Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Disinformation campaign opposes Better Overland project, and Florida adults rough up kid for pulling ebike wheelies

April 7, 2026 / / No comments

She gets it.

A writer for Culver City Crossroads complains about a lawn sign campaign to “Save Overland” from the Better Overland Complete Streets project.

She argues that the opposition campaign is “both amazing and shocking. Also, laughable.”

The slogans on these signs are not just false, they are complete reversals of truth. That is organized disinformation.

So, first of all, there is no plan to remove all the parking from Overland Ave. Making this the top slogan shows that the people leading this campaign are consciously using a bait-and-switch approach to getting your attention.

She goes on to make the case that the project has been thoroughly vetted, and if people didn’t know about it, it’s only because they weren’t paying attention.

Actual, verifiable facts: The Better Overland project has been in process since May of 2024, and has been approved twice by the Culver City Council. Twice.

City staff held eight public meetings for the community, in addition to multiple private meetings with smaller organizations that were stakeholders in the process.

There were QR codes posted along the entire length of Overland Avenue so that everyone using the street could post their thoughts and ideas regarding Overland directly to the project portal. They received more than a thousand public comments, the vast majority in favor of the project.

It’s typical whenever a project like this goes in that some people will somehow insist there wasn’t enough public outreach, no matter how many times they were given an opportunity to provide their input.

Or that they were never informed, despite repeated efforts to do just that.

That was what happened in Playa del Rey, when opponents said they were never informed about the road diets to Vista del Mar, Pershing Drive and Manchester Ave, or given a chance to voice their objections.

Even though the project was designed by local residents, part of a multi-year public process that included several meetings at a local school, as well as outreach efforts to contact local residents.

So if anyone didn’t know about it, it was because they had their heads firmly buried in the sand at Dockweiler Beach.

Never mind that any increased congestion usually goes away as motorists find other routes, or other ways to get around, like walking or riding a bicycle.

Then there’s the ultimate trump card for the driving public, which seems to be in play with Better Overland, that officials are coming for your parking spaces.

Even though most homes have driveways, and the curb space along the street belongs to the city, not local homeowners. And any actual loss of parking is usually mitigated nearby.

It’s inevitable that no matter what a city does to prepare residents for road changes, some people will always complain. It’s human nature to resist change.

But as former New York DOT director Janette Sadik-Khan put it, people always fight to prevent changes. Then once they get used to it, they’ll fight to keep it.

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A group of at least five adults are being investigated for allegedly roughing up a kid in Palm Beach, Florida who was doing wheelies on his ebike, while a woman heckled the boy from the sidelines.

They are also accused of stealing the boy’s phone, which contained video of the altercation.

No matter what the boy was doing, or what kind of ebike he was riding, they had no right to put hands on him or take his property.

If he was actually causing a problem, call the cops. That’s what they get paid for.

@sab.trader445

Crazy, who do you thinks at fault? – #fyp #viral #ebikekid #karen #xyzcba

♬ original sound – CrazyClips

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Streets For All is endorsing CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles, calling her the change agent the city needs.

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LADOT is looking for input on creating a low-stress bikeway along Marmion Way and Monte Vista Street, rather than implementing the road diet long planned for the deadly, high-speed North Figueroa corridor.

The Complete Streets project was killed by former Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who was for it before he was against it. Cedillo conducted a series of sham public meetings, which ostensibly gauge public opinion, while blocking comments from those in favor of the project.

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

Sad news from Tulare County, where the CHP was quick to blame the victim when someone riding a bicycle was killed after allegedly veering left in front of an SUV driver — which a local paper TV station reported by saying “it” veered in front of the SUV. Talk about a great job of dehumanizing someone. Never mind that what actually happened depends entirely on whether there were any independent witnesses, or if the CHP relied entirely on the driver’s perspective. 

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

Schmuck. A British bike rider is justifiable criticized after posting video of himself telling a pedestrian to “use a bit of fucking common sense” when the man steps out in front of him as the bike rider ran the red light. Seriously, don’t do that. 

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Local 

No significant action yet on Joe Linton’s lawsuit to force Metro to comply with Measure HLA by installing bike lanes on the Vermont Avenue project, after the first day in court last week.

 

State

Sad news from San Jose, where a man was killed trying to put out an ebike battery fire in his apartment; a woman was able to escape without serious injury. A tragic reminder to only use UL or European certified lithium-ion batteries, as well as a battery that’s made for your bike.

That’s more like it. Santa Rosa is installing 120 new U-shaped bike racks in key locations along the city’s bicycle network.

 

National

Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program to help pay for more than 6,000 ebikes over the next three years. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has invested exactly $0 in ebike rebates to help improve traffic congestion and air quality by getting cars off the road.

Washington State is rolling out another round of ebike rebates up to $1200 for a Class 1, 2 or 3 bike, with recipients chosen by lottery. That compares favorably to California’s ebike rebate program, which now only pays for electric cars after the funding was stolen by the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

You’ve got to be kidding. A 52-year old Arizona man died in police custody after he was repeatedly struck and tased by cops for fleeing a traffic stop — because he didn’t have a damn headlight on his bicycle.

A Las Vegas writer says you can easily bike to any of the city’s three major sports arenas in ten minutes or less from the Las Vega Strip, with bike parking available at each site.

A Wyoming group is opposing a bike trail over fears it would cut off a vital migration route for a mule deer herd, even though supporters says it would be on the opposite side of a lake and wouldn’t affect the herd.

A writer for Cycling West recounts her experiences exploring the bikeways of the Grand Tetons National Park, easily among the most beautiful spots in the US.

A pair of sisters in their 60s are riding more than 2,000 miles from Miami to Cape Cod along the East Coast Greenway to raise climate awareness.

Hats off to a group of Fort Meyers, Florida nonprofits, who provided eight adaptive bicycles to local kids with disabilities.

 

International

Momentum offers 20 reasons why the Netherlands is a bicyclist’s paradise, as if we needed any convincing; the magazine also shares six lessor-known bike-friendly cities around the world. None of which is Los Angeles. Or even on the West Coast. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 72-year old Indian man is joining six other men to ride more than 2,200 miles across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Prices for Chinese ebikes are going up, as the price of raw materials goes up and the country reduces trade-in incentives.

A 33-year old Australian man faces culpable homicide and DUI charges after a woman was killed in a skitching incident last year, when she lost her grip on the man’s SUV and fell into the car’s path.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar could etch his name in history as just the fourth cyclist to win all five Monuments, including the great Eddy Merckx; Pog has already won Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and Il Lombardia, and only needs a win at Paris-Roubaix to complete the cycle.

The 40th edition of the Redlands Bicycle Classic kicks off tomorrow with a time trial at Lake Perris.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the bike and belongings of Polish endurance cyclist Justyna Jarczok, which she described as everything she owns, including her house keys, when she stopped at a gas station after winning one of the UK’s toughest bikepacking events; her belongings were found at a local park, but her rare Kona mountain bike is still missing.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you somehow find humor in the idea of running someone down with an SUV.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Drunk driver plows into Lao New Year celebration injuring 15, and Moriah “Mo” Wilson murder comes to Netflix doc

April 6, 2026 / / No comments

So much for that.

Despite taking Friday’s post off, I still don’t have my taxes done.

I got up early Friday and got straight to work on them, only to run into a software problem that required nearly an hour trying to get past the company’s uncomprehending AI-based help line to actually speak to a human, who solved the problem in about five minutes. 

Which left me wanting to punch the first robot I saw rolling down the sidewalk. 

As a result, I didn’t actually get started on my taxes until Friday night, when I ran into a question with my wife’s forms that couldn’t be answered until the office in question opened Monday morning. 

Good times. 

And in my tax-driven stress Thursday night, I forgot to wish a happy Easter to all those who marked the day yesterday, so please accept my best wishes and apologies a day late. 

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This is who we share the road with.

Fifteen people were injured, several seriously, when an alleged drunk driver plowed into a Loa New Year parade just outside of Broussard, Louisiana.

According to The Independent, 

Todd Landry, 57, of Jeanerette, faces 18 counts of first-degree negligent injuring, driving while impaired and careless operation of a vehicle, among other charges, police said. Police do not believe the incident was an intentional act based on a preliminary investigation, officials said.

That’s good to know.

So it was just plain old-fashioned intoxication and stupidity, not terrorism. Which somehow doesn’t seem to make it better.

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Time Magazine looks at the new Netflix doc The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson, which premiered last week.

The movie tells the story of Kaitlin Armstrong’s 2022 murder of rising gravel pro Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas, as well as Armstrong’s escape from custody to flee the country and avoid prosecution.

