding a hard road saddle didn’t appear to have any effect. Which could cause a rush on padded bike seats among single straight men. 

Cycling Weekly says sometimes you’re better off not knowing about damage to your bike, suggesting willful ignorance for a stress-free ride, at least until something falls off or it stops working.

Cycling Weekly also recommends the best front and rear bike lights.

Momentum recommends “20 of the best under-the-radar cycling routes on the planet.” Because bicycling routes off the planet are just too hard to get to.

Bicycling and motorists groups each blamed the other for jumping a temporary red light in Oxfordshire, England, and who caused the greatest danger doing it. I know which one would get my vote.

London’s famed “Boris Bikes” bikeshare celebrated 15 years on the city’s streets with a photo contest, drawing photos showing the bikes at a wedding in Chelsea, a Coronation street party, St Paul’s Cathedral and a Regent’s Park sunset, among others.

A Welsh man ran a half marathon to raise the equivalent of nearly $27,000 for the air ambulance service that saved his life after he rode his mountain bike off a 70-foot cliff.

CNN talks with an English father and son who became TikTok stars after setting out to bike around the world, catching up to them on an off day in China.

Colnago teamed with Ferrari to build a $33,500 carbon-kevlar composite monocoque bike in the late ’80s. Or two, actually.

It’s happened again. A 22-year old British man was arrested for the alleged drunken crash that killed a 38-year old woman riding her ebike, then driving another eight blocks with her body embedded in his windshield before she finally fell out.

 

Competitive Cycling

European cycling teams tried once again, and failed, to beat Tadej Pogačar, as he soloed to victory in the European road championships with a 46-mile breakaway; Jonas Vingegaard was accused of not taking the race seriously enough by waiting too long to respond to Pogačar’s attack.

The bull has once again showed his horns, as 21-year old Mexican cyclist Issac Del Toro outsprinted Britain’s Tom Pidcock to win Italy’s 108th Giro dell’Emilia classic.

Noway’s Alexander Kristoff fell one short of 100 career wins before retiring, after injuries forced him to withdraw from Malaysia’s Tour de Langkawi when he crashed on the seventh stage.

 

Finally…

Nothing like bunny hopping all the way up the Eiffel Tower, one step at a time. Your next bicycle could measure just 3.34 inches — and yes, it’s fully functional.

And it’s probably not the best idea to get caught up in the middle of a grizzly bear chasing a herd of bighorn sheep.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Collecting bikes for Altadena fire victims, 12 years since crash inspired Finish the Ride, and NY congestion pricing works

Day 50 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Hats off to my old friend and former longtime LACBC staffer and volunteer Colin Bogart, who has organized a bike donation program for victims of the Eaton Fire for Pasadena nonprofit Day One.

According to the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, the nonprofit is working with the Bicycle Kitchen, the Bike Oven, the Bikerowave, and the Long Beach Bicycle Co-op to collect and repair the bikes, along with local bike shops including Around the Cycle, Pasadena Cyclery, and Trek Pasadena.

The organization has received requests for over 300 bicycles.

So if you have a bike you don’t need, or can help in some other way, drop it off at Day One’s Pasadena office at 175. N. Euclid Ave from 9:30am to 5:30pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, or by special arrangement 626/657.8744 or colin@godayone.org.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels.

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It’s been a dozen years since a hit-and-run driver crashed into Damian Kevitt on Zoo Drive, and dragged him under his van onto the nearby 5 Freeway as he fled the crash.

Remarkably, Damian channeled the trauma of the crash that cost him a leg, and nearly his life, into the creation of Finish The Ride and Streets Are For Everyone to fight for safer streets and an end to hit-and-run.

And no, the driver was never found.

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More proof New York’s congestion pricing is working, even as Trump vows to kill it.

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

Police in Detroit are looking for the woman who used her car as a weapon to intentionally ran down a man riding a bicycle after an argument, along with her male passenger who got out of the car and hit the victim with a baseball bat.

Seriously? A writer for the Boston Globe investigates who has the right to public space on the streets, after a mayoral candidate calls for hitting pause on building bike lanes, and can only manage to conclude that bike lanes are the third rail of Boston politics. Even though the law is clear that bike riders have a right to the road, and well-designed bike lanes improve safety for all road users.

No bias here. Residents of Suffolk, England are up in arms because a car-shaped bike corral replaced a single parking space. Yes, one.

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Local  

The annual LA Chinatown Firecracker run, walk and bike ride has been rescheduled for March 8th and 9th, after it was postponed due to the January firestorms.

Streets For All says the long-sought extension to the Ballona Creek bike path is moving forward, despite missing out on ATP funding, after Metro recommended it for regional funding.

Streets Are For Everyone is teaming with the Pico Union Neighborhood Council to clean up MacArthur Park on Saturday morning, including the 7th Street bike lanes.

As we noted the other day, some people are criticizing a new demonstration bike lane in Santa Clarita, complaining that the flexible plastic bollards separating it from motor vehicles are a form of visual blight, but even the president of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition sympathized with the outcry over the “aesthetic unattractiveness.”

 

State

Calbike is hosting a webinar this Thursday to discuss creative approaches to funding active transportation infrastructure, as the usual sources threaten to dry up.

Apparently, former baseball star Barry Bonds is killing it on Strava, saying bicycling is his second passion. Although no one tests for steroids on the bike app.

A San Francisco website says anarchy has ensued on Valencia Street, as work begins to remove the contentious centerline bike lane and move it curbside, with people riding bikes forced to choose their own route on the street.

A Yuba City bike co-op is refurbishing bicycles and donating nearly 20 a month to homeless people.

 

National

Bicycling recommends ten expert-approved road bike upgrades for under a hundred bucks apiece. But you’ll have to fork out for a subscription if the magazine blocks you, because this one is limited to members only. 

It looks like bicycles, ebikes and bike components won’t be subject to Trump’s new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, but will be affected by other tariff increases.

The mayor of Honolulu signed a new law requiring helmets for bike riders under 18, while limiting the power of ebikes and providing guidelines to prevent reckless riding.

A Las Vegas writer wisely observes that sometimes, the best bike ride is the one you don’t take.

A Park City, Utah website says riding a fat bike through the snow could be the cure for the winter blues.

The Illinois legislature is considering legislation that would fix a bad court ruling that said bike riders aren’t intended road users unless a street or highway is designated for bicycle use.

 

International

Momentum recommends the top six routes for solo bike tourism. And for once, the Los Angeles area is included, as part of the 800-mile California Coast ride.

Bike Radar recommends nine bikes that give you the best bang for your bucks.

A London food delivery rider says he’s been knocked off his bike by drivers eight times already, arguing that bike couriers are people too, and deserve safer streets.

A retired English man has earned the moniker “Dr. Bike” for fixing bikes for community members or to donate to people in need, while raising the equivalent of over $11,000 for local charities.

A British writer took part in an study riding around York measuring air quality with a small device on his handlebars, and found the air was even dirtier than expected — even on quiet country lanes.

Ebike makers in the UK are worried about whether they can rsurvive after the government scrapped anti-dumping tariffs on China earlier this month, with one calling it the final nail in their coffin.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro cyclist Jérôme Pineau called out the World Anti-Doping Agency, aka WADA, for giving top-ranked tennis pro Jannik Sinner a three-month slap on the wrist for testing positive for a banned substance twice last year, saying a cyclist would have been banned for at least a couple years.

 

Finally….

2 Chainz may be a rapper, but two chains could be coming soon to a bike near you. If the city won’t clear snow from the bike lanes, just put a plow on an ebike and do it yourself.

And what could be more humiliating than getting busted for bike theft in front of your mom?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Longest-serving LACBC staffer out due to Covid-19 shutdown, and Nextdoor user claims bikes can’t use bikeways

Normally, I’d wish you a happy April Fools Day. 

But with everything that’s going on in the world, we all need to be able to trust what we read right now. Here, and everywhere else.

Photo by Татьяна Чернышова from Pexels.

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Very disappointing news today, as the coronavirus shutdown claimed another victim.

This is part of an email that was forwarded to me today.

…I’m writing to tell you that this will be the last email you get from me at LACBC. As of Friday March 27, my time as an employee of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition officially came to a close.

As you probably know, LACBC has been struggling financially for over a year now. Thanks to the tremendous work of Eli Akira Kaufman, the Board of Directors, and my fellow staff, we were on a path to recovery, until recently. Unfortunately, the current pandemic has effectively put a hold on the contracts I’ve been managing, our annual LA River Ride is hanging in the balance, and our finances are even tighter than before. Eli and the board have had to make some difficult decisions for the sake of keeping LACBC rolling.

That message comes from Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Education Director Colin Bogart, the coalition’s longest serving staff member, and the last remaining link to the group’s founding.

I also want you to know that it’s been a great joy and a pleasure to work at LACBC and with all of you. I’ve always considered myself lucky to be doing this work and to be able to work with so many great people. And I’m forever grateful to those of you who have volunteered your time or supported LACBC through various fundraising efforts. I hope that you will continue to do so. LACBC still needs all of you.

Lastly, this is not good-bye. Instead, it’s more like “see you later.” As many of you know, I truly believe in bicycling as a means to make our world a better place. I’m not going anywhere and I intend to stay engaged. (Some of you may recall that I myself was a volunteer and a board member for years before I was hired)…

If you believed, like me, that Colin would be the one turning out the lights if the worst ever came for LA County’s leading bicycle advocacy group, this day brings special sadness.

It marks an end of an era stretching back two full decades, and the final, last loss of institutional memory for the LACBC. Thanks to board term limits and staff turnover, no one is left who has been with the coalition more than four years.

He will be very missed.

And so, too, will the LACBC if we don’t all pull together to save it.

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Nothing like citing just half a law.

And trying to tell people they can’t ride bikes on a bikeway. Or let their kids ride legally on a sidewalk.

Actually, that section of the Municipal Code reads,

No person shall ride, operate or use a bicycle, unicycle, skateboard, cart, wagon, wheelchair, roller skates, or any other device moved exclusively by human power, on a sidewalk, bikeway or boardwalk in a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.

Which kinda changes the whole meaning.

So you and your kids can feel free to ride any bikeways, boardwalks or sidewalks that are still open right now.

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

A British woman opens up about the sabotaged bike trail that left her mountain biking husband in a wheelchair, just two years after he survived a heart attack.

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

San Diego deputies busted a man who escaped by bicycle after he allegedly assaulted a woman in a Poway park. Let’s hope he goes away for a long time.

Not many homicides are solved as easily as this one, after a Charleston SC man rode his bike up to the crime scene and shouted out his confession to the shooting.

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Local

The only upside of the coronavirus crisis is the clean air in the mostly carfree City of Angels.

Gossip Girl actor Chase Crawford is one of us, taking a spin through Los Feliz on his ebike.

 

State

The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is looking for a new executive director.

A half dozen high school art students will ride from San Francisco to New York to spread the message of pedal power over gas power.

 

National

NACTO suggests ten ways cities should respond to Covid-19 on their streets, including getting rid of beg buttons, which LA is starting to do in DTLA and MacArthur Park.

PeopleForBikes is is looking for ambassadors for their Ride Spot digital biking platform.

Your next bike could fold all the way down to its airless tires.

A writer for Golf takes on the sport’s Peloton king, and wins. Call it a good ride ruined.

Portland’s annual Filmed by Bike festival will be streaming online instead of in theaters, starting this Saturday.

Nevada encourages families to get out and walk, bike or hike on Wednesdays.

Pink Bike takes a field trip to Sedona to try out four sub-two grand mountain bikes.

Nice guy. The bighearted owner of an Idaho bike shop is giving away 5,000 pounds of potatoes to people affected by the coronavirus shutdown to thank community members for their support over the years.

Unfortunately, the federal ruling that bike shops provide an essential service doesn’t carry the force of law, allowing New Mexico to conclude the opposite and order them shut down.

The 19-year old driver who killed professional mountain biker Benjamin Sonntag outside Durango CO was traveling nearly twice the speed limit at the time of the crash.

A Chicago bike courier collective is helping restaurants survive the shutdown by safely delivering meals across the city.

New York installed a temporary protected bike lane to fix a dangerous gap during the city’s Covid-19 bike boom, only to have someone move the cones off the street onto the sidewalk.

The celebrity bike boom moves to the other coast, as former Wolverine Hugh Jackman rides the streets of New York in the protective gear of our times.

A bighearted Florida man is refurbishing bikes and giving them to people who’ve lost their jobs due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Asking for a little more tolerance on the road, a Florida bicyclist complains when a pedestrian tells his bike club to get off a shared use path, and another tells them to get off the road a few minutes later.

 

International

Forbes says bikes are making a comeback, as social distancing has led to a bike boom around the world, including ChicagoFlorida and Sheffield, England.

Pez Cycling News talks with bike brands on both sides of the Atlantic about how they’re doing during the coronavirus crisis.

Cycling Weekly suggests eight places in the UK to add to your bike bucket list once the country’s coronavirus lockdown is lifted.

Cycling Tips has advice on fifteen mistakes to avoid if you’re doing your riding indoors on Zwift.

Two men have confessed to being the lowlife jerks stealing bikes from Nottingham, England hospital workers while they were treating coronavirus patients.

The Verge calls the new ped-assist ebike from Dutch bikemaker Stella a “near-perfect city bike.” Meanwhile, New Atlas calls the new bike from the Netherlands’ Mokumono Cycles “the perfect urban ebike.”

No irony here. A New Zealand man was rescued by helicopter after he hit a pothole and went over the handlebars, while he was on a fundraising ride for a rescue helicopter service.

Clearly, not everyone has given up on April Fools Day.

 

Competitive Cycling

No surprise here, as the annual Redlands Bicycle Classic stage race is officially kaput for this year.

Former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas says he just wants to race his bike again.

 

Finally…

No. Just…no. Seriously, don’t do that. Ever. 

And this is what happens when an actual pro cyclist tries to ride with Zwift.

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Be safe, and stay healthy.