Tag Archive for ghost bikes

Missing Oregon mtn biker drives himself home, WeHo vigil & rally for safer streets tonight, and Bike Talk talks bike stuff

July 18, 2025 / / No comments
Day 199 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let’s start with the good news.

It’s a happy ending in Oregon, where a 52-year old man who disappeared on a mountain biking trip one week ago made it back to his car, and drove himself home after being missing for five days.

He explained his absence, which prompted searches with drones and National Guard troops, by saying he hid his mountain bike so it wouldn’t get stolen, then lost his footing while hiking and slid down a steep embankment. Unable to climb back up, he walked further down to a stream, becoming ill after drinking from it.

He eventually made it back to the trail, then hiked back to retrieve his bike — which was still there — before returning to his car and driving to a friend’s house.

But at least he’s okay.

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The WeHo Times covers Wednesday’s ghost bike installation for Blake Ackerman, who was run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver last week at Fountain and Gardner.

As we reported yesterday, a 73-year old man was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday, which gave him plenty of time to sober up if he had been under the influence.

The second part of the memorial honoring Ackerman will take place this evening, with a vigil beginning at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, before walking to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference.

I’ll be there for the first part of the vigil, but will have to skip the rest due to family obligations.

And yes, I’ll be the one with the corgi, and without the Hawaiian shirt.

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Bike Talk talks about opportunities in the New York protected bike lane crisis, a Bike Life buyout for LA street vendors, and suspicions of an “anti-vehicle agenda” in San Diego.

Although that last part sounds a lot like the mythical war on cars.

I think the title says it all here. biketalk.org/2025/07/2528… @sophlebo.bsky.social @obcycler.bsky.social @bikinginla.bsky.social #bikesky

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T02:39:47.599Z

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Now you, too, can compete in the Grand Fondo World Championship in Kazakhstan next month.

I think.

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

Gothamist says New York Mayor Eric Adams efforts to rip out a parking-protected bike lane in Brooklyn are just an effort to appeal to Hasidic voters who live in the area.

Police in Fletcher, North Carolina are looking for a pickup driver who recklessly followed a bike rider, then threatened to kill the victim during an argument.

A British motorist deliberately drove into a man riding a bicycle in Birmingham, England, then the occupants of the car got out and beat the victim as he lay in the street; the unidentified victim walked off before police arrived, but one of the attackers was arrested on suspicion of affray. And yes, I had to look that one up.

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

Lime Bikes is rolling out a London billboard campaign reminding bikeshare users they’re required to stop at red lights, as if they didn’t already know and just don’t bother.

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Local 

Both the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Bass have signed off on the ground rules to implement Measure HLA, which took affect over a year earlier; the measure requires the city to build out the mobility plan whenever a significant portion of a street is resurfaced, which it hasn’t done up to now.

Don’t forget the bicycle and pedestrian safety operation 5 am to 8 pm today in Santa Monica; police are legally required to enforce traffic laws equally, regardless of who commits them, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

A pair of “fearless adventurers” for The Inertia take an ebike tour across Catalina Island in a single day, saying the 4,000 feet of elevation gain and 360° ocean views make it an adventure you need to experience.

 

State

The state Senate has approved SB 720, a bill to modernize red light cameras to make it easier for cities to choose to install them; it now moves on to the Assembly.

A new report from Santa Cruz County reveals the county ranks second in California for bicycling deaths and injuries, and fifth for pedestrian crashes and deaths.

Streetsblog says it’s time to fix San Francisco’s Polk Street once and for all, calling it one of the city’s best streets for “nightlife, cookies, doughnuts, and city life in general,” as well as one of the most dangerous.

 

National

Seattle Bike Blog endorses a bike and transit riding mom for the city’s mayor.

A local advocacy group will post signs in a Denver park memorializing the 79 bicyclists killed in Colorado since 2020 as part of a bike safety campaign, with the blessing of the state Department of Transportation

A group of Houston artists are getting a jump on Dia de los Muertos, and will build ofrendas for the fallen bicyclists who have died in the city over the past year.

Indy rock duo Illiterate Light is taking their latest tour by bicycle, with a 700 mile bicycle trip from Harrisonburg, Virginia to Rhode Island, while passing through Pennsylvania with stops along the Jersey Shore.

The Asheville, North Carolina dump truck driver who killed two bicyclists and injured another in a head-on crash has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of death by vehicle, and driving left of center. Because apparently, killing two people riding bicycles just isn’t that big a deal.

 

International

The British Columbia bicycling community is in mourning after three bike riders were killed by drivers in a single week.

He gets it. A Whistler, British Columbia letter writer and practicing family physician complains about the Mounties focus on bicycle helmets when preventing crashes in the first place would do more good.

Momentum says Quebec’s 3,300-mile La Route Verte is North America’s most epic bicycling network.

A writer for Road.cc says London’s bicycling infrastructure is “bloody brilliant” these days, after learning how good he had it when he moved to another city.

A writer for The Guardian enjoys “freewheeling family fun” with a bicycling and camping trip along the Netherland’s Maas river.

Tragic news from Italy, where extreme sports star Andreas Tonelli was killed when he fell over 600 feet while mountain biking near Gröden/Val Gardena in the Dolomites; the 48-year old mountain biker and adventure sports guide posted a photo to Instagram after ascending to 9,500 feet around 7 pm, but wasn’t heard from again until his body was found around 1 am.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar claimed his 20th Tour de France stage victory on the famed Hautacam, redeeming himself after losing to Jonas Vingegaard on the mountain three years ago, and reclaiming the yellow jersey with a more than three-and-a-half minute lead over second place Vingegaard.

The Tour de France peloton paused for one minute before Thursday’s 12th stage and applauded in honor of Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian cyclist who died after hitting a speed bump while descending and losing control of his bike during the first stage of Italy’s Tour of Valle D’Aosta.

Apparently, it’s okay to drop Tadej Pogačar when he’s peeing, but not after a crash.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes their eyes off the peloton, and looks to the sidelines to examine the stars who have graced the Tour de France over the last 45 years.

For the second time in less than two weeks, the Cofidis cycling team has been targeted by bike thieves, this time the women’s squad competing at the Baloise Ladies Tour; the team isn’t saying how many bikes were taken or what they are worth.

Over 120 volunteers turned out in response to an urgent social media plea by the organizers of the USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships in Roanoke, Virginia, after only a fraction of the expected race marshals showed up on the first day.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be an adult tricycle. This is your brain, this is your brain on cars.

And I’ve ridden with a few short cranks, myself. But you can’t always pick your riding companions.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ghost bike and rally for fallen WeHo bike rider, the worst states for bike commuters, and LA pays dearly for Deadly del Mar

July 15, 2025 / / No comments
Day 196 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let’s start with an update on 26-year old Blake Ackerman, the lawyer and bike commuter killed by a hit-and-run driver in West Hollywood last Thursday.

A ghost bike will be installed tomorrow at 9 am in a small ceremony at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street. The public is welcome to attend.

A larger vigil will be held on Friday, July 18th, starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference. Everyone is urged to attend and participate.

And I do mean everyone.

And yes, that includes me this time.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding page to raise funds to support Blake’s mother and sister has raised nearly $160,000 of the newly increased $200,000 goal.

There’s still no word on the identity of the heartless coward in a white, older-model BMW sedan who left Blake Ackerman in the street.

It’s also worth taking some time to look over WeHo’s two-year old Vision Zero Plan. Because Fountain isn’t the only street that needs to be fixed before it’s too late.

Again.

Photo of Blake Ackerman in better days from GoFundMe page.

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A new study from a bike insurer ranks Texas as the nation’s second-worst state of bike commuters, behind only South Carolina.

California comes in at a relatively safe 18th best. Which really makes you wonder just how bad the other 32 states behind us must be.

Vermont was rated the best state for bike commuters, followed by Oregon, Minnesota, Alaska and West Virginia.

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They get it.

Streets For All says Los Angeles is caught in a money-draining spiral of spending millions to pay for deaths and injuries caused by our dangerous streets, rather than spending to fix the streets and avoid the damn injuries in the first place.

As a prime example, they call out Playa Vista’s Deadly del Mar, aka Vista del Mar, where 20 people have been killed in the past 20 years.

That includes five deaths since 2017, when the city briefly installed safety improvements following a nearly $10 million settlement for the death of a 16-year old girl, which were promptly ripped out at the order of former “World Climate” Mayor Eric Garcetti to appease entitled commuters from Manhattan Beach.

(Click this link if Elon Musk’s “improvements” keep the video from embedding.)

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An anonymous source forwards a Reddit post highlighting a problem too many people fail to consider, myself included, as a Deaf Scottish woman posts a plea for a little more consideration from bike riders on shared trails.

(Click on the post if it doesn’t embed in full)

Cyclists of Edinburgh, I ask a favour please
byu/VoiceDouble217 inEdinburgh

I have always relied on a shouted “passing on your left” to warn others of my approach. But neither that nor a bike bell will do any good if the other person can’t hear you.

