Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Ebike-riding Vietnam vet run down in anti-Asian hate crime, and Aussie ex-pro Rohan Dennis walks in cyclist wife’s death

Day 134 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A Japanese American man was the victim of a racist attack while riding his ebike in Montebello last month.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 71-year old Aki Maehara, an Asian American history professor at East Los Angeles Community College and Vietnam vet, was run down from behind on April 29th in what appears to have been a targeted attack while riding his ebike on Merle Drive, near his Montebello home.

Before he was struck, he heard someone yell an expletive followed by a racial slur targeting people of Chinese descent, he said. He skidded across a yard and was stopped by a brick wall. Maehara said he heard a man’s voice: “Go back to…” using an expletive and a racial slur, before the car drove off.

“It sounded suspicious to me because I wear a full-face helmet … a helmet with a visor,” Maehara said. “No one can see my face. So how the hell did he know I’m Asian?”

Northwest Asian Weekly reports the driver called him a “fucking Chink!” and yelled, “Go back to Chink-land,” as Maehara lay on the ground after being struck.

He is currently confined to home after suffering serious elbow, neck, cheekbones, jaw, hips and lower back injuries as a result of the attack.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised a little more than half of the $35,000 goal to provide in-home care beyond the few hours provided by the VA each week.

No arrest has been made, though Maehara has provided police with the name of a suspect, saying he’s been targeted for harassment in the past for teaching the history of racism and racist beliefs.

Let’s hope they find this schmuck and lock ’em up for a long damn time.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels.

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Life is cheap in Australia, where former pro cyclist Rohan Dennis walked without a day behind bars.

Dennis was given probation after pleading guilty to a pair of charges in the death of his wife, Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins, despite driving nearly the distance of a football field as she clung to the hood of his SUV, following an argument between the couple.

Hoskins was killed after attempting to open the passenger door, and slipping under the car’s wheels as he attempted to speed away.

Her benevolent parents did not push for jail time, saying it was time to move on for the good of the couple’s children.

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Calbike will host a webinar on how slow streets can improve our communities on May 28th.

The Slow Streets movement wasn’t new when the pandemic hit in 2020. Berkeley had restricted traffic on neighborhood streets that became bike boulevards decades earlier. But the sudden demand for safe space to walk and bike when everyone was staying home fueled a surge in Slow Streets

Many of the programs instituted by California cities at the height of the pandemic were temporary, taken down once life began to return to normal. But the experience of the freedom of Slow Streets left a lasting impression and a movement for spaces where kids can safely play in urban environments.

On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at 10 am, CalBike will host a webinar on Slow Streets as part of our Summit Sessions 2025 series. Robin Pam, from KidSafeSF, and Shannon Hake from the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will share experiences from the advocacy and government agency sides of creating and implementing Slow Streets. And Justin Hu-Nguyen and Robert Prinz from Bike East Bay will talk about a Slow Streets pop-up that their bike coalition just did on one of the Berkeley streets that was a Slow Street during the pandemic.

Register to attend the webinar.

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Two examples of how to tell when safety just isn’t a priority in Los Angeles.

Crosswalk request: "Too many cars run the stop signs. I've asked my city council field deputy for help and was told it will take YEARS to get a crosswalk due to sidewalk assessments, etc. Also told that there's no money in the budget."Two crosswalks marked at Sycamore & De Longpre in Hollywood.

Crosswalk Collective LA (@crosswalksla.bsky.social) 2025-05-12T22:11:01.876Z

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Finish the Ride is looking for volunteers for Griffith Park’s Finish the Run and Finish the Ride at the end of the month.

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

Somehow, drivers in Las Vegas have to be reminded not to use a tunnel meant for bike riders and pedestrians as a shortcut or free parking. And they say bike riders are entitled. 

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

A popular restaurant atop an iconic climb on the Spanish island of Mallorca was forced to put up a multilingual sign informing visiting bicyclists that it was not an open air toilet, and begging them not to pee on it.

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Local 

She gets it. A Streetsblog op-ed from Alex Ramirez, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks, says bikeshare should be treated like the public good it is, with public investment, strong labor standards, meaningful community partnerships, and deep respect for people with the fewest mobility options and the most to gain from a system that serves everyone.

Metro is expanding AI automated bus cam ticketing of drivers parked in bus lanes to buses on Olive and Grand in DTLA.

Pasadena is marking Thursday’s Bike to Work Day with a free pitstop offering coffee, snacks and surprise giveaways on the Garfield side of Pasadena City Hall. That’s Garfield as in the avenue, not the cat.

 

State

Former LACBC — now BikeLA — executive director and transportation social justice warrior Tamika Butler will be honored, deservedly, by the California Black Women’s Health Project this Sunday.

There’s still no sign of the 27-year old Georgia woman who disappeared on a bikepacking trip in Fresno County with her ebike and trailer, despite an intensive five-day search of the backcountry.

Sacramento public radio station CapRadio reports California faces a big decline in funding from the federal government as the Trump administration cancels infrastructure projects and attempts to claw back funding for projects approved under Biden.

 

National

Outside dreads a near future when all mountain bikes will come with batteries attached.

A San Diego writer and two friends took a one week, 200-mile “hut hopping” bikepacking tour through the most breathtaking part of Colorado and Utah.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 81-year old Cape Cod woman is back on her bicycle after breaking her elbow in a fall last year.

New York’s embattled mayor is claiming credit, along with the city’s DOT commish, for doubling the amount of space available to bike riders and pedestrians by providing each with their own separate lanes on opposite sides of New York’s Queensboro Bridge.

On the other hand, New York bicyclists are none too pleased about the city taking their sweet time to finish a 30-block West Side bike lane, forcing riders to cope with dangerous detours.

Then again, they’re probably not too pleased that the city is issuing criminal summonses for minor bicycling traffic violations, either, including riding through red lights on the walk sign — which has been legal in the city for the past six years.

 

International

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 75-year old man got a lousy ten months behind bars for running down a 63-year old woman from behind as she rode with a friend, claiming he was blinded by the lights of an oncoming car — even though investigators determined their bike lights and safety vests would have made the victim visible from over 200 yards away.

 

Competitive Cycling

Five-time Olympic cycling gold medalist and 2012 Tour de France champ Bradley Wiggins says he was lucky to survive a “functioning” addiction to coke after his retirement from the sport. And no, he doesn’t mean the soft drink.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your new bike pump is full of weed instead of air. Or when your ad for your cycling team’s Chinese sponsor is so bad, people worry you’re being held hostage.

And yes, it’s probably better not to flip off the cop who nearly ran a stop sign and smeared you across the bike lane.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

WHO promotes bike/walk safety for healthier communities, and gear up for Bike Week events starting today in WeHo

Day 133 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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She gets it.

Forbes talks with Etienne Krug, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Department for the Social Determinants of Health, who says walking and bicycling help reduce the risk of the leading causes of premature death, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer, as well as curbing air pollution, reducing traffic congestion and fighting climate change.

But before communities can enjoy the obvious benefits, we’ll have to do something about the surging rate of bicycling and walking deaths. “At least one pedestrian or cyclist is killed on the world’s roads every 2 minutes,” according to Krug.

Which is why WHO is releasing a new toolkit to help make the roads safer to promote walking and bicycling.

Maybe we can find a way to get Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom to read the damn thing.

We can dream, right?

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

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Metro is offering free rides on all Metro trains and buses, as well as Metro Bike and Metro Micro for Thursday’s Bike to Work Day, as well as 30-day Metro Bike memberships for a buck, and half-off one-year memberships.

Metrolink is also offering free rides Thursday for anyone boarding with a bicycle. And the same goes for LADOT’s DASH and Commuter Express buses.

Unfortunately, Metro has given up on the Bike to Work Day pitstops we used to enjoy in those heady pre-pandemic days. But you can still find them in Culver City, Pasadena and Beverly Hills (thanks to Streetsblog for those links). 

And West Hollywood is getting the jump on everyone else by marking Bike Month with a free “pit stop” from 8 to 10 this morning — yes, today — at the northeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Hancock Ave, featuring safety lights, refreshments and info on local bike projects.

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Arnold urges us to unite for a pollution-free future.

So that means he got rid of his massive Hummer and Yukon SUVs, right?

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

Bike riders are showing up in force to city council meetings in Hartford, Connecticut to protest a plan to roll back the city’s commitment to building bike lanes if small business owners think they will somehow negatively affect them. Even though the opposite is usually true.

A British man was sentenced to life in prison for deliberately ramming a 22-year old ebike rider not once, but twice to teach him a lesson for “showboating” and popping wheelies, then fleeing the scene and leaving the victim to die alone in the street; although in this case, life means a minimum of 22 years behind bars, which means the 21-year old driver will be at least 43 before he’s eligible to get out.

No bias here. An “irate” British bike rider complained on Reddit about being “sick to death” of finding drivers parked in bike lanes every time he goes out for a ride. Yet the tabloids somehow turned that simple complaint around to complain about “entitled” bike riders hogging the sidewalk.

