Tag Archive for Everesting

Gaimon gamely tries to regain Everest title, riding 1,000 miles across Yukon in 1900, and bike cops in 1904 DTLA

January 25, 2021 / / Comments Off on Gaimon gamely tries to regain Everest title, riding 1,000 miles across Yukon in 1900, and bike cops in 1904 DTLA

Phil gave it his best shot.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.

After briefly holding the world Everesting record — climbing the equivalent of the height of Mt. Everest in a single ride — former pro Phil Gaimon bided his time making another attempt, before finding the perfect hill in Malibu.

Unfortunately, he was done in by an unexpected heat wave, abandoning the attempt after more than four hours as the heat climbed into the 80s.

Although something tells me he may give it another shot before the pandemic is over.

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva from Pexels.

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LA may be wet and cold right now, but it could be worse.

An adventure website tells the tale of a shop owner who sold everything he owned at the turn of the last century, and bought a 45 pound, single speed safety bicycle.

Then gave himself one week to learn how to ride before tackling a nearly 1,000-mile journey across the Yukon to Nome, Alaska, hoping to get there before all the gold was gone.

In the middle of winter, with temperatures down to -45.

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One more week to get a discount when you sign up for this year’s virtual Bike Summit.

Evidently, bike cops are nothing new in Downtown LA.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Here’s your chance to chuck it all, and live the mountain bike dream.

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Bicycles seldom fly off highways and burst into flames. Just saying.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the forward.

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

No bias here. A conservative candidate for London mayor pledges to rip out all the Low Traffic Neighborhoods — the equivalent of this country’s Slow Streets — if he’s elected, and get rid of congestion pricing to enter the city center.

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

Modesto streets were swarmed by people on bicycles, as hundreds of riders responded to local bike club’s call by flouting traffic laws, leading to five arrests and police impounding 19 bikes.

Police in England are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who forced a mother riding with her four-year old son on her bike face-first into a wall; she needed 20 stitches to her upper lip and the equivalent of nearly $500 in dental work.

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Local

About damn time. Nearly 75 advocacy and safety groups, including LADOT and the LACBC, sent a letter to newly inaugurated President Biden calling for a nationwide commitment to Vision Zero to traffic deaths in 29 years.

Burbank is gearing up to open another .75 mile segment of the Burbank Wash Bikeway next month.

The bike boom isn’t just limited to riding outside, as subscriptions for Long Beach’s Zwift have doubled over the past year.

 

State

La Jolla approves plans for protected bike lanes on Gilman Drive as part of San Diego’s Coastal Rail Trail project.

San Diego letter writers epitomize what passes for debate over bike lanes, with one calling for safety, while the other would rather have parking and arguing that some bicyclists don’t want them, anyway.

A 12-year old Bakersfield boy is back on a bike despite losing his vision, riding a tandem with his nine-year old brother up front, thanks to an Idaho man who hit up his friends to raise five grand for a child-sized bike.

A homeopathic medicine company featured Santa Barbara’s famed Gibraltar Road in their series of Great Ride videos.

Sad news from the central coast, where a 57-year old Soquel man was killed when his motorized bike crashed into a roadway median at 30 mph. Although it would be interesting to know how the CHP determined his speed, since it’s almost impossible to calculate the speed of a bicycle following a crash.

A San Mateo man is cleaning up by riding his bike, after starting a group to help clean the roads they ride in the county.

 

National

Streetsblog offers highlights from last week’s confirmation hearing for Transportation Secretary-designate Pete Buttigieg, including a call for Complete Streets and long overdue recognition that it’s time for America to end its auto-centric ways. Yes, he actually used one of my favorite terms.

They get it. Time says ebikes are taking off, but America’s cities aren’t ready for them.

After 136 years, Oregon finally concludes that bicycles are for humans.

Unbelievable. A Seattle bike cop is likely to walk without charges for slowly rolling his police bike over the head of a prone protester, after the victim declines to press charges.

Las Vegas remembered the five bike riders killed by an alleged meth-using truck driver by installing a five-seat ghost bike.

A 12-year old Arizona cancer survivor won a new ebike by winning a national dance competition, despite having just one leg.

Utah’s Arches National Park is seeking public input on a proposal that would allow bike riders to safely access the park by allowing them to use an existing trail that connects to the Moab Canyon Parkway.

Nice piece from Outside, as they profile the mobile bike repair shop working to keep the Navajo Nation on their bikes.

Turning bicycling into recycling, an 82-year old former pension fund manager in Wisconsin is using his retirement to collect and recycle aluminum cans; he recently gathered his two millionth can on his bike, using the profits to benefit environmental groups.