She then followed up on the over 100 replies her post received with this.

“Thanks all for the comments and insights, really helpful!” she said. “Not intending to diss cyclists or anything; I know people have opinions of them.

“My post genuinely was just asking for a bit of respect/shared responsibility although some people don’t seem to get that my being deaf, they seem to think it’s somehow my fault for nearly getting spooked by someone coming behind me.”

As the person who emailed me points out,

It is an important issue to raise because hearing people don’t often think about the fact that sometimes yelling or a horn is not going to be effective. Deaf people are more likely to respond to lights, but even that might not work if you’re coming up behind someone on a path in the open so slow down and avoid close passes of people moving more slowly than you are.

My emailer also pointed out something else I was familiar with, but maybe don’t consider as often as I should, referring to a story based on the Reddit post from Scotland’s Daily Record, which seemed more biased against bicyclists.

They also lower cased “Deaf” when the OP clearly identifies as upper case “Deaf” (which is not just a medical condition, but a culture and thus capitalized when someone identifies as part of that culture).

It’s very easy to go through life — and yes, riding a bicycle — seeing it only from the lens of someone who is hearing and sighted. But it’s important that we also consider the needs, safety and dignity of those who aren’t.

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Bike Talk talks tactical urbanism in two cities, with diametrically different results.

In our last episode, we talked to bike activists in two cities who made their own bike lanes with opposite results. soundcloud.com/biketalk/252… @pattybikes.com @cascadebicycleclub.bsky.social @merlinrain.bsky.social @seattlebikeblog.com #bikesky

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T02:22:45.709Z

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Okay, that is a little close.

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

Despite the Ontario provincial governments efforts to rip them out, most Toronto residents support bike lanes and mixed-use roads.

Huh? A rightwing commentator says the solution to Britain’s immigration crisis is to make all aspiring British citizens pass the country’s cycling proficiency test.

A Dublin, Ireland journalist says that as a new bike rider, she’s “astonished” by the amount of aggression she saw from drivers on her daily commute.

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Local 

Next City says Denver solved it’s sidewalk problem by reclaiming responsibility for fixing broken sidewalks from property owners, suggesting it could be a solution for Los Angeles, aka “the city of broken sidewalks” in the words of the late, great Donald Shoup.

Streetsblog calls attention to a series of Metro meetings continuing this week and next to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project, and the Sepulveda Transit rail project to connect the Valley with West Los Angeles, where rich Bel Air residents are demanding an inefficient monorail so no one will have to dig a subway tunnel under their very expensive homes.

Santa Monica hosts yet another in a continuing series of bicycle and pedestrian safety operations in SoCal cities, this time on Friday, July 18, 2025 from 5 am to 8 pm. Even though they say it’s targeted at dangerous driver behaviors, police are legally required to enforce the law equally against all violators, regardless of mode of travel. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed. 

West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies issued just 46 tickets during their recent bicycle and pedestrian safety operation, but it doesn’t break down who got the tickets or why.

 

State

Laguna Beach is looking for public input on a proposal to build a mountain bike pump track.

San Francisco wants to expand the Embarcadero protected bike lane, which would require removing up to 30 parking spaces and 15 palms trees. Which is okay because palms are just giant grasses that suck up water and don’t shade anything. 

She gets it. A San Francisco letter writer says “If you oppose bike lanes, pedestrian improvements or expanding public transit, you’re voting for more congestion.”

Residents of the Bay Area’s Alameda County can enter a lottery to receive up to $1,500 towards the purchase of an ebike from the local energy company. To which LA’s DWP responds <crickets>.

Sacramento city officials are upset that the city received a failing grade in People For Bikes new City Ratings, arguing they should have been rated higher. Never mind that Sacramento was rated a full ten points higher than lowly Los Angeles, and not one city official here even gave a damn. 

 

National

Authorities in Oregon are using drones to search for a 52-year old man described as an experienced mountain biker, who disappeared after leaving on a ride Friday morning; searchers found his cellphone in his car, which could have helped pinpoint his location. Which is a reminder to never, ever leave yours behind when you ride. 

Thousands of bike riders took part in the annual 200-mile Seattle to Portland bike ride.

It’s now illegal for Utah drivers to block a bike lane. And yes, Deseret News, that does make it safer for everyone. 

A New Mexico letter writer says most drivers are really polite and considerate, and have your best interests at heart — but if you want to stay safe, you need to dress like a DayGlo clown. Sadly, he may have a point. About that last part, anyway. 

That’s more like it. An Indiana festival combines bicycles, whiskey and bluegrass. So who’s going with me?

An MIT transportation researcher and self-identified car enthusiast says you can love cars, and still support public transportation and decarbonization.

Six hundred people from 37 states descended on New York to bike the full 400 miles of the Erie Canal to mark the canal’s 250th anniversary.

A Manhattan community board called out New York’s mayor for cutting bike and bike lanes out of his auto-centric redesign of the city’s iconic 5th Avenue.

Seriously? A study from a Florida law firm shows that Bay County is the state’s most dangerous county for bicyclists — but instead of demanding safer streets or better drivers, a Florida political site says “wear a helmet.”

 

International

For once, police in the UK are asking for someone riding a bicycle to come forward when they’re not in trouble, as police in Yorkshire look for a bike rider who may have witnessed a driver kill a pedestrian.

An Irish food delivery rider settled a lawsuit over a dooring for the equivalent of $70,000, which required surgery to fix a broken little finger.

Dutch advocacy groups says forget helmets and bicycle speed limits, and upgrade the infrastructure, instead.

A pair of New Zealand Olympians are riding 2,500 miles through Africa to train for the ’28 Games while raising funds to buy bicycles for people in the towns they’re riding through.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour de France peloton stormed into Tuesday’s rest day with a major upset, as Irishman Ben Healy took the yellow jersey off Tadej Pogačar’s back, moving from nearly four minutes back to become the first Irish cyclist in yellow since Stephen Roche in 1987.

Britain’s Simon Yates celebrated Bastille Day by winning the Tour’s stage 10 yesterday, coming out on the right end of a long-range breakaway that was slowly whittled down from 28 cyclists to just six at the end.

Bike Radar visits France’s volcanic Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which hosted the finish of Monday’s Tour de France stage for the first time in the race’s 122-year history.

A Mexican news site celebrates the country’s newest cycling star, after 21-year old Isaac del Toro won last week’s Tour of Austria, to go with his second place finish in the Giro.

 

Finally…

You know things have gone too far when even Jesus objects to ebikes. If you see a pedestrian in a bike lane ahead of you, should you blame the government or deploy torpedos?

And when you’re riding a bike on the 4th of July while smoking crack, and with an outstanding warrant on a meth charge, put a damn light on it, already.

And don’t be a famous musician, for Pete’s sake.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

CV Link won’t fix Coachella Valley’s deadly streets, an alternative to ghost bikes, and congestion pricing hits NYC – but not LA

January 6, 2025 / / One comment
Welcome to Day 6 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No, the CV Link alone will not keep bike riders safe in the Coachella Valley.

A pair of reports from the Palm Springs NBC station asks that question about the planned 40-mile dual pathway that will form a loop connecting Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City and other cities throughout the valley.

But as last week’s twin bicycling deaths just five miles apart in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert make clear, the area’s streets remain dangerous for anyone on two wheels.

Too many streets are too wide, with speed limits too high, and offer too little protection for people riding bicycles. Or on foot.

Then again, they aren’t all that safe for people cars, either.

While the CV Link could provide a safer route for recreational riders, it won’t do anything to protect people traveling to and from the pathway, or for bike commuters who have to travel to and through areas unserved by the route.

Meanwhile, faster riders will undoubtedly face complaints from others on the path, and likely spur speed restrictions before long — if it doesn’t already have them — spurring many road riders to return to the streets.

So while the CV Link may offer a pleasant off-road alternative for some riders, it will do nothing to improve safety and reduce traffic violence on the valley’s deadly streets.

And people who walk, run or ride a bike will continue to pay the price.

Graphics taken CV Link website. 

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Anyone have a suggestion for this commenter?

Actually, the best option would be to finally fix our streets and motor vehicles so they’re not needed anymore.

But until that ever happens, it’s a discussion worth having.

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Congestion pricing finally began in New York yesterday.

After years of lawsuits and dithering by public officials, the city instituted a $9 charge for people driving into the heart of Manhattan, which will gradually rise in future years.

Despite complaints from motorists, the idea is not to punish drivers, but to reduce traffic congestion while raising millions of dollars for public transportation.

It’s something that has already proven successful in London and throughout Europe, which will inevitably give rise to the usual complaints of this is not (insert city here).

But it’s definitely worth trying.

And Day One reportedly went off without a hitch.

Yet while other major cities move forward with congestion pricing, Los Angeles is slow-walking its own Metro proposal, doing what our leaders do best — studying the idea, in hopes it will just go away.

Even that isn’t scheduled to begin until 2028, though, when a study focusing on central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and the westside will finally launch.

Although they could probably save time by launching a study right now to see if they can find any elected officials willing to stand up to complaints from angry drivers.