I'm sick to death of cars parking on cycle lanes. This happens each and every time I ride.
byu/d49k inukbike

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos from, and an open thread about, last weekend’s Beach Streets in Long Beach.

This Saturday, Metro is officially opening the initial phase of the long-awaited Rail-to-Rail multi-use path in South LA, a rail-to-trail conversion between the A Line Slauson Station and the Fairview Heights K Line Station; you can get more information and RSVP here.

Speaking of Metro, they will finally break ground on the long-gestating NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line next month, which, unlike the Vermont BRT line, will include protected bike lanes along Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock.

 

State

Nothing like describing the California Ebike Incentive Program’s massive failure in the second round of incentives, when the site crashed as soon as it opened, as just a “glitch.”

A Bakersfield judge postponed until July the murder trial of the man accused of the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle; 27-year old Caleb Nathaniel Rodriguez is also charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit and run causing death and driving on a license suspended for DUI.

San Francisco’s new Biking and Rolling Plan promises to connect the city’s bike lanes into a complete network putting everyone in the city within a quarter mile of a bike lane within the next 20 years. Then again, Los Angeles promised the same thing, and you know how that worked out.

 

National

Tragic news from Everett, Washington, where a 13-year old boy riding an ebike was killed when he ran into a braided cable someone had illegally strung between a fence and a post, something his parents say should have never been there in the first place.

The mayor of Spokane, Washington is inviting the public to ride with him on tomorrow’s National Bike to Work Day. Yet somehow, LA’s ostensibly bike-riding mayor isn’t inviting anyone to ride with her, and hasn’t been seen on one since she was elected in 2022. 

Over 200 bike riders have signed up for the 31st annual ride up and over Colorado’s 12,095-foot Independence Pass this Saturday, offering a whopping 2,300 feet of vertical climbing over the short ten-mile distance.

An Iowa man says he saves hundreds of dollars each month by biking to work nearly every day instead of driving. Which oddly still surprises people, even though we keep trying to tell them that.

A man was found dead after becoming separated from his riding companion on a Minnesota river trail; his body was found eight miles away from where he was last seen, and on the other side of the river.

A Minnesota man is on a mission to give 22,000 bike helmets to kids, after he suffered a brain injury when he was 18 after a friend lost control of his car and spun out after a night of partying. So wouldn’t it make more sense to give out car helmets, instead?

University professors in Michigan and Florida are researching perceptions on bicyclist comfort and safety as we “prepare for an e-bike future,” funded by a $610,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Although they might want to check on that funding, since most bike and pedestrian projects are getting DOGE’d.

A writer for New York Streetsblog is challenging candidates for mayor to ride with him; yesterday he rode with a political novice with 30 years experience riding a bicycle, and a pro-bike, pro-business and pro-police agenda. Although his best qualification may be that he didn’t have a bribery indictment dismissed by federal prosecutors like the city’s current mayor, after — allegedly — promising to cooperate with immigration raids

A Florida man was collateral damage when police discovered that a man who had crashed his car into a house had been fatally shot in the chest — then discovered a man on a bicycle had died after being trapped under the car.

 

International

Bicycling examines the case of a former Toronto cop called Canada’s most infamous and prolific bicycle thief, after police raids recovered more than 3,000 bicycles. You’ll have to subscribe to the magazine if you want to read it, though, but you can find the story on Wikipedia.

That’s more like it. A driver in the Cayman Islands was warned he could be prosecuted after he was recorded dangerously passing bicyclists participating in a memorial ride for a fallen bike rider, while driving on the right shoulder of the roadway.

Dublin, Ireland is celebrating Bike Week and Climate Week by telling bike riders to dismount on part of its longest cycle route. Which is kind of a problem for handcyclists and other people who have difficulty walking.

 

Competitive Cycling

A San Diego man will attempt to set four separate world records in a single six-hour ride on the city’s velodrome to raise awareness and funds for the local Parkinson’s community; he’ll attempt to set age group records in 70-74 age group for the farthest distance in six hours, fastest 100 kilometers, fastest 100 miles, and fastest 200 kilometers. They tell me that’s where I’m probably headed in ten to fifteen years. And no, I don’t mean San Diego. Or the velodrome.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you buy a $390 ebike directly from China, and are pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t suck. Your next cargo bike could have a steering wheel over a single tire, with a detachable modular trailer.

And nothing like describing new bikepacking campers using a line from Seinfeld about boobs.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Effed-up ebike voucher program returns May 29th, and driver on trial for murder for DUI death of 12-year old OC boy

Day 132 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Happy Bike Week!

Not to mention UN Global Road Safety Week.

On the left is the window applicants for the last round of California ebike incentives saw after it was cancelled when program administrators CARB and Pedal Ahead once again failed to meet the demand.

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Here we go again.

For whatever it’s worth, the California Ebike Incentive Program is coming back yet again for their next fuckup abject failure round of ebike incentives at the end of this month, while doubling the deliberately throttled amount of funding available.

Which isn’t the same as making all of the remaining nearly $30 million in remaining funding available, which is what they should be doing — if they had hired someone who actually had the necessary expertise and bandwidth to administer it.

Regardless, here’s the full text of the email announcing their do-over for the second round.

Dear Subscriber,

Thank you for your continued interest in the California E-Bike Incentive Project.

The California E-Bike Incentive Project will relaunch the second application window on May 29, 2025. This window will include additional funding, up to $2 million, in incentive vouchers. To date, the project has awarded more than $2 million to applicants across California.

We are dedicated to providing a more streamlined application process, and we’ve ensured the website is prepared to handle the large volume of traffic generated by this program.

We apologize for the technical issues we experienced in the initial launch and appreciate your patience as we prepare for the second application window.

~ California E-Bike Incentive Project Team

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Heartbreaking testimony in a Costa Mesa courtroom, where 64-year old Long Beach resident Richard David Lavalle is being tried for murder, after killing a 12-year old bike-riding boy in 2020 while allegedly on meth.

The father of Noel Bascon testified that he and his son were biking together in Costa Mesa around 5 pm on December 6th, and that he had “triple checked” the lights and reflectors on his son’s bike before they rode home on the sidewalk.

He waved his arms in an effort to flag Lavalle down when he saw the driver barreling down at them as they were in a crosswalk, but only heard a loud bang behind him as Lavelle allegedly ran the stop sign and slammed into his son at up to 50 mph, throwing the boy about 120 feet through the air.

Noel died after being taken to the hospital.

Lavalle faces a second-degree murder charge because he had previously been convicted of DUI in San Diego County in 2013, trigging a Watson notice informing him he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

This case could be a third strike for Lavelle after two previous convictions for robbery, triggering an automatic life sentence.

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Once again, a car in the wrong hands became a weapon on mass destruction.

A 30-year old repeat DUI driver was arrested after he unexpectedly swerved into a group of four bike riders in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Two of the victims were transported to local hospitals in critical condition. One died the same day, and the second four days later.

It was the driver’s third offense for driving under the influence of a controlled substance, yet he was somehow still allowed to operate a high-powered, multi-to vehicle. .

Yet another example of officials keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.

Literally.

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Bloomberg questions the rise in New York traffic violence, with pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists all seeing rising injury rates the past three years, despite the city’s decade long Vision Zero efforts.

However, pedestrian deaths have fallen a whopping 45% over the most recent ten year period.

Which is a sign that Vision Zero is in fact working in the city, since the point of the program is accepting that people will make mistakes and crashes will happen, so roadways should be designed to ensure those mistakes don’t become fatal.

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Join the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition for a tour of the city’s planned greenways this Saturday, with Councilmembers Jason Lyon and the estimable Rick Cole.

Join us! Pasadena has plans to add traffic calming to four neighborhood streets to make them safer for everyone, including people driving, walking, and biking. This ride will tour some of the planned greenways with two city council members and a member of Pasadena DOT staff to discuss the project.

Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition (@pasadenacsc.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T20:12:41.631Z

Speaking of Rick Cole, the former Los Angeles assistant mayor and Santa Monica city manger will host a public forum on Biking to a Sustainable Pasadena on Tuesday, May 20th, along with Becky Hartung from Pasadena’s Transportation Advisory Commission, Caltech LIGO Lab Senior Scientist Jonah Kanner, and Brandon Lamar, Vice Chair of the Pasadena Rental Housing Board.

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

Hartford, Connecticut is considering a proposal to freeze bike lane construction in favor of preserving parking spaces, once again favoring driver convenience over human lives.

No bias here. The Daily Mail decries the “gangs of brazen teenage riders” “terrorizing” the good people of London and “causing rush-hour chaos with their reckless stunts.” And illustrates it with an extremely misleading graph that makes it look like bicyclists have killed up to 800 pedestrians each year.