Pittsburgh is calming streets to slow traffic, in a city where ten percent of people still walk to work, and more are riding bikes every year.

No surprise here, as over half of the bicycling deaths in New York were low income or essential workers.

 

International

Singer, reality show judge and former Dancing With the Stars champ Nicole Scherzinger is one of us, taking a maskless ride with her boyfriend while vacationing in Turks and Caicos in the middle of a pandemic.

Toronto bike riders continue to die while the city backpedals on a $100 million commitment to build bikeways.

A Toronto woman rode her bike to get through a rough year. And used the lessons she learned to keep going through marital problems and a lost job.

Road.cc says why settle for riding the length of the UK when you can ride from London to Barcelona, instead.

Britain’s Busby safety app has seen a whopping 870% increase during the pandemic, as the resulting bike boom has encouraged riders worldwide to download the app that detects unusual movement — like a fall — and calls for help if it’s not deactivated in time.

Bike Radar considers why bike prices are spiking in the UK, concluding it’s not all due to Brexit, and takes a look at the best e-roadies.

Traffic deaths are down in Germany. Except for people on bicycles, which are climbing due to a lack of quality infrastructure.

Even in winter, 12% of all trips in Oulu, Finland are made by bicycle. But no one will ride in usually sunny Los Angeles winter weather, right?

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Giro champ Tom Dumoulin is taking a gap year, in a sense; the Dutch rider walked away from his Jumbo-Visma team to reconsider his future, questioning whether he still wants to race bikes.

An aspiring pro describes life in the lower rungs of pro cycling. And it ain’t pretty.

On a related note, Explica examines the impatience of tech-oriented Spanish Gen Z cyclists to turn pro in a world where 23-year old amateurs are over the hill.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the sound of gunshots turns out to be a tree falling on your back while you ride. Who needs ice skates when you’ve got an ice bike?

And seriously, who hasn’t played the bagpipes while shoveling snow on a unicycle dressed as Darth Vader?

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

Signal Hill bike rider critical after hit-and-run, Everesting record falls again, and trade your car for an ebike — next year

June 17, 2020 / / One comment

Maybe some day our elected leaders will care enough to stop hit-and-runs.

Unfortunately, that day, if it ever comes, will be too late for a Signal Hill bike rider, who was severely injured in a hit-and-run on Monday.

According to the Press-Telegram, the man is in critical condition after he was struck by a driver while riding on Skyline Drive at Cherry Avenue around 11:55 pm.

He was run down by a southbound SUV while crossing the intersection while riding west on Skyline. Which means either he or the driver ran the red light.

But regardless of who was at fault, the driver is now wanted for felony hit-and-run.

Police are looking for a dark-colored Chevrolet Tahoe. Hopefully they’ll find the heartless coward who was driving it.

And his victim will make a full and fast recovery.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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Once again, we have a new record for Everesting, after Aussie pro Lachlan Morton dropped the time required to climb the height of Mt. Everest on a bike to just 7 hours 32 minutes and 54 seconds.

And he set it on a road I grew up riding, on Rist Canyon just outside my Colorado hometown.

Which makes me just one degree of separation from the new world record.

Right?

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The South Coast Air Quality Management District is finally getting around to implementing a recent state law allowing you to trade in your older car for a new ebike.

But only if you can wait until next year.

I can’t, unfortunately.

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Local

South LA bike and community advocacy group East Side Riders teamed with the LA Galaxy to feed 600 people in Watts on Tuesday. Or maybe 1,000, depending on whether you believe the headline or the news story.

Pasadena police busted a bike rider who fled from an attempted traffic stop; they found him hiding under some bushes with a gun and ammunition magazine.

 

State

About damn time. San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener introduced a bill that would exempt transit, bike and pedestrian projects from CEQA reviews, which have been twisted by opponents to delay — or halt — environmentally friendly transportation projects.

Lompoc approves plans to expand the city’s bike network in hopes of promoting it as a bicycling destination. Although as we’ve learned in Los Angeles, approving a new bike plan doesn’t mean you’ll ever see paint on the street.

An 18-year old Mountain View driver faces charges for fleeing the scene after running down a teenage bike rider, who suffered what were described as moderate injuries.

An artist is welcoming the world back from the coronavirus shutdown by adding a bit of beauty to a Sacramento bike path.

 

National

Clean Technica says every ebike and electric car brings $10,000 in social benefits.

How to wear and care for your bike helmet.

Welcome to Portland, where tall bikes were killed by high housing costs.

A Wisconsin bike shop was forced to close for 14 days after an employee was exposed to someone with Covid-19.

Once again, authorities have managed to keep a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, as a Wisconsin man was booked for his third drunk driving offense for fleeing the scene after running down a teenage girl riding with her mother.

A Chicago man was an accidental victim of gun violence, after he was killed by a stray bullet while riding his bike past a street shooting.

A Maine bicycle coalition is launching a campaign to make it socially acceptable for drivers to slow down and drive the speed limit. Good luck with that.

A New Jersey kid made a troubling discovery when he found a dead body on the side of the road while riding his bike.

Rhode Island restaurant and beverage workers hit a local trail on their bikes, raising $8,000 for bartenders, bars, restaurants and hospitality nonprofit organizations.

New Orleans bike riders rode through the city to demand name changes to streets named after Confederate leaders.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The son of a Miami rabbi, who was a star high school soccer player, died after clinging to life for nearly two months when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike.

 

International

Covid-19 is keeping students in Bolivia out of school. So a bike-riding teacher is bringing school to them.

Police dispatchers in an Ontario, Canada town pitched in to buy a four-year old girl a new bicycle, after some jerk stole the Frozen-themed bike she’d just learned to ride on.

Gordon Ramsey’s one-year old son is one of us now.

The next bike from British motorcycle maker Triumph will have pedals. And be electric.

The coronavirus bike boom has hit Paris, too.

Five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault is leading an effort to rescue Mavic, the financially troubled French bike component maker.

Model turned Bollywood actress Aisha Sharma is one of us, too.

The Philippine president may be just this side of a dictator, but at least he’s expanding bike lanes.

 

Competitive Cycling

This year’s mountain bike nationals could take the form of a trail time trial in an effort to maintain social distancing. If it happens, which is a big if at this point.

 

Finally…

Yes, you can get an e-foldie for under seven hundred bucks. Your next spokes could be made of plastic.

And Everesting is even harder when there aren’t any hills around.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Tomorrow is World Bicycle Day, white bicyclists have to do better, and Gaimon loses Everest with tongue in cheek

June 2, 2020 / / Comments Off on Tomorrow is World Bicycle Day, white bicyclists have to do better, and Gaimon loses Everest with tongue in cheek

Tomorrow is World Bicycle Day.

Or as it’s known in Los Angeles, Wednesday.

So how do you plan to celebrate?

You could start with the First Ever Virtual Bicycle Video, released by an Indian bicycle organization.

Or just get out and go for a ride.

Photo by Josh Kur from Pexels.

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A writer for Canadian Cycling Magazine says as white cyclists, we have to do better.

This may not be your conversation topic of choice but it’s something that we must address. As white cyclists, we have a social responsibility to take direct action toward tangible change within the cycling community and the community at large. It’s not enough to simply not be racist. As Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at the American University, said during a recent edition of CBC’s The Current, “To say you are not racist is to deny your racism. We’re either being racist or anti-racist at all times.”

With the turmoil roiling the country in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, this is a good time to remember that bicycling is often a different experience for black and brown riders than for white riders.

We don’t have to worry about what could happen if we get stopped by the police. Or feel worried eyes upon us riding through a predominantly white neighborhood.

Or worse.

When the simple act of going for a run can get you killed. And the threat may not come from the drivers the rest of us worry about. At least not in the same way.

And if you’re white, you don’t automatically become a suspect simply by riding through the wrong community, or at the wrong time.

I’ve long wanted to believe that biking while black or brown wasn’t a problem. Not here, not now.

But based on what people have told me, that’s simply not true.

It’s up to all of us to ensure a level playing field for everyone on the streets.

And in life.

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Phil Gaimon sticks his tongue firmly in cheek, and says thanks, but he already knows he lost his Everesting record before he could even finish drinking the champagne to celebrate it.

And he wants your help to find a better hill to take it back.

Seriously, this will probably be the funniest thing you see all day.

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

A Detroit man faces charges for deliberately trying to run down a pair of bike cops, then leading police on a chase as he fled the scene.

A 63-year old English man was injured when he was knocked off the ebike he uses as a mobility aide after someone threw something at him from a passing car.

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

British police are looking for a bike-riding man who squirted a baby in the face with water. Don’t do that. No, really.

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Local

DTLA Bikes lucked out on Saturday’s night of looting in Downtown Los Angeles, when thieves cut the gate, but left after realizing all the bikes inside were locked; owner Yehuda Masjedi chased away a trio of thieves armed with bolt cutters as he was waiting for police to arrive Sunday morning.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

Tech Radar looks into ebikes that could genuinely replace your car. Unless you don’t own a car, in which case maybe they could replace your TAP card.

Surprisingly, AOL suggests four bikes you can still get from Amazon. No, it isn’t surprising that you can get bikes from Amazon. It’s surprising that AOL is still out there.

Today recommends the best kids bikes to get them riding this summer.

Road Bike Action details the “travails and treasure” of building your dream bike, one component at a time. Yes, they really phrased it that way.

An engineering website recommends 17 accessories every bicyclist should buy. Much of which you probably shouldn’t.

A Utah bicyclist will probably frame the ticket and display it prominently on his wall after police clocked him doing 55 mph in a 40 mph zone on a descent.

The Denver Post blames thriving ridership and an Asian supply chain disrupted by Covid-19 for the nationwide bicycle shortage.

Yale considers whether the current coronavirus-light traffic will last post-pandemic. Short answer, no. Longer answer, not without major structural changes to our streets, and policy changes at city hall.

 

International

Pro cyclists deal with the same roads as the rest of us. And they report things are getting worse around the world as countries reawaken from the coronavirus lockdown.

Cycling Tips says yes, you can be sued for causing a crash and injuring another rider on a group ride.

Costa Rica is on its way to becoming the world’s first zero-carbon country, if they can just do something about all those cars.

This is what a would-be bike thief looks like, as a Vancouver BC man films a stranger attempting to cut a U-lock from a bike in front of his building; despite the dubious ownership claims of the thief, police are looking for the bike’s real owner.

Bighearted workers at a Calgary, Alberta bike shop are raising funds to benefit the wife of a coworker and bring his family up from California for his funeral, after the elite rider was killed in a collision last week; they hope to raise $10,000 by donating all profits from Wednesday’s rentals and sales.

London’s Evening Standard picks the year’s best bike locks. Although “best” is a relative term when they include a cable lock, which is just an open invitation to steal your bike.

A new British study shows bike commuting or taking the train can cut your risk of cancer, as well as death from heart disease and mortality from all causes. In fact, bicycling is so good for you, we’d all probably live forever if it wasn’t for cars.

BBC host James May calls on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to bomb the country with bicycles, noting that he could give every adult in Britain a carbon frame bike for the price of a high speed rail line.

Another BBC presenter says she’s now terrified of riding a bicycle after her bike-riding husband was hit by a driver.

Riding a bike drunk in the UK could cost you the equivalent of over $3,100. Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.

A Turkish man rode his bicycle over 430 miles in two days to see his 14-year old daughter, who lives with her mother.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yes, Lance still hates fellow ex-Tour de France champ Floyd Landis.

Speaking of dopers, say hi to banned former German pro Jan Ullrich.

 

Finally…

This is why you don’t ride under railroad crossing arms. Why pedal when you can just walk and ride at the same time?

And finally, a how-to video tailor-made for me.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

LA’s Gaimon sets Everesting record, Ryu flips on sustainable transportation, and BOLO alert for Downs adaptive bike

May 13, 2020 / / Comments Off on LA’s Gaimon sets Everesting record, Ryu flips on sustainable transportation, and BOLO alert for Downs adaptive bike

He did it.

LA-based former pro cyclist Phil Gaimon set a new world record for Everesting, riding the height of Mount Everest in less than eight hours.

Riding on LA’s steep Mountaingate Drive, Gaimon climbed a total of 29,029 feet in a time of 7:52:12, shaving 33 minutes off the previous record.

It took him over 60 laps, and nearly 100 miles of riding distance to do it.

Not to mention finishing with a little vomit in his beard. Which is a detail I’m sure none of us really needed.

Gaimon explains below he he picked the road for his record setting attempt.

Meanwhile, the LA Times reveals this isn’t the first time that road has been the scene of a hillclimb. Even if you do have to go back 35 years.

Photo by Raniery Costa Pelissari from Pexels.

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CD4 Councilmember David Ryu must be feeling the heat as he runs for reelection in a tight race with challenger Nithya Raman.

Or else he’s had a sudden change of heart after four years of fighting road diets, bike lanes and any other kind of mobility improvements in the district.

Personally, I’d bet on the former.

But either way, it’s good to see him finally come around.

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There’s a special place in hell for the three people who stole a custom-made adaptive bike from a 15-year old Sherman Oaks boy with Down syndrome.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Mountain biker Ben Travis takes full advantage of his one outing allowed under the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, with some pretty cool stunts on the empty streets, plazas and freight yards of his Scottish hometown.

Unless you’d rather watch Belgian mountain biker Thomas Genon prove that bikes can fly.

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Moses Sumney goes for a relaxing bike ride on his latest video.

With no hands, even.

Usher says hold my beer, not only riding through Los Feliz with no hands, while holding his not-so-little dog.