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

It’s official. The negligent homicide charge has been dropped against a DEA agent who blew through a stop sign, and killed a Salem, Oregon woman riding a bicycle, after a judge ruled he was entitled to federal immunity because he was on the job. Almost as if he was elected president or something. 

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

Probably not the best idea to ride a bike wearing a sex toy on your helmet, while shouting profanities near a church. But you do you.

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Local  

A new electric mobility device from a Venice, California company claims to be a cross between a BMX and a skateboard.

Ben Affleck may not be one of us, but his 12-year old son is.

 

State

A San Diego writer says forget the state’s new daylighting law, and enforce existing laws against overnight parking in residential neighborhoods, instead. Because who cares if someone dies because a driver couldn’t see them because of someone illegally parking near an intersection, right?

San Diego has finally begun work on the long-planned Normal Street Promenade in the city’s Hillcrest neighborhood, which will include an eight-foot bike path as part of the $30 million project.

 

National

Put yourself through college with a side hustle riding a bike or a scooter.

Ultracyclist Lael Wilcox may have set a world record for riding around the world, but what inspires her are the women she’s met during the Komoot women’s rallies, like last year’s in Arizona.

Half of the people who received a Minnesota voucher for up to $1,500 off the price of a new ebike had incomes over $80,000, while 40% earned over $100k; only 37% went to low-income earners.

A Nashville news channel talks with a local bike courier about how he stays warm in the winter cold, although he says black ice and texting drivers scare him more.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the New Orleans terrorist who plowed through the New Year’s Eve crowd on Bourbon Street in a rented truck, killing 15 people, scouted his attack by riding a bicycle through the city wearing Meta Glasses to record video of the streets.

 

International

A Scottish nonprofit is collecting bicycles to donate to refugees, in order to make them feel more connected to their new community.

A British writer says ebikes can be a good thing, but illegal ebikes, and bikes illegally modified to exceed speed limitations, are too easy to get through the government’s bike-to-work program, even though they’re prohibited.

A beginning bike rider agrees to a point-to-point ride through France, then is shocked to learn she has to ride 112 miles in three day — but finds an ebike makes it easier.

Eighteen “underprivileged and brilliant” Nepalese schoolgirls have received new bicycles to help them continue their education.

A young Vietnamese boy proves pedals actually don’t have to alternate when you ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Newly released information suggests that the crash that killed 25-year old Norwegian pro cyclist André Drege during the Tour of Austria was caused when his rear tire burst after striking a curb.

America’s last remaining Tour de France winner says the rise of doping in the ’90s was what led to his early retirement — and even that wasn’t as bad as what Lance and crew were up to.

Reigning road, gravel, and six-time cyclocross world champ Mathieu van der Poel says he hasn’t really succeeded until he adds the world mountain bike title to his resume, as well.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your next car is an ebike, and that ebike is a car. Now you, too, can ride your very own venomous snake bike.

And nothing clears the street like an assist from a bike-riding dog in a backpack.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Missing the point on ghost bikes, El Segundo’s new substandard bike lanes, and CA’s failed ebike voucher plan

July 26, 2024 / / One comment
Just 158 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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An Altamont NY writer kinda misses the point about ghost bikes.

He notes that it’s natural to grieve, and we don’t all do it in the same way. But wonders whether it’s healthy to be reminded of these tragedies every time you pass by, and questions who wants to see something like that, anyway?

But that’s the point.

None of us want to see that. But we all need to be reminded what happened there.

Because a ghost bike is more than just a memorial. It’s a reminder to everyone who sees it about the fragility of human life, and the need to drive in a way that respects that.

A ghost bike is a searing reminder to respect the safety of people on bicycles, and to take your damn foot off the gas, for once.

Personally, I hate the damn things. I hope we never have to install another one.

But I will support ghost bikes until they’re not needed any more. And the last person killed riding a bike on our streets really is the last one.

Photo of ghost bike for fallen South LA bicyclist Frederick “Woon” Frazier by Matt Tinoco.

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Evidently, substandard is the new standard. At least in El Segundo.

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It’s now 218 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry has taken an in-depth look at the program. Or at least as in-depth as possible, given the closed-door decision making process, obtuse public pronouncements and obvious obfuscation.

Her piece was posted under the headline What the Heck is Going on with the State E-bike Incentive Program? Which is about as politely stated as possible given the subject matter.

I would have used another word starting with H instead of heck. And even that would be an effort to censure my own thoughts on the subject.

Curry writes that the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, has continually promised that the the program, which is currently funded at $30 million after the state legislature sweetened the pot, will launch “soon.”

Sometimes that’s sometime in the next quarter, or the one after that. But every time, their self-imposed deadline has come and gone, with barely a dime laid out.

The soft launch that we’ve heard virtually nothing about has funded just 77 vouchers, mostly in the San Diego area, according to Curry. But no dollar amounts have been announced.

And if San Diego rings a bell, it’s because that’s where program administrator Pedal Ahead is located. And where Pedal Ahead and its CEO are reportedly being investigated amid accusations of mixing public and private funds.

As Curry explains,

And now, two recent articles in the San Diego Union Tribune say that the program’s administrator is “under investigation” by multiple agencies for various improprieties, and is being sued by one of its employees who says he wasn’t paid for work he did, and that the nonprofit mixed public money and private business.

When CARB announced that they had chosen Pedal Ahead as administrator for the program in 2022, advocates were quietly but frantically worried that a big mistake had been made. Rumors swirled about Pedal Ahead’s founder, Ed Clancy, and questions were raised about his personal connections to former CARB board member Nathan Fletcher, who helped Clancy launch his organization, Rider Safety Visibility (RSV), of which Pedal Ahead is a part.

But no one would go on record with their concerns, and CARB staff insisted that (former CARB board member, California Assembly Member and current San Diego County Supervisor Nathan) Fletcher had zero influence over the decision. They chose Pedal Ahead, they said, because of the organization’s experience with e-bikes.

Nope. Nothing to see there.

Never mind the apparent conflict of interest that led to Pedal Ahead’s selection, despite an application that wasn’t exactly on point, to be kind.

Rider Safety Visibility turned in an application that implied it would recreate the program it was running in San Diego. But that program was not at all like the state’s plan. That is, the Pedal Ahead program run by RSV is a “loan-to-own” program wherein income-qualified people are given e-bikes, which they could keep after a certain period of time as long as they fulfilled certain requirements, like riding at least 35 miles a week and bringing them in regularly to be checked (and to have their mileage checked on Strava units included on the bike).

The statewide plan, in contrast, would give money to people to buy their own e-bikes.

Nothing to see there, either.

So let’s be honest.

At this point, it’s obvious that the California ebike voucher program is just one massive clusterfuck, with no public openness or accountability.

And it’s long past time for the California Attorney General’s office to audit the program, and open a criminal investigation if it’s warranted.

Because I highly suspect it is.

So if anyone wants to pass this on to them, I’m fine with that.

Thanks to Ellectrek for the heads-up. And to Melanie Curry for her reporting. 

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

A road raging, hit-and-run driver was arrested in Ventura County after plowing into a bicyclist riding at the back of a group on LA’s Mandeville Canyon Road; he’s then seen honking and yelling at the bike riders filming him as he plows through a gate, before engaging in a brief police chase and crashing once again in Malibu.

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

A Florida man has been busted on hit-and-run charges after crashing his speeding ebike into a man playing soccer on the beach, then fleeing the scene. Yet another reminder that you have as much responsibility to stop after a crash as a driver does. Even though they too often don’t.

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Local 

Police are looking for a man suspected of stabbing a man in his mid-40s at the the North Hollywood Metro station, before fleeing on a black bicycle.

Once again, a bicyclist is a hero, as a Venice rider rode his pedicab between boardwalk brawlers to break up a fight.

Beverly Hills plans to restripe the existing bike lanes on Burton Drive, after completing the current repaving project.

Claremont approved spending $41,000 to continue funding the GoSGV bikeshare.

Agoura Hills is rolling out a new bike plan, after receiving a $1.6 million federal transportation grant.

 

State

San Diego intends to use eminent domain to seize two pieces of private property in La Jolla considered essential for completing the Coastal Rail Trail bikeway.

The Ventura County coastline is now officially part of US Bike Route 95.

 

National

National Geographic — yes, it’s still around — recommends the best road cycling gear for beginners.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, aka CPSC is warning bike riders to immediately stop using Camzimo bicycle helmets, which may not provide adequate protection in a fall.

Oh, hell no. Bicycling wants to know if you’d buy a $100 water bottle. For a change, read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you. 

For what seems like the first time in recorded history, a cop in North Platte, Nebraska offers safety advice for bicyclists that doesn’t once mention wearing a helmet. Although I’m not sure about the requirement to have a front bike light “that protrudes up to 500 feet,” which seems just a tad excessive. And dangerous.

Bill Belichick is one of us, as the 72-year old former NFL coaching great went for a Nantucket bike ride with his much younger girlfriend, after apparently confusing himself with the star of a Woody Allen film.

