Tag Archive for LACBC

Motorcyclist gets 4 years for killing Carlsbad bike rider while fleeing cops, and tales of an Entitled Cyclist in Los Angeles

March 17, 2023 / / No comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This is the amateur Olympics of drinking, so ride defensively. And assume every driver you see on the road after lunch this afternoon is under the influence.

Or maybe after breakfast. 

……….

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels.

……….

No surprise here.

As expected, a motorcyclist who killed a man riding a bicycle while fleeing from police near a Carlsbad state park has been formally sentenced to four years behind bars.

Twenty-nine-year old Eric Monte Burns pled guilty to a single felony count of evading an officer causing death, with an allegation of causing great bodily injury to his passenger, for the death of 69-year old Solano Beach resident Brad Allen Catcott last August.

Burns was fleeing from a park police officer for speeding and reckless riding at Carlsbad State Beach, with a 22-year old woman on his bike, when he slammed into Catcott as he merged his bicycle into a turn lane.

Catcott died at the scene, while both Burns and his passenger were seriously injured.

Prosecutors dropped charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI, with up to ten additional years in prison, in exchange for the guilty plea.

……….

One of the stars of Los Angeles Bike social media has caught the eye of the LA Times.

Times staff writer Ryan Fonseca, editor of the Essential California newsletter, spoke with 41-year old bike commuter Tom Morash, better known on Twitter,  Instagram and YouTube as Entitled Cyclist.

Tom’s online moniker formed as he got more involved in Bike Twitter and noticed a widespread “attitude that drivers have towards cyclists as being entitled.” Then his penchant for sarcasm kicked in.

“I’m trying to turn the idea of entitled around to mean: ‘Yes, I’m entitled to be able to move around the streets without getting run over by you.’”

Fonseca goes on to describe the sensation of watching Fonseca’s nearly daily videos of close calls, blocked bikeways and overly aggressive drivers from the comfort of his desk chair.

Watching Tom’s videos can be a harrowing experience — and I’m viewing them safely from my office chair. The number of near-collisions he’s faced due to speeding, inattentive driving and sometimes deliberately aggressive drivers is all the more shocking as I remind myself that this is one person’s regular commute in a county with millions of people and tens of thousands of miles of roads.

On top of the multiple tons of speeding metal that Tom has to watch out for, his feed is full of parked vehicles and trash cans blocking designated bike lanes and sidewalks. He also regularly documents the conditions of bike lanes and other safety infrastructure as he navigates L.A. and neighboring cities.

It’s a good read, and well worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.

And if it gets some drivers to recognize themselves and reconsider the way they operate behind the wheels, that’s a win for all of us.

………

Advocacy group BikeLA, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, aka LACBC, is urging you to urge CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez to add bike lanes to newly repaved Belmont Avenue between Temple Street and Beverly Blvd.

Assuming you live in his district, that is.

And maybe we could get the Temple Street road diet killed by his predecessor back on the table, while we’re at it.

………

If you were planning to ride the east section of Angeles Crest Highway this weekend, you might want to think again.

………

You’re invited to a family friendly ride Sunday morning.

………

We may have missed this one earlier this year, but it’s no surprise that bicycles have become tools of survival for the embattled people of Ukraine.

And never mind that World Central Kitchen founder chef José Andrés should have received the Nobel Peace Prize long before now.

Or maybe knighthood. Or sainthood.

Or all of the above.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

Penn State reminds bike riders and users of mobility devices to be visible and predictable. Effectively putting the onus for safety on vulnerable road users, and not on the people in the big, dangerous machines who create the peril in the first place.

No surprise here. A DC audit cites a lack of funding and oversight for the failure of the city’s Vision Zero program, as traffic deaths trend the wrong way. Then again, you could write the same story for virtually any major American city, Los Angeles included.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Calbike calls on the state to fully fund active transportation and Complete Streets, and stop wasting money on climate-killing freeway projects. Amen to that.

A travel website describes “eight perfect ways” to enjoy Oceanside by bicycle.

Nearly 3,000 people are expected to take part in Saturday’s San Diego Padres Pedal the Cause, with routes ranging from 25 to 75 miles; this year’s event could see the cancer research fundraising ride top $20 million.

 

National

She gets it. The author of Romper’s Parenting column says raising kids would be so much better without cars.

Portland is hopping on the ebike bandwagon, as the city’s Clean Energy Fund is proposing a $20 million ebike rebate program. Those crickets you hear are Los Angeles officials not contemplating a similar program.

Kindhearted Illinois cops arranged the donation of a new bike for a man whose bicycle broke down during a recent snowstorm, depriving him of his sole source of transportation.

This is who we share the road with. A “recidivist reckless driver” has been offered a plea deal of nine years behind bars for driving against traffic on a New York street before crashing into another vehicle, and sending them both onto the sidewalk where they killed a three-month old girl and gravely injured one of her parents; the wrong way driver has nearly 100 previous red light and speed cam violations on his record. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.

Speaking of New York, the city is planning a makeover of dangerous Delancey Street, from the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan to the Bowery; 38 people have been killed or injured in the area directly below the bridge in just a five-year period.

Despite that, the Daily Sabah says exploring New York by bike is safer and more efficient than you might think.

 

International

The CBC says Canadians can look to Finland as an example of how to improve winter bicycling in the country.

The European Parliament voted to require “favorable” minimum requirements for bike parking spaces in new and renovated buildings.

No bias here. A London columnist is shocked! shocked! to discover a price tag for the equivalent of nearly $4,900 for a new cargo bike, while noticing the disparity between cargo bike-riding affluent parents and non-affluent delivery workers. But he probably wouldn’t think twice of people paying ten or twenty times that much for a motor vehicle to haul their kids, or deliver takeout. Or takeaway, as they call it.

That’s more like it. An English mayor tells drivers to stop being selfish by parking in bike lanes.

Forbes calls the British-made Hummingbird single-speed folding bike the lightest and best foldie on the market. And it can be yours for the low, low price of just $4,260.

The UK’s Factor Bikes is offering a limited edition gravel bike in honor of the late Kenyon cycling star Suleiman ‘Sule’ Kangangi, who died in a high-speed crash during last year’s Vermont Overland race.

Monaco’s Prince Albert II is one of us; the country’s Sovereign Prince has ordered a custom bicycle from Italian bikemaker 3T. You can get your own relatively off-the-shelf version starting for a little over eight grand. 

They get it, too. India Today considers how to make the country’s crowded roads safe for people on bicycles, “given the vehicular indiscipline and reckless driving.” I think the “vehicular indiscipline of drivers” will be my new go-to phrase. 

Bicycling Australia reviews World Bicycle Relief’s single-speed Buffalo Bike; Trek has named the bike, designed to provide transportation for people in underdeveloped countries, as their Bike of the Year for two years running.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colombian pro Miguel Ángel López hasn’t taken too well to his sacking by the Astana-Qazaqstan cycling team over alleged links to a Spanish doping ring, filing a nearly $2 million lawsuit challenging his firing.

New independent cycling website Escape Collective previews tomorrow’s Milan-San Remo, the first of the year’s five Monuments; France24 says double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar is ready for it.

VeloNews says a new generation of Americans are ready for a breakout year on this year’s WorldTour.

French sprinter Hugo Hofstetter put his Bianchi race bike through an unplanned stress test yesterday, breaking not one, but two sets of handlebars in the final 30 miles of the GP Denain race.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own your very own family-operated bikeshare system; read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. Who needs Everesting when you can set the record for vertical descent?

And that crappy feeling when you wipeout into a pile of manure on live TV.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

BikeLA releases report on LA County bike deaths, more on Bay Area dooring attacks, and no more roadbuilding in Wales

February 15, 2023 / / No comments

Let’s start with a couple of well-deserved thank yous.

First up, thanks to Kurt G for his generous donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day. Donations of any amount are always welcome and deeply appreciated.

Next, let’s all give Pocrass & De Los Reyes a round of thanks for renewing their title sponsorship of this site for another year.

The Century City law firm was our first sponsor, and  their support for the past ten years has made this site possible.

Photo of deadly East Anaheim Street from advocacy group BikeLA; the Long Beach street is one of several cited by the group as areas of concern in the report on LA County bicycling deaths below.

………

Maybe LA area safety organizations are finally getting serious about fighting the effects of traffic violence.

Just weeks after the die-in at Los Angeles City Hall, and the release of a report from Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, detailing LA’s record rate of traffic deaths in 2022, BikeLA released their own report on the 26 bicyclists killed on LA County streets last year.

A press release from the group, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, or LACBC, describes the findings of the report this way.

Most notably, the report identifies four factors that were prevalent in the vast majority of collisions. These design elements include high speed limits, excessive travel lanes, missing bike lane infrastructure, and poor street lighting. With 81% of collisions involving two or more of these factors, it suggests that infrastructure deficiencies are the main culprit behind the dangerous conditions on the county’s roads. 

The report also considers the geographic distribution of each collision and found that 61% of last year’s bicycle fatalities took place in heavily concentrated low-income, Black and Latinx neighborhoods. Tragically, many crashes were also concentrated along heavily-traveled corridors without quality bike infrastructure including Anaheim Street in Long Beach and Figueroa Street in Los Angeles.

As an organization committed to creating safe, enjoyable, and vibrant communities for cyclists, BikeLA recommends several solutions including reducing speed limits, embracing road diets, and expanding cyclist education programs. Taken together, these solutions can help governments across the county recommit to their vision for zero traffic fatalities.

A chart complied by the group demonstrates the distribution of traffic deaths in LA County; Los Angeles is responsible for over half of the deaths, despite having less than half of the county’s population.

It’s also worth noting the report’s conclusion that 85% of LA County’s bicycling deaths occurred where there are no bike lanes or other bicycling infrastructure.

Although that could have a lot to do with LA’s failure to build out the bike plan, and the slow pace of bike lane construction everywhere but Long Beach and Santa Monica.

It’s worth investing the time to take a deep dive into the report, to gain an understanding of how and why people continue to die on our streets.

You can learn more about each of the bicycling deaths in LA County, and the rest of Southern California, by clicking here.