Armstrong was convicted a year later, after she was caught living in Costa Rica with a new face and identity.

Former gravel champ Colin Strickland says he walked away from bike riding after Armstrong, his former girlfriend, murdered Wilson in a fit of jealousy.

He says now he just works alone in his repair garage, and regrets everything he’s ever done, wishing he’d never started racing so he would have never met Armstrong or Wilson, and she’d still be alive today.

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If anyone wants to get me an Easter/Passover gift, I’m registered here.

🎨Veronika Pozdnyakova

— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2026-04-04T18:42:20.264Z

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

No bias here. Denver blocked a key bike lane leading through downtown and to the city’s Major League stadium for opening day, while allowing drivers full use of the street. Because evidently, no one would want to bike to the stadium in the bicycling city, while they could ride in their big, dangerous machines, instead.

A 46-year old Colorado man is finally in custody, nearly a year after he used his car as a weapon to run down and seriously a man he knew while the other man was riding his bicycle; he was tracked down with the help of the FBI.

Seriously? British tabloids have yet another of their stupid “who’s at fault” debates after a truck driver passes a “cycling vigilante” way too close, claiming it’s the bicyclist’s fault because he wasn’t in the bike lane. Even though close passing laws are the same, no matter where you are on the roadway or why.

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

One juvenile is under arrest after around 200 kids riding bicycles and ebikes knocked a motorcyclist off his bike at a red light, then swarmed him and began kicking and punching him as a lay on the ground, for no apparent reason.

There’s a special place in hell for the rock-throwing bike rider who paused his ride to bust into an East Sacramento karate dojo and steal a priceless 17th-century wakizashi samurai sword that has been in the same family for over 400 years.

A 53-year-old Key West man was arrested on DUI and drug charges after he plowed his ebike into someone riding an adult tricycle; fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

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Local 

Protected bike lanes are coming to a 1.2-mile stretch of Spring and Alameda in Chinatown.

West Hollywood will consider installing secure bike lockers at city facilities.

The Santa Monica Daily Press looks forward to the new West LA CicLAvia later this month.

 

State

A bill in the state Assembly, AB 1976, would cut the red tape preventing transformational bike and pedestrian projects, impacting everything from pedestrian malls and neighborhood greenways to safe routes to schools projects.

San Diego is cracking down on ebike “speed demons” on the city’s oceanfront boardwalks during spring break.

Good news from Ventura, where a 14-year old girl is recovering from the rattlesnake bite she got while mountain biking in Newbury Park two weeks ago; she was bitten after falling off her bicycle into some bushes.

That’s more like it. Over 100 people turned out for an organized rideout in Hayward on Saturday, to “create a safe and respectful place to carry on the tradition of what’s dubbed ‘bike life,’” and deter violence in the bicycle community.

 

National

People are pointing fingers back and forth after a Eugene, Oregon coalition devoted to sustainable transportation and better infrastructure for bike riders and pedestrians fell apart.

More than 50 years ago, over 1,200 Portland, Oregon bike riders turned out to demand carfree spaces for their bikes.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $50,000 for a Golden, Colorado woman who remains in critical condition in an induced coma, over ten days after she was struck by a drunk driver who blew through a red light while she riding her bicycle.

Nice gesture from the Corpus Christy, Texas bike community, which came together for a memorial ride to honor a local man best known as “Mr. Pointy Boots,” after he died of stage 4 prostate cancer.

Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Project Dudeman encourages men to show up as they are and ride bikes, to combat the stigma associated with mental health.

Even El Paso, Texas is putting Los Angeles to shame, installing over 1,000 miles of new cycling facilities over the last decade.

A Chicago bike rider was killed and two other people injured when an SUV driver blew through a red light and plowed through an intersection at 1:30 am Sunday, slamming into the bicyclist before continuing on to hit a car; the driver then abandoned his vehicle and literally ran away.

A Rochester, New York nonprofit gave away over 500 free bikes to local children in their 5th annual Easter giveaway.

Charlottesville, Virginia will release another 36 vouchers in the city’s ebike rebate program. That compares favorably to Los Angeles, which doesn’t have one, and California, which just gave up and gave the money to electric car buyers. 

A 62-year old woman was killed riding her bike in New Orleans Sunday morning, in a tragic reminder to never trust other drivers to stop when someone stops to let you cross a street; the victim waited for traffic to clear, and started across when a driver in the right lane stopped for her, but an oncoming driver in the left lane didn’t.

 

International

Cubans rode their bikes to protest Trump’s embargo of the island, which has led to frequent nationwide blackouts.

London plans to provide two new east-west bike routes, after riders are banned from Oxford Street once it becomes pedestrianized. Hard to imagine a carfree Oxford Street, which was one of the busiest car sewers I’ve ever seen, second only to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. 

England’s Lizzie Hermolle became the fastest woman to Everest offroad, shattering the old record even though a dog ate the donuts she was counting on for energy.

A British cardiologist and five-time Masters track champ explains the risks and benefits of bicycling as you mature, saying there’s no reason you can’t start or continue riding, but check with your doctor first.

British tabloids are up in arms over “the country’s most expensive bike lane,” which is costing the equivalent of nearly $6.6 million for less than a mile, while claiming it’s the locals who are angry and insist no one will use it. But just wait until someone tells them what it costs to build a mile of highway.

No bias here. A man in the UK received a warning from the police about his “dangerous” bicycling, after submitting helmet cam video of drivers illegally using their phones behind the wheel.

Bike riders in Dublin, Ireland will be allowed to turn left on a red light — the Irish equivalent of a right on red — but only at one specific intersection as part of a trial program.

The Guardian explains how former Paris Mayor Anne Hildago was responsible for “planting 155,000 trees, adding several hundred kilometers of bike lanes, pedestrianizing 300 school streets and banning cars from the banks of the Seine,” but not without significant resistance. Fortunately, newly elected Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire is committed to continuing her work.

A South African website says a woman from Norway bicycled to South Africa in a series of TikTok videos. Although she probably did it in real life, too.

I want to be like him when I grow up. After Chinese man lost his entire family over a period of two years in his 60s, he started bicycling, spending the next three decades criss-crossing the country, eventually switching to a tricycle as he continues riding at 90 years old. I mean, not about the bad stuff, but still.

 

Competitive Cycling

Heartbreaking story from Trinidad and Tobago, where the wife of cyclist Colin Wilson watched as he was killed during an Easter Sunday race, slashing his neck on the fence lining the course while trying to avoid a fallen cyclist.

Race winner race winner Tadej Pogačar could be in deep doo-doo with Belgian authorities after he ran a red light at a railroad crossing, along with another 20 or so riders, in violation of race rules as a train was bearing down on them.

Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering won the women’s race, without apparently violating any choo-choo rules, while the legendary Marianne Vos had to drop out after the death of her father.

Two Colorado bike races were named among the top ten in the US by USA Today, including the iconic Tour of the Moon featured in American Flyers, staring some guy named Kevin Costner; the Hotter’N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls, Texas topped the list.

Canadian Cycling Magazine helps former cyclist Gord Fraser reunite with his 1986 Bertrand racing bike, when someone emailed the magazine to say they had it after Fraser wrote that he regretted selling it.

 

Finally…

Presenting the weird, wacky and wonderful world of bicycles; thanks to Steven for the heads-up. That feeling when an iconic beachfront bike path started life as a fortified WWII military installation.

And the winner for greater LA’s worst intersection is….

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Streets For All legislative agenda speeds safer streets and redefines high-powered e-motos, and April Fools in the bike world

April 2, 2026 / / No comments

Chag Pesach Sameach!

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Streets For All introduced its legislative package for the 2026 session, sponsoring ten bills while requesting a $200 million annual addition to California’s Active Transportation Program.

Among their sponsored bills,

AB 1740 (Zbur)  makes it easier to build bike lanes, bus improvements, infill housing, and other multimodal projects in urban coastal communities. Right now, even straightforward street safety projects can get bogged down in the coastal permitting process. This bill would let qualifying urban communities move more quickly on projects that improve safety and reduce emissions, while still preserving coastal access and protections.

AB 1837 (Mark González) extends transit lane and bus stop camera enforcement and makes that authority permanent statewide. Illegal parking in bus lanes and at bus stops slows buses, creates unsafe boarding conditions, and makes transit less reliable. This bill would help keep transit moving and make bus service faster and safer for riders.

AB 1976 (Wicks), the Safe Streets Streamlining Act, tackles the process barriers that delay or kill good street safety projects. It changes local input requirements, ends unreasonable petition requirements for traffic calming, updates the pedestrian mall law, and creates a clearer path for cities to actually deliver the bike, pedestrian, and transit projects they have already said they want. California cannot keep saying yes to safe streets in theory while allowing them to be endlessly blocked in practice.