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

An 18-year old Louisiana drug addict used his bike ride home from work to make up a story for his dad about being robbed to explain why he was broke; 25 years later, the Black man sentenced to prison because of his lie finally got out — and the two men became unlikely friends.

An 80-year old woman was killed when she reportedly stepped out in front of a man taking part in Manchester, England’s 124-mile Tour de Manc fundraising ride, as he was passing a slower rider.

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Local 

Sad news from Long Beach, where a man riding an e-scooter in a crosswalk was killed when he was struck by a 19-year old driver who allegedly ran a red light, and may have been speeding.

 

State

Calbike looks at the recent California court case that established that cities are required to maintain the safety of their streets. Someone please tell LA Mayor Bass, whose new budget would slash street maintenance.

They get it. The Times of San Diego endorses AB 981, which would establish a a pilot program requiring that drivers convicted of excessive speeding, reckless driving or dangerously showing off install Intelligent Speed Assist technology to prevent them from exceeding the posted speed limit, as DMV statistics show that 75% of drivers whose licenses are suspended continue to drive anyway.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Students and parents in Menlo Park are mourning a beloved, longtime teacher and high school coach who was killed by the driver of a garbage truck while riding his bike to school in Atherton.

 

National

An Arizona mother is demanding justice after her son survived serving in the 101st Airborne Division in the Middle East after 9/11, only to come home and be killed by a red light-running, unlicensed driver while riding his ebike — yet somehow, the case remains under review by the DA’s office after seven months.

Tragic news from Colorado, where a 76-year old Durango man died two weeks after falling off his bike trying to avoid a loose dog on a river bike path.

A 68-year ofd Texas man was fatally shot while riding his bike, he was discovered lying unconscious on the shoulder of the roadway.

Heartbreaking news from Indiana, where a four-year old boy was killed, and two other people injured, when a speeding driver in a Dodge Charger ran a red light and slammed into the bicycle his father was riding and the trailer the boy was in, before continuing on to strike another car, and fleeing on foot.

This is the cost of traffic violence, too. A 68-year old Catholic priest living in a Massachusetts retreat was killed by an 85-year old driver while riding his bicycle. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive, and how do we get elderly drivers off the road before it’s too late. 

 

International

Momentum considers the best bicycle festivals worth traveling for in the coming year, from the original Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, to London’s World Naked Bike Ride.

British bicyclists say a proposal to paint the city’s “invisible” bike lanes red to keep drivers and pedestrians out is just “putting lipstick on a pig.”

No surprise here, as a new survey shows the danger and fear of sharing the road with drivers is the biggest reason why more Irish people don’t ride bikes.

Polish bicyclist Pawel Małaszko is on the final leg of his journey from the shores of the Arabian Sea to the being the first ever to ride a bike to Pakistan’s K2 base camp.

A group of US soldiers deployed to Kuwait are building camaraderie by forming a bike club, riding their bikes in the desert heat in military fatigues and orange vests.

Wired visits the “beautifully appointed bicycles” at the “best bike shop in the world” in Tokyo, Japan; meanwhile, Cyclist also visits Japan, calling it the “world’s most particular cycling culture.”

They get it. Officials in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia reduced speed limits near schools to the equivalent of just 18 mph, arguing that reducing vehicle speeds even one kilometer per hour can reduce the risk of death by 5%.

 

Competitive Cycling

Maybe Albania isn’t the best place to start of bike race, as the Giro d’Italia was almost upended — literally — when the peloton was charged by a road-raging mountain goat; Kiwi cyclist Dion Smith was forced to use moves he didn’t know he had to avoid being knocked off his bike.

In non-goat news, Denmark’s Mads Petersen reclaimed the Giro’s pink leader’s jersey Sunday by winning his second stage, giving him two of the first three stages.

Spain’s Mikel Landa was knocked out of the race in a nasty stage one crash, before being loaded into an ambulance in a neck brace after suffering a broken vertebrae.

Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering won the Vuelta Femenina, aka woman’s Vuelta, for the second consecutive year, cementing her victory by winning the final stage on Saturday,

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Italy’s Vittoria Bussi set a new hour record — for the third time, no less — covering 50.455km, or 31.351miles, in just 60 minutes at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico; that compares to 56.792km, or 25.289, miles for the men’s hour record.

Seriously? The junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège was decided by a motorcycle cop who carelessly swerved into the path of Belgium’s Leander De Gendt during the final sprint, forcing De Gent to duck inside to avoid a crash, and giving the win to British teen Harry Hudson.

Bike Radar examines how Bianchi’s iconic celeste bikes have maintained their winning colors for 125 years.

 

Finally…

One day you’re a distinguished college professor, the next you’re known as the town’s naked cyclist.  Why choose between riding a bike and playing soccer when you can do both?

And if you had Radar Love on your bike riding radar today, here you go.

Remember that song Radar Love by Golden Earring, about driving too fast? Well, here they are.

Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T18:37:36.072Z

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Streets For All’s Schneider confronts mayor’s draconian budget cuts, and DTLA tree-chopper Groft faces 11 felony counts

Day 129 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

In my rush to put up yesterday’s post before I fell asleep at my keyboard, I somehow lost the link to an important Los Angeles Times op-ed from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider.

In it, Schneider took to task the proposed city budget from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, whose draconian cuts would make our already deteriorating and dangerous streets even worse.

By law, the city of Los Angeles must balance its budget every year. But Mayor Karen Bass’ current proposal to do so represents a dystopian nightmare for our streets, sidewalks and public transportation system. The city should correct this mistake as it evaluates the proposed budget in the coming weeks.

Angelenos already live with streets deteriorating faster than we can fix them, sidewalks breaking faster than we can repair them and streetlights going dark faster than we can replace them. A recent audit exposed the city’s utter failure to achieve Vision Zero, after promising 10 years ago to bring down traffic deaths. These things are happening under the existing fiscal year’s budget, which already made draconian cuts across the city. With further cuts, expect even worse service for everyday essentials.

Bass describes this budget as just a worst case scenario, hoping against hope for a deus ex machina bailout from the state from her own budget failures, as legal settlements and unfounded pay raises have put the city a whopping $1 billion in the red.

Without a momentary lifeboat from the cash-strapped state, Bass proposes cutting 1,600 jobs — slashing staffing at LADOT and street services, as well as putting off desperately needed repairs and capital improvements.

And if you think “desperately needed” is an overstatement, you haven’t been on Fairfax Ave lately, where frame-busting bumps make mountain biking seem boring, and ever-growing potholes threaten to swallow entire motor vehicles.

Never mind that the eyes of the world will be on the City of Angels starting next year.

Keep in mind that Los Angeles is also about to be under a spotlight on the world stage. We are hosting eight matches of the World Cup next year and the Olympics in 2028. We shouldn’t be hosting world-class events on streets full of potholes, broken sidewalks and dark streetlights. It’s a terrible image for Los Angeles, and the coming fiscal year’s budget is our last chance to make progress before the events begin.

It’s more than worth the few minutes it takes to read the whole thing. Because this is the battle we have to fight now, if we want to win any of the other street safety fights to come.

Although not everyone seems to agree.

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Bike-riding tree-chopper Samuel Patrick Groft was ordered to stand trial on 11 felony vandalism counts for chopping down 13 trees with his trusty electric chainsaw.

Police describe the 33-year old Groft as homeless with a criminal record, and someone who was known to them before last month’s DTLA chainsaw massacre.

LA’s street tree superintendent estimated the values of felled trees on city-owned property at $175,000, while the value of all 13 trees was set at nearly $350,000.

And bonus points if you knew LA even had a street tree superintendent.

Groft faces up to six-and-a-half years behind bars if convicted on all count. He remains behind bars on $350,000 bond, for which trees in Downtown Los Angeles are undoubtedly grateful.

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Speaking of Streets For All, the street safety PAC’s next virtual happy hour will feature Marissa Roy, candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney.

Although considering what we’ve seen of the incumbent, she already has my vote.

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That feeling when satire is just this side of reality.

NYPD Tickets Dead Cyclist For Obstructing Bike Lane

The Onion (@theonion.com) 2025-05-02T18:30:00.000Z

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

Convenience won out over safety once again, as residents of a wealthy Christchurch, New Zealand suburb successfully defeated a planned bike lane, preferring saving parking spaces to saving lives.

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

A San Francisco website says yes, the city has an ebike problem, but it’s the “glorified e-mopeds,” not the people on bicycles, who are the problem.

Police in Singapore are looking for the schmuck who slapped a 13-year old boy after they crashed their bikes together.

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Local 

Clean Technica says Los Angeles will have to rely on the private sector to have any hope of holding a carfree Olympics.

Metrolink will wave ticket fees for anyone with a bicycle on Thursday’s Bike to Work Day — although you’ll still have to pay to ride Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains.

 

State

When I was a kid, “Your mother rides a bicycle!” was a schoolyard taunt, but Calbike’s Kendra Ramsey recalls it as a badge of honor.