Full disclosure: I was a board member of what was then the LACBC for over five years, and continue to be a member of the organization. 

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up.

………

Bay Area media coverage of the spate of dooring attacks is snowballing.

A Berkeley site says at least two people riding bicycles were targeted in the the city in recent days, as the count rises to 20 attempts to intentionally door victims in three Bay Area cities, with nine victims struck.

According to the East Bay Bike Party, the assailants used four different cars, including one that was confirmed to have been stolen.

“In several attacks,” the group said in a statement, “a driver sped alongside people riding bikes and a passenger on the right side of the car opened their door to hit the bike riders at speed. In at least two incidents the driver also drove directly into a bike rider rather than using the side door.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl0EdZtnY1M

An Oakland website adds more to the story, citing work by a team of volunteers to scour social media looking for more information on the attacks.

First, the group says that the four cars the suspects were driving were likely either Hyundai or Kia models, which have been recently targeted for theft due to a security loophole that has gone viral on TikTok. The EB Bike Party found that Ta’Liyah Hands, an Oakland resident, had her 2018 Silver Hyundai Elantra stolen in the Laurel Districtaround noon Friday. The car, confirmed by its license plate, was seen later that day in a video attempting to collide with bicyclists headed to the Bike East Bay Party. Several witnesses told the Oaklandside the cars the drivers used to attack them matched these models.

The group was also able to determine that the suspects were young, possibly teenagers. Several of the victims the Oaklandside spoke to for this story agreed, saying they heard laughter from the car’s occupants as they swerved at bicyclists. Most or all of the suspects were also male.

Meanwhile, the Oakland police department was unable to comment due to an ongoing cyber attack that prevented officials from accessing police files, and kept bicyclists from filing police reports.

………

That’s more like it.

The Welsh government has canceled all roadbuilding projects over environmental and safety concerns.

Any future road projects must pass strict criteria requiring that they don’t increase carbon emissions, can’t increase the number of cars on the road or lead to higher speeds and emissions, and can’t have a negative impact on the environment.

Which pretty much means no new roads will be built in the country.

Period.

………

No surprise here.

The accused killer of Dr. Michael Mammone in Dana Point two weeks ago had the criminal proceedings against him temporarily suspended Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that the case against Vanroy Evan Smith will be delayed until he has a competency hearing next week.

Smith told a reporter for the Orange County Register that he was both God and Jesus Christ. Which somehow seems unlikely, raising doubts about his competency to stand trial.

He could be committed to a psychiatric facility for treatment until he is competent to face trial, which could come in a few months, or may never happen.

Meanwhile, a memorial for Dr. Mammone will be held at the Festival of Arts grounds tomorrow at 11 am; mourners were asked to make donations to Wounded Warrior Project, the Laguna Beach Food Pantry or The LA Mission in lieu of flowers.

………

The candidates in the special election to replace former LA City Councilmember Nury Martinez in CD6 will take part in a candidate forum tonight.

………

British broadcast personality Jeremy Vine demonstrates a driver performing a left hook across a bikeway, the UK’s equivalent of our right hook.

………

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

A Virginia public radio station asks if bicycles should be required to stop at intersections. Which is not the same as asking whether bike riders should be allowed to treat stop signs as yields, as new bill in the state legislature proposes.

………

Local 

LA city officials broke ground on two new mini-parks along the existing Chandler walk/bike path in North Hollywood, as well as adding new trees and lighting along the pathway, and improving two access points.

LAist offers a primer on how LA’s neighborhood councils work, and how you can join one.

BikeLA, formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle County Bicycle Coalition, will host its first bike ride of the year in Griffith Park on Saturday, February 25th. Thanks to Ravener for the link.

 

State

A new bill in the state legislature would direct the state’s Mineta Transportation Institute to study ebikes, although it’s unclear just what information legislators are looking for.

 

National

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that American motor vehicles are getting too big for their parking spaces.

Yahoo asks if ebikes are the unsung secret to curbing climate change. Short answer, probably.

Outside considers what kind of mountain bike you should buy this year. Which somehow assumes that you can, should, and want to buy one at all.

A new Utah state legislator is proposing a bill that would require drivers to change lanes to pass a bike rider, if there’s room to do so; the bill is personal for him, after he lost his own father when he was run down by a careless teenage driver while riding his bike. The bill is similar to a new California law that took effect this year.

Sad news from my Colorado hometown, where the county coroner’s office has identified the first of two bike riders killed there this week as an 81-year old man; police investigators are blaming him for running a stop sign, which seems unlikely at his age.

The Adventure Cycling Association calls out a five-mile section of US Highway 93 directly west of Whitefish, Montana as a particular area of safety concern due to crumbling shoulders and heavy traffic moving at high speeds.

Advocacy group BikeTexas is angling for a stop as yelled bill in the state legislature, as well as allowing ebikes in state parks.

A Streetsblog op-ed says the new and improved bike and pedestrian pathways on New York’s George Washington Bridge still aren’t good enough; a 1933 design called for cantilevered, 15-foot wide paths on both sides of the bridge.

The New York Times says bicycle delivery workers bore the brunt of Monday’s vehicular attack on Brooklyn sidewalks; a Chinese immigrant delivering food by bike was killed, and another man is lingering in a medically induced coma.  Meanwhile, the New York Post says the accused killer suffered a mental health crisis set off by “seeing” an invisible objet coming directly at him.

No surprise here, as a majority of residents in Charlottesville, Virginia say they’d like to walk, bike or take transit more often, if they just felt safe on the roads. Which is pretty much what the residents of virtually every American city would say.

A New Orleans bike club uses a fleet of eight tandem bikes to allow blind bike riders to experience the city in a new way.

The man accused of stabbing a bicycle-riding Florida couple to death during last year’s Daytona Bike Week has been found incompetent to stand trial; Jean Macean will be committed to a state facility until he understands the legal process and the case against him.

 

International

Porsche appears to be diving head-first into the ebike market by acquiring all of e-bikemaker Greyp, a subsidiary of Croatian supercar maker Rimac.

Mirroring the Aussie case we mentioned yesterday, an Ottawa, Canada man is on trial for killing his neighbor in a dispute over an alleged stolen bicycle. As we’ve said many times before, no bike is worth taking a life, let alone sacrificing your own. 

A Montreal driver was caught on video traveling an entire block in a protected bike lane.

The CEO of foldie maker Brompton blames Brexit for the problem besetting British bikemakers.

The rich get richer. Paris plans to build another 30 miles of bike lanes connecting the city center to Olympic venues in time for next year’s Summer Olympics.

A Philippine community is delaying plans to convert a protected bike lane into sharrows, in response to a massive protest by bike riders.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly profiles 22-year old British cyclist Harrison Wood, who’s set to make his WorldTour debut for French team Cofidis, after overcoming a brain bleed and broken collarbone suffered in a crash at the Course de la Paix.

Sad news from the UK, where record-setting bicyclist Eileen Sheridan has died at the age of 99. She rode the full nearly 900-mile length of Britain in less than two and a half days, a record that stood for 36 years.

Cyclist remembers how Fausto Coppi became the first rider to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year, in his rookie year of 1949.

 

Finally…

Your next car could be an e-trike. Now you, too, can move your entire household by bike.

And that feeling when your new bike parking looks artistic, but pretty damn useless.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Die-in driven from news by mass shooting, LA Vision Zero a “totally unfunny self-parody,” and voters say no to De León

January 23, 2023 / / Comments Off on Die-in driven from news by mass shooting, LA Vision Zero a “totally unfunny self-parody,” and voters say no to De León

Three-hundred-twelve lives needlessly lost to traffic violence.

Most of them bike riders and pedestrians, many lower income, as Los Angeles set a record for the most traffic deaths in at least the last two decades.

Yet almost as heartbreaking as the lives lost to traffic violence in the City of Angels last year was the way Saturday’s die-in at City Hall to protest the deaths was shoved out of the headlines by yet another mass shooting.

The protest, which drew around one hundred participants, appeared to be covered by a number of news outlets.

Yet the only news story that’s been posted online so far came from Fox11.

And even they couldn’t be bothered to identify California Senator Anthony Portantino as the prone bicyclist shown gripping his handlebars in the story’s top photo.

Oops.

When your lead photo shows a state senator participating in a large protest, maybe it would be nice to identify him. Just saying.

 

The brief story attempts to put LA’s unacceptable rate of traffic deaths in perspective.

Yet somehow fails to mention that even one death is one too many.

How does that compare to other cities across the state, or even nationally? LA’s 312 traffic fatalities equate to just over eight deaths per 100,000, nearly twice that of San Francisco (4.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2022), but fewer than San Diego, which saw just less than nine traffic deaths per 100,000 people in 2022. In Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago, there were roughly 7.8 traffic deaths per 100,000 people in 2022.

It ends with an all-too-brief mention of just what the assembled protestors were demanding.

Protesters organizing Saturday, want the city to do more to help curb traffic deaths in LA. They’re asking Mayor Karen Bass to declare a state of emergency on traffic violence; for more funding for the LA Department of Transportation and initiatives like VisionZero; and the passage of legislation that would allow for automated speed enforcement on dangerous roads.

“Throwing only $50.6 million at road safety issues in a city this big, especially considering how many lives are being lost, is a joke,” SAFE’s report concludes.

All of which was great.

But in addition to failing to identify Portantino, the station also failed to mention that Assembly Transportation Chair Laura Friedman took part, as did CD3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield.

Not to mention leaders from Streets Are For Everyone, Families For Safe Streets, Streets For All, LA Walks and BikeLA — formerly the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition — among others.

Even then, the story was gone by morning, as LA’s news outlets went with wall-to-wall coverage of the Monterey Park shootings.

Leaving the reaction to the city’s horrendous death toll forgotten on the newsroom floor, just a blip in the weekend news.

I’ll have more tomorrow, after I have a chance to sift through all the many photos I took of the event.

At center is this photo, with the red bandana, is very good boy Max, who joined his owner in playing dead along with everyone else.