SB 1167 (Blakespear) cracks down on high-powered “e-motos” being sold as e-bikes. It tightens definitions, changes labeling rules, and requires sellers to clearly disclose when a device is actually a motor vehicle and not a legal e-bike. Real e-bikes are an important transportation tool. But that only works if the category remains clear and trustworthy.

AB 2015 (Wicks) helps cities keep slow streets actually slow by stopping navigation apps from routing cut-through traffic onto neighborhood streets that have been intentionally designed for local access, walking, and biking. If a city has decided that a street should function as a calm neighborhood street, app-based routing should not undermine that decision.

AB 1599 (Ahrens) creates a centralized California Transit Stop Registry. Transit stop data is often fragmented, inconsistent, and confusing across agencies. A statewide registry would make transit data more accurate and useful, improve coordination, and help create a better rider experience. The bill will also help us get more data on what amenities are at transit stops.


SB 1292 (Richardson) gives cities stronger curb management tools to enforce parking violations in places like loading zones, bike lanes, and crosswalks. Curb space matters, and mismanaged curb space creates safety problems, transit delays, and chaos on the street. This bill gives local governments more tools to manage that space better.

AB 2284 (Dixon) requires CHP to publish a list of devices that are being marketed as e-bikes but are not actually legal e-bikes. That kind of transparency would help consumers, schools, local governments, and law enforcement better understand what devices comply with California law and which ones do not.

AB 1833 (McKinnor), the Consumer Driving Data Protection Act of 2026,allows drivers to voluntarily opt into insurance telematics systems, with privacy protections, to better align insurance rates with actual driving behavior. This bill is about allowing safer driving to be reflected more fairly, while preserving strong guardrails around consent, data use, and consumer protection.

SB 1423 (Stern) would steer half of one of California’s biggest transportation funding sources toward projects that actually make streets safer. The bill would dedicate half of STIP funds, one of the state’s largest transportation pots of money, to projects that improve safety for people walking, biking, and taking transit. It would also simplify the application process for the state’s top safe streets grant program and elevate its identity as California’s flagship source of funding for street safety.

Budget Ask: A $200 million annual addition to the Active Transportation Program (ATP), which is our state’s premier pot of street safety funding. Last year, ATP only funded about 30 of the 350 projects that applied.

They’ll host a webinar to discuss their support for the bills on Thursday, April 16th at high noon.

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Pink Bike highlights the best April Fools gags from around the bike industry.

Meanwhile, Road.cc wrote that BP — the former British Petroleum — is encouraging drivers to deal with rising gas prices by skipping the pump and riding a bike instead. Which actually had me fooled at first. 

Strava joined in with a gag about opening a dating platform. Although that might not be the worst idea. 

Then there was the electrolyte gravy, a fish tank bike saddle and skinsuits that come pre-crashed so you don’t have to worry about messing them up.

On the other hand, an Aussie writer says paying people to ride a bike is no joke, despite what an April Fools gag said.

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

An op-ed from the executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association decries demands from the Trump administration for the National Park Service to rip out a popular bike lane that has cut injuries by 91%; meanwhile, Bloomberg’s CityLab considers why Trump’s war on DC streets matters, as the administration exerts control over the city while sidelining its residents.

No bias here. A San Diego letter writer says if you really want to help kids, skip the bike lanes and use the money for libraries, instead. Which sets up a false dichotomy between libraries, which should get better funding, and bike lanes, which improve safety for everyone on the streets, not just kids. Although you’ll have to find a way around the paper’s paywall to read it. 

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

Great use of police resources. The Macomb, Georgia Police Department put their new drone to use in less than 24 hours by capturing a 14-year old kid speeding on his ebike. Next they’ll use it to bring in other dangerous desperados, like maybe a bunch of littering nuns. 

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Local 

The LA Times examines how to stay safe on an ebike, starting with knowing the difference between a ped-assist bicycle and an electric motorbike.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes an in-person look at new protected bike lanes going in on Colorado and Broadway in Santa Monica, and Washington and Adams in Culver City.

 

State

Orange County’s Newport-Mesa Unified School District is considering a proposal to ban all ebikes for elementary and middle school students, and allow only Class 1 ebikes for high school students with parental consent.

San Francisco’s transportation department is working on plans for hardened daylighting, installing barriers like bike racks or bollards to keep drivers from speeding around the corners newly opened by California’s daylighting requirement.

Longtime Michelin starred San Francisco chef Roland Passot is one of us, balancing work with his passion for road cycling.

 

National

A prolific Portland burglar will spend the next five years and five months behind bars, after he was convicted for stealing over 30 bicycles and ebikes over a three-year crime spree.

A Eugene, Washington program is teaching residents of homeless shelters how to become bicycle mechanics.

Bodycam video is raising questions about a Texas cop’s takedown of a 16-year old kid, who make the simple mistake of trying to call his dad when the cop stopped a group of teens for rolling a stop sign; after taking the kid down, the cop then seized and searched the boy’s phone without a warrant.

A Providence, Rhode Island event demonstrates Intelligent Speed Assist, which could be authorized to rein in chronic speeding and reckless drivers under a bill in the California legislature, as well.

Life is cheap in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a driver faces just a misdemeanor charge for killing an eight-year old girl riding a bicycle, even though he was driving with a revoked license and an unregistered vehicle — and even though witnesses said he revved his engine and sped up just before the crash.

 

International

A British bike rider is suing three police departments for the equivalent of $6.35 million, alleging they covered it up when a driver knocked him off his bike; the cops said he just fell off his bike, even though a witness said she saw the driver clip him. Which sounds a lot like when I was run down by a road-raging driver, and the LAPD concluded I somehow defied the laws of physics by falling to the left while making a right turn, but it never occurred to me to sue them. 

Bicycling Australia says that country is seeing a renewed interest in bicycling as a result of the fuel crisis caused by the war in Iran, but no full blown bike boom — yet.

Velo considers why bicycling in Taipei feels safer than riding in Portland (scroll down).

China’s longtime bikemaker Flying Pigeon is shedding its traditional image as a self-destructing bicycle-shaped object, and using combination of flexible sensors, artificial intelligence algorithms and the internet of things to redefine the bikes from a simple form of transport into an “intelligent health management terminal.” Unless China Daily is pulling an April Fool’s joke, in which case they got me.

 

Competitive Cycling

Filippo Ganna overcame a snapped handlebar and late bike change to win Dwars door Vlaanderen, while Swiss cyclist Marlen Reusser shocked herself by winning the women’s edition.

The Athletic looks, not at the pros taking part, but the Belgian super fans on the sidelines of De Ronde van Vlaanderen, aka the Tour of Flanders.

A 17-year British amateur, part of the country’s development team, was left brokenhearted when an insurance company refused to pay for three stolen Pinarello Dogma bikes worth a total of $20,000 because the thieves weren’t violent enough, and just walked away with the bikes instead of breaking in or causing major damage.

Austria’s eight-time national junior was lucky to walk away with a broken arm and a shattered bicycle when he was cut off by a driver on a training ride, and slammed into the back of the driver’s car.

 

Finally…

Playing bike polo, aka riding a bicycle with a big wooden hammer in your hand. And that feeling when your bike-on-bike collision is memorialized for the masses on Google Street View.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Nothing like bad bike news to bring out the worst in people, bicycling makes your brain ripple, and add iron to make your bike go

April 1, 2026 / / No comments

He gets it.

A writer for Road.cc lives in rural Warwickshire, England, just outside of Stratford-upon-Avon, which he calls a beautiful part of the world.

One that he says is repeatedly voted as one of the best places to live, as well as a great place to ride a bike.

The cycling here is also amazing. You can find miles of quiet country roads, there’s plenty of mountain biking trails around, and there’s even a disused railway nearby where hundreds of children learn to ride every week.

But it only took the death of someone riding a bicycle to “reveal how sickeningly awful some people in your local community can be.”

Regardless of circumstances and fault, the overwhelming feeling I have is of sadness and loss – somebody lost their life while out on their bike. There is never a reasonable explanation for this, it’s always a tragedy.

However, when I look at the local Facebook group, you wouldn’t think somebody had died, because on posts about it people are instead focused on the person being a cyclist, so it was probably their fault…

It shows how publications like the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and the Telegraph have done their job. Cyclists are dehumanised, and the people in my community demonstrate this better than any study or focus group ever could. If you’re killed on a bike, you deserve it.

Looking at the comments section, there are 19 direct comments at the time of writing. 15 of them are the standard bingo card comments about cyclists’ behaviour with no sympathy for somebody being killed. It’s sickening.