The New York Times offers a very belated obituary for 1930’s Belgian trans cyclist Willy de Bruyn, who broke gender barriers by announcing he wanted to live as a man, after winning a number of women’s cycling competitions.

No surprise here. The Philadelphia DA announced that the driver who killed a pediatric oncologist as she was riding her bike in the city last week was traveling at twice the posted 25 mph speed limit, with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit; the 68-year old driver has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, DUI, reckless driving and other assorted offenses.

Kindhearted Brevard County, Florida sheriff’s deputies bought a new bike for a nine-year old girl after hers was stolen.

In the saddest story of the day, a three-year old Florida boy was killed when he was hit-by a driver while he was riding his bike with family members.

 

International

Toronto suffered its fifth bicycling fatality of the year — more than the previous four years combined — when a woman was struck by the driver of a dump truck, who was apparently unable to stop the large truck when parked cars blocking a bike lane forced the woman into the traffic lane.

Forget cycling. British bike hero Chris Boardman, who won the men’s individual pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, wants to own a Sussex football club. That’s soccer to those of us on this side of the pond.

Rouleur recommend five unique Parisian bicycling spots to visit during the 2024 Olympics, which start today.

Even in the midst of war, Ukrainian bicyclists call for the preservation of Kyiv’s “American Girl” bike park, one of the oldest in the city. And apparently one of the few sites the Russians haven’t managed to bomb. Yet.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your helmet and goggles-clad terrier is a biketouring RAGBRAI ruff rider. Or when you hold a memorial ride for bike-riding fallen feline.

And when a stray pup joins in on an indefinite bike ride around the world.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Driver blames bike rider for riding legally, Bob George ghost bike gone, and no SoCal counties deadliest for bike riders

February 14, 2024 / / One comment
Just 321 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. Just over 70 signatures to go to reach 1,000!

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In a letter to the Los Angeles Times, Norwood Paukert recounts the story first told here last week about being intentionally run down by a pair of young men on Griffith Park’s Zoo Drive.

I have no memory of the impact, but I was told by the park ranger on scene that witnesses had watched a car with two young men inside intentionally swerve into the bike lane and ram me from behind, throwing me over the handlebars into the street, and then laughing as they sped away.

We’ve seen similar stories coming from all over the world — as near as Huntington Beach and Las Vegas, and as far as Australia — of young men deliberately running down people on bicycles, usually while driving stolen cars.

Yet no one seems to be connecting the dots here, despite with rumors circulating of a hit-and-run challenge targeting bicyclists.

Meanwhile, another letter on the same Times link asks a “bike enthusiast” to explain why an Eagle Rock bike rider would be riding against traffic on the sidewalk, right next to the painted bike lanes on Colorado Blvd.

When there was a large gap, I checked again for pedestrians, and started to move forward. Out of nowhere, here comes a bike rider, on the sidewalk, coming from my right against the traffic flow. I came within millimeters of knocking him down.

I have seen many cyclists use the bike lanes correctly, but I have also seen them riding in groups so that they overflow the bike lanes into traffic. I’ve seen them at night with no reflective gear on.

Let’s start with the idea that the rider came “out of nowhere.”

Bikes are allowed on the sidewalk in Los Angeles, and drivers have a responsibility to look both ways. That includes looking for anyone walking or biking on the sidewalk, which is bi-directional — meaning there is no right direction, and people are entitled to travel in either direction.

Even people on bicycles.

Secondly, there is no requirement to ride in the street, even if it has a bike lane.

It’s possible that riding with traffic on the opposite side of the street may have been inconvenient if the rider was heading to or leaving a business or residence on the near side of the street, or connecting to a street on that side.

Or they may have just been uncomfortable riding on a busy street with nothing more than a thin strip of paint for protection.

And it’s odd that drivers can accept illegal, dangerous and otherwise bizarre behavior from other drivers, but somehow can’t comprehend when someone on a bicycle does something similar.

People are people, regardless of how they choose to travel. And people will inevitably do what’s most convenient, or which seems to make sense at the time.

So maybe it’s time to lighten up when someone on a bicycle acts like a human being.

Meanwhile, GCN examines just what we do that manages to piss drivers off so much.

………

Sadly, the ghost bike for fallen bicyclist and Hollywood producer Bob George has been removed already, his memory erased from a town that forgets too easily.

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A new report from personal injury law firm Bader Scott analyzed data the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, aka NHTSA, to determine the nation’s most dangerous counties for bicyclists.

To the surprise of no one, the worst offenders came from Florida. In fact, the top three counties, and 14 of the top 20, are in the state, which is the nation’s deadliest state to ride a bike in.

California was also represented near the top, with San Joaquin County ranking eight, and Stanislaus County 15th. (Hint: Stop the page from loading to get around the paper’s paywall.)

Surprisingly, no SoCal county ranked in the top 20. Although it would be interesting to see what the rest of the list looks like.

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There’s still time to reserve your spot in next weekend’s L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Bike Ride celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year, Year of the Dragon.

Here’s how a recent press release described the event.

The 46th Annual L.A. Chinatown Firecracker 5K/10K Run/1K Kiddie & PAW’er Dog Run/Walk & 20/50-Mile Bike Ride – which will be held over the weekend of February 24-25, 2024, where thousands will take to the streets and where the events start and end, as well as a free to the public post-event festival at the historic Los Angeles Chinatown Plaza (Event Festival until 3pm on Saturday as well as a Lantern Paw Festival in Blossom Plaza from 11am-4pm in conjunction with Saturday’s Paw’er Dog Walk, and on Sunday, the Firecracker event festival goes until noon).

In addition, the 50-mile Bike Ride snakes through DTLA, LA River, “Frogtown”, LA Zoo, Travel Town, Burbank, Glendale, Verdugo Foothills, Montrose, La Canada, Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino, South Pasadena, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, and much more.

The L.A. Chinatown Firecracker is one of the largest and oldest running races in the U.S. which had its humble beginnings from a few Belmont High School Alums (a public school located in the Westlake community just outside of Chinatown).

Meanwhile, there’s just two weeks left to get early bird pricing on the April Finish the Ride and Finish the Run in Griffith Park.

………

It’s now 55 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 31 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A San Diego TV station blames the victims by suggesting the safety of Encinitas ebike riders is in the hands of Gen-Z, meaning teenage ebike riders. Even though the real danger comes from the drivers they’re forced to share the road with, thanks to a lack of safe infrastructure.

No bias here, either. In a clear indication of who they think poses the greatest risk, Fresno police cited 32 drivers in their latest bicycle and pedestrian safety operation — and 96 bicyclists and pedestrians.

Or here. A London bike rider famous for riding with his cat was scolded for riding around a car, after the driver had just pulled out and cut him off.

An Irish driver complains that a bike rider must “enjoy playing with traffic” by riding in the traffic lane when there’s a perfectly good bikeway right next to it — even though it’s blocked by a bollard.

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Local 

The LA Times sums up the prosecution’s case against wealthy socialite and Grossman Burn Center co-founder Rebecca Grossman as “Liquor, Valium, speed and recklessness;” Grossman is on trial for two counts of murder for the high speed hit-an-run deaths of two little kids as they crossed the street with their parents and siblings in Westlake Village last September.

Yo! Venice offers video of the badly damaged Marvin Braude Bike Trail, which collapsed during last week’s heavy rains; remarkably, the bike path appears to have been build with little or no rebar or other means of support beyond the concrete itself.

Hermosa Beach is considering a proposal to allow cops to impound bicycles and ebikes of riders cited for traffic violations. Although that would appear to violate state law, which does not permit it.

 

State

Sad news from Los Altos, where a woman riding a bicycle was killed in a collision.

San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener discusses his proposed bill to require speed limiting devices in all new cars, which keep drivers from exceeding ten miles over the speed limit. And which would probably do more to save lives than anything else the state could do right now.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Bicycling says stop the ebike hate, and love your fellow bicyclists regardless of how they dress or what they ride. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you may be screwed if the magazine blocks you. 

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a writer for Visor pens a love letter to bicycling, expressing “the simple yet profound joy of riding a bicycle.”

Portland, Oregon rebounded from a “precipitous drop” in bicycling rates last year with a modest 5% increase in this year’s count.

The rich get richer. On top of Denver’s successful ebike voucher program, residents of the city can now get paid $1 a mile to ride their bikes instead of driving, up to a maximum of $200 a month.

New York bicycling deaths dipped just slightly last year, a full decade into the city’s failed Vision Zero program.

A pair of bills in the New Jersey legislature would impose an $8 annual registration fee and require a $35,000 liability insurance policy for even slow-speed, ped-assist ebikes, as well as e-scooters, in an apparent attempt to kill the ebike boom and keep people in their cars.

 

International

A new report suggests the post-pandemic sales slump affecting the worldwide bike industry will last through at lease next year; meanwhile, sales at Shimano’s bicycle division were down 30% last year.

A writer for Cycling Weekly describes what it’s like to ride in the worst bike lane in the world.

Momentum offers ten ways to go on a bicycle date.