The top photo shows Assembly Member Laura Friedman addressing the crowd, flanked by state Sen. Anthony Portantino; behind her are LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and Streets For All founder Michael Schneider. 

Correction: Apparently suffering a major brain cramp, I somehow originally misidentified Streets For All’s Michael Schneider in the above caption as Michael MacDonald, evidently mistaking him for a member of the Doobie Brothers. He is, to the best of my knowledge, not a Doobie nor a rock star, but a street safety star instead. My apologies. 

………

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times Letters Editor Paul Thornton introduced responses to LA’s rising toll of traffic violence with a headline calling the city’s Vision Zero failure a “totally unfunny self-parody.”

All along, the city’s primary tool to achieving its Vision Zero goals has been redesigning roads to reduce vehicle speeds and allocate more and safer spaces to cyclists and pedestrians. What we’ve gotten since 2015 are bike lanes removed from street widening projects, quashed “complete street” proposals, a thriving Lincoln Heights street market shut down by the city, and a reopened 6th Street Viaduct used as a drag strip. Something tells me we’ll be much worse off on Vision Zero in 2025 than we were in 2015.

Although naturally, one letter writer felt the need to remind us that streets are for cars, and everyone and everything else doesn’t belong there.

Nope. No bias there.

And while we’re on the subject of letters to the editor of the Los Angeles Times, the expected complaints about ebikes in the paper’s recent article about their supposed invasion of Orange County Beach cities, a Huntington Beach man says what the outrage over ebikes really points out is the lack of safe bike infrastructure.

Well said.

………

No surprise here.

The LA Times is reporting that CD14 voters have turned sharply against incumbent Councilmember Kevin de León in the wake of his comments on a racist and otherwise offensive recording that has already led to the resignation of the former council president and one of LA’s most powerful labor leaders.

The turnaround comes just two years after those same voters overwhelmingly installed De León to replace disgraced Jose Huizar, who pled guilty to racketeering last week.

…By a wide margin, voters said De León puts his own political self-interest ahead of the people he represents. Even reliable supporters who voted for him in the past have lost faith, the poll found.

Only 23% of the voters surveyed approved of the job De León is doing, compared with 48% who disapproved, the poll found. Just over half think he should resign, compared with fewer than a quarter who want him to stay in office and 18% who were undecided; 9% did not answer the question.

If a recall were to qualify for the ballot — an effort to qualify one is currently circulating petitions — 58% would support recalling him from office, compared with 25% who would be opposed and 17% undecided, the survey found.

That comes after De León was heard on the leaked recording comparing the Black adopted son of former Councilmember Mike Bonin to a Luis Vuitton purse, and discussed how Latino councilmembers could mute the influence of their Black peers on the council, as well as their constituents.

Yet De León continues to ignore calls to resign, apparently thinking there is some pathway that will allow him to rehabilitate his image before facing the voters again in 2024.

Or sooner, if the recall petitions currently circling in his district qualify for the ballot.

De León had shown promise when it came to supporting bike and safety improvements in his district, including selecting the resident-designed Beautiful Boulevard option for the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit route through Eagle Rock.

But whatever good he promised came to a quick end the moment he was heard on that infamous recording.

It’s time for De León to read the writing on the wall — and in the pages of the Times — and resign.

CD14 deserves a leader who can more effectively represent all the people, including those of us who travel on two wheels.

………

This area has long been one of the most unforgiving areas for bicycling in all of the Los Angeles areas.

Although the long-delayed Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian Path over the new Long Beach International Gateway Bridge, better known as the replacement for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, should help.

Once they finally get around to opening it.

Meanwhile, this video of trying to find a safe route around the Port of Los Angeles plays like a one-man Marx Brothers routine.

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1616589984206839808

………

Dr. Grace Peng forward news that an anti-bike lane Redondo Beach councilmember is facing possible loss of his license to practice law after allegedly misappropriating over a half million dollars of client funds.

Proving that corruption allegations extend far beyond LA City Hall.

………

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

The Chicago Sun-Times probably didn’t mean it when they placed an ad about the warning signs of dementia in a story about a man riding 60 miles across the frozen wintery city to meet with other similar-minded viking bikers. But still.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A road raging British driver was found not guilty of punching and choking a man riding a bike after claiming self-defense because the bike rider punched his car after the driver “clipped” him.

This is what “clipped” looks like, as an Australian truck driver sideswipes a bike rider, then keeps going, possibly unaware he’d even hit someone.

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

Seriously, if you’re carrying guns and a large amount or narcotics on your bike, make sure the damn thing is up to the vehicle code.

………

Local 

Streets For All is calling for more support for the heavy rail option to extend the Metro train system through the Sepulveda Pass, including a Metro station on the UCLA campus, at an in-person meeting on Tuesday and a virtual meeting on Thursday. Bel Air residents are demanding an impractical monorail through the center of the 405 because it wouldn’t, you know, inconvenience the rich people.

VeloNews has more on the nonprofit Bahati Foundation, formed by Compton’s own former national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati to change the lives of underprivileged kids through bikes.

Santa Monica-based Bird is selling their consumer ebike for 60% off right now, marking it down from $2,299 to just $899, including free shipping.

 

State

Twenty people got tickets during Goleta’s latest crackdown on traffic violations that endanger bike riders and pedestrians; unfortunately, there’s no breakdown on whether the tickets went to motorists, bike riders or pedestrian.

 

National

Washington’s governor pitched in on the first day of a new program to teach Seattle kindergartners how to ride a bike.

They get it. The Chicago Sun-Times says that it’s worth trying surveillance cameras and automated ticketing to keep drivers out of bus and bike lanes.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is one of us, as he explains what happened when he fell off his bike and broke his wrist, which combined with Tommy John surgery and a broken finger to cost him most of three seasons.

 

International

Rouler explores the relationship between Italian bikemaker Cinelli and artist and former pro cycling wunderkind Taylor Phinney.

A travel site offers tips on exploring Europe’s over 27,000 miles of bikeways. Which would take the better part of two years if you averaged 50 miles a day. Works for me.

An insurance company issued an urgent warning to British bicyclists about the crumbling state of the country’s roads, as 21% of bike riders suffered pothole-related injuries. Although I imagine what they really mean is 21% of bicycling injuries are related to potholes. But what do I know?

Once again, a driver has claimed multiple victims, as a British driver faces charges for the hit-and-run death of two men who were riding their bikes, before abandoning his car and fleeing on foot. Although even more frightening is how the local weekly paper seems to accept the horrific crash, mentioning it almost in passing.

A history website tells the story of Peter Masters, an Austrian Jew who escaped the Nazis, then returned as a bike-riding British commando during the D-Day invasion.

Horrible story from India, where a 70-year old man was killed when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike, then desperately clung to the drivers hood before he was thrown off and run over when the driver finally hit the brakes.

A New Zealand man’s planned three-day bike ride to babysit his granddaughter took a detour when his ride was interrupted by Cyclone Hale.

 

Competitive Cycling

British pro Simon Yates won an uphill battle to claim the final stage of the Tour Down Under, as Aussie Jay Vine took the GC title to win his first WorldTour race.

Bryan Coquard claimed his first WorldTour stage win in Saturday’s stage four of the Tour Down Under, 11 years after he joined the top pro circuit.

Rising Dutch ‘cross star Shirin van Anrooij had to sit one out after thieves stole her race bike from the parking lot while she was doing recon on the course in Costa Blanca, Spain.

Zimbabwean mountain biker Pressmore Musundi is aiming to compete in this year’s African Games, despite being born with no toes on either foot, following first and third place finishes in a pair of South Africa’s top mountain bike races.

 

Finally…

If a cop stops you for driving under the influence, try not to bite his finger off trying to get away. And we may have to deal with aggressive LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about leopard attacks.

Usually, anyway.

………

Happy Lunar New Year, whatever language you celebrate in! And my sympathy and prayers to all the victims of the Monterey Park shooting and their loved ones. May the new year finally bring an end to both traffic and gun violence. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Get out and Bike the Vote today, bike groups demand action at COP27, and more on LACBC rebranding as Bike LA

November 8, 2022 / / Comments Off on Get out and Bike the Vote today, bike groups demand action at COP27, and more on LACBC rebranding as Bike LA
If you haven’t cast your ballot yet, Streets For All offers their endorsements for many of the races in Los Angeles County.

Meanwhile, the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition posts the responses to their candidate surveys. Or at least the candidates who bothered to respond.

Which should give you a pretty good suggestion of who to vote for. And who not to.

And ActiveSGV provides their choices on many of the state and local ballot proposals; as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, they can take a stand on initiatives, but are prohibited from endorsing or opposing individual candidates.

Metro buses, trains and bikeshare are all free today, along with a number of other local transit systems, to help you get to the polls.

So get out and bike the vote, already.

I mean, you are going to vote.

Right?

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

………

The Partnership for Active Travel and Health, aka PATH, wants organizations to sign on to their letter to the COP27 climate conference going on now in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Here’s just a sample.

With COP27 being hosted in Africa, it is worth noting that across the continent walking is already the primary mode of transport for the majority of people. Up to 78% walk every day – often because they have no other choice. And they put their lives at risk the moment they step out of their homes due to roads dominated by speeding cars, missing sidewalks, makeshift crossings and high-polluting vehicles. By 2050, low and middle income countries will own over two-thirds of the world’s cars. With that comes an increasing urgency for even greater investment in safe walking and cycling infrastructure.

For all of these reasons, the Partnership for Active Travel and Health, together with the undersigned organisations, strongly appeal to national and city governments to commit to prioritising and investing in walking and cycling, through Nationally Determined Contributions and integrated and coherent strategies, including plans, funding and concrete actions for:

  • Infrastructure – to make walking and cycling safe, accessible and easy to do.
  • Campaigns – to support a shift in people’s mobility habits.
  • Land use planning – to ensure proximity and quality of access to everyday services on foot and by bike.
  • Integration with public transport – to underpin sustainable mobility for longer trips.
  • Capacity building – to enable the successful delivery of effective walking and cycling strategies that have measurable impact.

Organizations including UCI, Rails-to-Trails and World Bicycle Relief have already signed on.