Encinitas is closing a portion of South Coast Highway 101 in the downtown area to cars on May 18th for the Cyclovia Encinitas open streets event.

The CEO of San Diego Youth Services is taking one last great adventure as he rides into retirement, pedaling over 600 miles from San Francisco to San Diego in hopes of raising $250,000 for homeless youths.

Authorities continue to search for any sign of a 27-year old Black woman who disappeared without a trace two weeks ago while e-bikepacking in the Sierra National Forest.

Sad news from Antioch, where a 33-year old man died in the hospital after he reportedly got off his bicycle, and somehow fell into the roadway and into the path of an oncoming car.

 

National

Momentum ranks the top ten cities in the US to enjoy a carfree lifestyle. None of which is Los Angeles.

A team from the University of Washington has developed a small, handlebar-mounted sensor that maps when and where drivers pass closer than four feet to someone on a bicycle, which they found correspond to other indications of poor safety, such as collisions. Although I’d say that a collision is the literal definition of poor safety. 

A Las Vegas bike shop, twice named one of the nation’s top ten bike shops, offers a blast from the past by hosting a virtual museum of vintage, rare and unusual bicycles.

Bicycling examines the strange case of University of Wyoming art professor Nash Quinn, who disappeared last year after riding his singlespeed bike into the wilderness outside of Laramie. But you’ll need a subscription if you want to read it. 

Streetsblog Chicago considers the eternal question of how to convince residents and city officials to support safer street designs.

Donald Trump deflected from tough questions about the failure of the US air traffic control system by mocking former Transportation Secretary Pet Buttigieg for riding his bicycle to work “with his husband on the back.”

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole the Atlanta Magnet Man’s bicycle; Alex Benigno began riding an ebike with a trailer mounted with magnets during the pandemic, pedaling through the city collecting an average of five pounds of metal debris swept from the streets.

 

International

A Canadian woman is attempting to set a new record for riding up and down the full length of the United Kingdom, despite contracting a rare disease when she was 15 that left her unable to walk.

Cyclist introduces Russel Stout, owner of British bespoke aluminum bikemaker Stout Cycles.

That’s more like it. A commercial van driver in the UK was sentenced to 11 years behind bars for killing a bike rider while drinking vodka behind the wheel, and using not one, but two mobile phones; he continued to use his phone for over half a minute as he drove away after the crash, later telling police he thought he’d hit a bird. Must have been a pretty damn big bird, though.

A 51-year old “super fit road cyclist” who had just moved from the UK to France blames the Moderna Covid vaccine for sending her to intensive cardiac care for two weeks, and needing a pacemaker after suffering a complete heart block.

An estimated 10,000 people are expected to ride their bikes tomorrow for Korea’s 2025 Seoul Bike Festival, with riders divided by skill levels, and different speeds set for each.

 

Competitive Cycling

Road.cc asks whether the women’s Vuelta is already over, as Dutch pro Demi Vollering builds a commanding lead while winning her fifth stage.

Speaking of the Olympics, the Olympics website shines a spotlight on Bike for Future, a Rwandan program using bicycles to help young women build transferable skills, while gaining access to education, employment and entrepreneurship.

The small African nation of Benin is making its move to become a cycling power; the country has already produced elite riders like Biniam Girmay, Louis Meintjes, Kim Le Court and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your “beloved” gravel event is demoted to just the fifth-hardest bovine-themed ride held in a lesser wine region. Or when you post a bike ad on Instagram, and get told to focus on your football/soccer team — and wear a hemet.

And of course Bing was one of us.

Singer/actor Bing Crosby shows off the superhero-like riding technique that must have been behind his recording more than 1,600 songs & making over 70 feature films.Happy #BicycleBirthday, Bing! May 3 (1903-1977)

Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2025-05-03T04:00:41.134Z

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Bike rider killed in South LA hit-and-run last month; LAPD just now bothering to tell us and ask for our help

Once again, someone riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver weeks ago.

Yet somehow, we’re only learning about it now.

The LAPD is just now getting around to asking for the public’s help in finding the driver, nearly three weeks later.

The victim, who still has not been publicly identified, was riding their bike north on Central Avenue near 120th Street in South LA around 10 pm on Sunday, April 20th, when they were run down from behind by a speeding driver.

The victim died after being rushed to the hospital.

And that’s all we know.

There’s no description of the suspect vehicle or the driver, or not even the age or sex of the victim. We don’t even know whether the victim has been identified, and if so, why the identification is being withheld.

Which gives us absolutely nothing to go on, other than the time and location, after the police inexplicably waited to release any information until the trail was so cold you could almost see your breath.

And didn’t bother to use the hit-and-run alert systems approved by the city and state a decade ago to try to reduce the epidemic of fleeing drivers.

It also raises the question of how many other people have been killed riding a bicycle — or walking or driving — that they haven’t bothered to tell us about.

And just who decided to keep us in the dark, and why.

Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s South Traffic Division at 213/677-9791, or 877/527-3247 evening or weekends.

As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles. Although it’s unlikely anyone will collect, given the dearth of information and such an extensive delay in asking for the public’s health.

This was at least the 13th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and just the second that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. And it’s the first we know of in the City LA, which seems highly unlikely this far into the year.

This is also the fourth SoCal bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver since the first of the year.

Someone needs to investigate this crap to find out what the hell is going on here.

NYPD’s heavy-handed crackdown on bike riders, pose your bike in front of a relic, and WeHo promises Bike2Work pitstop

Day 128 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

New York bicyclists say the new police crackdown on bike riders is excessive, requiring them to appear in criminal court for violations like rolling a stop light or riding salmon, which are usually just ticketable offenses.

Which isn’t to say those infractions aren’t serious.

But you’re not likely to see a driver get the same treatment for speeding or using a smartphone behind the wheel, even though motor vehicles and the people in them pose significantly more danger to everyone around them.

………

Bike Culver City says take a photo of your favorite bicycle “in front of your favorite relic” at Saturday’s car show, and show ’em which one is really the future of transportation.

Just don’t try to take a picture in front of me, or I’ll wack you with my walker.

Seriously.

………

It looks like we can count on at least one pit stop for Bike to Work Day.

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/1920267878957261259

………

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

Seriously? Life is cheap in New York, where a man caught redhanded sabotaging a mountain bike trail faces a lousy month behind bars, as protectors treat it like a silly prank instead of a serious attempt to injure or kill people on bicycles.

Ontario, Canada will appeal the court order blocking the removal of Toronto’s bike lanes, after the provincial premier had the law changed giving him the power to rip them out.

No bias here. A former British weatherman calls for a law prohibiting “idiotic” bike riding, writing “A speeding bicycle with only a bell as a warning is a dangerous weapon.” Because no one knows more about traffic safety than an ex-TV weather guy. Maybe he’d be happier if we just yelled “Get the f*** out of the way!”

………

Local 

Metro is offering 30 day Metro Bike passes for just one buck during May’s Bike Month, as well as free use of Metro Bike Hubs.

A Streetsblog op-ed urges Metro not to hire Lyft to manage the Metro Bike program, given their demonstrated hostility to mass transit and workers rights.

 

State

A Cardiff letter writer says the protected bike lanes on the Coast Highway are the most dangerous area for bike riders along the entire coast, and it’s not a good look for a local politician to continue to support it despite the dangers.

A Change.org petition is calling for immediate fixes to San Diego’s confusing and chaotic intersection where Park Blvd, El Cajon Blvd and Normal Street converge, with one man saying he feels very exposed riding his bicycle or a Vespa there.

Huh? An Imperial PD captain says a 14-year old was arrested for riding an ebike on a local highway because ebikes aren’t street legal, without explaining why this particular ebike wasn’t. Because most electric bicycles and electric motorcycles are both very street legal, although 14-year olds aren’t allowed to ride some of them; only illegally modified ebikes and those that violate California’s ebike regulations are banned.

Police in Goleta wrote 100 citations to drivers last month for violating the state’s hands-free cellphone law. Just imagine how many tickets they could write if they actually tried, since the feds estimate that 6.4% of all drivers are using a handheld phone at any given moment. Which seems like a massive undercount, given how many drivers you can see using one just riding a bike or standing on any given street. 

A San Luis Obispo bike rider was lucky to escape with non-life threatening injuries after being struck by the driver of a pickup while walking their bike in a bike lane, and dragged 30 feet under the driver’s truck; the driver was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence of narcotics.

A 33-year old driver was booked on charges of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run after police tracked him down for killing a 53-year old man riding a bicycle in Visalia over the weekend.

The San Francisco Examiner continues its focus on the failure of San Francisco’s Vision Zero, as a new report says the city lost $2.5 billion over five years due to traffic collisions.

Work is nearly finished on moving San Francisco’s highly unpopular Valencia Street bike lanes from the center of the street to the curb.