Cyclist explains how to get more aero on your bike. Unless you ride an upright bike, in which case, as you were. 

Canadian Cycling Magazine nominates a Toronto driver for the most egregious case of driving in a bike lane. Which sounds like a challenge to SoCal drivers.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A driver walked without a single day behind bars, despite being convicted of intentionally ramming a bike rider into a large truck, breaking the victim’s spine and leaving him a “hollow shell of a person.”

Harry Styles is one of us, as he goes on a late-night bikeshare ride through the streets of London with girlfriend Taylor Russell.

Dublin, Ireland offered a plan to halt pass-through traffic in the city center to make room for buses, bicyclists and pedestrians, along with drivers who actually have a destination in town, after a study showed that 60% of downtown Dublin drivers were just passing through.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Seattle, as former Giro and ‘cross cyclist, and longtime bike industry pro, Tim Rutledge died following a battle with cancer at age 65.

 

Finally…

At 15, most of us were happy just to ride a bike, not run your own bike shop. Now you, too, can ride your bike like the Swiftie you are.

And a corgi on an ebike is all I really ask of life.

Thanks to Dr. Grace Peng for forwarding the tweet, or whatever the hell it’s called these days.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Racial justice suit filed in SF police shooting, West LA ghost bike stripped, and bike rider injured in Marina del Rey crash

December 11, 2023 / / 2 comments

Just 13 days left in the 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive — less than two weeks to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

Thanks to Xochitl C, Robert K, Robert L and John H for their generous support to keep this site coming your way every day. 

We’re running way behind last year’s record pace right now. So it’s time to get your giving on, and donate today!

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Days left to launch the California ebike incentive program as promised this fall: 10

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The San Francisco public defender’s office has filed suit over the shooting of a Latino man with mental health problems in August of last year, in what sounds like a major fuckup that began with a simple report of a stolen bicycle.

And escalated because of the replica handgun he carried to protect himself on the streets.

What ensued resulted in a street being blocked off, multiple San Francisco police units arriving — his attorney estimated nearly 80 officers– the appearance of two military-grade armored vehicles, and Corvera being shot at approximately 15 times from four different officers, including one shot that nearly missed his head, his attorney said.

Corvera was never charged with being in possession of a stolen bike.

Instead, he was charged with resisting arrest, brandishing a replica firearm and interfering with the lawful performance of a police officer. His trial began in early November, but ended in a hung jury, leading the public defender’s office to argue — not for the first time — that Corvera should never have been approached in the first place.

The public defender’s office has filed the case under California’s Racial Justice Act, which “allows defendants to raise issues of bias in their cases based on race, ethnicity or national origin.”

San Francisco should probably just back up the Brinks truck in this case.

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That didn’t last.

My wife and I drove by the site where 46-year old Aaron Cobb was killed riding his bike on Santa Monica Blvd at the 405 Freeway yesterday, just two weeks this ghost bike was installed in his honor.

Photo by Danny Gamboa

Except it doesn’t look like that any more.

All that’s left now is a sad, lonely frame chained to the fence, after someone stripped all the parts off it.

Seriously, it takes a major schmuck to fuck with a ghost bike.

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Streetsblog’s Joe Linton forwarded this photo by Ian Dutton, after someone riding an ebike was hospitalized after what looks like a pretty serious crash in Marina Del Rey on Friday.

Let’s hope the victim is okay, because that smashed windshield doesn’t look good.

Photo by Ian Dutton

Someone posted video of the same crash on TikTok, with a prayer for the victim’s recovery.

Amen to that.

………

‘Tis the Season.

Over two hundred kids got refurbished bikes in Stockton, California, thanks to the owner of a local motorsports dealer.

A group led by a man known as Bob the Bike Guy gave new bicycles to 150 kids in need in Springfield, Massachusetts, many immigrants from poor or war-torn countries.

One hundred children got new bicycles in a Bronx bike giveaway, as the chief development officer for a New York advocacy group notes that bikes have real staying power, unlike other gifts kids play with for awhile, then forget.

………

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

No bias here. A Cambridge, Massachusetts group calls themselves Cambridge Streets For All, but turns than name on its head by opposing bike lanes — so what they really want is to just keep the streets for drivers. And just because someone in their 70s can’t ride a bike is no reason to oppose bike lanes for others. The idea is to make it safe for people who want to bike, not require everyone to do so. 

A road raging North Carolina driver will spend a minimum of nine years behind bars for intentionally swerving into a man riding a bicycle, while his twin brother will serve time for helping him coverup his involvement in the man’s death.

No bias here, either. A British school bus driver is under investigation after making it clear he just doesn’t give a damn about human lives, telling a bike rider he’s “really not bothered” about killing someone on a bicycle, after he was challenged about an overly close pass.

A customer at a UK supermarket complained about a cargo bike blocking access to the store — even though it was locked to a bike rack and there was room to walk around it.

A hit-and-run driver in Singapore says oopsie, it wasn’t my fault and I didn’t know I hit anyone, after leaving his license plate behind when he crashed into someone riding a bicycle. Which probably explains why the bike rider was so pissed off. 

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

A couple teenagers on an ebike were busted after leading New York police on a lengthy chase, which began with a report of shots fired near an elementary school, and ended with a crash into a parked car.

Police in Philadelphia were looking for a man who attacked two people with a machete for no apparent reason while riding on a local bike path.

He’s got a point. A 70-something man in the UK says “bicycling is a good thing but not in the hands of idiots,” after he and his wife were nearly run down by someone on a bicycle who “had no regard for anyone else in a crowded situation.”

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Local 

Momentum says Santa Monica wants to be the bike capital of the world, as it unveils the new “Dutch style” protected bike lane on 17th Street.

 

State

The San Diego Association of Governments is trying to get commuters out of their cars by offering incentives to take transit, carpool or ride a bicycle.

The San Francisco Standard examines how the new Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane became a cultural flashpoint in the City by the Bay.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a man died days after he was run down by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike. We’ve said it before, but drivers who flee the scene should face a murder charge because they’ve made a conscious decision to allow the victim to die, rather than stop and get help. 

 

National

The Verge considers how to successfully lobby for a bike lane in America, while noting that cities are finally moving away from the “dreaded” sharrows.

Business Insider offers advice on how to afford an ebike, observing that they’re more popular than electric cars.

It wasn’t that long ago that graphene was being hyped as the bike material of the future. Now GCN says it’s a new type of carbon fibre construction called fusion fibre.

Life is cheap in New Mexico, where a judge sent a clear message that killing someone while driving drunk and fleeing the scene of the crash is just no big deal, by cutting the nine-year sentence of killer, drunken Albuquerque hit-and-run driver in half, because someone else who was convicted of what may or may not have been a similar crime got off with a lighter sentence.

The owner of an Arkansas bike rental says assume drivers there can’t see you when you ride. Actually, that’s good advice everywhere, because drivers can’t see you when they’re looking at their phones, which they’re usually doing. Or not looking for you, period.

Officials in Fernandina Beach, Florida are accused of a coverup the new city manager’s drunken bike crash, less than two weeks after he took the job.

 

International

Cycling Weekly says bicycling isn’t cool anymore, and the in-crowd has moved on stand-up paddleboards, trading lycra for rubber suits.

Um, okay. A Scottish couple in their 50s just spent nearly two years riding their bikes around the world to raise funds for a children’s hospice, even though they don’t like bicycling.

An English “cycling agony aunt” offers advice on gifts for bicyclists. Hopefully none that will actually cause agony. 

Islamabad, Pakistan is planning a network of bike lanes along major routes in the city of 1.2 million people to provide an alternative to buses and cars.

A Nairobi woman says she had an epiphany to take up bicycling as she lay in the roadway with a badly broken leg after jumping off one of the local motor scooters known as a boda boda to avoid a drunk driver, and hasn’t looked back — even after a doctor recommended amputating her leg.

A new study of “bicycle accidents with respect to spatial heterogeneity” from Seoul, Korea offers results that aren’t really that surprising, concluding that more local buses on a roadway results in a reduction in bike use, and that the presence of bike lanes results in more bicycle crashes. Probably because there are more bike riders using them.

 

Competitive Cycling

Briton’s Sir Bradley Wiggins says he doesn’t remember standing on the Champs-Élysées after winning the 2012 Tour de France, and doesn’t ride a bicycle anymore because he doesn’t like who he became on it.

Belgian pro Cian Uijtdebroeks has signed to race with the Team Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team for next year. Or maybe not.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to ride salmon in the traffic lane, while trying to attack cars with a broom. Now you, too, can own your very own Chinese-made, bicycle-powered roller coaster.

And maybe the real reason 700 million dollar man Shohei Ohtani left the Angels to sign with the Dodgers is because the Angels wouldn’t let him have a bike.

………

Chag sameach!

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Burbank’s Friedman out as Transportation chair, still no stops at deadly SaMo corner, and breaking piggy bank to buy a bike

November 22, 2023 / / Comments Off on Burbank’s Friedman out as Transportation chair, still no stops at deadly SaMo corner, and breaking piggy bank to buy a bike

We’re just two days from Friday’s official kickoff of the Ninth Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Which is a lot better way to use your hard-earned cash than joining in the mad-dash Black Friday consumerist frenzy when you could be riding your bike. 