It’s also been endorsed by yours truly, even though this organization is just me and a corgi.

Thanks to Colin Bogart for the heads-up.

………

Streetsblog talks with Eli Akira Kaufman, Executive Director of the newly renamed Bike LA, formerly LACBC, about the bike coalition’s rebranding.

Our staff and board of directors felt that the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) really did not capture who we are and our mission to support more Angelenos to Bike LA. Basically, the thinking is that LACBC sounds too much like the government agencies we work with (LADOT, LAUSD, LADWP) when we’re actually a community-based nonprofit organization committed to advocating for the rights of cyclists. It had become clear that we needed a name change that made it easier for bike-minded people to find and support our advocacy work much like our sister bike nonprofits Bike East Bay, Bike New York, Bike Austin, Bike Cleveland, Bike Portland, Bike Houston to name a few.

Bike LA is both more accessible and a call to action. We thank everyone for supporting LACBC for the past quarter century and for remaining committed to Bike LA for a Better LA!

Kaufman goes on to address some of the other issues facing the organization — and the rest of us — including the lack of safe infrastructure, seven years after the city adopted the mobility plan that was supposed to transform the way we get around the city.

Although as we’ve learned the hard way, a mobility plan doesn’t do a damn bit of good unless someone actually builds it.

It’s worth investing a few minutes to read the whole thing, because this is one of the leading groups representing you in the fight for safer and more equitable streets in Los Angeles.

………

Speaking of Bike LA, we featured this one when it first appeared online last year.

But it’s worth posting again, since filmmaker Yolanda Davis-Overstreet was one of the people honored by the group at Saturday’s Bike Fest.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Thanks to HowTheWestWS for the tip.

………

A reminder to mark your calendar for the annual World Day of Remembrance for the victims of traffic violence later this month.

………

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

No bias here. A writer for London’s Telegraph lists ten ways MAMILS — Middle Aged Men in Lycra — have just totally ruined bicycling vacations, like replacing lazy lunches of red wine and thick slabs of focaccia with energy gels and protein shakes. As if you can’t just enjoy your holiday and let other people enjoy theirs.

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

An Indian man stabbed his own brother to death in a bizarre dispute over bicycle parking, after the victim left his brother’s bike outside his house.

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman took a deep dive into that racist and otherwise offensive recording of three Hispanic Los Angeles councilmembers, focusing on the “seething anti-Blackness” of CD14 Councilmember Kevin de León; while former Council President Nury Martinez has resigned, de León and CD1 Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo still refuse to do the right thing.

South Pasadena’s bike bus was scheduled to return today with trips to two elementary schools, although today’s rain will likely throw a wrench in those plans.

 

State 

Sad news from Visalia, where a 25-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in a hit-and-run; police are looking for a 31-year old woman who fled on foot when they knocked on her door.

You can find a lot of things when you ride a bike. Like the body a bike rider discovered while riding past a Tulare County orchard; sheriff’s deputies called the death “suspicious.”

 

National

Bicycling shares a four minute short film about a blind bike mechanic; Bike Shop: Reza the Blind Bicycle Mechanic premiered at this year’s Bicycle Film Festival in New York City and Amsterdam. As usual, you can watch it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

A design magazine remembers the late designer and engineer Mike Burrows as the world’s greatest bicycle designer and the godfather of modern bicycle aerodynamics.

The oldest son of Little People, Big World stars Zach and Tori Roloff is now one of us, after his grandfather gave the diminutive five-year old a special bike small enough for him to ride.

A travel writer offers tips on how to ride a bike to Jenny Lake in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, which offers some of North America’s most spectacular scenery.

A Cleveland bike shop owner says he’s fed up with reckless drivers and dangerous streets after surviving a hit-and-run.

Now you, too, can win the mountain bike that stars in the new feature film 8600FT, which successfully climbed all 8,600 feet of Moab, Utah’s Whole Enchilada trail. Although the rider may have had something to do with it, too.

The New Yorker takes a deep dive into the murder of gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas, contending the killing has exposed a lot of dirt in the sport.

Nice piece from NPR telling the tale of a New Jersey man who lost his pharmaceutical marketing job during the pandemic, but saw it as an opportunity to open a bike shop that quickly became a community hub.

 

International

Trek is partnering with World Bicycle Relief to raise $2.5 million to provide much-needed bicycles for people in Africa over the holiday season.

Cyclist considers the environmental impact of metal bike frames, concluding that steel beats other materials for protecting the planet.

A new book reports Britain’s King Charles nearly didn’t live long enough to ascend to the throne after he was hit by a bus while riding his bike in the 1960s.

Tragic news from the UK, where a 53-year old man apparently took his own life in a national park, nearly a year after suffering a head injury in a solo bicycling crash that changed his personality.

A British man got tired of getting fired, so he started his own business doing odd jobs using a tandem bike.

French bikemakers are jumping into the ebike field, challenging the dominance of Asian manufacturers.

This is what you can do when streets are safe. Over 1,200 kids participate in Barcelona’s Bicibús — or bicycle bus — program, taking more than 90 routes to ride their bikes to over 70 schools.

A New Zealand couple with two preschool kids takes part in an ebike trial program, and finds living without a car is a game-changer. In a good way.

An Italian ultra-cyclist aims to be the first person to ride a bike coast to coast across Antarctica, using a fat bike to cover over 1,200 miles in 60 days.

An Indian columnist says bicycles are the future of mobility.

A scandal is growing over Victoria, Australia Premier Dan Andrews 2013 crash that left a 15-year old bike rider seriously injured as his wife was driving the car; they blame the kid for T-boning their car with his bike, though damage to the car suggests otherwise.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist and 2017 Giro champ Tom Dumoulin is finally relaxing after his retirement, revealing he hated cycling during a challenging 2020 season, despite a seventh place finish in the Tour de France.

Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič walks readers through his victory in this year’s Milan-San Remo, which Cycling Tips suggests may have been the biggest win of the year.

 

Finally…

Riding thousands of miles across Europe to draw a giant GPS bicycle across the continent. Presenting the transportation circle of life; thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.

And we may have to deal with getting chased by angry dogs, but at least we hardly ever have to outrun a wolf.

Cyclist surprised by wolf in the Netherlands from Damnthatsinteresting

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

LA bike rider victim of BB gun driveby, LACBC rebrands as Bike LA, and East Side Riders Thanksgiving giveaway

November 7, 2022 / / 2 comments

Let’s hope you took advantage of that extra hour over the weekend to catch up on your sleep. 

Or maybe your bike just a little longer. 

Just remember that the time change seems to have a deleterious effect on people’s driving abilities. 

So ride defensively and with a little more caution for the next few days. And make sure you’ve got a set of lights with you if you plan on riding late in the day. 

Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels.

………

Let’s start with a couple of recent Reddit posts.

First up is a rider who’s tired of fixing flats due to the ubiquitous broken glass coating LA bike lanes.

Rant: I think the constant glass on the road is really messing with my life from LosAngeles

Let’s deal with the obvious first.

If you’re still riding in LA without quality puncture-resistant tires, you should get some. I used to suffer flats three or four times a month before switching to Gatorskins, dropping to one or two a year afterwards.

Second, most streets in the City of Angels should be swept on a weekly basis. So if the streets you ride remain covered with glass and other tire threatening detritus — or the bike lanes never seem to get cleaned at all — use the 311 app to complain to the Bureau of Street Services.

More important, however, is this post forwarded by Streets For All founder Michael Schneider.

Shot at on my bike path today from BikeLA

Once again, let’s start with the obvious.

This is a crime.

If this happens to you, you should immediately called the police and report it as a shooting. This is no less a driveby than if they had used a handgun, and should be prosecuted as such.

Even if prosecutors conclude there isn’t enough evidence to bring charges, it could establish a pattern of behavior in case they do it again. That’s what led to the conviction of Dr. Christopher Thompson in the infamous Mandeville Canyon brake check case.

Second, this would make a strong case under LA’s bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance, which allows a claim of $1,000 or triple the actual damages, whichever is higher.

The law also allows for attorney’s fees, although you’d be hard-pressed to find one who will take such a small case.

But you can file it yourself in small claims court.

One way or another, the shooters shouldn’t be allowed to get away it, or they’ll just do it again to someone else.

And next time, the victim may not be so lucky.

Thanks to HowTheWestWS for forwarding the first post.

………

About damn time.

It’s been six long years since I served on the board of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

And one question that continually came up during board meetings was a proposal to rebrand the LACBC using the then popular hashtag #BikeLA. But there were always holdouts who weren’t sold on the idea, or thought it wasn’t the right time for one reason or another.

Evidently, support finally aligned in recent weeks, as the organization announced their new branding as Bike LA at Saturday’s Bike Fest.

Not only is it a simpler and more self-explanatory name, but it gives the group a much-needed opportunity for a fresh start after a few very difficult years.

Thanks to Ravener for the tip.

………

Another reminder, if we needed it, that the East Side Riders Bike Club is about a lot more than just bikes.

And do a hell of a lot of good in, and for, the community.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Every driver on the road is armed and dangerous, whether or not they have a weapon in the car.

Because their car is a weapon.

………

A new video attempts to answer the question of why does riding a bicycle feel so damn good?

Meanwhile, frequent contributor Victor Bale recommends this podcast about the introduction of the safety bicycle, if you’re looking for a good listen.

………

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

No bias here. British residents blasted their local leaders after a new bike lane opened — blocked by lampposts in both directions.

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

Georgia police busted a man who attempted to escape the cops by fleeing through a Taco Bell lot to avoid being arrested; they caught up to him when he crashed his bike into a curb.

………

Local

Good2Go Bikes, a joint project from Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, and Pedal Movement, launched recently in the Rancho San Pedro public housing development to provide low-income residents with access to low-cost ebike and e-cargo bike rentals.

The Signal looks at SAFE founder Damian Kevitt and the Santa Clarita Finish The Ride and Finish The Run Halloween events to raise money for bike safety.

 

State 

A 79-year old San Diego man was seriously injured when he somehow lost control and fell off his bike in Sorrento Valley.