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

A Reddit user posted video of a jerk in a pickup rolling coal, forcing them to ride through a thick fog of black exhaust; no word on where that happened, unfortunately. Thanks to Michael for the tip.

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

Or in this case, a kid, as Alabama police tracked down bike-riding boy in connection with a series of arson fires.

And a Washington man is behind bars after allegedly using a meat cleaver to rob people while riding his bike.

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Local

You still can’t ride a bike at the beach in LA County, but as of today, you can ride your bike on a closed-to-cars Rose Bowl Loop in Pasadena; social distancing required, with masks in parking lots and high density areas, and no group rides allowed.

Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson is one of us, riding through Los Angeles with his longtime girlfriend.

For fans of The Bachelor, Peter Weber and Kelley Flanagan went for a casual tandem ride through the streets of LA. For the rest of us, carry on.

 

State

There won’t be any Bike to Work Day in San Diego this Thursday, after the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, cancelled this year’s event due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Never mind that there are hardly any jobs left to bike to these days, anyway.

San Diego is taking advantage of the light traffic by repaving a three-mile section of North Harbor Drive leading to the airport, including new buffered bike lanes.

A San Raphael homeowner collared the thief who tried to steal a bike from his garage, chasing him down and holding him in a headlock until police arrived.

The Humboldt County Planning Commission approved a $1.5 million, Class 1 multi-use path paralleling State Route 255 through the tiny town of Manila, answering a decades-long call to improve safety for people on bicycles.

 

National

The New York Times says the coronavirus crisis presents a unique opportunity to reimagine our cities, creating more and better public spaces to weather this pandemic and provide greater opportunity for decades to come. Scroll slowly through the initial graphic for the full effect.

WaPo says the coronavirus isn’t the only crisis America faces right now, as speeding drivers have taken over the country’s empty roadways. Thanks to Misha Dworsky for the link.

Nice piece from Cycling Tips, as a father discovers that life rolls on even now, when his young daughter learns to ride a bike for the first time.

A new study shows distracted pedestrians aren’t the problem drivers think they are. But distracted drivers are.

Specialized has released a new transport ebike they promise is 40% lighter than traditional ebikes.

Lifehacker offers tips on how to tune your bike, while the Chicago Tribune recommends their favorite road tires.

A writer for Chicago Streetsblog says the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery illustrates the problem with calling for open streets, because they aren’t always safe for people of color, even without cars on them.

A Chicago woman pens an open letter to the hit-and-run scumbag driver who ran down her bike and left her sprawled in the street.

An Illinois town shelves plans to require helmets for bike riders, skateboarders and skaters, saying it’s not the right time because of the pandemic. It’s never the right time, because helmet laws have been repeatedly shown to depress bicycling rates, rather than improving safety.

A St. Paul MN writer maps the top gaps in the city’s bikeway network. You couldn’t do the same thing here in Los Angeles, because what passes for our nominal network is more gaps than bikeways.

Nice move from the maker of Minnesota’s Honeycomb cereal, which is donating 600 bicycles to tweens and teens in foster care.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for that new ebike from General Motors; the Detroit automaker pulled the plug after a trial European release last year.

 

International

A Mexican bikemaker is in hot water after attempting to skirt the country’s lockdown rules by hiding over 350 employees at its Mexico City factory.

The Guardian calls for more space on the roads for pedestrians and people on bicycles, saying we need room to move around safely, not a culture war.

Road.cc picks the year’s best touring bikes, starting at the equivalent of under $700.

York, England wants to become the UK’s first zero-emissions city center, with only bikes and electric vehicles allowed.

It takes a real pair of jerks to refuse to get out of the way of a little girl riding her bike on a British trail — then swear and kick her bike after she falls off.

Paris is installing 31 miles of bike lanes in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus on public transit. Meanwhile, a New York writer begs bike-friendly Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to come be his mayor instead of the current occupant of Gotham’s city hall. Maybe she could come take over for LA’s ostensible climate mayor, instead.

French bike part maker Mavic is struggling under France’s version of bankruptcy.

Germany sees a big jump in ebike sales after the country’s bike shops are allowed to reopen.

Voice of America reports on Rome’s efforts to build more bike lanes to steer residents away from transit during the pandemic.

Italy will pay 70% of the cost of a new bicycle or e-scooter during the coronavirus crisis, up to the equivalent of $540.

The former elections commissioner of the Philippines says it’s time to promote a cycling culture in the country to improve public health during the coronavirus crisis.

 

Finally…

Evidently, your bike shorts are going to be trendy for awhile.

And it’s scary as hell when I agree with LA’s conservative shock jocks for the first time.

This must be what the Upside Down feels like.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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