My apologies for another unexcused absence yesterday.
I’m still battling debilitating bouts of dizziness and brain fog, which my doctors insist is a form of neurological migraines. But which haven’t responded to medication or drastic changes in diet.
Which makes me think maybe they missed the mark this time.
Most days I can struggle through it. But others, like yesterday, it knocks me on my ass.
Photo by Athena from Pexels.
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There may be hope for Griffith Park yet.
Sam forwards a Reddit post about a planned closure of Griffith Park Drive from Travel Town to Mt. Hollywood Drive.
While it’s shorter than the original proposal, this is a huge step forward in removing cars from the park, and reducing the kind of cut-through traffic that resulted in the April death of Andrew Jelmert on Crystal Springs Drive.
Parks should be for people. Not an alternative to driving the freeway.
Thank you! The original planned area to protect vulnerable road users was Griffith Park Drive from Zoo Drive to Crystal Springs.
— sam (@sam80554826) June 16, 2022
EMAIL SUPPORT for Griffith Park pilot project program Road Closure from Travel Town to backside of Mt Hollywood Dr!!!!!
byu/onlyfreckles inBikeLA
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Streetsblog’s Sahra Suliaman calls the new LA ordinance banning bike chop shops a remnant of outgoing CD15 Councilmember Joe Bucaino’s failed “broken sidewalks” campaign for mayor.
The proposal, which passed by an 11 to 3 vote, must go back to the council next week after failing to receive a unanimous vote for approval in its first reading. A second vote only needs a majority vote for approval, virtually guaranteeing its passage.
Meanwhile, Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus points out that “laws enforced by police against vulnerable people have a way of being abused and unfairly implemented.”
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The hometown newspaper of fallen bicyclist Glen Brown remembers the AIDS/LifeCycle rider who was killed in a solo bike crash just blocks from the Los Angeles finish this past weekend.
The 57-year old Illinois man was on his third ride to raise funds and awareness to fight HIV/AIDS, after riding from Minneapolis to Chicago and Boston to New York.
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Let’s talk bike helmets.
Discover looks at the science behind bicycle helmets protecting bicyclists, pointing out the benefits of helmets, as well as the limited protection they offer at speeds above 20 mph. And how mandatory helmet laws can have a contradictory effect by reducing ridership.
Meanwhile, a new study from the UK shows that only one-in-five competitive cyclists are aware of the limited protection offered by bike helmets, including the fact that most helmets don’t protect against concussions.
And Lime has opened a popup Helmet Hair Salon in London, to address the one-in-five bike and scooter riders who won’t wear a helmet because they don’t want helmet hair.
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Active SGV is asking for your support for the Arroyo Link to connect Pasadena to the Arroyo Seco.
Have you supported the #ArroyoLink!?
A SAFE, MULTI-USE PATH from downtown #Pasadena to the #ArroyoSeco, the Arroyo Link was inspired by the late David Wolf.
More inc. how to support at https://t.co/xSZYpw7vJ0#SGVgreenways @streetsblogLA @bikinginla @lacbc @Day1DO @PasadenaCSC pic.twitter.com/k4yWxzEUrM
— ActiveSGV (@ActiveSGV) June 15, 2022
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Megan Lynch forwards a tweet expressing the frustration many UC Davis students feel, after the inherent conflict of interest when a 19-year old student was killed by a truck owned by the university, in a crash investigated by the campus police.
It has now been more than 3 weeks since @ucdavis student Tris Yasay was killed in a crash with a campus garbage truck on Dairy Road. When will we know the results of the @CityofDavis #police investigation? For the sake of Tris and her family but also for the sake of #bikesafety pic.twitter.com/yN3AS9H7fG
— Paul Gepts 🇧🇪 🇪🇺 🇨🇴 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 🇧🇷 🇩🇪 🇺🇳 (@plgepts) June 17, 2022
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A 77-year old British driver whines that he passed with plenty of room, after he was fined the equivalent of over $2,200 when his illegally close pass was caught on a bike cam and sent to the cops. Which we really should be able to do here in the US, but can’t.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
For once, a freeway traffic tie-up really was the fault of someone on a bicycle. A Seattle man was arrested after stealing a bicycle in a strong arm robbery, then riding it onto an Interstate highway and fighting with the cops when they tried to stop him.