 

National

This is who we share the road with. A road-raging Oregon driver is under arrest after intentionally swerving his car into a motorcyclist in the next lane and knocking him off the highway, in an attack caught on dashcam from a trailing truck.

An Arizona judge refused a defense request to dismiss 11 of the 12 misdemeanor charges against Pedro Quintana-Lujan, the commercial driver slammed his truck into a group of bicyclists in Goodyear AZ, killing two people and injuring 19 others. As if misdemeanor counts weren’t already a gift, after the DA refused to file felony charges.

An Albuquerque TV station remembers the woman credited with founding the city’s bicycle advocacy efforts; she passed away in 2010, just months before the bike and pedestrian bridge name for her opened.

The US Forest Service wants ebike riders to bail out their $380,000 in red ink for Colorado’s Maroon Bells, with a proposal to charge everyone on a electric bicycle $5 to access the area. That’s half of the entry fee for drivers, even though people on ebikes don’t cause any significant damage to the roadway or the environment, unlike the people in the big, dangerous and yes, stinky machines.

A Wyoming woman considers why bicyclists trigger road rage for some drivers, after encountering punishment passes and a driver rolling coal on an Idaho highway, concluding that it’s just prejudice against the “other.”

After a Pennsylvania woman ordered groceries from Uber Eats, she was shocked when the delivery man showed up riding an ebike, so she tracked him down through social media, and established a crowdfunding campaign to get his car fixed so he didn’t have to ride a bike anymore. Although he’s probably better off on the bicycle. 

According to an Alabama arsenal, the US Army is challenging military members to ride their bikes 1,000 kilometers, or 621 miles, over the next four months, which works out to an easy five miles a day.

A Haitian immigrant will spend the rest of his life behind bars, with no possibility of parole, after pleading no contest to the stabbing death of a married couple as their were riding their bikes back home from Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida three years ago.

 

International

Bike Radar offers a complete guide to buying a secondhand ebike. Which beats the hell out of waiting for California’s moribund ebike voucher program.

Frustrated Winnipeg, Manitoba bike riders are complaining about the city’s new  speed limits for bicyclists on bike paths, instead of doing anything about the speeding drivers on a road where a man riding a bicycle was killed almost a year ago.

A British doctor won a £4.5 million settlement, the equivalent of nearly $6 million, after he was paralyzed when the carbon fork of his Planet X gravel bike sheared in two on a grassy hillside.

A writer for Cycling Weekly explains how she managed a six-day gravel ride through Sri Lanka, even though she didn’t own a gravel bike, and had only ridden a total of 29 miles in the previous ten months — and with just six weeks to train.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colombian cyclist Miguel Ángel López lost his appeal against a four-year ban for doping in the international Court of Arbitration for Sport; Ángel López was caught using and holding Menotropin, a female fertility drug that can stimulate production of testosterone in men, during the 2022 Giro. But the era of doping is over, right?

Geraint Thomas, 2018 Tour de France champ, looks forward to one final TdF before he retires after the Tour of Britain.

US cycling legend Dave Zabriskie, the first American to win stages in all three Grand Tours, is launching a “groundbreaking initiative focused on concussion recovery and long-term cognitive health” called Cognitive Protocol, saying he learned the hard way that you can’t ride through a concussion.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you go riding through Moroccan deserts in search of camels. Apparently, race motos are no longer the most dangerous problem with pro cycling, interfering fans are.

And now you, too, can own your very own plastic Volvo bicycle for the low, low price of just $133.

Even if it is a featured exhibit in Sweden’s Museum of Failure.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

More non-CicLAvia open streets events, San Diego bike lane one of America’s best, and more Trumpian bike tariff fallout

Day 127 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

As we mentioned yesterday, Long Beach will close a pair of streets to cars, while opening them up to everyone else this Saturday with the return of the city’s popular Beach Streets.

The closures will affect Willow Street from Santa Fe Ave to Long Beach Blvd, and southbound Santa Fe Ave from Willow Street to 20th Street, apparently leaving northbound Santa Fe to the people in the big, dangerous machines.

According to the Press-Telegram,

“The Beach Streets West event will include multiple live performances along the event route, including DJ Otro Patrick Miller on the Willow Street bridge overlooking the I-710 Freeway,” the city said, “DJ Desirable D on the corner of Willow Street and Santa Fe Avenue, and DJ Dennis Owens at Long Beach Beer Lab.”

Various local businesses, community groups, and business districts will also host various activities along the Beach Streets route.

Meanwhile. Glendale will followup with with an open streets event of their own at the end of the month.

Here’s what their press release has to say.

Let’s Go Glendale is Southern California’s newest open streets event which will transform a portion of S. Glendale Ave. into a car-free space on Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The community is invited to explore the area on foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any other way that moves you. Presented by Metro and produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS), Let’s Go Glendale is a free and open event that welcomes people of all ages to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets.

The event features a full schedule of activities along the vehicle-free route filled with arts and cultural performances, civic booths, interactive activities, food trucks, free water, first aid, bike repair and information on local programs. Glendale’s streets will come alive with music and dance from groups such as the all-female mariachi band, Las Colibrí, Armenian folk group, Lernazang Ensemble and Herbert Hoover High School’s Hoover Tornado Marching Band plus Herbert Hoover Jazz. Students from Cerritos, Marshall and Mann Elementary schools will present poetry readings throughout the day. Attendees can also connect and learn more about the city services with representatives from Community Services & Parks, Verdugo Jobs Center, Glendale Fire Department, Bookmobile, the Glendale General Plan Update, the Garden River Bridge Project and much more.

Let’s Go Glendale will be held on 1.3 miles of streets closed to car traffic through S. Glendale Ave. between Lexington Dr. and Chevy Chase Dr. Street closures begin at 6 a.m. with full route closures in place by 9 a.m. The streets are open to participants from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the route will be fully returned to cars by approximately 6 p.m.

For more information and a complete route map visit, LetsGoGlendale.com or interact via Facebook and Instagram. #LetsGoGlendale

Photo of Las Colibrí provided by Community Arts Resources, via Let’s Go Glendale press release.

………

Momentum highlights the country’s best new bikeways, which show the rest of the country how it’s done.

None of which are in Los Angeles, of course. But San Diego’s Pershing Bikeway made the list.

Winding through Balboa Park and connecting the North Park neighborhood to downtown, the 2.3-mile Pershing Bikeway is a marquee example of how cities can design for safety and comfort. Developed by SANDAG as part of its Regional Bike Plan, the Pershing Bikeway includes one-way and two-way protected lanes, a separate bike path, and dramatically improved intersections. A newly constructed 75-foot bridge, a traffic-calming roundabout, and pedestrian crossing upgrades—including 70 new street lights—underscore the emphasis on accessibility and visibility. The project’s years-long journey from planning to construction involved extensive public input and overcame initial opposition from motorists concerned about traffic flow.

………

More on Trump’s tariffs, as a New Jersey bike company and major Walmart supplier is halting imports from China after paying a whopping $3.1 million in tariffs in just one month.

According to former Kent International CEO Arnold Kamler, because of the tariffs, a Chinese-made wheel that would have cost between $10 and $12 now costs about $30.

And making the same parts in the US would be even worse.

“I can’t even calculate that high,” Kramer said about what he thinks a bike would cost to produce here. “I’ll just tell you one quick story. There was a company that came to us a couple years ago. They wanted to make handlebars for us. Now we used to make our own handlebar for about a dollar-and-a-half, and we saved some money by buying it from Asia. And this company took three months to give me the quotation for a simple BMX handlebar. And the price came back at $12. I said, ‘$12? It’s about 80 cents of steel. How could you be?’ ‘Well, there’s a lot of work.’ And I said, ‘OK, thank you, you can lose my number.’ So, you can take that (as) kind of (an) example…I mean, a $100-bicycle here would be a $1,000 if all the parts were made here right now.”

Which would seemingly put it out of reach for the typical Walmart customer.

Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs don’t seem to be having any negative effect on Chinese bikemakers yet, with the only real pain felt by American companies.

That’s because bicycle imports to the US are down 17% in anticipation of the tariffs, while worldwide exports from Chinese bike manufacturers rose more than 15% thanks to strong demand from Europe and other areas.

………

Gravel bike California visits the Sea Otter Classic.

………

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

No surprise here, as British bike riders complain about harsher penalties directed their way, arguing that it’s about getting populist votes and not safety — especially since drivers get away with the same things “on a daily basis.”

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports on last week’s successful die-in on the steps of City Hall to protest the failure of Vision Zero — and the third straight year that traffic deaths have exceeded murders in Los Angeles.

Walk ‘n Rollers founder Jim Shanman will host a free workshop on bike commuting for adults on Friday morning at the Helms Building in Culver City, just in time for next week’s Bike to Work Day

 

State

The Orange County Register posts their favorite photos from the past month, including an adorable shot of toddlers testing out their balance bikes on the opening day of the San Clemente Pump Track.