It’s a phenomenon I’ve encountered hundreds of times in writing this site, as has anyone else who has dared venture into the comment section following a news story that even mentions someone on a bicycle. Or who has had the temerity to venture into social media.

If the victim of a crash was on a bicycle, it had to be their fault, because the commenter once saw someone run a stop sign or a red light. Or maybe it’s everyone on two wheels, because none of us ever obey the law.

It’s an automatic case of collective guilt, painting us with the same broad brush used to disparage any group somehow considered “other.”

Even when it comes to people who simply disagree about some simple civic or political matter.

I’ve had my stomach turned by what I’ve seen, heard and read so many times it feels like a washing machine on spin cycle, discovering once again just how truly awful people can be.

Just as it has when I’ve heard hateful comments from people who seemed decent enough until they opened their mouths, apparently assuming that their distasteful opinion is so obvious everyone must share it.

Too often I’ve just kept my mouth shut and turned away to avoid an ugly fight.

I wish I had an answer, some sort of magical solution that would show them just how wrong they are, and shame them for their lack of compassion.

But that seldom seems to work in the real world.

And almost never in the virtual one.

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Bicycling makes your brain grow.

And ripple, apparently.

A new study published in the journal Brain Communications builds on a Chinese study release last year that showed even brief periods of bicycling can cause growth in the hippocampus.

The research, recently published in Brain Communications, was conducted on a much smaller test group, but the people involved all had a specific disorder, drug-resistant epilepsy, that the scientists were examining when they made their discovery.

So go out and ride hard.

And maybe someday you, too, can pass a whole bunch of cognitive tests just like our president.

………

Staying on the subject of health, a medical specialist in iron deficiency and anemia suggests that an iron deficiency could affect your performance long before you actually develop anemia.

So stop by your neighborhood bar and toss back a few rusty nails every now and then.

It’s for your health, after all.

………

Local 

Santa Monica is building a new curb-protected bike lane on Colorado Ave.

 

State

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton says the recent road rage incident in Newport Beach demonstrates the limits of painted bike lanes.

Irvine-based Rivian makes the obvious transition from electric truck builder to ebike maker to autonomous DoorDash delivery bot.

 

National

Surprisingly, the US Department of Transportation is making $1 billion available through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, despite recent government cutbacks in active transportation funding.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive ebike from a Las Vegas teenager with cystic fibrosis.

The traffic “expert” for a Denver TV station just can’t seem to figure out what the lines marking buffered bike lane are for — especially since he didn’t see anyone using it at the exact time he happened to be watching.

 

International

Cyclist looks at the year’s best insulated bicycling water bottles.

Bike Radar says anti-lock brakes could revolutionize mountain biking, even if they’re not quite ready for mass consumption.

It’s time to don your best tweed and hie thee to Saville Row for London’s most stylish bike ride.

A British bikeshare company is being investigated for false advertising for claiming to give you ten minutes free — but only after you pay to unlock their bikes.

A writer for Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website examines how to make bikeshare even better, starting with connected, physically separated bike lanes and more stations in under-served areas.

A 72-year old man was killed when he hit a low tree branch over an Australian bike path, even though officials had been warned about it a week earlier.

 

Competitive Cycling

IDL Pro Cycling says British cyclist Lorena Wiebes can still be beaten, despite achieving “Pogačar-like status in the women’s peloton.”

 

Finally…

If you left your bike on a US military base, get it from the MPs. Who needs a living room when you can have a fully equipped bike workshop?

And now you, too, can have your very own Cookie Monster bike. As long as you don’t need a seat, or pedals or anything.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

West LA CicLAvia coming next month, LA speed cams and photo bike lane ticketing, and new helmet may be safest ever

March 31, 2026 / / No comments

Happy César Ch…uh, Farmworkers Day, to all who celebrate. 

And Erev Tov!

………

The next CicLAvia will roll just three miles from Westwood to West Los Angeles, along Westwood and Santa Monica Blvds on Sunday, April 26th.

The ride will offer an opportunity to consider long-gestating plans to build protected bike lanes on Westwood between Westwood Village and the E Line; an earlier proposal for painted bike lanes was killed by former CD 5 Councilmember Paul Koretz because he felt like it to satisfy wealthy homeowners.

………

Los Angeles is finally getting around to installing the speed cams authorized by a 2023 law.

The legislature, in a typical compromise to avoid passing any major traffic safety legislation, approved a pilot program allowing speed cams in six cities, three in Northern California and three in Southern California.

Streetsblog reports San Francisco and Oakland already have their speed camera programs up and running, while Long Beach and Glendale have finalized locations and approved vendor contracts; San Jose is the other NorCal city included in the program.

The law was later amended to allow a handful of desperately needed speed cams on PCH in Malibu, as well.

The six-city pilot program was a compromise to get a bill that would have legalized them statewide out of committee.

According to Streetsblog, Los Angeles was the last city to move forward with its program, as usual for the notoriously risk-averse and driver-shy city. But the city finally finalized the speed cam locations last week, and will send the contract out to bid with a goal of getting them installed and working by the end of the year.

Yay, us.

In other long overdue news, Streetsblog adds that Los Angeles is trying to work out the details on a program to use cameras to ticket drivers parked in bike lanes.

Here’s a thought.

Let the people who actually use the bike lanes enforce the law by submitting their own photos and videos of drivers blocking bike lanes, and just send the owners a ticket, already.

………

The new Si road bike helmet from Vancouver, BC’s PIKIO LABS has been rated as the safest bike helmet ever tested by the Virginia Tech Testing Lab.

The helmet scored a 4.61, more than two points better than the next highest rated helmet.

It’s based on the company’s proprietary OBLIK impact management system, designed to reduce both linear and rotational forces; the nearly 20-year old MIPS system only reduces rotational forces.

………

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

Someone may or may not have tried to sabotage an Iowa bike path, after the bomb squad destroyed a suspicious device packed with nails and explosive materials left in a backpack along the trail.

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

This is what it looks like when a hundred or so kids on bicycles and ebikes attempt to enter a San Francisco freeway the wrong way, even if the CHP can’t seem to hold the damn camera steady or even make a decent edit.

………

Local 

A new pocket park and recreation center called the Slauson Connect project will rise on a narrow strip of land along the north side of Slauson Ave between Budlong and Normandie Avenues next to the new Rail to Rail shared use path.

 

State

Two separate HIV/AIDS fundraising rides will replace the late, great AIDS/Lifecycle ride, with a three-day ride from San Francisco to Guerneville and back benefitting a Bay Area nonprofit, while the three-day Center Ride Out will take bicyclists from Los Angeles to San Diego, to benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Santee is the latest California city to crackdown on ebikes, without apparently distinguishing between e-motos and non-street legal dirt bikes, and Class 1, 2 & 3 ped-assist ebikes.

A recent University of Arizona grad from Humboldt is setting off with his dad on a 9,600-mile ride to visit all 30 major league ballparks. Although if they really wanted a challenge, they should try riding to all 120 minor league parks in the US alone. 

 

National

A new bi-partisan bill in Congress would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to define and regulate ebikes and other electric micromobility devices at the national, rather than state, level. Although whether there’s anything left of the CPSC after Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts remains to be seen. 

Outside recommends the year’s best mountain bikes as chosen by the pros at Pinkbike. And they might actually be this time, for a change. 

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the co-founder of the Bellingham, Washington edition of the World Naked Bike Ride after he was busted on kiddie porn charges; he claimed he was doing research for a children’s book about a child who runs around naked — even though his book was published six years ago.

Alaska’s Lael Wilcox will attempt to beat her own 108-day women’s world record for riding around said planet, attempting to shave 30 days off her previous time for the 18,000 mile ride to beat the outright record of 78 days, 14 hours; she’ll set off from Chicago on June 7th.

Now drivers aren’t even waiting for bicycles to leave the shop before running them down, as a Colorado driver somehow plows in and through an Aurora bike shop.

 

International

An Oxford, England traffic cam installed to catch drivers making illegal left turns — the equivalent of a right over here — has generated the equivalent of nearly $800,000 at one of the most dangerous sites for bicyclists in the UK, which see around 12,000 daily bike trips per day when Oxford University is in session.

Bicyclists in the London borough of Havering have launched a safety campaign asking candidates for the local council to commit to building bike infrastructure where the city’s department of transportation has identified the need.

Former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo looks back on her dozen years leading the French capital — which included a massive bike and pedestrian friendly makeover of the city streets — saying “Changing a city is complicated.” Which is probably why no one has succeeded here in the City of Angels, and few have even bothered to try. 