 

National

A Las Vegas bike rider was killed, and another critically injured, in a drunken, serial hit-and-run that ultimately involved ten vehicles, and left another seven people injured — including four people from Alhambra.

Arkansas is planning a 500-mile bike path along the historic Butterfield Stage Route connecting Jefferson City, Missouri and Fort Smith, Arkansas.

New York bicyclists ride to the rescue to close the gaps in the city’s composting program by using teenage microhaulers to collect and transport refuse the city doesn’t; in ten years, just one such business diverted nearly a million pounds of food waste from landfills, turning it into 427,000 pounds of compost.

New York firefighters rescued a woman who was dangling outside a 20th floor window to escape a fire apparently started by an ebike battery.

No surprise here. DC business owners and a relative handful of residents have brought out the torches and pitchforks over a proposal for a 2.7-mile bike lane, apparently failing to grasp the concept that bike lanes are good for business, as well as property values. Thanks again to Victor Bale.

 

International

A pair of studies refute the accepted wisdom that micromobility doesn’t reduce car travel and emissions, showing that banning e-scooters after dark increased travel times, and that the most recent generation of e-scooters reduce emissions 70% over the lifetime of the scooters.

Bike Radar talks with four people who say their lives have been transformed by ebikes; the site also argues that ebikes could solve a number of problems, including car dependency and transport poverty, but only with “better infrastructure, updated attitudes and government backing.”

So why not hitch an e-trailer to your ebike?

A new Dutch company has opened new low-cost a London bicycle subscription service, identified by a single blue tire, complete with an antitheft guarantee.

A new 250-mile, coast-to-coast Scottish bike path scheduled to open next year promises to add millions of pounds to the local economy.

A hard-hitting piece from a British columnist, who says he prepares for war every time he rides his bike, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Although he could spend a lot less time insisting he’s not one of THOSE cyclists.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 74-year old driver got just two and a half years for killing one bike rider and seriously injuring another, while blaming the victims for failing to ride single file and “bumping” onto his car. He also failed to mention his recent stroke when renewing his license.

Unbelievable. An Irish railroad worker won an unfair dismissal claim for the equivalent of nearly $4,000 after the railroad fired him, claiming he couldn’t perform his duties — because he was in prison after plowing into a group of women bicyclists while driving at four times the legal alcohol limit, leaving two women with life-changing injuries. Thanks again to Victor Bale.

Two-hundred-fifty people turned out to honor a Berlin bike rider who was killed when she was run over by a truck driver.

Tens of thousands of bike riders enjoyed a carfree afternoon on a ten-lane Dubai freeway.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard says he’s “just not bothered” by all the pressure and attention that comes with winning cycling’s premier event, and looks forward to defending his title next year.

 

Finally…

Racing Penny Farthings in Prague. That feeling when you steal a bike, but can’t remember where you left it.

And apparently, bike commuting on the marathon course is a no-no.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

De León: hell no, he won’t go; advocacy groups call for ebike libraries; and what happens when officials give a damn

October 20, 2022 / / Comments Off on De León: hell no, he won’t go; advocacy groups call for ebike libraries; and what happens when officials give a damn
Talk about misreading the room.

In an announcement that was almost universally condemned, CD14 City Councilmember Kevin de León says hell no, he won’t go.

De León is refusing to resign in the wake of a racist and otherwise offensive recording in which he was heard actively participating, along with outgoing CD1 Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo, former Council President Nury Martinez and ex-LA County Federation of Labor Ron Herrera, the latter two of whom at least had the decency to resign.

His announcement was immediately condemned by newly elected Council President Paul Krekorian.

Yes, the same Krekorian who singlehandedly killed the fully funded and shovel ready lane reductions and protected bike lanes planned for Lankershim Blvd in one of his first official acts on the council.

Apparently thinking he can somehow survive this, de León said “I’m not going to mince words. I’m not going to deflect blame. I’m not going to defend the defenseless,” before attempting to do exactly that, adding he’ll be “spending the coming weeks and months personally asking for your forgiveness.”

Forgiveness that is not likely to be given, after failing to condemn Martinez’ open racism, while himself comparing fellow Councilmember Mike Bonin’s toddler son to the Luis Vuitton purse favored by Martinez.

Bonin is clearly in no mood for de León’s weakass mea culpa.

As we’ve noted before, this whole city hall soap opera matters, because we’re never going to get action on safer streets with dysfunctional city leadership, particularly with the council’s draft of the Healthy Streets LA initiative due back at the council in a few weeks.

Speaking of which, the LA Times has opened a web portal to help you find how to contact the right city agencies and officials to address various issues.

You know, in case you want to advocate for safer streets. Or complain about corrupt city officials.

Photo from Wikipedia. 

………

And speaking of Bonin, Streets For All has posted video of Wednesday’s virtual Happy Hour with the outgoing councilmember.

………

Yesterday we mentioned Metro’s confusing proposal to reform management of the Metro Bike bikeshare system.

The leaders of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, ActiveSGV and People for Mobility Justice teamed to release an open letter to the Metro board, suggesting that opening ebike libraries and investing in safer infrastructure might be a better approach.

………

It looks like LADOT is finally getting serious about counting bikes, at least on 7th Street.

https://twitter.com/subwayray/status/1582956512519286785

………

This is what happens when city officials actually give a damn.

………

CNN recognizes the Dutch city of Utrecht for the world bicycling capital it is.

………

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

An Ottawa, Canada mayoral candidate is politely taken to task after declaring he won’t declare a war on cars by investing bike lanes, preferring a “balanced approach” that’s balanced heavily in favor of motor vehicles.

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

A 70-year old Fresno man insists he’s the real victim after he lay in wait and repeatedly shot and stabbed a man he accused of stealing his bicycle; Edmundo Martinez faces 50 to life if he’s convicted of killing Jose Palafox, Jr. Once again, no bike is worth a human life.

A Phoenix man faces charges after he was captured on video circling a convenience store parking lot on his bike while aiming a gun at bystanders; the man bizarrely claimed there was someone hiding in a cooler at the store to justify his actions.

………

Local

The next driver who tries to run you off the road may not be one, after Google’s Waymo announced plans to bring driverless taxis to the City of Angels.

Streets For All is calling for canvassing volunteers to help elect transit advocate — and corgi dad — Kenneth Mejia as Los Angeles City Controller.

Cycling Tips reviews the second-gen Cero One cycle truck-style e-cargo bike from Los Angeles-based Cero. And likes it. I’d get one myself, with the perfect upfront corgi carrier, if I had an extra three grand laying around.

 

State 

California is offering $50,000 rewards for each of four unsolved murders, including a 16-year old boy who was shot and killed while riding his bike in Alameda County.

Great idea. The League of Women Voters is hosting a Bike Out the Vote bike caravan in Albany this weekend. Although someone should tell them that Bike the Vote is a lot less confusing.

 

National

Momentum examines bike storage solutions to help keep your bikes safe and out of the way.

Bicycling wants to know what’s the weirdest animal you’ve ever had to dodge on a bike, after a video of two angry moose charging down an Alaska bike path goes viral. In my case, it was an alligator sunning itself on a Louisiana roadway. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Bike Portland profiles an adventurous leather goods peddler, who pedals a bike trailer with his merchandise to a local outdoor market every weekend.

Life is cheap in Houston, where an eight-year old boy riding a bike is dead because a driver insisted on distractedly making a left turn while she was “messing with her sandwich;” a month later, charges still have not been filed.

Kindhearted Michigan sheriff’s deputies dipped into their own funds to buy a 13-year old boy a new bike after he was struck by a driver, trashing his bike and leaving him with 100 stitches in his leg.

Travel site Condé Nast recommends the best bike routes to explore New York’s five boroughs.

A Virginia woman tells drivers that rushing is never worth the risk, after her daughter was killed and another woman seriously injured by an 18-year old drunk driver as they rode their bikes.

 

International

A British Columbia letter writer offers a brief tutorial on the differences between pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists, stressing that the latter might kill the first two, but the first two never kill the latter, and that separate infrastructure is the only solution to keep everyone safe.

An Indian college student faces charges for the high speed crash that killed one bike rider, before swerving onto the other side of the road and killing another.

A handmade Namibian bike brand made its international debut at the recent Bespoke bike show in London; the steel-frame Onguza bikes made by Dan Craven, a two-time Olympic road cyclist and Namibia’s only professional cyclist to ride a Grand Tour, retail for four grand for a frame, and double that for a complete bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Vuelta and world champ Alejandro Valverde called it a career after rolling across the Il Lombardia finish line one last time.

 

Finally…

No, no seat tube doesn’t mean you have to ride standing up. Introducing an ebike roadie for weight weenies.

And can you really say you ride a bike if you don’t know how to pop a proper wheelie?

 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Healthy Streets LA submits signatures, moves forward in city council; and Moriah “Mo” Wilson killer busted in Costa Rica

July 5, 2022 / / One comment

So, did I miss anything last week?

Thankfully, my head and stomach finally returned to their standard state late last week, after doing my best to sleep it off all week. 

Now we’re back, with a lot to catch up on.

And no, that fool photo up there refers to the following story, not me. Although the resemblance is uncanny. 

Photo by 1195798 from Pixabay.

………

As a former president famously said, “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…won’t get fooled again.”

Let’s hope we don’t.

It was more than a decade ago when a group of LA bicyclists calling themselves the Bike Writers Collective developed the Cyclists Bill of Rights, calling for common sense entitlements for people who ride bikes.

(Full disclosure, I was briefly a member of the group after this Bill of Rights was written.)

Like the right to “travel safely and free from fear”, the “full support of the judicial system,” and the “right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.”

It made so much sense, it was provisionally adopted by the Los Angeles City Council in 2008.

Which is apparently what they do when they want to make something go away.

The proposal was sent to the city attorney’s office for review, before being routed to various city agencies and council committees, with an ultimate goal of writing it into city code and including it in the upcoming 2010 bike plan.

And that was the last anyone ever heard of it.

Which should serve as fair warning as the city considers preemptively adopting the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal.