The Times of San Diego says it’s great that the city approved an ambitious mobility plan, but there’s currently no money to fund most of it.

Rescuers are searching for a missing 27-year old black woman who disappeared on a bikepacking tour in the Huntington Lake area, and was last seen at last seen at a general store in Shaver Lake on April 24th; Tiffany Slaton was headed for Mono Hot Springs on a blue Lectric ebike puling a red and yellow trailer.

Sad news from San Joaquin County, where a 56-year old man was killed in a hit-and run while riding his bike, after the driver left him in a ditch to die.

SF Gate suggests the best bike bags for commuting and adventure bicycling, each and every one “tested across rain, dust, potholes and city traffic.”

 

National

A man raised over $700,000 for the Ronald McDonald Charities by riding 4,600 miles across the US, a decade after the organization helped his family after his daughter fell into a four-month coma from a rare brain disease.

A Reno website explains and endorses a new Stop as Yield bill in the state legislature, which would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields, but would not apply to riders on ebikes.

Here’s one for your more casual bike bucket list, with Colorado’s 21-mile Clear Creek Trail offering an urban refuge from the home of Coors Beer to the Denver suburbs.

A Nebraska county commission is standing in the way of a long-planned bikeway connecting the 60 miles between Lincoln and Omaha, after rejecting all the proposed routes through the county.

Streetsblog says the NYPD’s new crackdown on bicyclists has unleashed the worst instincts of individual cops, who shamelessly ticket riders for the slightest infraction — including one rider cited for disorderly conduct and failing to yield to a pedestrian when a cop stepped directly in front of him, forcing him to swerve around him, then stopping to yell at the cop for risking his safety.

An electronic dance music website remembers influential EDM synthwave  producer Starcadian, aka George Smaragdis, after he was killed in a dooring in New York last week.

A kindhearted Virginia cop bought a new bike for a young boy he met while responding to a call, after the boy told him he wasn’t riding bikes with his friends because his bike had been thrown away when he left it outside.

Former pro football and baseball star Bo Jackson held his final Bo Bikes Bama fundraising bike tour to benefit Alabama’s Emergency Relief Fund, calling it a day after 14 years.

 

International

A cycling coach and an expert bike fitter decry the lack of improvements in women’s bike seats, 30 years after research studies highlighted the medical issues women bike riders still face.

Bicycle advocates in Winnipeg, Manitoba turned out to protest the delay of a city report on safety improvements on a road where a bike rider was killed by a driver doing 100 mph nearly a year ago. Something Los Angeles seldom, if ever, does.

A British bicycle insurance company examines the understated details that make bicycling in the Netherlands so convenient.

More on the horrific solo bike crash that injured a Welsh woman riding on a beachfront bike path, as firefighter had to cut her free from her mangled bicycle after a handlebar penetrated her thigh.

Dublin, Ireland is experiencing the same problem as virtually every other city that builds bike lanes, but doesn’t provide the funding to keep them clean.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling explains when and how to watch the Professional Road National Championships later this month, with the elite men’s and women’s crit and road races live-streamed on FloBikes.

Australia’s Caleb Ewan shocked the cycling community by unexpectedly calling it a career after 11 years, with a record that includes five stage wins at the Tour de France, another five at the Giro and nine stages at the Tour Down Under, as well as two second-place finished at Milan Sanremo.

Six years after Colorado’s last pro cycling race, a British company is attempting to bring the pro peloton back to the state with a five-stage race beginning in 2026; the challenge is overcoming declining sponsorship revenue and increasing costs, as well as finding space in the crowded pro racing calendar.

A Utah website asks “Who are the top American pro cyclists.Which is a question a lot of us have been asking lately. 

An Escape Collective podcast goes back in time to examine the shotgun shooting of America’s last remaining Tour de France winner, before Greg LeMond’s near miraculous comeback to win the race two more times.

The London Times introduces 28-year old British cyclist Paul Double as he prepares to make his Grand Tour debut in the Giro, after coming up the hard way competing in Italy.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can get paid to take potentially performance-enhancing painkillers, while doing your part for science.

And why wait for the city to finally get around to installing speed bumps when you can just buy the damn thing yourself?

Thanks to Tim Rutt for the heads-up.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Open Streets season opens, alleged drunk driver with suspended license kills teen fire refugee, and key bike bills in suspense

Day 126 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s open streets season again.

The City of Bell kicked things off on Saturday with a one-mile carfree event on Gage Ave; as usual, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos capturing the day.

Long Beach is hosting its next Beach Streets event from 10 am and 5 pm this Saturday.

According to a press release from the city,

This year’s event route will feature Willow Street and Santa Fe Avenue. Entertainment hubs along the route will feature live music, a kid zone, food trucks and more. More information regarding this year’s event, including a more detailed event route, entertainment, activities and other highlights, will be provided by the City at a later date.

That will be followed by the year’s first CicLAmini the following Saturday, a CicLAvia-style event with a shorter route to encourage people to walk rather than ride their bikes.

Here’s how their press release describes it.

Come enjoy a more pedestrian-oriented, car-free experience at CicLAvia’s 60th Open Streets event, CicLAminiPico Union, taking place on Sunday, May 18, between 10 a.m.–3 p.m. The public is invited to enjoy this compact neighborhood route for the day to explore Pico Union along Pico Blvd between Normandie and Union Aves. For all ages and abilities, CicLAminiPico Union offers walkers, joggers, bikers, skaters, and those who simply want to play with one’s favorite people-powered way to enjoy this 1.4-mile unique “pop-up park.” Always free, CicLAvia participants just show up anywhere along the route at any time to enjoy the open streets and to take the time to explore one of the most historic neighborhoods in all of Los Angeles…

CicLAminiPico Union includes two hubs, where you’ll find the essentials, community partners, resource booths, photo ops, and more, plus activities for all ages sprinkled throughout the route. CicLAvia encourages participants to jog, walk, ride, skate, and bike along the open space. Free pedicab rides are also available next to each information booth to ensure that everyone, regardless of age or ability, is able to enjoy open streets. Please visit the CicLAvia website for updates regarding local gems, additional activities, and specials offered by local businesses along the route.

………

Sadly, no surprise here.

Word broke yesterday that the woman who killed a popular Loyola high school senior just a month before graduation was driving on a suspended license due to a 2023 DUI.

And yes, she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence once again after the early morning collision on Sunday, as Levi Braun was walking with a friend along Sepulveda Blvd in Manhattan Beach.

Which means 33-year old Jenia Belt could face a murder charge, assuming she signed the required Watson notice informing her she could be charged with murder if she killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

She’s currently being held without bail in Manhattan Beach.

Compounding the tragedy, the 18-year old Levi, a three-year captain of his high school tennis team and four year league tennis champ, was living in Manhattan Beach because his family’s home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.

This is yet another tragic example of the many people who continue to drive — and yes, drive under the influence — after their licenses are suspended.

We will never know just how many of those we share the road with are driving without a license, because only a handful ever get caught. But even one is one too many.

It’s not enough to take away a driver’s license. We also need to impound or immobilize the driver’s car until they get their license back.

It’s clear that nothing else will stop a percentage of suspended drivers — perhaps a sizable percentage — from getting back behind the wheel anyway.

………

Streetsblog offers a disappointing legislative update, with most of the bills benefiting bike riders placed in the suspension file.

Which means they could be revived, but it’s usually just a way to kill a bill without leaving fingerprints, so no one can be blamed for it.

To make matters worse, AB 697, which would allow SR 37 to be widened between Vallejo and SR 121 in Sonoma County moved forward, even though the project would run through protected habitats and wetlands, while endangering protected species.

Widening the highway also runs against California’s climate policies. Although it does make me wonder if we could get bicyclists and pedestrians added to California’s endangered species list.

And whether that would make any difference, given this misguided bill.

………

A group of cops and their loved ones are riding over 800 miles through the heart of California to honor fallen officers.

According to the Santa Clarita Signal, the group stopped in the city to hold a ceremony at the SCV Sheriff’s Station to honor of officers who died in the line of duty.

Law Enforcement United is a group of federal, state and local officers, along with survivors who pedal their bikes to remember the surviving families, according to Rich Gallo, long-ride division director of Law Enforcement United.

“We started in San Francisco on April 30; we’ll end in San Diego on May 7. That’s 851 miles since we went via Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Bakersfield to Tehachapi and now into Santa Clarita. Tomorrow, we’ll do the circuit through and around Los Angeles and then down into Camp Pendleton into San Diego,” Gallo said.

………

Thanks to John Cinatl for forwarding this item from Safe Routes to School announcing their annual summit this fall.

Get ready to connect, collaborate, and chart a path forward at the 2025 Safe Routes to School Virtual Summit! The 2025 Summit is completely virtual, and early bird tickets are now on sale for just $99!