Authorities in The Netherlands are considering introducing a quality mark to show ebikes meet legal EU standards. Which would be a pretty good idea over here, too. 

A Delhi-based white-collar worker swaps his car for a bicycle to commute to work for four months to see if biking every day can help improve the city’s air quality crisis, and finds he can get to work on a bicycle as fast as in a car. A few years back, I spoke with a Delhi-based bike accessory maker, who was comfortable riding that city’s seemingly chaotic streets, but just couldn’t imagine how we manage riding the mean streets of Los Angeles. 

The London Times asks if Tokyo can manage to rein in its sidewalk surfing bicyclists, especially all those darn moms on their mamacharis. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Swiss prosecutors have closed their investigation into the death of 18-year old Swiss cyclist Murier Furrer without charges, concluding there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing even though it took 85 minutes before anyone even noticed she was missing following a crash in the 2024 Road World Championships in Zurich.

Somehow we missed this one last week, as a pro-Palestinian and environmental protestor caused a major smashup in the Tour of Bruges by sitting in the middle of the road as the peloton approached; the same man disrupted the finale of the 2022 Tour of Flanders by running across the roadway, splashed paint on Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, tied himself to a goal post during the Belgian FA Cup final, and sprayed the British Embassy in Brussels with red paint. Yet somehow, he was still allowed within 50 miles of a bike race without adult supervision. 

A 21-year old Philippine food delivery rider set a new national track cycling record riding the same bike he uses for his delivery work, with the frame and wheels worth the equivalent of less than $250.

 

Finally…

Seriously, when you’re carrying a concealed gun, meth, and illegal prescription pills on your bike, and riding with an active arrest warrant, stop for the damn stop sign. Or if you nearly hit a police car while riding your bike drunk, put a damn light on it, already (the bike, not the cop car).

And your next ebike could be the world’s skinniest car.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

UK driver walks for trying to kill bicyclist, Whittier man shot riding past car, and CHP thwarts bicycle takeover of Bay Bridge

March 30, 2026 / / No comments

No major news stories this weekend, so let’s get right to it. 

………

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

Life is cheap in the UK, where a road-raging driver walked with a suspended sentence for deliberately attempting to slam into a semi-professional cyclist, even though the judge bellowed from the bench “What the bloody hell were you doing? Had you hit him and he went under you could have been facing a charge of manslaughter or causing death by dangerous driving. What were you thinking of? You are right to look ashamed.” And even after that, let him off with a slap on the wrist. 

A British parish council faces well-deserved backlash for reporting a group of kids to the cops for building a tiny dirt bike ramp, as locals ask why the council doesn’t have more important matters to attend to.

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

The bomb squad was called out in San Diego when an apparently well-meaning man rode off on his bicycle after dropping off a bag full of high-powered ammunition at the Santee sheriff’s station; he just wanted the deputies to safely dispose of it and didn’t intend to cause a security incident.

The CHP seized a whopping 85 bicycles and cited dozens of people when participants in an apparent rideout attempted to take over the San Francisco’s Bay Bridge; the state police stopped the group as they tried to enter the bridge on an offramp after riding recklessly through the city.

………

Local 

The Eastsider wants to know if you’d be willing to reduce or eliminate curbside parking on Sunset Blvd to make room for bike and bus lanes. “Hell yeah!” doesn’t seem to be an option, so you’ll have to settle for yes. 

A Whittier man was hospitalized in unknown condition early Friday after he was shot when he rode his bicycle past a car, and two people inside fired multiple shots at him.

Once again, ebikes got the blame when a group of about 50 people riding “illegal electric motorcycles, pocket bikes and e-bikes” took over Long Beach streets late Friday afternoon, leading to the arrest of a 17-year old boy, police issuing five traffic citations and impounding five vehicles. Something tells me that not one of those ebikes would be legal under California’s Class 1, 2 or 3.

 

State

The LA Times catches up with the road rage harassment and attempted assault of two bicyclists in Newport Beach last week, and the subsequent arrest of one of the drivers allegedly involved, which we told you about on Friday. Ironically, the belated story was reported by the paper’s breaking news desk.

In a story that should sound familiar to Los Angeles bike riders, criticism directed at Caltrans for building a very short bike lane should have been directed at San Diego officials, who were supposed to build a new bike lane when a street was resurfaced for a water project, but neglected to budget enough for a complete resurfacing, and decided to just skip it, even though Caltrans didn’t.

The inaugural family-friendly Bike the Coast Ventura is scheduled for this June.

A Spanish architect completed a six-month, 1,200-mile bike trip retracing the route of the 1775 Anza expedition from Sonora, Mexico to the San Francisco Bay.

Speaking of San Francisco, the city’s transportation department released a map showing where the most collisions involving drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists occurred. Something that we were promised under Vision Zero, but which the city only maintained for a year or two.

Finishing our San Francisco trifecta, the city absurdly ripped out a DIY protected bike lane installed by a local advocacy group after a driver ran down and killed a two-year old kid last month — removing their yellow plastic posts and replacing them with white posts.

 

National

A Redditor is grateful for a random act of kindness after she fell off her bike on a rough patch of pavement, and a stranger ran over with his dog to was her off and help her get back up.

A website for people over 60 offer the best bicycle dad jokes — or grandad jokes, in this case — although “best” is doing a lot of work here.

A health website offers “the ultimate guide to choosing the best bike for every rider.” Which isn’t, and aren’t.

Seattle creates four “low-pollution neighborhoods” designed to reduce air pollution and increase access to transit and safe walking and biking infrastructure.

A Washington bike rider was lucky to escape with minor injuries when the driver of box truck jumped the sidewalk she was riding on, and fled the scene after hitting her; the driver was later arrested for reckless driving, hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license.

That’s more like it. Denver, Colorado is moving forward with a nearly $1 billion Complete Streets makeover of the city’s streets, with over 500 traffic calming projects which will reduce space for motor vehicles and replace it with wider sidewalks, bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes throughout the city; naturally, critics complain it will increase traffic congestion. However, you’ll have to find your own way past the paper’s paywall. 

That’s more like it, part two. A 24-year old Colorado ex-con was sentenced to 18 years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 41-year old man riding a bicycle in Boulder, Colorado, after he was paroled despite being previously considered a high risk to re-offend on drug crimes.

An Indiana bikemaker is urging the Trump Administration to level the playing field by imposing hirer tariffs on imported bicycles, in what could be a test case of the administration’s strategy of using import taxes to promote domestic manufacturing.

That’s more like it, part three. New Jersey officials threw the book at a hit-and-run driver for dragging the victim and their bicycle behind her car as she fled the scene; she was charged with vehicular assault, aggravated assault, and endangering an injured victim, as well as DUI, reckless driving and hit-and-run counts.

A five-year old Virginia boy was remembered with a 6th annual Easter event that gave away 20,000 eggs and 65 bicycles to families in need; he was shot point-blank by a neighbor while riding his bike in North Carolina in 2020.

You’ve got to be kidding. Police in Charlotte, North Carolina blamed the victim when an eight-year old girl was killed by a driver after she rode her bike out of the family driveway into the street — even though the driver was a) driving with a revoked license, b) driving without insurance, c) driving an unregistered vehicle, d) driving with a fictitious registration, and e) may or may not have been speeding.

Life is cheap in Louisiana, where a 36-year old man got just two and a half years behind bars for killing a 64-year old man riding his bicycle, despite pleading guilty to negligent homicide and a number of traffic infractions after striking the victim with a too-close pass. And even though sideswiping the victim’s bike is a prima facie violation of the state’s three-foot passing law. 

 

International

How to find yourself metaphorically singing in the literal rain while you ride.

Tres shock! It turns out that sucking high-sugar energy gels is bad for your teeth.

The UK’s Factor bike brand received a cease-and-desist letter from a Colombian bikemaker, which complained the Scarab logo for Factor’s new iridescent aero bike is too close to custom steel bikemaker Scarab Cycles name and logo, and likely to cause confusion in the market. And yes, they’ve got a damn good point.

A British soccer legend learns the hard way that being the Premier League record-holder for goals scored is no protection from hitting a nasty pothole on his bike.

A bicyclist in Malta dreams of a safer environment for riding.

Tragic news from India, where a 42-year-old businessman was killed by a speeding 17-year old hit-and-run driver, while on his very first bike ride after taking up bicycling to maintain his fitness.

Dubai announced the opening of 13 new cycle tracks to create a nearly 400 mile network, placing the Emirate on track to open over 630 miles of bikeways by 2030.

Starting next month, bike riders in Japan will be subject to traffic tickets and fines, just like drivers; parents fear it will make it more challenging to get their kids to school.