This past week, Streets For All submitted over 102,000 signatures in support of the proposal, which would require the city to implement the long-forgotten mobility plan whenever a street mentioned in it is resurfaced.

Assuming enough signatures are validated, it would go before city voters, possibly as early as this fall.

But that’s where it gets interesting.

Because before the public has a chance to vote on it, it will go before the city council, who will have the option of adopting it outright.

If they do, it will immediately become law, and require a vote of the public before it can be modified or repealed.

Meanwhile, the city has also voted to move forward with their own version of the plan, based on the Healthy Streets initiative.

The motion, which passed unanimously — although safe streets opponents Paul Koretz and the recently defeated “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo were absent, along with former mayoral candidate Joe Buscaino — sends it back to the city attorney’s office to draft it into an ordinance.

Sound familiar?

The council will have the option of adopting the Healthy Streets plan, their own plan, or approving both. Or neither., for that matter

According to Streetsblog, Streets For All founder Michael Schneider says the best approach would be for the city to adopt them both.

“There are things in the ordinance, good things, that aren’t in the initiative,” explained Schneider after delivering the signatures earlier today. His advice to the Council? “Adopt ours, and then adopt yours as the implementation mechanism.”

The worst option would be for the city to approve a watered down, toothless version of the ordinance that would allow them to back out of implementing the plan whenever a councilmember decides it would be inconvenient to someone — whether motorists, police or the fire department.

Which could be altered or revoked by future council action at any time.

And which is pretty much what we have right now, resulting in less than 3% of the mobility plan being striped, seven years after it was adopted. And just 13 years before it’s supposed to be completely built-out.

Which means, if the city does adopt a weak-ass version, it will be up to the voters to correct their mistake.

So it’s great that the city is moving forward with their own version of the Healthy Streets LA proposal.

But it’s up to us to stay on top of them, and at the same time, keeping moving forward on the ballot initiative, to ensure we don’t get fooled again.

Or as another former president put it, “Trust, but verify.”

………

While we were gone, Kaitlin Marie Armstrong was busted in Costa Rica, after 43 days on the run for the May killing of top gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas.

The 34-year old fugitive was captured at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas.

Armstrong was reportedly traveling on a borrowed passport under an assumed name. She was returned to the US to face murder charges.

Wilson was repeatedly shot, apparently in a fit of jealousy for the crime of briefly dating Armstrong’s boyfriend, 35-year old cyclist Colin Strickland, and maintaining their friendship.

US Marshalls tracked Armstrong down by following her obsession with yoga classes, despite dying her hair in an effort to hide her identity.

………

The LACBC has taken a stand against the recently passed ordinance criminalizing bike chop shops, urging the mayor to veto it.

………

Enough said.

………

This is how fast a tragedy can happen. And how it can be avoided by a matter of inches, and sheer luck.

https://twitter.com/adamatic521/status/1540765682689658884

………

Women cyclists competing in the road race at the US Road Cycling National Championships took a knee to protest the recent overturning of Roe vs Wade.

………

This is what it looks like when a whole country bikes instead of driving.

https://twitter.com/annaholligan/status/1542205441069010946

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the link. 

………

They get it. A British police department explains why drivers don’t really want people on bikes to ride single file, regardless of what they might think.

………

We haven’t had much success getting Hollywood to #biketheOscars.

Maybe we’re just asking the wrong country.

………

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

No bias here. After six-year old boy was knocked down on a San Diego bike path by a pair of kids on ebikes, a surf website says ebikes are “piloted exclusively by the lazy and selfish and/or young and spoiled, (who) fly down bike paths, sidewalks, anywhere pedestrians amble at full speed cloaked in the gauze of “environmentalism.” Um, sure.

No bias here, either. A chain of UK coffee shops says they don’t serve people on bicycles in their drive-throughs because “they’re not road legal, taxed or insured.” 

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

A 17-year old English boy faces a dangerous driving charge for fleeing the scene after running down an 80-year old pedestrian with his ebike. Yet another reminder to always slow down and ride safely around pedestrians. And stop if you hit someone, dammit. 

Also in the UK, a 29-year old man faces a charge of “wanton or furious driving while being in charge of a bicycle” for killing a 29-year old woman as she was crossing the street.

………

Local

Cars are now officially banned from a roughly one-mile section of Griffith Park Drive in Griffith Park, at least for now. More on that tomorrow.

Once again, bad police training has raised its ugly head, after an LAPD spokesperson tells Spanish speakers it’s illegal to ride a bike on a sidewalk in Los Angeles, even though it’s perfectly legal as long as you respect others on the sidewalk.

A man was in stable condition after he was shot while riding a bicycle in central Long Beach early yesterday morning; police have not identified a suspect or motive.

CicLAvia is back, taking over the streets of South LA this Sunday. Or a street, anyway.

Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation PAC is hosting a another virtual happy hour on July 13th, this time featuring LA County District 1 Supervisor Hilda Solis.

 

State 

Several thousand bike riders turned out for a patriotic bike ride through Huntington Beach, in just the ride’s third year.

A kindhearted Castro Valley man fixes up donated bikes, and gives them to people who can’t afford one.

 

National

He gets it. Former President Barack Obama called on cities to fight sprawl and create “livable density…that allows us to take mass transit and take bicycles.”

Writing for Jalopnik, the co-host of The War on Cars podcast says “ban cars” is an inaccurate and incomplete summary of a complex issue, but he means it anyway.

A writer for Slate calls out Joe Biden’s “misguided” plan to suspend the federal gas tax.

A British man is riding across the US to call attention to testicular cancer, under the hashtag #BikingForBalls. No, really.

The Chicago Police Department has opened an internal investigation after a man claiming to be an off-duty cop was filmed pinning a 14-year old boy to the ground, and accusing him of stealing his son’s bike; the boy’s mother accused the cop of racial bias, saying when the boy simply tried to move it because it was blocking the sidewalk.

Police in the Bronx are looking for a hit-and-run driver in a stolen Jeep who killed a bike rider in a high speed crash, then removed a baby from the back of the Jeep, and made off in another SUV.

The carnage continues on American roads, when a DC driver crashed into a man on a bicycle before slamming into a fireworks stand; both the bike rider and a worker at the stand were killed. The driver apparently lost control due to a medical event.

 

International

Amazon is replacing its London delivery vans with a fleet of mini delivery van-style e-cargo bikes.

A British bicycling website says abuse on the roads keeps many women from riding, who might otherwise take to their bikes. The same story could be written for any American city or state.

Copenhagen’s bicycling chef is combining bikes and cuisine to give customers a ride to remember.

A new German study puts ebikes ahead of electric cars as the most popular and attractive form of electric vehicle.

Horrible news from Kolkata, India, where a 25-year old man was electrocuted when he tried to remove fallen electrical wires that got tangled with his bicycle wheels.

A 57-year old Kiwi man has ridden his bike everywhere for more than 40 years, without ever owning a car.

 

Competitive Cycling

Swiss cyclist Stefan Küng learned the hard way that you’re not supposed to grab another competitor’s helmet, grasping Ruben Guerreiro’s skid lid during Saturday’s stage two of the Tour de France.

Danish rider Magnus Cort was a hero to the hometown crowds during Sunday’s stage three, cementing his hold on the polka dot climber’s jersey with an 81-mile breakaway.

There always seems to be a mass crash during the early stages, and Sunday’s stage three was no exception, with several of the leading contenders losing time they’ll have to make up in the coming weeks.

Dutch pro Annemiek van Vleuten cemented her lead in Italy’s Giro Donne with a win in stage four.

LA-based L39ION of Los Angeles swept the podium for the women’s national crit championship, as Kendall Ryan took a bunch sprint ahead of teammates Skyler Schneider and her own sister, Alexis Ryan; 19-year old Sebastopol CA resident Luke Lamperti successfully defended his title on the men’s side.

Kyle Murphy and Emma Langley won the men’s and women’s road cycling Nats.

Veteran cyclist Alejandro Valverde suffered minor injuries when he and a teammate were struck by a driver while training in Spain on Saturday.

Team Novo Nordisk, the pro team composed entirely of cyclists with type 1 diabetes, is out with a new documentary; you can see it here.

 

Finally…

Chances are, you’ve never ridden a bicycle at 169 mph, with or without a tow. Now you, too, can ride your bike on half a wheel.

And I seriously need this one on my wall.

https://twitter.com/davidguenel/status/1541360691742916608

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Road rage rises on the mean streets of LA, LACBC Bike Month ride, and Streets For All plans June virtual Happy Hour

May 27, 2022 / / 2 comments

No surprise here.

Road rage continues to soar on the mean streets of Los Angeles, with reports up 41.4% over the first four months of the year, compared to last year.

And no, that doesn’t just reflect calmer streets during last year’s pandemic slowdown. It’s also a significant increase over the pre-pandemic good old days of 2019.

It’s more than just a simple disagreement between road users, too. As Crosstown explains,

While the concept of road rage makes some think of a driver who gets cut off and responds by shaking a fist, actual incidents are much more serious. The LAPD defines road rage as when a person commits an assault with a vehicle, or other weapon, due to something that occurs while driving. To be classified as road rage, the encounter must, in police parlance, require “willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others.”

Over two-thirds of road rage cases reported last year involved a gun — more than double the number of cases reported in each of the previous two years. As if a multi-tin motor vehicle isn’t weapon enough.

So be careful out there.

You never know who you’re sharing the road with. Or how they’re armed.

Thanks to Ted Faber for the heads-up.

………

Lionel Mares forwards photos from last Sunday’s LACBC Bike Month ride, where it appears a good time was had by all.

………

Streets For All is hosting another virtual happy hour on June 8th — the day after Election Day — with the vice mayor of Burbank.

And no, that’s doesn’t mean he’s mayor of all the fun stuff.

………

Gravel Bike California offers your guide to riding the rocks at May and Kagel Canyons.

………

If anyone gets me on their gift list this year, this will do nicely.

………

GCN offers advice on how to buy a used bike.

………

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

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A British hit-and-run driver was fined the equivalent of just $526 for a crash that left a bike rider seriously injured, even though he appeared to crash into the victim intentionally.