We’re planning three days of engaging presentations, hands-on trainings, and educational conversations focused on topics that matter most to Safe Routes practitioners, including:

  • Quick win projects
  • Rural Safe Routes programs
  • E-bike safety and education
  • Walking school buses and bike trains
  • Creative partnerships
  • …and so much more!

Speakers are currently being confirmed, but you can expect useful tools, inspiring stories, and a community working to make walking and rolling safer and more accessible for communities throughout the country!

Early bird ticketing closes July 4, 2025!
Don’t miss this deal: register now!

………

Yep. That about sums it up.

Thanks to someone who wishes to remain anonymous for the forward.

………

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

No surprise here. A British road safety expert says a new law that imposing life in prison for bike riders who kill pedestrians is unlikely to significantly improve safety, especially when the biggest threat comes from speeding drivers.

But sometimes its the people on two wheels behaving badly.   

Police in Dorsett, England are already spaying scofflaw riders of ebikes, quad bikes and motorbikes with fluorescent paint in order to identify and ticket them later, as part of a pilot project.

………

Local 

This is who we share the road with. A man in his 70s somehow drove through the security gate at the home of Friends and The Morning Show star Jennifer Anniston, and was held at gunpoint by security guards until police arrived; at last report, there was still no word on whether the act was intentional.

Culver City issued a proclamation in support of Bike Month. Which unfortunately didn’t include restoring the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes they ripped out, which is probably the only proclamation most of us want to hear from them.

ActiveSGV hosts a three-hour Bikes and Boats Tour this Saturday; the ride will explore the San Gabriel River Bike Path, the Whittier Narrows Recreational Area and the Merced Ave Greenway project, as well as including a free 30-minute paddle boat ride at Legg Lake. Although we all remember what happened with the last three-hour tour. Right, Gilligan?

 

State

Police in Westminster will hold a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that could endanger either group. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits so you’re not the one who gets written up. 

Redding says forget the state’s failed ebike voucher program, and get one of that city’s $1000 ebike vouchers instead.

 

National

Pee Wee Herman’s iconic cruiser bike from 1985’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure was sold to a private collector for $125,000. Which was over twice the estimated price, and a hell of a lot less than I thought it was worth.

Popular ebike maker E-Cells was the latest bikemaker to bite the dust, bringing the company’s all-wheel-drive, extremely high performance fat tire ebikes to a grinding halt, in part because of Trump’s 170% tariffs on Chinese-made bikes.

A judge in Queens, New York dismissed a lawsuit from a group of Long Island business owners, clearing the way for a protected bike lane through an industrial area that will probably improve safety for their drivers, as well as people on bicycles.

 

International

An Ontario, Canada website reminisces about those halcyon days of North America’s first bicycle craze.

Speaking of Ontario, a small town is celebrating its new crossrides, as opposed to crosswalks, allowing bicyclists to cross the intersection without dismounting. Or, go with me on this, they could just allow bicycles to use the already existing crosswalks.

Bicyclists in Northern Ireland decry the country’s dramatic and dangerous jump in drivers illegally parking in bike lanes.

A Welsh website recommends the rugged, jaw-dropping hiking and biking trails around the UK’s tallest dam that you’ve probably never heard of.

Stars & Stripes warns US service members about Japan’s new restrictions on bicyclists, making it illegal to ride salmon, ride abreast or ride using a smartphone. So much for using your phone’s GPS.

Three thousand people turned out for a race/fondo on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with elite teams competing for the win, and leisurely bicyclists just out for the ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sports Illustrated celebrates Colorado’s three-day Durango to Silverton Iron Horse Classic, calling the festival founded in 1971 America’s second-oldest bicycling event. Although it’s kind of sad that the second oldest bike event is only 54-years old, which says a lot about this country’s inability to sustain bike races and other bike events. 

My home state scored big in the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, as Colorado Mesa University and the University of Colorado Boulder won the team omnium titles.

 

Finally…

That feeling when an AI written story wants to give California’s $2,000 ebike vouchers to motorists. Or when just riding your bike without a satnav is somehow a big deal.

And your next bike seat could rock and roll each of your buns separately.

No, really.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Officials stonewall on ebike voucher fiasco, and CA Supreme Court rules cities are obligated to maintain safe streets

Day 125 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Once again, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff McDonald is on the story of the massive California Ebike Voucher Program fiasco.

And he sounds as frustrated with all the stonewalling as we are.

State officials have not explained why the enrollment program keeps crashing. Instead, a department spokesperson acknowledged the errors and said the board is committed to figuring out what went wrong and doing a more effective job going forward…

A San Diego charity called Pedal Ahead won the state e-bike contract in 2022. The entity was founded by former political consultant and FBI informant Edward Clancy, who also set up a for-profit company with the same name.

No one from Pedal Ahead responded to requests for comment…

Clancy, who left Pedal Ahead last year, has not replied to multiple requests for comment since the civil and criminal investigations were disclosed. His successor, Scott Anderson, also has not responded to requests.

Aside from all the “no comment” comments, McDonald’s story is probably the best insight we’re going to get into what the hell is going on with this clown show, at least for now.

And there’s no word on when — or honestly, if — we’ll get a redo on the 2nd application window, which suddenly slammed shut on everyone who had somehow managed to get through the crashed website into the application waiting room.

As I said last week, at least part of the problem was opening the window for just one hour, then encouraging everyone to apply early — virtually ensuring they would overwhelm the apparently meager servers and crash the system.

And yes, McDonald had the excellent good taste to quote yours truly.

But you’ll have to read the story to get my take.

Thank you to CARB and Pedal Ahead for allowing me to dig out my favorite fail photo one more time.

………

In a big win for bike riders, the California Supreme Court found that cities have a legal responsibility to maintain safe streets, ruling that they can’t rely on liability waivers to avoid responsibility for dangerous road conditions.

The case involved cyclist Ty Whitehead, who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a charity training ride after hitting a large, obscured pothole on Skyline Boulevard in Oakland. Although Whitehead had signed a release form as part of the event, the Court ruled that such waivers cannot excuse a city from its statutory duty to maintain safe public roads. The Court unanimously found that exempting cities from liability in these cases violates California Civil Code section 1668, which prohibits contracts that waive responsibility for a violation of the law…

The ruling clarifies that municipal liability cannot be sidestepped through fine print and reaffirms that cyclists are entitled to the same legal protections as any other road user. It is especially significant at a time when more Californians are choosing bicycles for health, transportation, and environmental reasons.

That means that if you hit a pothole or crack in the road, or if safety markings are worn or missing, the city could be legally responsible for any injuries, even with a liability waiver.

And I know some damn good lawyers if you ever need one.

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Speaking of potholes, Streets For All urges you to take action to fight the Mayor’s disaster of a budget.

And don’t get me started on the pitted and cracked hellscape that is Fairfax Ave.

Meanwhile, the street safety PAC applauds CD5 Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky for supporting the ongoing call to reopen the gate blocking bicycle access to the Los Angeles National Cemetery, which would allow bike riders to safely avoid deadly Wilshire Blvd near the 405.

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This site has long supported Bike Talk and their work to give a voice to bike riders here in Los Angeles, and throughout the US.

Here’s your chance to support them, too — and get a great bonus in return.

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

New York bicyclists will now risk a criminal summons requiring them to appear in court for minor offenses like running a stop light or stop sign, as the city naturally responds to the jump in traffic violence by blaming the victims. Thanks to Robert Karwasky for the heads-up. 

No surprise here, as British commenters blame the victim for not riding in the bike lane, after a van driver honked his horn and clipped the man with his wing mirror in a brutal punishment pass.

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Local 

Crosstown says walking in Los Angeles is becoming increasingly deadlier, with 39 pedestrians killed on the streets and sidewalks of LA through April 12th of this year, up 50% from a decade ago — and they point the finger, as so many others have, at the city’s failure to fully implement Vision Zero.

Last year was also the deadliest on record for animals in the City of Angels, according to Crosstown.

The Sierra Club says the bicycling community — and Los Angeles-based ex-pro cyclist Phil Gaimon in particular — is becoming some of the most passionate protectors of our public lands; Gaimon is also the host of the Worst Retirement Ever YouTube series and the annual Phil’s Cookie Fondo in the Santa Monica Mountains.

 

State

San Diego residents are encouraged to ride somewhere, anywhere on May 15th for Bike Anywhere Day.

A San Diego security cam captured a man and woman stealing a pair of bicycles worth a combined $27,000 from a well-known figure in the city’s bicycling community. Although I can think of a lot better things to do on a date.

Sad news from Visalia, where a 53-year old man was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

More tariff news, as a Visalia couple started a custom ebike business with bikes from Australia, but made with parts from China — which subjects them to a whopping 170% tariff that went into effect after they placed their order.

A San Francisco website introduces the city’s “anti-profit” community bike shop.

 

National

Momentum lists the top ten bicycling cities in the US, according to figures from Strava. And despite everything, Los Angeles actually made the list at #9, with an average commute of 9.5 miles. So much for all those people who say no one would ever bike more than three miles to work, if at all.