 

Competitive Cycling

A couple of men in Italy seriously stretched the definition of “fans” as Velo reports a “rampaging fan” climbed on top of the moving Visma-Lease a Bike team car during stage four of the Coppi e Bartali, attempting to steal a bike off the roof, while another “fan” punched and threatened the people inside; American teenager Ashlin Barry went on to claim his first victory for the team’s development squad.

Speaking of first wins, Aussie Brady Gilmore claimed his first WorldTour victory on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya — even if Bicycling Australia takes until the final paragraph to mention almost in passing that Jonas Vingegaard captured overall victory.

Speaking of the Volta, British cyclist Tom Pidcock considered himself lucky to escape with relatively minor knee and wrist injuries from crashing down a steep ravine on Friday.

Good news from Italy, where Debora Silvestri is out of the hospital, more than a week after she suffered severe chest trauma going over a guard rail in a terrifying Milan-Sanremo crash, then landing on a service road after a ten-foot drop.

Texas Monthly says the next great American cyclist could be unassuming Amarillo 18-year old Beckam Drake. Although once again, you’ll have to get around their paywall. And never mind how the last great American cyclist from Texas turned out. 

Speaking of which, it turns out that women dope, too, as Italian cyclist Linda Laporta was provisionally suspended for testing positive for a banned substance during the recent UAE Tour Women. Although she has a long way to go to catch up with Lance’s record of seven ex-Grand Tour wins.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you “ingeniously” tow a mattress-laden boat with your ebike, unless maybe it was all stolen. Who needs carbon fiber or titanium when you can build your own frame from PVC pipes?

And why let tandem riders have all the fun, when you can build your very own unicycle for two?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA mayoral race starts with Mayor Bass missing in action, and taking both sides of the K Line Northern Extension debate

March 25, 2026 / / No comments

That sound you heard Monday was the official start of the Los Angeles mayoral race.

Normally, any contest with a standing incumbent in Los Angeles makes paint drying seem absolutely thrilling.

Particularly since this year’s race starts with LA Mayor Karen Bass enjoying an eight point lead over her closest opponent.

Except CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman currently has the support of just 17% of eligible voters. Which means that Bass’ seemingly insurmountable lead after four years in office is based on only has 25% support.

And over half of the electorate has a negative opinion of her, making the race anyone’s to claim at this point.

The kickoff for the campaign was Monday’s first debate, sponsored by Streets for All and Housing Action Coalition. Although Bass and reality TV star Spencer Pratt, in third place with 14%, apparently couldn’t be bothered to attend.

Or maybe she was just off on another diplomatic mission, like she was when a large section of the city burned to the ground last year.

According to LAist, the candidates who could be bothered to show up were —

  • Adam Miller, founder of a homelessness nonprofit and self-described lifelong Democrat, said the city is “broken,” physically and figuratively.
  • Nithya Raman, an L.A. city councilwoman, said the city is “challenged.”
  • Rae Huang, a Presbyterian minister, community organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said L.A. needs “new and fresh leadership.”

Apparently, the other 35 candidates qualified for the June primary were also otherwise occupied. Or maybe they just weren’t invited, since their combined support could be listed on the back of a postage stamp.

You know, those sticky things you used to put on snail mail to make it go places.

LA Public Press offers five takeaways from the debate, including a reminder that Nithya Raman has a masters in urban planning from MIT, adding to her urbanist bona fides.

You can watch the full debate below.

Please enjoy that photo of a bass by Gio Spigo from Pexels up there on the left, since Mayor Bass didn’t bother to show up for the debate.  

………

Meanwhile, Mayor Bass’ insisted that her stance on the Northern Extension of the K Line is being misrepresented, and she’s really a big ol’ supporter of extending the line.

Except, as Streets For All points out, her support is actually a delaying tactic, calling for extending the line while offering an amendment to approve it without selecting a final alignment, even though it has already been studied to death.

And even though that will just lead to more delays, and a loss of funding.

Apparently, she learned a lot during her time in Washington. Like how to take both sides of an issue.

………

Metro Bike is hosting a virtual meeting at noon today to discuss expanding the  city’s bikeshare system.

Meanwhile, Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes a look at Prague, Czech Republic’s successful bikeshare system to see what it takes to make one work — starting with broad availability.

………

CicLAvia hosted a recent discussion on the state of open streets in the Los Angeles area, as Metro wants to tie all upcoming events to this summer’s World Cup and the ’28 LA Olympics.

………

Active SGV is hosting a ride on April 4th to check out the new Whittier Narrows BMX pump track.

………

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

The video of Ben Byra and U-23 national crit champ Luke Fetzer being harassed by a road-raging BMW driver in Newport Beach has now been viewed more than eight million times.

………

Local 

The deadline for input on the Monrovia Draft Bike Master Plan is this Friday, aka the day after tomorrow. So get it in, already.

 

State

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is warning parents after a group of kids rode electric motorbikes through a Santee neighborhood performing “dangerous pranks” that they described as “doorbell ditching,” or what we called “ding-dong ditch” back in the Dark Ages. Although granted, no one was riding an overpowered virtual motorcycle or likely to get shot by a frightened homeowner back in the day.

Caltrans intends to install a crosswalk with flashing beacons on PCH near the Neptune’s Net restaurant, just across the Los Angeles County line, where the speed limit is 55 mph. Because of course drivers will screech to a stop from highway speeds for a few beacons flashing in the roadway.

A 46-year old woman died after she was bitten by a rattlesnake in Thousand Oaks’ Wildwood Regional Park, about a week before a teenaged girl was bitten when she fell off her mountain bike in the same area; a Costa Mesa man died after lingering in a coma for weeks when he was bitten while mountain biking in Irvine February 1st.

San Francisco is completely reimagining the city’s Folsom Street with a Complete Street project designed to prioritize non-motorized traffic. Which compares favorably with virtually every street in Los Angeles, where only motorized traffic gets prioritized. 

Parking mania raised its ugly head in Santa Rosa, where city officials approved replacing a dying mall’s pedestrian plaza with parking spaces. Raising the eternal question of why a dying mall needs even more parking. 

 

National

A writer for Electrek makes the case for why small, seated scooter-type bikes should be classified as ebikes, even if they don’t have pedals. Call them any damn thing you want, as far as I’m concerned, just not ebikes.

Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program offering up to $1,600 for standard ebikes and $2,350 for cargo ebikes. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, where a nonexistent ebike voucher program provides eligible recipients absolutely nothing.

The Bureau of Land Management is considering opening 220 miles of Colorado offroad trails to ebikes, after opening hundreds of miles around Moab, Utah.

The founder of Strider Bikes recalls how the urge to get his two-year old toddler riding the trails around his Rapid City, South Dakota hometown as soon as possible led to the development of the pedal-less bike that forever changed bicycle training for the training pants crowd.

A New York councilmember wants a bike lane on a major roadway crossing Central Park, arguing that more people would ride if they could get from one end of Manhattan to the other.

A 56-year old Florida driver was arrested following a midnight crash that seriously injured a man riding a bicycle, after police discovered he’d been living under a fake name for 30 years to dodge a 1997 arrest and extradition warrant.

 

International

Road.cc recommends a dozen of the best pretend bicycling apps, for when you and your bike are both stuck inside.

The head of e-bikeshare firm Bolt says cities need more bike lanes to reduce traffic congestion and pressure on public transportation.

Momentum recommends the best places in North America to see cherry blossoms from your bike, from BC to DC. Or you can just ride your bike anywhere in Los Angeles and see just about everything, flowering or otherwise.

Um, okay. A Vancouver, British Columbia family known for tall bikes has developed a stacked, double-decker tandem that allows riders to switch positions mid-ride, without stopping, and are now working on a four-passenger version.

Must be nice. The Edinburgh, Scotland city council is fighting back against accusations of covering up figures suggesting a decline in bicycling rates, arguing that the bike network is pulling its weight, and the city needs more bikeways, not fewer.

Cycling Weekly considers the recent British study that shows bicycling saves the country’s National Health Service the equivalent of nearly $100 million, aside from any other activities, arguing that everyone benefits when more people ride.

Ghost bikes are becoming a point of contention between bicyclists and the city government of Melbourne, Australia, which says they don’t come under the city’s “plaques and memorials” policy.

 

Competitive Cycling

Italian cyclist Debora Silvestri is still hospitalized on breathing support after suffering multiple crack ribs going over the guard rail in a high speed mass crash in the women’s Milan-San Remo.

Former Olympic and world time trial champ Grace Brown says she’s glad she got out of the sport alive, arguing that UCI’s “extreme” focus on safety regulations hasn’t kept the peloton from getting more dangerous, as the high speed women’s Milan-Sanremo crash demonstrated.