Police in the UK are looking for three men who got out of a car and beat a man in his 50s after they crashed into his bike.

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

New York police are looking for a masked bike rider who jumped off his bicycle and repeatedly stabbed a man who was walking on the sidewalk; the victim was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

………

Local

The Los Angeles Times got four of the remaining candidates for mayor of Los Angeles on the record for their transportation policies, although Kevin de León is the only candidate with an actual transportation platform; billionaire Rick Caruso apparently had better things to do, saying he wasn’t ready to discuss the subject yet, less than two weeks before Election Day.

E-scooter providers Lime, Lyft and Spin have changed their city-mandated programs for low-income riders, reportedly without informing the public first.

 

State 

A 52-year old San Diego man was sentenced to 11 years behind bars, 34 years after his errant shot killed a passing bike rider in the city’s Encanto neighborhood.

Murrieta kindergartners are learning how to ride a bike as part of the All Kids Bike program, with bikes and helmets courtesy of supercross star Ryan Dungey.

Momentum considers the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s successful efforts to create the city’s first carfree street. Which compares favorably to LA’s none.

If you build it, they don’t always come. A San Francisco website reports the free bike valet at the city’s Chase Center arena, home of the NBA Warriors, is going mostly unused.

No surprise that New York and Los Angeles lead the nation in bicycling deaths; more surprising is that Stockton and Sacramento County both rank in the nation’s top ten for bicycling fatalities.

 

National

CNN offers suggestions on how to store and secure your bike at home.

The sheriff of New Mexico’s Sandoval County is recovering from a broken back and rib after crashing his mountain bike when he tried to ramp over a rock, and slammed into it instead.

A Colorado writer considers the growing animosity between drivers and bike riders, insisting “We all kinda hate each other, and by ‘kinda,’ I mean truly and deeply with a passion.”

Colorado Public Radio relates the origin tale of the Iron Horse Classic, when two brothers decided to race each other, one on a bike and the other at the helm of a classic narrow gauge steam engine; this weekend marks the 50th edition of the road race.

Britain’s Daily Mail — not exactly know for its veracity — reports cyclist Colin Strickland has gone into hiding, evidently worried that his fugitive girlfriend will target him next, after allegedly shooting and killing top gravel cyclist Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson.

The head of Brompton is on a mission to convert New Yorkers to foldies.

A Pennsylvania man is on life support after a man just released from jail knocked him off his bicycle, then beat him with it for two minutes before walking away and leaving his victim for dead.

I want to be like him when I grow up. Fed up with high gas prices, an 85-year old North Carolina man fixed up his bike, and plans to live virtually carfree for the foreseeable future. Even if gas prices there are nearly two bucks cheaper than in Los Angeles.

 

International

A new international database offers nearly 1.6 million geo-located records of bicycle collisions from various cities, states, regions and countries around the world, apparently including Los Angeles, making it easier for researchers to study them.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — an easy four-hour ebike ride from Rome to see the 2,500-year old Appian Way and ancient Roman aqueducts.

Survivors of a British endurance cyclist are suing the organizers of a French bike race for the equivalent of nearly a million dollars after the 36-year old man died of heat stroke during the competition.

Copenhagen will introduce Denmark’s first diagonal bike lane to connect bike lanes through a busy intersection.

WaPo examines Ukrainian fighters turning ebikes made in the country into weapons of war.

Sad news from Myanmar, where the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards Winner was killed in a collision; 42-year old Kyaw Win Hlaing was run down when a quarreling couple in a mini-truck rear-ended his bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

The popular Belgian Waffle Ride offroad race is expanding into Michigan, for what will be the series fifth event, following races in San Diego, Utah, North Carolina and Kansas.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could have a massive DIY omnidirectional front wheel. Your next ebike could be made by Mercedes Formula E car racing team.

And who says you can’t carry trash on a bike?

Thanks to Jon for the link.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Welcome to Bike Week, top LA mayoral candidates support bikes and transit, and women’s gravel racer murdered in Texas

May 16, 2022 / / Comments Off on Welcome to Bike Week, top LA mayoral candidates support bikes and transit, and women’s gravel racer murdered in Texas

Welcome to Bike Week 2022!

Metro is marking Bike Week with a 20% discount on the Metro Shop Bike Collection through the end of the month with coupon code BIKE20 at checkout.

The transit agency is also offering a one-year Bike Hub membership for just $1 on Thursday’s Bike to Work Day with promo code: BIKEMONTH22, as well as free Metro Bike bikeshare rides on Bike to Work Day.

Pro tip: You don’t have to only ride to work just because they’re calling it Bike to Work Day, you can actually ride anywhere for any reason. Or no reason at all.

Metrolink is offering free rides all week if you board with a bicycle.

The LACBC is hosting a 30-mile, family friendly ride this Sunday to reconnect with the LA River, or Paayme Paxaayt as it’s know by the Tongva/Kizh/Gabrielino people who originally inhabited the LA area

UC San Diego wants you to celebrate a healthy, environmentally friendly, cost-saving two-wheeled commute. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

………

It looks like there will be a Los Angeles Ride of Silence on Wednesday, after all.

Wildwolf Cycling Collective forwarded this announcement of the ride to me over the weekend.

CALLING ALL RIDERS! Wednesday May 18th at 7PM we ride in silence in solidarity with riders around the globe for the annual Ride Of Silence.

We will be riding as a community to HONOR those who have been injured or killed on bikes

To RAISE AWARENESS that we are here

To ask that we all SHARE THE ROAD

Please wear white if you can. We will have some sign making materials. Bring your own sign or a light colored or white blank shirt to print on.

The ride will be led out by the Bicicrofono, we ask that everyone respect the 12mph or slower pace and stay behind the bike trailer.

Following the ride there will be a gathering  to connect as a community and release our emotions.

Leaving from 3554 W. First St (corner of 1st and Bimini Pl).

………

A coalition of LA advocacy groups, including the LACBC, LA Walks, CicLAvia, and Streets For All, have gotten most of the candidates for mayor of Los Angeles on the record for their stands on transportation issues.

While it focuses on transit, some of the candidates also staked out a position on bicycling and safe, livable streets.

Of the top candidates, Karen Bass seems to take the strongest stand in favor of bikes and livability.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton and Sahra Sulaiman summed up her responses.

As she had done in previous forums, frontrunner Karen Bass described herself as a bicyclist while also explaining she preferred beach paths over city streets “because we have not created the infrastructure to make biking convenient and safe.” She pledged to transform all major corridors to be “walkable, bikeable, green, and safe,” including expanding dedicated bus lanes, protected bike lanes, and first- and last-mile access to transit. Bass stressed the importance of prioritizing “accessibility for the most vulnerable members of our community” and ensuring that their voices – often not heard during traditional community engagement efforts – were part of the conversation….

And she spoke to the importance of building coalitions to create more dedicated spaces for buses, bicyclists, and pedestrians while also weighing the impacts on local neighbors and businesses – a position that some will read as potentially giving in to NIMBY sentiments but which is likely meant to speak to the way in which wealthier newcomers’ demands for amenities in gentrifying communities, like in her home base in South L.A., often steamroll the long-standing demands, aspirations, needs, and concerns of the stakeholders of color.

Mike Feuer and Kevin de León also called for more protected bike lanes and alternatives to driving.

However, in all likelihood, the race will come down to a contest between Bass and self-financed billionaire Rick Caruso.

While Caruso focused on his call to significantly increase police staffing — although I haven’t hear him explain how he’ll pay for it yet — he also had some good things to say about active transportation and transit.

I believe the potential for Los Angeles to create the same type of walkability and community is untapped and limitless and with the right planning and determination, we can make the city known for sprawl and the automobile, a truly community driven city where owning a car will no longer be a prerequisite for getting around. I also believe that we must elevate biking and transit options to the same level and truly ensure that all forms of transportation are viable, safe, efficient, and accessible…

If we are truly going to get Angelenos out of their cars and onto mass transit and active transportation we have to build a better, more reliable system that touches every inch of this city.

You can download PDFs of all the candidate responses here, including statements by Craig Greiwe, Gina Viola and Mel Wilson, as well as Joe Buscaino, who dropped out of the race last week while throwing his support to Caruso.

………

Heartbreaking news from Austin, Texas, where 25-year old cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson was shot and killed while visiting a friend.

A top gravel and mountain biking specialist, Wilson had flown to Texas to prepare for the Gravel Locos race in Hico, where she was favored to win, according to VeloNews.

She had won a number of races already this year, including San Diego’s recent Belgian Waffle Ride, and had recently quit her job with Specialized to race full time.

The Austin Statesman-American reports she died of multiple gunshot wounds in what police say was not a random act; police have identified a person of interest.

The editors of FloBikes offer a remembrance.

Thanks to Gravel Bike California for the heads-up.

………

This is what the Beach Life Festival looked like in Redondo Beach this past weekend.

And what other LA venues — including, yes, Dodger Stadium — could look like.

………

This one’s just too beautiful to pass up.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1525732716410507268

………

There’s something you won’t see from a car.

………

NFL great Tom Brady is one of us, as he takes a bikeshare tour of New York, while casting a critical eye on scofflaw riders.

………

This is who we share the road with.

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1525896971583733762

………

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

A road raging motorist sucker punched a 60-year old Trinidad, California bike rider after subjecting him to a punishment pass, for the crime of legally riding a bike in the traffic lane.

New York’s bike-hating columnist demands that ebikes be banned from the city, calling them a menace. Just wait until someone tells him about cars.

Good damn question. British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid asks why so many motorists feel persecuted when in reality, they rule the world.

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

At last report, police were responding to a man on a bicycle chasing people with a machete in DTLA. Thanks to Meagan Lynch for forwarding the link.

………

Local

Super Domestic Coffee, a combination bike shop and coffee shop with locations in Los Angeles and Culver City, will open a third location in Venice.

 

State 

California Streetsblog explains why congestion decreases when cities remove traffic lanes — regardless of what Elon Musk says.

San Diego hospital workers report an anecdotal uptick in ebike injuries, with the typical victim being a tourist under the influence.