After donating, of course.

But take a little time to visit your favorite local bike shop for Small Business Saturday, and just buy something, anything, to help ensure they’ll still be here when you need them. 

Just be careful out there. Ride defensively, and try to avoid the malls and other shopping meccas over the weekend, when frenzied drivers will be focused on everything but you. 

Because I don’t want to have to write about you unless you rescue a kitten from a burning building or something. 

We’ll see you back here bright and early Monday morning. 

And seriously, have a great Thanksgiving. 

Photo: State Assemblymember and Congressional candidate Laura Friedman speaks at the recent die-in at LA City Hall. 

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It’s a big loss for traffic safety.

In her time as California Assembly Transportation Committee chair, Laura Friedman has been a champion for safety measures that benefit everyone on our streets, not just people on bikes.

But it was probably predictable, as her campaign to replace Adam Schiff in the US Congress will take her away from Sacramento leading up to next year’s election.

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A little kid should never have to see a ghost bike.

https://twitter.com/BikeBoulderBike/status/1727008409013420276

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REI has marked their highly rated e-cargo bike down 40% off the retail price  to $899.39, $100 less than their previous lowest price.

Too bad potential California buyers still can’t use their ebike vouchers to take advantage of it.

………

‘Tis the season.

EF Pro Cycling is out with their holiday gift guide for bicyclists.

Strider Bikes is donating 645 balance bikes worth more than $100,000 to benefit kids in local charities near their Rapid City, South Dakota HQ.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Santa Barbara’s on again, off again State Street bike lanes are back on again, as the city re-striped the lanes in yellow paint, just one year after removing “garish” green bike lanes just 20 months after they were installed. Let’s hope these ones last a little longer. 

Sad news from Salinas, where someone riding a bicycle was killed when they were struck by one driver, then run over by another; no word on whether either driver will face charges.

A Redwood City writer makes the case that authorities should focus on building bike lanes instead of mandating bike helmet use, or whether a victim was wearing one.

A Rohnert Park man was lucky to escape without life-threatening injuries when he was hit by a commuter train after riding through the warning gates. Yet another reminder to never, ever do that. 

 

National

A new study shows ped-assist ebikes can help seniors and people with disabilities — if they can overcome barriers to riding; meanwhile, Electrek says the two biggest problems with ebikes aren’t even about ebikes, but the risk of theft and the dangers of riding on the streets, instead.

A Utah teen is recovering after a speeding, wrong way driver forced his bike off the road.

Property owners shut down an Idaho bike path, after confusing wording on city maps left it unclear whether or not its a public easement.

No surprise here. NBC News reports Dallas, Texas has the most traffic deaths per capita of any American city. And the primary factor causing fatal crashes is speed.

A Mad City group has given away 10,000th refurbished bicycles, with the latest going to a high school wrestler who was forced to walk five miles to school after his bike was stolen.

Officials in New York cut the ribbon on a new project converting a small street into a bike boulevard, despite an angry protester accusing them of selling out the city.

A Florida judge ruled that Jean Macean is mentally competent to stand trial, despite his “mild intellectual disability,” for the stabbing deaths of a Daytona Beach couple as they rode their bicycles home from the motorcycle Bike Week festivities last year.

 

International

GCN offers tips on how to choose a gravel bike.

Life is cheap in British Columbia, where a 73-year old Vancouver driver walked with a lousy $1,500 fine for killing a 57-year old man riding a bicycle; he saw the victim enter the intersection from the opposite direction, but decided to make a left turn in front of him, anyway.

A blind lawyer has raised concerns over a Toronto bike lane built on the sidewalk, rather than the street, with no clear tactile difference to indicate its presence, which poses significant risks to pedestrians with limited eyesight.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website discusses how to prepare your bike for riding on cobbles.

Some bicyclists in South Africa’s Gauteng province are giving up riding due to rising rates of attacks on bike riders, including one fatal shooting and another rider who who survived after being shot twice; even riding in groups of of eight to twelve riders isn’t enough to deter the robbers.

 

Finally…

That feeling when turn your ebike into a solar power charging station. Or when a deer makes you duck.

And let’s end things with a pre-holiday smile, as a South Africa boy breaks open his piggy bank to buy a new bike for a gas station worker he befriended.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Dog owners try to block LA River bike path extension, more ghost bikes in City of Angels, and more drama in Armstrong trial

November 7, 2023 / / 2 comments

Let’s hope they’re barking up the wrong tree.

The latest controversy dogging plans to complete the long-delayed LA River bike path comes from pooch owners in the lower San Fernando Valley, who are loathe to give up a sliver of the Sepulveda Basin dog park to make room for the pathway.

Never mind that the entire basin is due for a makeover in the coming years.

The dog owners are demanding that the planned three-mile pathway extension be moved to the south side of the river, away from the existing dog parks.

Other groups and neighborhood councils have joined the dogpile, adding their own voices to complaints over the location and $58 million cost.

The city is also planning a 6′ to 8′ fence to keep bike riders from “agitating” the dogs.

To be honest, it would seem to make more sense to build it on the south bank of the LA River if they can work it out, rather than the current plan to have the path start on the south side, switch to the north bank, then move back to the south bank.

But frankly, all I want is for the city to finally complete the damn thing.

She’d never complain about a bike path encroaching on her dog park.

………

Sadly, the seemingly endless series of ghost bike ceremonies goes on in the City of Angels.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, will install a ghost bike this Thursday at 7 pm at the corner of Edgemont and Fountain in East Hollywood for Bob George, the Hollywood producer killed in a dooring while riding in the bike lane on Fountain last month.

I’m told his widow, artist Yasmine Nasser Diaz, and his sister Jennifer will be in attendance.

SAFE is the nonprofit advocacy group founded by hit-and-run survivor Damian Kevitt with a goal of improving “the quality of life for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike by reducing traffic fatalities to zero,” according to their website.

Meanwhile, another ghost bike will be installed tomorrow for 57-year old Los Angeles resident Samuel Tessier, who was found dead near the entrance to Universal Studios early Sunday.

Tessier appeared to be the victim of a hit-and-run at first, but police now believe he was killed in a high-speed fall when his bike hit the curb on the steep descent.

Let’s just hope the day finally gets here when these damn things aren’t needed anymore.

……..

CBS News catches you up on everything you need to know about the murder trial of Kaitlin Armstrong for killing rising gravel champ Moriah “Mo” Wilson, but were afraid to ask.

Meanwhile, Armstrong’s former boyfriend, pro cyclist Colin Strickland, testified about their tumultuous relationship and her jealously of Wilson, before attempting to knock a camera out of a photographer’s hand and step on a photog’s foot.

………

Nothing like legendary NFL running back Marshawn Lynch to get hundreds of Oakland kids out on their bikes.

………

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

No bias here. A WeHo website reposts comments from the West Hollywood City Council’s discussion of requiring only protected bike lanes in the city, which passed unanimously; however, it only takes three paragraphs before someone says “we’re not the Netherlands.”

The New York Post’s bike-hating columnist says good riddance to the city’s Revel motor-scooter rental program, while lamenting an increase in bikeshare ebikes due to hit the streets next year, extending the “tyranny of its two-wheelers.”

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

A San Francisco man went on trial Monday for an armed standoff with police that began when he was ghost riding another bicycle, leading the cops to fire 15 shots, although it turned out his weapon was a replica handgun loaded with blanks; it also turned out he actually owned both bikes.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Calbike considers who will benefit from California’s ebike incentive program, suggesting it could help older adults and people with disabilities. If it ever actually launches, anyway. 

An Anaheim bike rider suffered moderate injuries when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver at South Euclid Street and West Katella Ave, in a crash captured on dashcam video shortly after midnight yesterday.

San Francisco bike riders were suitably appalled when the city’s transportation department released a video explaining how to use the much-maligned, unprotected Valencia Street centerline bike lane.

 

National

According to the New York Times, commute times are down nationwide — including a 6.3% drop in Los Angeles — due to the lingering effects of the pandemic and work from home, although transit use has declined precipitously. Thanks to HombeDeBicycle for the heads-up.

They get it. Bike Magazine asks if the debate over analog versus electric bikes is a real fight or a discussion, while asking if we can all just get along.

Tom’s Guide looks at nine early Black Friday ebike deals.

Men’s Journal asks if banning right turns on red lights could save bicyclists. Short answer, yes. Longer answer, hell yes.

Velo considers the Portland bike advocacy group literally standing in the way of workers attempting to rip out a “mistakenly installed” bike lane.

A bike-riding trauma surgeon at the University of New Mexico Hospital is credited with saving the life of another bicyclist who had a heart attack while they were both riding on an Albuquerque trail; four other hospital workers who just happened to be nearby helped with CPR and chest compressions until paramedics arrived 20 minutes later.