If you needed any more proof that all-everything champ Tadej Pogačar is riding at the next level these days, he won Milan-San Remo with a mad descent on a cracked frame with a rubbing disc brake, following a bad crash earlier in the race.

Road.cc considers whether modern road bikes are really that much faster, more aero and comfortable compared to bikes from the ’90s.

 

Finally…

Where would Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore mountain bike? That feeling when you scale a bridge with a bicycle on your back, then leave it flapping from the giant American flag at the top.

And why did the chicken use a pelican, puffin, toucan or tiger to cross the road — but not a pegasus, unless it was on a pony?

The chicken, that is.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Fountain Ave opponents pack WeHo meeting, safer connections to Westside bus lanes, and Nithya supports bike safety

March 23, 2026 / / One comment

We’re going to take little different approach today, because we have a lot of ground to cover, and only limited time to do it. 

So let’s focus on a number of top stories and meetings, and save our usual links for tomorrow. 

Today’s photo show Blake Ackerman’s fiancee writing a message on his ghost bike on Fountain Avenue. 

………

Debate over a safety makeover of Fountain Avenue continues to raise its ugly head, seven months after Blake Ackerman lost his life on the deadly corridor.

And six months after we thought it had been approved once and for all.

Following years of unanimous votes of the city council to move the project forward, the West Hollywood City Council approved building protected bike lanes on the corridor in a split 3 – 2 vote in September of last year, following a highly contentious council meeting.

Ackerman’s needless death in a hit-and-run while riding his bike home from work occurred exactly where the protected bike lane would have gone in years before, if not for the endless debate over the project.

And that had seemed to seal the decision to move forward with the project.

Yet WeHo Online reports opponents came back to pack last Wednesday’s meeting of the city’s Transportation and Mobility Commission.

Although most of the article is devoted to a recap of September’s debate. And none of that recap even mentions Ackerman, or anyone else killed or injured on or near the deadly street.

According to the paper, the overall message from the people attending the meeting was “put the project on hold until the serious questions get answered.”

Even though it’s been on hold for years, while people continue to die and get injured.

Among those are the ongoing concerns over parking, as well as worries that property values for homeowners will drop — even though studies have repeatedly shown that property values usually increase along either side of a corridor after a Complete Streets project goes in.

And even though the meeting was packed with project opponents because most of the larger community didn’t even know about the meeting, because the project had already been approved six months earlier, and no action was to be taken at the meeting.

As I read the story, though, I also wondered if the opposition voiced at the meeting would have been so overwhelming if the friends and family of Blake Ackerman had been aware of it. Never mind the safety advocates and the larger bicycling community.

The paper pointed to an upcoming May or June meeting, the exact date still to be determined, when a contract to build the protected bike lanes is set to be approved.

It’s clear we’ll have to come back once again then to defend, and fight for, a project to save lives on the deadly corridor.

Because that seems to have been completely ignored at Wednesday’s meeting. And likely will be again if we don’t show up in force when the final contract gets approved.

………

Streets For All sent out a notice about what’s missing from the Westside Cities Council of Governments recent announcement of plans for bus lanes throughout the Westside.

Namely, safe ways to get to them.

The Westside Cities Council of Governments is moving forward with a plan to make buses faster and more reliable on some of the region’s busiest corridors! But right now, the plan is missing something fundamental: how people actually get to transit. There are still no safe, continuous north-south bike connections linking these corridors to the broader system — including the E Line and D Line.

This means a lot of people are stuck driving to transit. We can fix that – WSCCOG needs to hear from you telling them to include bicycle facilities in these plans. 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

  • 🏛️ BEST: Show up in person and make public comment
    • Wednesday, March 25 (6–8pm)
      West Hollywood Park Aquatics Center
      8750 El Tovar Pl
      West Hollywood, CA 90069
    • Saturday, March 28 (9:30–11:30am)
      Culver City Senior Center
      4095 Overland Ave
      Culver City, CA 90232
  • 📧 OTHERWISE: Send an email
    • If you can’t make it in person, send an email

SEND AN EMAIL [CUSTOMIZE THE BOTTOM!]

………

Thanks to Andrew for pointing me to this recent video from Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, after I had posted online that I won’t vote for anyone who doesn’t commit to implementing Measure HLA, as well as recommitting the city to Vision Zero.

This may not be the ironclad commitment I have been looking for, but it’s pretty damn close. And we can push her for that commitment if she wants to be mayor.

There were more traffic deaths than homicides in 2025. I’m running to make LA streets safer for everyone!

— Nithya Raman (@nithyaforthecity.bsky.social) 2026-03-16T21:11:11.715Z

………

Dr. Grace Peng, who lives and rides in the South Bay, offers recap of a recent bike trip.

You can click through for the rest of the story. But for today, we’re going to focus on wha passes for bike safety infrastructure in far too much of Los Angeles, and Southern California in general, with only a thin stripe of white paint to protect bike riders from traffic limited to 55 mph.

Never mind that we all know many, if not most, motorists exceed the posted speed limit, whether by a little or a lot.

CD11 Councilmember Traci Park recently expressed her concern for the safety of bicyclists, even if it took the death of Regan Cole-Graham and her unborn baby Ophelia to prompt her.

Now is exactly the time to push her to commit to real bike and pedestrian safety throughout her district, when she needs our support to continue representing it.

Or move to back someone else who does.

Today’s bicycle adventure starts with infrastructure that LA city council member Traci Park thinks is good enough. She’s up for reelection. Potholes, Large Asphalt Repair, posted speed limit of 55 mph, paint separating bikes from drag racers. @streetsforall.org @lintonjoe.bsky.social

— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2026-03-23T00:13:22.465Z

………

The LA City Council’s Transportation Committee meets at 8:45 Wednesday morning, and need to hear from us to keep the pressure on to commit to safer streets for all of us.

And the aforementioned Traci Park is vice chair of the committee.

………

Okay, so maybe this isn’t directly bike-related.

But Mayor Bass has once again stood with NIMBYs, and against supporters of non-motor vehicle traffic, by opposing the route selected by Metro staffers for the Northern Extension of the K Line.

Not only will this route result in the highest ridership, it will finally connect major centers like The Grove, the Beverly Center, Cedars-Sinai, WeHo’s Rainbow District, Hollywood and Highland, and the Hollywood Bowl.

At the same time, it would provide vital connections with the Red (B), Purple (D) and Expo (E) Lines, making genuine crosstown travel by train possible without having to first go downtown.

So make your voice heard by Thursday, before this gets delayed yet again.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/2035369445208846817

………

This is your chance to support the Sunset For All Complete Streets project, as well as other safety improvements on the inevitably soon to be renamed Cesar Chavez.

Which right now might as well be named Jeffrey Epstein Blvd, despite everything Chavez did to support farmworkers and Latino & Latina civil rights.

And even though Chavez had been a personal hero of mine for most of my life.

………

Finally, good news from Paris, where mayoral candidate Emmanuel Grégoire was elected to continue the bike and environmentally friendly reforms begun by outgoing Mayor Anne Hidalgo, winning with 52% of the popular vote to replace her.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Advocacy & Politics / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

California is #8 in bike/ped deaths and #1 in lawyer bikewashing, and pedestrian killed in intentional South LA hit-and-run

March 20, 2026 / / No comments

We’re #8!

A new study from a law group shows that California recorded an average of 1,164 pedestrian and 153 bicyclist deaths per year over a five-year period between 2019 and 2023.

That ranks us eighth in the US on a per capita basis, behind perennial champion Florida.

Although yet another study from yet another law practice ranks Louisiana as the state where bicyclists face the greatest risk of getting killed on a bike and from bad roads.

By that standard, California ranks seventh.

None of which really proves anything, other than a) too many people die from traffic violence on California streets, b) we need more and better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and c) law firm marketers think bikewashing is the best way to improve their search rankings.

And they’re probably right.

Which is why I linked to stories about their studies, rather than the actual studies. You can click through if you really want to.

………

This is who we share the road with.

The LAPD is looking for a hit-and-run driver accused of using his car as a weapon to run down a 54-year old man walking in South LA, intentionally driving up on the sidewalk and striking the victim twice.

The man died after being taken to the hospital.

There’s no description of the driver or the suspect vehicle at this time. Although as always, there’s a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.

Even when it’s on purpose.

………

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

Adding insult to literal injury, a Louisiana bicyclist was ticketed for being at fault after the bike rider was struck by a state trooper in an unmarked car. Because somehow, cops never seem to be at fault when they hit someone on a bicycle, especially when they’re doing the investigating.