Police have arrested a pair of men who robbed the Berkeley High School mountain bike team at gunpoint last month. There’s not a pit in hell deep enough.

 

National

A new study shows American cities are drowning in parking, which could probably be put to better use.

Wired has tips on how to join the e-cargo bike boom with your kids.

Electrek suggests the US Postal Service should invest in four-wheeled e-cargo bikes instead of gas-guzzling delivery trucks.

A group of Denver-area men sprang into action when they saw someone trying to steal a bicycle, and ended up detaining a man suspected of stealing over 100 bikes.

Kindhearted Omaha firefighters donated around 100 bikes to kids in need for the 10th consecutive year.

Boston area police conclude an ebike rider simply lost control of his bike, rather than being the victim of a hit-and-run, as originally thought — although it’s clear they haven’t bothered to talk with the victim. Never mind that it’s entirely possible that a driver can cause a crash, without actually hitting someone.

Tragic news from Miami, where a man and woman were killed by a hit-and-run driver on the Rickenbacker Causeway between the city and key Biscayne; witnesses said they were riding a pair of “mom and pop” bikes when they were run down in the green bike lane.

 

International

Cycling Tips says pressure washing your bike may not be the best way to do it, regardless of what Peter Sagan does.

Bikeshare use is plummeting in Cork, Ireland with a drop of over 75% since 2019, even as businesses have reopened post-pandemic. Although it’s likely the pandemic is far from over.

Hundreds of Edinburgh families turned out for the city’s Kidical Mass ride to demand child-friendly bicycling; Swiss families took to the roads to call for kid-friendly roads, too.

No bias here. A Welsh paper says a local town has had to live with chaos, congestion and abuse, with drivers sitting for hours with their heads in their hands — all because it reduced the speed limit to 20 mph. Sure, that’s credible.

What do you do after hosting the British equivalent of the Emmys? Ride your Brompton back home, of course. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

A local website profiles a Ghanian bikemaker who uses wood to craft his frames.

The ghost bike movement has made it to Singapore, with eight all-white bikes to mark the eight people killed on the city-state’s roads last year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sunday’s stage nine of the Giro shook up the standings, as Aussie pro Jai Hindley won a mountaintop sprint to claim the stage, while Simon Yates and Wilco Kelderman rode themselves out of competition; Spain’s Juan Pedro López held onto the pink leader’s jersey by a slim 12-second thread.

It took Hindley 570 days to get back on the podium after finishing second in the 2020 Giro, followed by a year of mental and physical setbacks in 2021.

Former German pro Danilo Hondo got less than a slap on the wrist for his involvement in the Operation Aderlass blood doping ring, with a backdated two and a half year ban that’s already expired, and another five and a half year ban suspended because of his confession and cooperation with authorities. But that means the era of doping is really over now, right?

VeloNews considers how coverage of bike racing can be modernized to make it more engaging, after 50 years of the status quo.

 

Finally…

Vroom, vroom! Your next ebike could be the two-wheeled equivalent of a Shelby Cobra. Sometimes you just have to ride your bike handsfree so you can play your ukulele and harmonica.

And that feeling when you become your own dog’s domestique.

Although sometimes, riding slow can be just as good.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Prison for racist bike lock attack, slap on wrist for hit-and-run coverup, and LACBC Bikes & Botany Ride this weekend

July 9, 2021 / / Comments Off on Prison for racist bike lock attack, slap on wrist for hit-and-run coverup, and LACBC Bikes & Botany Ride this weekend

Once quick note. 

This Saturday, my 73-year old, former Iditarod mushing brother is leaving to ride up through the Tetons and Yellowstone to the Canadian border, then down the Continental Divide Trail to Mexico, and back up to Colorado.

And no, I’m not the least bit jealous. No, really.

Photo by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay.

………

A pair of high-profile legal cases finally came to a conclusion this week, with less than satisfying results in one.

In Michigan, a 43-year old man got a well-deserved five years behind bars for beating a Black teenager with a bike lock.

Lou Mouat confessed to shouting racist slurs while telling the Black teens they weren’t allowed on the public beach in last year’s hate crime.

Meanwhile, the owner of a Virginia landscaping company got off with a caress on the wrist for conspiring to cover up the 2018 fatal hit-and-run committed by one of his employees in a company truck.

Instead of just picking up the damn phone to report what happened after his driver killed a 50-year old man riding home from a group ride, 64-year old Robert Lee Strickland Jr. fired the worker and ordered him to get away. Then he had the truck towed to a bodyshop for repairs, and told workers to say the fired staffer had just hit a deer.

Due to what the DA termed a total lack of remorse, Strickland was sentenced to a year behind bars for his role in the cover up — a stiff penalty under state sentencing guidelines, which call for no more than six months in jail.

But shamefully light given the heinousness of the crime.

………

The LACBC invites you to join their free Bikes and Botany Ride this Sunday, now open to everyone, rather than just LA Rivers Challenge participants, and starting at a top secret location somewhere near Griffith Park.

………

Glendale wants your input on a proposal to build a safe active transportation greenway on along the Verdugo Wash.

And no, that’s not a Glendale laundromat.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1413206014946549763

………

Gravel Bikes California takes a cruise through Gold Country, to visit Yankee Jims & the Auburn State Recreation Area.

………

Pink Bike offers a beginner’s guide to setting up your mountain bike.

………

Your periodic reminder that lowering speed limits remains illegal in California, thanks to the deadly 85th Percentile Law that allows drivers to keep pushing speed limits ever higher.

And for reference, 30 kmh works out to just 18 over mph.

………

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

No bias here. Delaware state police went out of their way to blame the victims after a 70-year old man ran down two girls riding their bikes in a crosswalk, leaving one in critical condition; troopers said the teen girls were supposed to walk their bikes in the crosswalk — which would put them at greater risk while crossing — and said the driver was somehow “unable to avoid them” despite a flashing warning beacon.

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

Authorities in Buffalo, New York are looking for a bike-riding gunman — or gunwoman — who shot two men in an early morning bike-by.

………

Local

The Southern California Association of Governments, aka SCAG, awarded over $275,000 in Go Human mini grants to 31 LA and Orange County area organizations to help improve traffic safety, including Active SGV, Bicycle Kitchen, Los Angeles Walks, LACBC, Santa Ana Active Streets, Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), and Streets For All.

 

State

A 15-year old cancer survivor has completed a 363-mile fundraising ride through all nine of California’s National Parks in 13 days; he’s raised $690 of his modest $1,000 goal for bicycling charities Team California Juniors and VeloYouth.

Rialto is opening a 16-dock, 100-bike e-bikeshare system, using a $1 million state grant.

A mountain biker is in good condition following a difficult rescue off a ledge, after he rode off a cliff in Nevada County, northeast of Sacramento.

The Montana mountain town where a Northern California woman on a bikepacking trip was dragged out of her tent and killed by a grizzly bear is popular with bikepackers riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Which may or may not be the same as the Continental Divide Trail my brother will be riding.

 

National

NBC News picks the six best bikes for kids.

Road Bike Action says you really need to carry a chain breaker with you when you ride.

There is something very wrong with America’s educational system when an Oregon university professor has to ride 1,600 miles to all of the state’s 17 community colleges just to raise funds to buy textbooks.

Breaking Bad fans can add this one to your bike bucket list — a guided bike tour through 12 Albuquerque shooting locations for the Emmy winning show.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 89-year old Michigan man has ridden a total of 35,000 miles over the last ten years.

An Iowa woman has written a new book about her 26-year odyssey to travel every US state by bicycle, along with her husband.

The bike boom shows no sign of letting up in Memphis.

Fast action prevented a horrific crime, after a man snatched a 6-year-old Louisville, Kentucky girl off her bicycle and pulled her into his car; witnesses called 911 with a description of the vehicle, and police were able to arrest the 40-year old driver and rescue the girl within half an hour of the kidnapping.

Apple’s AirTag proves its worth, helping Boston cops recover a man’s stolen bicycle. Note to Gadget Lite: There’s no need to capitalize bicycle or bike in your story.

Momentum Magazine says New York may have hit peak bike boom with projects to add bike lanes to the iconic Brooklyn and Queensboro bridges. Although as we’ve learned from the Netherlands, no matter how bike friendly a city is, there is always room for improvement.

A Philadelphia man has been charged with knocking a Black Lives Matter protestor off his bicycle and beating him as he was on the ground; he was part of group of men armed with hatchets, baseball bats and golf clubs who confronted protestors in the city’s Fishtown neighborhood.

The wheels of justice grind slowly in North Carolina, but at least the results are worth it, as a 27-year old woman will spend up to six years and four months behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that took the life of a bike-riding man four years ago.

 

International

Eight thousand women and girls around the world stand to get new bicycles, after June’s Women on Wheels fundraiser collected a whopping $1 million for World Bicycle Relief.

An 83-year old British man is remembered for his record-setting achievements; Chris Davies held the record for riding 916,791 miles on his bike, the greatest distance ever officially recorded at the time. Davies passed away this week at 83-years old.

Chiang Mai, Thailand has been crowned the world’s best city for a ‘’beautiful bike ride’’ in a recent report from a British bicycle insurance company.

 

Competitive Cycling

VeloNews profiles Austrian cyclist Michael Gogl, who swapped his cello for a bike, and now sits in fourth place in the Tour de France.

An inflamed knee has forced Peter Sagan out of the the Tour, eliminating a key competitor in Mark Cavendish’s quest to match Eddy Merckx’s record for most stage wins.

Cycling Weekly talks with British cycling fans lining the memorial to fallen British cyclist Tom Simpson on Wednesday’s climb up Mount Ventoux, where Simpson collapsed during the ’67 Tour.

The high altitude Crusher in the Tushar gravel bike race returns to Beaver, Utah tomorrow.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could use levers and pulleys instead of a chain, to move four times more efficiently. Your next bike could be a Lotus — yes, that Lotus.

And let’s hope this isn’t the most epic folding ebike video ever.

Even if it is.

 

………

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

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee
%d bloggers like this: