If you’re planning to ride today, remember drivers won’t expect to see you out in the rain.
Or even afterwards if the day turns out to be cold but dry after the overnight rains.
Despite the evidence of their own eyes, too many drivers assume no one would ever ride a bicycle in less than ideal conditions.
So light yourself up. Ride defensively. And even more than most days, assume you’re invisible. Because chances are, you might as well be.
Today’s photo: Bike themed food court seating in Culver City.
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Dr. Grace Peng offers a thread on Redondo Beach’s lack of safe and secure bike infrastructure.
And art.
Click on the tweets to read the full thread.
https://twitter.com/gspeng/status/1619808057395134464
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Seriously, jus how crappy a driver do you have to be to take out three Temecula bike riders at once?
Fortunately, no one was killed this time.
Bicyclists struck by Vehicle: rpt@4:59 p.m. 31900blk Rancho California Road, Temecula. Three bicyclists struck by a vehicle. All 3 victims were transported by ground ambulance, 1 with serious injuries, 1 with moderate injuries and 1 with minor injuries. @RSO inves. #RanchoIC pic.twitter.com/N7jx7W777Y
— CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department (@CALFIRERRU) January 28, 2023
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UCLA’s Lewis Center will host a screening of Yolanda Davis-Overstreet’s documentary Biking While Black a week from tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/lacivilrights/status/1618640923251933185
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The Community Social Planning Council is hosting a free virtual panel discussion tomorrow to discuss ways to reduce minimum parking requirements
SPREAD THE WORD: “They Paved Paradise: Transforming Minimum Parking Requirements.” FREE virtual event next week. I’m on the panel with Mayor @JohnBauters & Edmonton’s @KimPetrin. Hosted by Victoria BC’s @CSPC_Victoria. I’ll discuss #ThePowerOfParking! https://t.co/NN7WDNxis0
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) January 27, 2023
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The Bike League is offering a reduced rate to attend their annual Bike Summit in Washington DC this March through the end of this month.
⌛️Time is almost up on our #BikeSummit23 January special pricing! Don't miss the opportunity to strengthen your skills and knowhow to make biking better for everyone, plus join wheely-fun bike rides through Washington, D.C., all at a discounted rate ➡️ https://t.co/35akzUS0MZ pic.twitter.com/VjhVx8DQkn
— League of American Bicyclists (@BikeLeague) January 29, 2023
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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 Toronto columnist complains about plans to make protected bike lanes on a commercial corridor permanent, saying the city needs to put safety concerns over ideology. But safety for whom? Why should the theoretical slowing of a theoretical fire truck outweigh the very real safety needs of daily bike riders?
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Local
Urbanize looks at a plan for the proposed Arts District Metro station, which could include a connection to the LA River bike path once it’s extended through DTLA.
A Claremont letter writer says he opposes the re-installation of red light cams, even though he counts the red light-running drivers on his daily bicycle commute.
State
An exploding ebike battery apparently set off a fire that torched a Huntington Beach apartment; a local fire marshal recommended avoiding overcharging ebike batteries, while noting that ebikes are not inherently dangerous.
Oceanside is regaining its sanity, announcing plans for a lane reduction on the Coast Highway 101 from four to two lanes for a one-mile section, as well as installing bike lanes, pedestrian crossing and roundabouts.
Carlsbad’s city council voted to extend the city’s bicycle, ebike and mobility device state of emergency through March 25th.
Bakersfield opened a 2.5-mile, $1.1 million multi-use path and bridge connecting West Bakersfield with the Kern River Bike Path.
San Francisco is reaching out to underserved communities as the city develops its Active Communities Plan, which comes after it already remade its streets by making many of the temporary pandemic-era bike lanes and Slow Streets permanent.
National
They get it. A government technology website says ebikes are great for replacing car trips, but they’re only as good as the infrastructure they travel, which is often lacking from low-income neighborhoods.
Maui, Hawaii is now limiting commercial bicycle tours, after the popular rides evidently became too popular, particularly descents of the Haleakalā volcano.
While Orange County is panicking over teenage ebike riders, Hawaii has proposed giving high school students ebike rebates up to $2,000 to help keep more cars off the roads at school times.
A wishy washy Oregon editorial questions whether Oregon should establish an ebike rebate program, without voicing an opinion one way or another — except to say it could result in wealthier Oregonians getting some of the money.
A Las Vegas man without a permanent home gives back to the community through near-daily bikeshare rides to deliver homemade sandwiches to the city’s homeless people.
The official route has been announced for this year’s RAGBRAI ride across Iowa, the 50th anniversary of the ride.
Two women in Wisconsin offer advice on riding through the state’s frigid winters. Meanwhile, we’re often told at public meetings that no one would want to ride in a chilly LA winter, where it sometimes gets all the way down to 50°. Brrrrrr.
An Illinois columnist complains about stepping into a linguistic minefield when he referred to the “cross-through” bike his daughter wanted as a girl’s bike, apparently conflating a cross bike with a step-through.
Nashville advocates held a memorial on one of the city’s deadliest streets for the 48 pedestrians and two bike riders killed on Music City streets last year.
A Maine op-ed credits the state’s DOT with providing bike riders and pedestrians with a glimmer of hope by creating the state’s first-ever active transportation plan.
A new Massachusetts law starting April 1st will require drivers to stay four feet from bike riders and other vulnerable road users.
A Jersey City man has filed a $1 million claim against the city, saying he was the victim of a hit-and-run when he was struck by a councilwoman who didn’t bother to stop, after allegedly riding his bike through a red light; she has already been fined $5,000 and lost her license for a year as a result.
International
A new backpack takes the Hövding inflatable bike helmet a step further, deploying into an airbag designed to protect your head, shoulders and chest, while automatically dialing 911 in the event of an impact. No word on cost or how much it weighs.
Londoners are now being offered free e-scooter rides to scrap their older gas-guzzling cars.
A British writer credits a bikeshare tour of the duchy of Cornwall with rekindling his love of bicycling.
The prize for Britain’s shortest bike lane goes to the city of Birmingham, which installed a seven-foot bike lane purportedly to improve safety.
Former MMA champ and all-around human train wreck Conor McGregor is one of us, as he insists he could have been killed when a driver hit his bike while riding in Ireland.
A travel site lists nine reasons bicyclists will fall in love with Ireland, from Galway to Guinness. I cold sum it up in one — it’s Ireland.
A local bike club donated 70 bicycles to 12 schools in Ghana to help students get to class without being too tired to study, though the Chief of Boko — ie, head of education — warned the students not to use the bikes to road aimlessly. Because the last thing you’d want to do is ride a bike just because it’s fun, right?
Concerns are rising about the effect of Japan’s new helmet mandate on the country’s bikeshare systems; Yokohama’s BayBike system will experiment with loaning out bike helmets, with just three helmets available for its 178,000 registered users. Yes, 3.
A bill in the Philippine Senate would create a nationwide bike lane network.
A pair of Aussie university professors ask the difficult question of “what do cyclists wan,” and mostly get it right, from safe infrastructure to bicycling as the new normal. Although they somehow leave out donuts, coffee and beer.
Competitive Cycling
There may be hope for American pro cycling yet, as Neilson Powless claimed his third pro victory and first of the year with a solo breakaway in Sunday’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille.
Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal talks about last year’s near-fatal crash, as the 2019 Tour de France champ says people thought he was dead after riding his bike into the back of a parked truck during a training ride.
American pro Ayesha McGowan says she’s finally ready to race after uterine fibroids derailed her first year on the WorldTour.
Finally…
That feeling when you pedal the entire length of the East Coast on one wheel, instead of two. Dear Abby says no, you don’t have to touch a sweaty bike rider.
And nothing like mistakenly crediting your ancestor with inventing the bicycle, as if merely inventing the treadle bike wasn’t good enough.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