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

No bias here. Some New Yorkers are up in arms over Mayor Mamdani’s decision to stop criminally charging bicycle and ebike riders for traffic offenses — including the widow of a Gone Girl actress killed by an ebike rider — instead of giving them traffic tickets like people in what obviously must be much safer motor vehicles. Never mind that they continue to confuse ped-assist ebikes with electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.

………

Local 

Congratulations to Bike LA Executive Director Eli Kaufman on his speaking gig at next week’s National Bike Summit in Washington DC.

 

State

Someone please tell the Seal Beach Police Department that a Surron is not an electric bicycle, as the local weekly says there’s been some online debate over whether the kid who hit an elderly pedestrian was riding “an electric bike or an electric motorcycle.” Gee, ya think?

He gets it. An op-ed writer for the Voice of OC says investing in bike infrastructure pays dividends for all, noting he can get from Anaheim to Irvine faster on a bike than by car.

That’s more like it. About 30% of San Diego Door Dash deliveries are made by bicycle, ebikes or scooters, enabling workers to spend an average of around 15% less time from offer acceptance to pickup, while earning over 10% more per hour.

San Bernardino County’s latest extension of the Santa Ana River Trail was named the 2025 Inland Empire Branch Project of the Year, as well as the Southern California Chapter’s BEST (Building Excellence Shaping Tomorrow) project from the American Public Works Association.

A San Francisco website gets candidates for the city’s Board of Supervisors District 4 on the record for their stands on bicycling.

 

National

No bias here, either. A Seattle news radio program blames a new bike lane for costing $156 million and removing curbside parking, conveniently forgetting that most of the money is being used to build bus lanes.

Minnesota Governor and erstwhile vice presidential candidate Tim Walz made a visit to Angry Catfish Bicycle in Minneapolis, which sponsored the nationwide Unity Rides honoring fallen mountain biker and VA nurse Alex Pretti, murdered by ICE agents in January.

Residents of Downtown Miami are reportedly fed up with people parking in bike lanes, as well they should be, arguing that it’s a public safety hazard and enforcement is rare.

 

International

An Irishman was killed falling off his 30-year old bicycle, offering a tragic reminder not to ride when you’re three — no, make that four — sheets to the wind.

Speaking of biking under the influence, Japan suspended the driver’s licenses of 1,507 people for bicycling while legally drunk last year, up from just 23 the year before.

 

Finally…

Look, if you’re going to shoot someone over ten bucks, maybe try riding off on a plain colored bicycle. What self-respecting male reality TV star wouldn’t ride a tandem in lingerie and suspenders?

And that feeling when your bike seat falls off with 14 miles of cobbles left to go.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Murder grills designed to kill, Koreatown hit-and-run victim identified, and Monrovia releases daft, uh Draft, Safety Plan

March 19, 2026 / / 2 comments

I noticed that truck over there on the left while walking the dog yesterday.

And was struck by the truck’s murder grill — not literally, thankfully — which seems designed to inflict maximum damage on anyone or anything unfortunate enough to come into contact with it.

Any person struck by it, whether walking or bicycling, would likely be thrown forward as if struck by a giant hammer, then run over by the multi-ton truck if the driver was unable to stop in time.

Yet people wonder why traffic deaths continue to climb in the US, and not in other countries with more rational safety policies.

Never mind that there’s no license plate on the front of the damn thing.

………

The victim in last week’s fatal Koreatown hit-and-run has been identified as a 73-year old woman.

Although depending on what source you go by, the driver was either arrested after abandoning their car, or not.

Which means there’s either a standing $50,000 reward for the fatal hit-and-run, or there isn’t.

………

Monrovia is seeking comments on their new Draft Safety Action Plan and Bicycle Master Plan.

I don’t know the city well enough to offer any informed thoughts, but it looks to be heavy on Class 3 bike routes, aka sharrows, which are usually worthless for anything other than wayfinding, if not actually dangerous.

………

Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette offers a short Facebook reminder to max out the Uninsured Driver coverage on your auto insurance policy, which will cover you on your bike if you crash, or get hit by a driver with no insurance or inadequate coverage.

The family of fallen Australian bicyclist James Rapley learned that the hard way, after the stoned driver who ran him down on Temescal Canyon in 2013 had no insurance or financial resources, leaving their lawyer unable to collect a dime, despite his efforts.

The opposite happened when I was struck by a road raging driver who refused to accept liability, and my own auto insurance covered every penny of my medical bills.

It was a painful lesson well learned.

Thanks to Phillip for the heads-up. 

………

A new short film from Shimano traces the rise of the inclusive All Bodies On Bikes group, with over 4,000 views in the first day.

………

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

An accused road-raging driver is set to go on trial in Spain for attempted murder after running over former world champ Alejandro Valverde and another rider during a 2022 training ride, following an argument over a close pass.

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

There’s a special place in hell for the 61-year old Florida man who was arrested for animal cruelty after allegedly beating and kicking a puppy, simply because it couldn’t keep up as he dragged it behind his bike, despite telling police he was “training” the dog. Maybe someone should tie him behind a bicycle and train him, instead. 

………

Local 

A Redittor raves about the San Gabriel River bike path after riding over 30 miles from Santa Fe Dam to Seal Beach, then back again, as commenters tell him hush before everyone finds out.

Riding the sharrows on Fountain Ave in West Hollywood could be even dicier than usual, as the city takes traffic signals offline to upgrade traffic signal controller cabinets, “to modernize traffic infrastructure and improve safety and reliability for motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.”

Speaking of WeHo, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will conduct yet another of the LA area’s bicycle and pedestrian safety operations on Monday, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line. Although people don’t seem to end up driving any better, no matter how many of those things they hold, or how often.

 

State

Apple Valley will install a roundabout, center turn lane and new Class 1 separated bike lanes to improve safety at a dangerous intersection.

They get it. A Streetsblog San Francisco op-ed says California has to stop expanding freeways, because “While transit, bike, and safety projects struggle for funding, the state keeps writing blank checks for freeway widening boondoggles. It’s time to tell our lawmakers: enough!” It’s long past time to stop flushing money down the induced demand-inducing toilet.

Sacramento is working on getting an action plan to reduce traffic deaths ready by the end of the year, in the city with the state’s highest per capita rate of traffic deaths.

 

National

A tiny new sensor raising funds on Kickstarter can now tell you the air pressure on your bike tires within ±2%.

Seattle is ripping out the curbs protecting a new bike lane after a “surveying error” left the traffic lane too narrow for trucks to navigate. Although that sounds like a good thing to me. 

Albuquerque, New Mexico will now require drivers to stop at crosswalks for bicyclists and pedestrians, and student drivers in the state will have to take a three-hour course on driving around vulnerable road users, after a mother turned her grief over the death of her bike-riding daughter into a campaign to improve safety for all of us.

Burlington, Vermont is now home to what may be the world’s first fully adaptive mountain bike trail network, allowing handicapped riders to take to the trails without fear of insurmountable obstacles.

New York Mayor Mamdani is calling a halt to the previous administration’s policy of giving criminal summons to scofflaw bike riders, rather than traffic tickets, for even minor violations; the policy was considered unfair to delivery riders who need their bikes to earn a living. Although it was also unfair to anyone on two wheels, who were treated more harshly than motorists, despite posing less risk to those around them. 

The Delaware-based Lycra Company, makers of Lycra, Coolmax, THERMOLITE, Supplex, and Tactel, is the latest bikewear-related firm to go belly-up, after the company couldn’t stretch to cover up to a half billion dollars in debts.

A 72-year old North Carolina woman had her bicycle restored by the same shop where her parents bought it 60 years earlier for a whopping $39.95, plus tax.

 

International

London’s epidemic of Lime Bike Leg could be ending, after the company redesigned their bikeshare ebikes to remove a heavy center bar that could trap a user’s leg under the bike if it fell over.

An Israeli nonprofit is using bicycling as a “therapeutic and educational tool to enrich disadvantaged and behaviorally challenged youth,” while exploring the country on two wheels in small groups up to just 15 people.

 

Competitive Cycling

A 60-year old San Diego man known as “The Slasher” has 11 national championships under his belt, and is the reigning age-group mountain bike and gravel national champ, as well as the founder of the city’s Quick-n-Dirty racing series.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to describe your car as “an absolute weapon” while still on probation for killing your wife with one. Your next extremely overly expensive bicycle could be a Bugatti.

And that feeling when you need a sudden change in footwear.

https://twitter.com/cyclingontnt/status/2034296832566657081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2034296832566657081%7Ctwgr%5Ebe3ac7f76316f799f4a564f3fb3df6977479cbc8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-18-march-2026

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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