Let’s kick things off with a handful of upcoming bike events.
On Sunday you can ride the COLT without fears of getting bucked off at the free Chatsworth Orange Line Tour bike rally and health walk.
The LA Design Festival will talk bikes on the 19th of this month, with a Culver City panel discussion on Biking in LA — Bridging the Gap in LA’s bike network. Or many gaps, for that matter. And no, I have nothing to do with that one; the title of the talk is just a coincidence.
The next edition of CicLAvia rolls on the last day of June, with the Mid City meets Pico Union open streets event.
The popular Wolfpack Hustle Presents: 2019 Forsyth Cup returns to the Encino Velodrome for three days of bike racing on July 20th, August 17th and September 1st. There will be free admission and cash prizes, with free tacos, rice and beans for all spectators and participants courtesy of BikinginLA sponsor Thomas Forsyth.
Calbike will hold their annual California Bike Summit in Los Angeles this year from October 15th through 17th.
And as we mentioned yesterday, the 19th annual edition of LA’s favorite fundraiser ride rolls this Sunday; the LA River Ride helps fund the LACBC’s operations throughout the year, allowing them to keep fighting for you at city hall and on our streets.
Photo by Huỳnh Mai Nguyễn from Pixabay.
………
Sprechen sie Deutsch?
I was recently interviewed by a German radio reporter about the miserable conditions on the streets of Los Angeles, and the lack of any real action on Vision Zero in the city.
Then helped her correct the, um, errors in the information she got in a later interview with LA’s favorite traffic safety deniers Keep LA Moving.
Now her report has been broadcast in Austria, and posted online for a limited time.
The only problem is it’s in German, naturally.
So if you understand the language better than I do, give it a listen and let us know how it went.
………
The biggest problem with the popular Orange Line Bike Path comes when you have to cross a major street. And drivers don’t exactly cooperate, as Brayden Dakota illustrates with a trio of videos.
………
Here’s your chance to work as a Public Affairs Specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments.
Or maybe you’d rather put in your days as a Digital Communications Manager for CicLAvia.
………
Local
No bias here. An Associated Press report carried by KTLA-5 says e-scooters are like a death wish, as injuries and fatalities mount. Even though only nine people have been killed on rental scooters since the beginning of 2018, compared to 38.5 million trips last year alone — which works out to just one death for every 4.2 million trips. I’ll take those odds to Vegas any day.
State
Costa Mesa is moving forward with plans for a multipurpose trail along the Paularino Channel, despite residents fears it will bring “transients, vandals and criminals closer to their backyards.”
San Diego appointed long-time bike advocate Andy Hanshaw, executive director of the San Diego Bike Coalition, as to lead the city’s new Mobility Board.
An alleged bike-riding San Diego serial killer has been found competent to stand trial; Jon David Guerrero is accused of riding up behind several homeless people and jamming railroad spikes into them.
A San Luis Obispo paper examines how the city’s most popular mechanic came to die alone while riding his bicycle after years of alcohol abuse.
National
Outside picks the best uncrowded state and national parks in every state, settling on Redwood National and State Parks in California.
After actress Selma Blair decided crowdfunding was taking too long, she gave a fellow MS patient a new mobility bike.
This is why you don’t ride your bike on a freeway. A man was killed by a hit-and-run driver while trying to exit a Houston freeway on his bicycle; no word on why he was on the freeway to begin with.
Tacoma WA police are looking for a bike-riding armed hotel robber.
A Wisconsin jury awarded the family of a fallen bicyclist over $15 million, although state law says they’ll only actually get a little over $5 million of that.
There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a popular disabled Ohio man’s bicycle.
Ohio bike riders rode to the courthouse for the arraignment of a 21-year old hit-and-run driver who critically injured a woman riding her bike.
An Ohio man completed a 4,200-mile bike tour around all of the Grand Lakes.
A Massachusetts man was convicted of the hit-and-run death of a bike rider and burning his car to cover up the crime, as well as getting his girlfriend to give him a false alibi.
People for Bikes flew 25 women professionals from the bike industry to DC to lobby Congress for better bike funding.
The Washington Post says maybe select civilians should be able to ticket driver who park in bike lanes or commit other parking violations.
International
Forget the supplements. The World Health Organization says the best way to ward off dementia is with a healthy Mediterranean diet and exercise. Like riding a bike, for instance.
A British Columbia newspaper goes heavy on the sarcasm, saying they miss the days when bike riders actually signaled their turns.
California’s popular Sea Otter Classic goes to Europe.
London’s mayor calls for a 20 mph speed limit in the central city to cut traffic deaths.
A UK newspaper says bike riders and pedestrians need to be separated on the road because they just can’t get along.
Over two-thirds of British drivers think you should have to have a license plate on your bike.
British agent Sonia d’Artois was one of us, parachuting into German-occupied France nine days before D-Day to train the resistance and carry messages and weapons on her bike.
A writer for the Guardian takes a bike tour of D-Day sites in Normandy on the 75th anniversary of the allied landing that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany less than a year later.
Aussie driver Thomas Harris got a $1,250 fine for filming himself hurling abuse at a pair of bicyclists while driving on a separated path — who turned out to be off-duty cops. Harris said a traffic offender program made him realize it’s not about him. Thanks to F. Lehnerz for the link.
Lifehacker says don’t throw your old bike away, recycle it or give it to a group to refurbish. Like the entrepreneur who’s collecting unwanted Chinese bikeshare bikes to distribute to school kids in Myanmar.
Finally…
Slow it down already. Smacking a bike rider with your mirror is a pretty good indication you probably didn’t obey the three-foot passing law.
And that feeling when Google’s street view immortalizes the moment you fell off your bike.