Former New York Rangers star Sean Avery walked with time served for using his e-scooter to bash the door of a car blocking a bike lane, after arguing with the driver. We all know the feeling, but violence is never the answer, as tempting as it may be.
A Nottingham, England man faces charges after threatening to shoot a pawnbroker in the head after the shop refused to take his bicycle because they didn’t have room for it, then smashed a window on his way out.
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Local
The new $588 million Sixth Street Viaduct will finally open next month, three years late and $100 million over budget; the July 9th opening will be limited to pedestrians, with the following day open to bike riders and pedestrians, before the bridge opens to motor vehicles on July 11th.
Metro is pushing to use the upcoming ’28 Los Angeles Olympics as a catalyst to request federal funding for additional transportation projects, including new bike paths and bikeshare stations.
Speaking of Metro, the agency lists both online and in-person bike classes for the remainder of the month, as well as a handful of community bike rides — starting with tonight’s ride from Africatown in Leimert Park to Biddy Mason Park.
State
A 55-year old Encinitas man continues to ride his bike hundreds of miles each month, despite suffering from stage four pancreatic cancer for the past eight years.
Police in McKinleyville are looking for the heartless hit-and-run van driver who ran a red light and hit a man on his bike, then got out of her vehicle to look at him lying on the ground before getting back in and driving away.
National
A Next City op-ed says it’s time to let Black and Brown people take the lead on reducing traffic deaths, since they’re at the greatest risk.
Bicycling examines the current state of the manhunt for Kaitlin Armstrong, the accused killer of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson, including new clues to her whereabouts. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t appear to be available on Yahoo, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
Planetopedia examines the concept of Tactical Urbanism.
Stranger Things star Matthew Modine is set to star in a new movie about a cycling team for at-risk youth.
Summer is almost here, and Momentum wants to tell you how to plan a bike picnic in just 15 minutes.
CNN takes a look at how competitive mountain bikers keep their cool while blazing across inches of trail on the edge of steep mountain sides.
An Arizona man discusses learning how to function again after losing his leg when a tow truck driver plowed into a group of bike riders last year, killing one woman and sending four riders to the ER.
Yes, please. Austin Texas is now offering a bike lane bounty for anyone who reports a driver blocking a bike lane; the person who turns them in gets 25% of the ticket revenue. You could make enough to retire if we had that here in LA.
Heartbreaking news from Chicago, where an 11-year old boy was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike, the third child killed by traffic violence in the city in just two weeks.
Tom Vanderbilt takes a bike tour through New York’s Hudson Valley, discovering a rich countryside and “farm to glass” whiskey.
A North Carolina postal worker faces charges for killing a 62-year old man riding his bike on the sidewalk, after exiting a parking lot in his mail truck without yielding to the bike rider.
International
Forbes examines the World Naked Bike Ride, which protests “the indecent exposure of people and the planet to cars and the pollution they create.”
Charges were dropped against a Windsor, Ontario driver accused of the drunken, hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle after she was found dead; no word on the cause of death.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a speeding British motorcyclist was sentenced to just 20 months behind bars for killing a man riding a bike, while riding at more than double the 30 mph speed limit.
A German website asks if bicyclists and drivers will ever learn to live with each other, or continue to remain in a constant state of road rage.
Interesting idea. A new Japanese cargo bike prototype offers a compact, three-wheeled, double-decker design.
Competitive Cycling
EF Education has just two riders remaining in the Tour de Suiss, after four team members were forced to abandon after catching Covid. Which serves as yet another reminder that the disease hasn’t gone anywhere, as much as we might wish it was over.
Cycling’s governing body tightened the rules for transgender cyclists, raising the transition period on low testosterone to two years, while reducing the maximum level of testosterone
A 25-year old Wyoming man competing in the Tour Divide was forced to abandon when he wrecked his bike in Glacier National Park, then got lost trying to make his way back, and was trapped by flood waters.
Finally…
That feeling when the “more affordable” bike from a pair of retired cycling stars goes for a mere $5,990. Or when you find a Penny Farthing just hanging on the wall.
And when a naked bike ride photobombs your wedding pictures.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