A Kansas City lowrider bike club is helping teens develop skills by earning parts to build their own lowrider bikes, through things like good behavior, attendance and grades.

She gets it. The mother of a fallen 16-year old Chicago bike rider says we all need to care about other people’s lives on the roads.

Brooklyn bystanders stopped a driver from fleeing the scene, physically holding her down and taking her keys, after she jumped the curb and hit a bike rider and a pedestrian, critically injuring the latter.

New York bicyclists rip a page from LA long-running Marathon Crash Race/Ride, by riding the closed course for the city’s marathon before runners take to the streets.

Palm Beach is using a two-year old Florida law to crackdown on bicyclists riding two or more abreast on single-lane roads.

 

International

A new international study show four in ten people around the world lack the necessary skills to transition to a climate friendly, bike-first future.

Speaking of lacking the necessary skills, GCN says you’re probably cleaning your bicycle all wrong.

A British psychologist shares what she learned about recovering from a bicycling injury, after suffering a radial head fracture. I did one of those in a bike crash myself. Major ows.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Mexico, where 30-year old pro cyclist Orlando Garibay was killed in a collision with a garbage truck driver while driving home after winning a race in San Francisco del Rincón, Guanajuato; both Garibay and his brother had previously raced with the SoCalCycling team. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay his funeral expenses has raised $1,700 of the $10,000 goal.

Swiss prosecutors closed the investigation into the death of 26-year-old Gino Mäder during this year’s Tour de Suisse, concluding no one was criminally responsible for his death.

 

Finally…

You know the whippersnappers are in charge when a bike magazine is overly impressed with a 50-year old mountain biker shredding despite his advanced age. Evidently, pro cyclists are pretty fast on foot, too.

And never let a shopping mall get in the way of a good bike lane.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Narrower and fewer lanes save lives, a weekend of traffic violence, and passing ghost bikes on to the next generation

November 6, 2023 / / Comments Off on Narrower and fewer lanes save lives, a weekend of traffic violence, and passing ghost bikes on to the next generation

Ride or walk carefully today.

The day after the time change usually sees a spike in traffic collisions, so ride defensively for the next few days. 

And don’t forget your lights. 

………

Apparently, narrow traffic lanes save lives.

According to a new study of seven US cities sponsored by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, 12-foot-wide traffic lanes, which remain the norm in too many places, resulted in significantly more crashes than narrower lanes.

Not to mention encouraging drivers to speed, which increases both the risk and severity of crashes, as we’ve learned from other studies.

Narrowing traffic lanes also provides more room for other road uses, like wider sidewalks and bike lanes.

The key findings from the study include —

  • Narrower lanes did not increase the risk of accidents. When comparing 9- and 11-foot lanes, we found no evidence of increased car crashes. Yet, increasing to 12-foot lanes did increase the risk of crashes, most likely due to drivers increasing their speed and driving more carelessly when they have room to make mistakes.
  • Speed limit plays a key role in travel width safety. In lanes at 20-25 mph speeds, lane width did not affect safety. However, in lanes at 30-35 mph speeds, wider lanes resulted in significantly higher number of crashes than 9-foot lanes.
  • Narrower lanes help address critical environmental issues. They accommodate more users in less space, use less asphalt pavement, with less land consumption and smaller impervious surface areas.
  • Narrowing travel lanes could positively impact the economy. This includes raising property values, boosting business operation along streets and developing new design projects.

Meanwhile, another study of Los Angeles-area road diets confirmed that removing traffic lanes improves safety.

Even on high-traffic corridors that exceed Federal Highway Administration recommendations that road diets should be applied to roadways with fewer than 20,000 average daily trips.

According to the authors —

We found that collisions, injuries, and deaths were lower by 31.2% to 100%, depending on the measure, whereas traffic speeds were lower by about 6.7% (peak) to 7.9% (off-peak). We concluded that in Los Angeles higher-traffic-volume road diets appeared to significantly increase safety with only minor effects on traffic speeds.

Let that sink in.

Road diets on high-traffic corridors — even right here in the automotive capital of the world, where driving is considered a God-given right and obligation — dropped traffic deaths and serious injuries by anywhere from a third, to complete elimination.

And all with a minimal impact on driver speeds, taking a typical 40 mph driving speed down to a more reasonable 36.

Which isn’t going to make anyone late for dinner or to pick up the kids, while helping to ensure they’ll actually get there in one piece.

So what the hell are we waiting for?

………

This is who we share the road with.

In an example of just how desperately those street changes are needed, Los Angeles County saw an explosion of traffic violence over the weekend, including the apparent hit-and-run that took the life of yet another person riding a bicycle.

An off-duty LAPD officer was killed, along with another person, when their car was struck by a speeding, allegedly drunk BMW driver in Northridge early Saturday; three other people were injured, including the driver, who is accused of blowing through a red light at over 100 mph.

Two people were killed when a minivan driver being chased by police slammed into a Metro bus in DTLA early Sunday morning, after police reportedly saw someone toss a gun out the window of the minivan. Two people in the backseat, who weren’t wearing seatbelts, were killed while the two people up front survived with non-life threatening injuries; three people on the bus suffered minor injuries, including the driver.

Several people suffered minor injuries, and a number of others were lucky to escape injury, when an alleged drunk driver doing donuts lost control of her car, and slammed into a large group of people standing outside a Valencia bar. And almost needless to say, she fled the scene before she and her passenger were arrested — after reportedly changing seats to hide who was driving.

Video of the crash is appalling.

……..

Sad to think we need to pass this on to a new generation.

………

Austrian stunt cyclist Fabio Wibmer goes for a ride through my Hollywood neighborhood, among other Los Angeles area sites.

………

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

Apparently, hell hath no fury like a London van driver confronted by a bike rider for playing a video game behind the wheel.

Police in Scotland are looking for a driver and passenger who reached out of a passing van to punch a man and woman who were riding their bikes; no word on whether they were injured.

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

A Fresno woman was collateral damage in an apparent political dispute between a 60-year old pickup driver and a bike rider participating in a Pro-Palestinian demonstration, after the driver, who was allegedly under the influence, tried to speed off when the bike rider began punching him through the open window; the victim was lucky to escape with just a broken ankle, while the driver faces possible hit-and-run and DUI charges, while the bike rider could be charged with assault.

………

Local 

LAist talks with new LADOT General Manager Laura Rubio-Cornejo, who swears her priority is to make every Angeleno and visitor feel safe on the streets, while revisiting the city’s nearly moribund Vision Zero program — but without making a commitment to the wholesale changes to our streets required to do that.

SoCal speed cams took a step closer to becoming reality in Los Angeles on Wednesday, when City Council Transportation Committee unanimously approved a motion to create an automated Speed Camera Safety Program when a new state law approving a pilot program in Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach goes into effect next year.

No surprise here. The bike-riding woman who was struck by Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against the former governator, alleging he was driving “with excessive speed and failed to keep a proper lookout,” despite reports she swerved in front of his SUV.

 

State

A Streetsblog op-ed by Jeanie Ward-Waller, former deputy director for planning and modal programs at Caltrans, relates how she was fired for doing her job, and speaking out when Caltrans officials tried to skirt the law to widen Sacramento highways. Maybe Newsom should just fire the people running Caltrans, and give her the damn job.

A pair of 15-year old Los Banos boys were hospitalized after they were both struck by a 17-year old girl driving a pickup as they rode their bicycles to school.

A Marin columnist calls the “bike lane experiment” on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge a “fiasco” that has to be ripped out, since it only sees an average of 118 bike trips and 19 pedestrians on weekdays.

 

National

WaPo examines the current nationwide movement to ban right turns on red lights, in the face of rising pedestrian — and bicyclist — deaths.

Bike Portland relates the strange saga of the “accidental” bike lane that city officials are in the process of ripping out, swearing it was unintentionally installed, even though local residents had requested it six years earlier.

An Oregon craft brewer now combines beer, coffee and bicycles. Or as I used to call that, Monday. 

Someone suspended a bicycle from a Spokane bridge pylon, complete with rider.

A Utah man gets screwed when someone stole a pair of ebikes from his garage, and his homeowner’s insurance refused to pay the claim, stating his policy doesn’t cover “motor vehicles” — even though the state classifies ebikes as bicycles.

A new mural along a Jackson, Wyoming bike path honors the Northern Arapaho heritage of many local residents.

Milwaukee is installing new advisory bike lanes, even if London bike advocates might not approve.

Planetizen says Chicago had a banner year for bike infrastructure, installing more than this year than any previous year. Of course, that might not be saying much.  

A Cambridge, Massachusetts doctor says he’d love to recommend bicycling to his patients, without “putting them at risk of injury or worse,” but he can’t unless the city completes its bicycle network.

A New Orleans website offers inspiring photos from the city’s second-annual Big Easy Bicycle Fest.

 

International

Momentum offers advice on how to navigate the urban door zone, which is a leading cause of bicycling injuries.

Electrek picks the best ebikes you can buy at every price point right now. Although you can’t use your California ebike voucher, since the program still hasn’t launched after more than two years.