National Public Radio looks at Portland’s monthly bike commuting tradition of breakfast on the bridges.

Portland bicyclists came out for a ride to celebrate Star Wars Day, aka May the 4th, many dressed in the appropriate costumes.

Over 1,100 people were left disappointed when the annual L’Etape Las Vegas by Tour de France was cancelled due to heavy rain and unsafe road conditions.

The attorney for a 13-year-old New Mexico boy convicted in the thrill-kill death of a bike-riding man while driving a stolen car says he hopes the boy will be reformed during his time behind bars; the boy received the maximum penalty for a juvenile, sentenced to remain behind bars unto he turns 21.

Colorado-based mountain bikemaker Revel Bikes could soon rise from the dead, following hints of new ownership less than a month after they went belly-up.

Local Queens residents turned out to protest plans to ban bikes from the boardwalk in New York’s Rockaway Beach.

A New York newsletter examines what’s being done to protect bike riders and pedestrians, after a recent rash of traffic deaths.

A whopping 30,000 people took over the streets of New York for New York’s 47th annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour, possibly the world’s largest charity ride.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The popular and influential synthwave artist known as “Starcadian” was killed in a dooring in New York; 44-year old George Smaragdis slammed into the door of a Mercedes when the driver flung it open, then fell under a delivery box truck. And no, I don’t know what synthwave is, either.

Now the trees are out to get us, too, as a Pennsylvania bike rider learned the hard way.

Sad news from North Carolina, where an 18-year-old Mormon missionary was killed, and another rider injured, when they were struck by a driver who literally ran away from the crash.

 

International

Road.cc reviews a $332 anti-axel grinder bike lock, but somehow doesn’t bother to test whether it actually resists one.

Awful news from Wales, where a woman was somehow entrapped by and impaled on her bicycle after falling on a coastal bike path.

Speaking of Wales, a 35-year old man completed a ride halfway around the world, covering over 14 months, 26 countries and 16,250 miles from Cardiff to Australia’s New South Wales.

An English mayor is riding 300 miles from St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, England to St. Neot in Cornwall, Wales, in hopes of repairing a 1,000-year old rift between the two identically named towns that began with the theft of the saint’s bones from the Welsh church.

Inmates at a London prison are being schooled as bicycle mechanics, giving a new hope for the future for “bikes and blokes with a past.”

A Parisian woman finds her place amid the bicycling ghosts from the past. Meanwhile, National Geographic explains how to tour the City of Lights from a bicycle seat like a local. But it will cost you your email to read it.

Sad news from Northern Italy, where a 31-year old top level amateur cyclist died after losing control on a descent and crashing into a wall during the Granfondo di Bergamo.

A writer for Travel + Leisure claims to have found Europe’s most peaceful summer adventure by riding 160 miles through the 20,000 islands of the Finland archipelago.

A European website examines the things you can and can’t do while riding in Spain, where the rain falls mostly on the plain. Or so I’ve heard.

A newspaper in Malta says flimsy painted bike lanes are the wrong way to protect bike riders, but protected and/or elevated bike lanes are the right way.

That feeling when you ride 560 miles across a Kazakh lake without setting foot on dry land. Or wheels, for that matter.

 

Competitive Cycling

The women’s Vuelta a España, aka La Vuelta Femenina, kicked off Sunday with a team time trial through the streets of Barcelona. But it nearly didn’t, amid the chaos caused by a delayed UCI inspection, when the Movistar Team showed up late and only one of the two judges was available, forcing two Visma-Lease a Bike riders to miss the start.

Road.cc makes the argument for why UCI should allow F1-style bicycles designed just for pro cyclists, and not built for or sold to the general public.

One of the best things about bicycling is when you pick you a stray bike rider along the way — alike falling in with Jonas Vingegaard on a training ride.

A new book tells the story of the legendary French cyclist Jacques Anquetil, aka “Monsieur Chrono,” the first man to win all three Grand Tours and the first five-time winner of the Tour de France.

American cycling legend Bobby Julich says your local crit is what draws new cycling fans into the sport.

 

Finally…

Why cats land on their feet, and your bike doesn’t fall over when you ride. We may have to watch out for LA drivers who dart out of side streets, but at least we don’t have to worry t-boning a darting deer.

And that feeling when your dog sticks the landing, too.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Waymo claims autonomous cabs protect peds and bike riders, and tariffs endanger threatened American bike industry

Day 122 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Waymo says that after five years in use, their autonomous taxis are up to 25 times safer for bike riders and pedestrians than the vehicles with people behind the wheel.

The company’s cars have completed 56.7 million miles in operation, resulting in a total of 96 crashes with just four serious injuries.

That compares with an average of roughly 78 serious injury crashes over the same distance for human drivers.

I took my first ride in a Waymo  yesterday, and while appreciated the way it braked when necessary due to cars pulling out in front of it, I ended up getting carsick due to the frequent turns to avoid major streets.

No stars, would not recommend.

Photo from Waymo website

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More bad tariff news, as an open letter from People For Bikes warns that Trump’s tariffs will have “devastating impacts” on the already endangered bicycle industry if they aren’t adjusted in the short term.

And went on to point out that companies already assembling bikes in the US are struggling to survive.

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

A Washington State bike rider reported being shot with a BB gun by someone in a passing car, suffering injuries on his thigh and stomach. Which police should take just as seriously as any other drive-by shooting, considering the possibility of permanent injuries or a deadly crash.

No bias here. The BBC staged an “us versus them” debate on the hostility faced by bike riders, asking listeners “Is public sympathy for cyclists wearing thin?”

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Local 

Lime is planning to add 2,000 dockless ebikes across the Los Angeles area, adding to the company’s thousands of e-scooters, calling it the start of a new green era in preparation for the 2028 Olympics. Although the way things are going in Los Angeles, it may be the about only green transportation for the Olympics.

Metro Bike Share is hosting a Westwood to the Waves community bike ride on Sunday, and a Stronger Tides, Stronger Community ride from Mar Vista to Venice on Saturday, May 10th.

Pasadena police will conduct a bicycle safety operation on Friday, May 16th, focusing on behaviors and violations by drivers that put people on bicycles at risk — although once again, it’s illegal to target any one particular group, rather than all road users.

 

State

The owner of specialty fire-glass manufacturer SAFTI FIRST donated 50 new mountain bikes to UC Merced, which will be distributed to several campus organizations including the bike club and the campus bicycle loaner program.

The San Mateo Daily Journal examines the reasons behind an increase in bicycling crashes in urban areas. And for once, the people on two wheels don’t get the blame. 

A pair of San Francisco LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS organizations will host competing fundraising stage rides to Sonoma County next year, in the wake of the demise of the annual AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Novato-based Santa Cruz Bicycles is recalling the batteries for their Heckler 9 Ebikes due to a risk of fires.

 

National

Oregon Republicans want to eliminate funding for all transit, rail and bicycle programs, requiring the state transportation department to focus on its “core mission” to support car and truck drivers. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up. 

Colorado is implementing a two-year, $167 million to fix the deadly nine-mile Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont, where 17-year old US National Cycling Team member Magnus White was killed by a sleep-deprived, possibly intoxicated driver two years ago.

As the Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator nears the end of its first session, an Ozarks public radio station talks with one of its first beneficiaries as he works to bring the world’s lightest bike lock to market.

If you build it, they will come. New York built or upgraded a record 110 miles of protected bike lanes, resulting in a record level of ridership, with an estimated 226 million bicycling trips each year across the city. Meanwhile, Los Angeles built less than 107 miles of bike lanes of any type over the last three fiscal years. And has no idea how many bike trips are taken in the city each year. 

 

International

Momentum recommends the best North American rail trails to ride this summer, one of which is actually in (Northern) California.

Road.cc highlights a handful of innovative bike security solutions. I’ll take than underground bike parking vault, please.

Speaking of Lime, a writer for Road.cc says it’s time to stop whining about the dockless ebikes blighting neighborhoods and crowding out regular bike riders, because they’re “currently the jewel in Britain’s diminutive active travel crown.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist talks with Spanish ultra-endurance cyclist and runner Juan Dual, who has competed in some of the world’s toughest races, despite having his large intestine, rectum, stomach and gall bladder removed due to a genetic condition causing cancer of the digestive system.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you drop four grand on a Canyon bike on Amazon, and can’t even get next day delivery. Listen my children and you shall hear, of a bunch of people on bicycles re-enacting the midnight ride of Paul Revere.

And that feeling when you somehow manage to sideswipe a parked bus on your ebike.

https://twitter.com/UB1UB2/status/1917566094618829148?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1917566094618829148%7Ctwgr%5Ef063c8238e5fccdd64da3b6ea46151197f8f3f95%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftransport%2Fcyclist-injury-lime-bike-shoreditch-tfl-london-bus-b1225450.html

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.