When is a bike path not a bike path?
Apparently, when there’s a truck driving on it.
The video was forwarded by kdbhiker, who recently shared his Describe Your Ride video with us. He says it was taken Tuesday on the Orange Line Bike Path at Haskell Ave and the 405 Fwy.
If, like me, you can’t quite make out the reason the driver gives for driving on the bike path, the response was “Honestly, we’re just fucking around.” Which is probably as good a reason as any for doing something stupid.
And kdbhiker reports he’s already contacted Councilwomen Nury Martinez office about installing removable bollards to keep other idiots drivers off the bikeway.
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Harv, who shared a Describe Your Ride of his own earlier this year, sends a link to yesterday’s chat between former NYDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and the LA Times’ Christopher Hawthorne at the Hammer Museum, which I had the misfortune of missing.
But which I’ll look forward to viewing later.
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The Daily News reports former LA-based pro cyclist Nick Brandt-Sorenson pled guilty Tuesday to federal charges of selling performance enhancing drugs imported from overseas.
He reportedly sold EPO online, as well as a medication derived from calves blood that isn’t approved for human use.
He faces a maximum of one year behind bars and a fine up to $100,000 for a single misdemeanor count of introducing a misbranded drug into interstate commerce. Which sounds like they’re letting him off easy.
Brandt-Sorenson retired from racing after accepting a two-year ban for doping in 2012.
An earlier version of the story got one major detail wrong, reporting that Brandt-Sorenson helped “pioneer” LA’s popular Midnight Ridazz. However, a tweet from the Ridazz says he was never an organizer, founder or pioneer of the group.
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Speaking of the Daily News, they take a look at the new World Cycling League and your hometown California Wave, premiering at Carson’s Velo Sports Center this weekend.
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As long as we’re on the subject…
Evidently, the supposed curse of the rainbow jersey doesn’t apply to English reigning world champion Lizzie Armistead.
Maybe the late Italian great Marco Pantani didn’t dope in the 1999 Giro after all; evidence has surfaced that the Mafia may have tampered with his blood samples to ensure he didn’t win, which would have cost them millions in gambling payouts.
And a writer for Cycling Tips says it’s regrettable that the 19-year old Dutch rider accused of motor doping walked away from the sport without defending herself, because it’s unlikely that she acted alone.
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Zipp is recalling nearly 57,000 high-end aluminum wheel hubs; they could be at risk of failing, causing your wheel to collapse. Which is a very bad thing.
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Local
KCET looks at the Ovarian Psychos radical feminist bicycle brigade, subject of a new documentary that premiered at South by Southwest earlier this week.
There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a custom built motorized bicycle from a disabled North Hollywood vet, who was selling it to pay his bills.
Councilmember Paul Krekorian will hold a traffic safety summit at Colfax Elementary School in Valley Village, co-hosted by LADOT and Vision Zero LA.
Chris Brown is one of us, as he rides single speed with no hands while filming his latest music video along the beach in Santa Monica.
Congratulations to the owners of Long Beach’s Rossmoor Pastries, who are selling the company and retiring after nearly 30 years. At 80 years old, departing owner Charles Feder still rocks the spandex, with plans to ride the Tour de France route this summer, as well as riding across the country; he also founded the annual Tour of Long Beach fundraising bike ride along with partner Janice Ahlgren.
The next editions of Finish the Ride are coming up on April 12th in Griffith Park, and April 30th in Santa Clarita.
State
You can find a lot of things while riding a bicycle. Like a rubber boot with a severed leg bone on a Carlsbad beach, for instance.
Jury selection begins in the trial of a San Jacinto driver in the death of Menifee cyclist Matthew Carp.
National
Former pro Phil Zajicek reportedly crossed the center line at a high rate of speed before colliding with a truck in the Boulder CO crash that severed his arm this week.
WaPo says the new bike-friendly SRAM headquarters in Chicago should be the norm, not the exception.
A proposal to ban the use of gas taxes for bike and pedestrian projects is moving forward in the Tennessee legislature, over the strenuous objections of bike advocates.
Cyclists in DC organize group rides to help commuters stranded by an emergency shut-down of the city’s train system Wednesday.
Baltimore’s planned bikeshare system will offer the largest fleet of e-bikes in the Western Hemisphere; 200 of the 500 bikes will feature a pedelec electric pedal assistance system.
International
Vancouver might check in higher than the third best place in Canada to ride a bike if it wasn’t for those damn hills; Montreal and Saskatoon are the first and second place Canadian Bike Score finishers.
A British driver is charged with deliberately running down a Chinese cyclist who she says flipped her off, leaving him in a ditch to die of hypothermia. Evidently just because she hates Asians.
A new study from the UK says that bicycle training at schools does nothing to boost child riding rates.
Tres shock! Twitter goes into an uproar when a BBC radio host rides a London bikeshare bike without a helmet.
Caught on video: A Kiwi bus driver loses his license for six months for aggressively tailgating and deliberately bumping a bike rider.
Finally…
Your next $3,000 smart bike might be made by a Chinese cell phone maker. Could the Apple iBike be far behind? Or maybe you’d prefer a world record setting bike that checks in at nearly 1,896 pounds.
And sweet revenge, as Columbian bus drivers learn first hand what it’s like to be passed by a honking bus that doesn’t slow down or move over. Thanks to Joel Sabillon for the heads-up.