Now you, too, can own the “Porsche of bike trailers” for the low, low price of just $526. Wake me when someone has the McLaren of bike trailers.

A Canadian website says dozens of bike riders turned out to support a contentious Toronto Complete Street and bike lanes, after the provincial premier said he would rip them out. Although judging by the photo, “dozens” would seem to be a dramatic underestimate.

A Montreal man argues that ebike crashes should be covered by the rider’s auto insurance, after he was hospitalized following a crash with an ebike rider.

The UK’s Daily Mail accuses London’s mayor of losing the battle with the city’s e-bikeshare program, insisting the “two-wheeled gadgets” litter the streets and sidewalks, and are too often “hijacked by yobs.”

An English driver asks how to be nicer to bicyclists, despite sometimes finding them very annoying. Short answer, don’t be an asshole. Longer answer, don’t be an asshole, please.

Cycling Weekly says Italy’s Dolomites are still the best place to ride your bike.

A doctor in Gaza once again demonstrates the value of a bicycle in a disaster, using his bike to ride over rubble to treat patients, after his car was destroyed by Israeli bombs.

An African business site says Kenyans are increasingly enjoying long-distance bicycling, with rides of 111 miles or more.

Your next electric Honda may not be a car.

 

Competitive Cycling

Danish pro Jonas Vingegaard, two-time winner of the Tour de France, was awarded the prestigious Velo d’Or trophy for the year’s best cyclist, and was apparently so unimpressed he didn’t bother to show up for the ceremony; Dutch Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering won the women’s Velo d’Or.

GCN talks with Slovenian cyclist Matej Mohorič, who popularized the now-banned super-tuck position, about his upbringing and his quest to give a ‘higher purpose’ to his racing.

Remembering the good old days of the Tour de France, when doping meant raiding the local cafe to steal a little mid-stage booze.

 

Finally…

Who needs a $2 million a year anti-aging program when you can just buy a bike? Now you, too, can own a vintage steel-frame Colnago tandem for the equivalent of just $330 — although you may have to stand up to ride it.

And we may have to deal with feral LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about leapfrogging deer.

Usually.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Culver City non-explains MOVE bike lane removal, Ethan Boyes ghost bike burned at Burning Man, and NoHo CicLAmini

September 15, 2023 / / Comments Off on Culver City non-explains MOVE bike lane removal, Ethan Boyes ghost bike burned at Burning Man, and NoHo CicLAmini

Call it a non-explanatory explanation.

A statement from the Culver City Communications & Public Information Manager purports to explain the city’s move to modify the highly successful MOVE Culver City project — including the bizarre plan to exempt the move to re-add another traffic lane under California’s CEQA environmental regulations.

Except the only time CEQA is even mentioned is in the first paragraph, and then only in passing.

At its meeting on Monday, September 11th, 2023, the Culver City City Council voted 3-2 to ratify plans to modify the MOVE Culver City pilot project, including a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption. MOVE Culver City is a city-led effort that reimagines city streets as public spaces and prioritizes moving people more efficiently and safely in the design of the street.

The story goes on to add that the re-imagined project will include new bike boxes at seven locations, which wouldn’t be necessary if the city wasn’t removing the current protected bike lane, and moving to a shared bus-bike lane.

And in doublespeak Orwell would be proud of, he describes the goal of the MOVE project as improving “the infrastructure and services for mobility alternatives and to offer the community equitable, convenient, and sustainable mobility options.”

It’s hard to imagine how removing a protected bike lane, and forcing bikes and buses to share a single lane, accomplishes any of those goals.

Meanwhile, the crowdfunding campaign to fight the changes is now approaching 80% of the modest $10,000 goal.

Hopefully, it will meet that soon.

Or better yet, exceed it.

………

In a surprisingly moving gesture, the ghost bike for San Francisco bicycling champ Ethan Boyes was burned in the bonfire at Burning Man,

The bike had disappeared after officials at the Presidio ordered it removed, and passed among friends until it was taken to the event to be burned.

………

A reminder that the North Hollywood CicLAmini — a shorter version of CicLAvia intended to encourage walking over bicycling — rolls this Sunday.

………

Joni Yung sings the praises of Pasadena’s new Union Street protected bike lane, suggesting she may have misjudged the wealthy, traditionally white and conservative city.

………

Good point.

If LA schools really cared about student safety, they wouldn’t resort to part-time safety measures.

………

LADOT wants to know what you think about how to improve Westside walking and biking conditions.

And no, burn it all down and start over probably isn’t a winning idea.

………

Here’s your chance to weigh in on the long-overdue proposal to extend the Ballona Creek bike path to the creek’s eastern terminus.

………

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

No bias here. A teenaged bike rider was injured when they were struck by driver while taking part in a Salinas rideout, as the group popped wheelies and wove through traffic in front of the local high school. But despite several references to getting hit by a car, the lengthy story never once mentioned that it might have had a driver.

No bias here, either. Nowhere in this six paragraph story about a Wisconsin hit-and-run that left a 39-year old woman riding a bicycle with significant injuries, does it mention that someone was driving the vehicle that hit her.

………

Local 

What could possibly go wrong? The Los Angeles City Planning Commission backed a proposal to install 80 digital billboards on sites owned by Metro, which could generate up to half a billion dollars in ad revenue over a 20 year period. After all, it’s not like the flashing billboards are distracting, or anything.

Police continue the hunt for five men who burglarized Irwindale Cycles early Monday morning, including two men who got off the Metro L (Gold) Line in Pasadena with four bikes still bearing the shop’s price tags.

While we continue the endless wait for California’s ebike rebate program to finally go live, Santa Monica is planning to offer vouchers up to $2,000 to eligible low-income residents to buy ebikes and accessories.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department will conduct another in the area’s ongoing series of bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operations in Carson today. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State

California Streetsblog marks the passage of California’s speed cam pilot program in the state legislature, observing that it’s now up to Gov. Newsom to sign it. Given his track record on traffic safety issues, cross your fingers but don’t hold your breath.

Encinitas considers actions to prevent additional ebike deaths, including sharrows, reduced lane widths and bike lanes, as well as lowering the speed limit on part of Coast Highway 101 and a installing rubber traffic circle roundabout on Quail Gardens Drive. But someone should tell them that sharrows are worthless, and have been shown to actually increase the risk to people on bicycles. And people on regular bikes are at risk, too. 

A Marin paper says San Raphael is keeping its promise to improve safety for bike riders. Although it’s hard to square that with the ongoing efforts to remove the bike lanes from the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge. 

A 19-year old Roseville driver faces a felony hit-and-run charge after striking a 61-year old bike rider and driving off, leaving the victim with minor injuries. Although something doesn’t add up, since California’s felony hit-and-run statute only applies in cases of major injuries or death; a crash resulting in minor injuries should be charged as a misdemeanor. 

A Gold County bicycling columnist offers safety advice while reviewing bike laws, but neglects to mention under his section about taking the lane that bicyclists can legally use the full lane on any substandard lane, which means any lane too narrow to safety share with a motor vehicle — and these days that means a large truck or SUV, not a compact sedan.

 

National

He gets it. A Colorado writer says instead of blaming the victim, it should be up to drivers to operate their vehicles safely and not hit bike riders or pedestrians. But please, can we finally drive a stake through the overly tired “safety is a two-way street” cliche once and for all?

New York-based Priority Bicycles is introducing a belt-drive foldie for just $799, which is an exceptionally low price for the category.

New York residents and industry leaders argue that allowing four-wheeled, “high-speed” — aka 20 mph — delivery cargo bikes in bike lanes will get someone killed. Just wait until someone tells them about all those high-speed drivers in the big, dangerous machines.

Maryland will provide another $25.5 million for bicycle, pedestrian and trail projects.

He gets it, too. After getting hit by a truck while riding a bicycle, a Charleston, South Carolina English professor and local Democratic Party co-chair says a local street needs a bike lane, not another ghost bike.

 

International

After being forced to close 750 campus dorm rooms due to structural defects, an English university promises to give a free bicycle to any student moved off campus.

Harry Styles and James Corden are both one of us, as they take to bikeshare bikes for a leisurely “bromance” ride through London’s Primrose Hill neighborhood.

India’s “bicycle” political party is in the midst of the country’s longest bicycling political rally at 37 days and over 1,600 miles, and counting.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling reports that cycling fans took to social media to express their outrage over Jumbo-Visma’s dick moves tactics in Wednesday’s stage 17 of the Vuelta, as both Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič attacked their own teammate, American race leader Sepp Kuss. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Road.cc declared the end of the Jumbo-Visma civil war on Thursday, however, as Vingegaard and Roglič worked to protect Kuss’ lead, while Remco Evenpoel won the stage from the break, although longtime cycling director sportif Johan Bruyneel was not impressed with Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel’s tactics.

The Tour of Britain could see a return of the women’s race next year.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your friends talk you into crashing your bike into a naked pedestrian, who proceeds to beat the crap out of you. If a tank can pass a bike rider safely, a driver should be able to, too.

And it wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t so painfully true.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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