Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Driver backs over Brit bike rider, Bay Area bicyclist erases BLM message, and Willis, Hart and Usher are one of us, too

August 4, 2020 / / Comments Off on Driver backs over Brit bike rider, Bay Area bicyclist erases BLM message, and Willis, Hart and Usher are one of us, too

The joys of puppyhood.

Our teething new corgi puppy jumped up to give me a kiss, then snatched my glasses off my face and ran off with them before I could stop her Monday night.

So if I miss any major typos in today’s post, blame trying to see through a badly chewed lens.

That said, it’s a light news day, so let’s jump right in.

Today’s photo, the new intern discovers how it must feel when Godzilla destroys Tokyo.

And my glasses. 

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

A British bike rider suffered significant injuries when a road raging driver backed over him in a deliberate attack.

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

A Concorde man stopped his bike to repeatedly erase a chalk sidewalk message in support of Black Lives Matter, telling the woman who wrote it not to “deface” the sidewalks of his neighborhood. Even though it’s her neighborhood, too. And in front of her house.

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Local

Bruce Willis is one of us, and back in Brentwood after isolating in Idaho with his family.

Kevin Hart and very pregnant wife Eniko are both one of us, too. And so is their yet-to-be-born kid.

Usher is one of us, as he buys a bike rack for his Tesla. And has it mounted in front of a WeHo fetish shop that should be familiar to anyone who rides Santa Monica Blvd.

South Pasadena will vote on the city’s draft bike plan at tomorrow’s council meeting; comments are due by noon Wednesday.

Take an augmented reality tour of the LA River.

 

State

A San Francisco family financed their dream of moving to Washington’s Whidbey Island by riding bikes, walking and taking public transit.

 

National

Bicycling talks to several long-distance bike tourers about what gear they take along for the ride. And offers advice on bicycling through National Parks. You can read the full story without Bicycling’s draconian new paywall on Yahoo.

Bicycling also offers a refresher course on how to use hand signals while riding a bike. No, not that one.

An Air Force squadron commander was killed, and two others wounded, when they were somehow run over by the driver of their own support vehicle while on a 155-mile Alaskan bike tour. Yet a local radio station doesn’t even mention there was a driver.

It takes a major asshole — and I use that term advisedly — to paint racist white power phrases on a bike path near a Las Vegas high school. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

A pair of BYU football coaches offer inspirational tidbits while riding their bikes to work.

The former president of Smartwool died of a heart attack while riding his mountain bike near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Riding Arkansas’ High Country Route though a bikepacker’s paradise.

No longer the “mistake by the lake,” a rejuvenated Cleveland now offers a 58-mile Emerald Necklace bike loop from the shore of Lake Erie to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Boston put out a call for proposals to see how e-cargo bikes could fit into the city’s delivery landscape.

A 14-year old New Jersey boy with cerebral palsy is more than halfway to his goal of raising $18,000 for a Kosher retreat and hospital for children with cancer and physical or developmental disabilities by riding his recumbent 80 miles in a charity ride.

 

International

British sales figures put a number on the coronavirus bike boom, with a 63% increase in bike sales during the lockdown period. Meanwhile, British farmers are being warned to watch out for an unusual plethora of bikes on the roads.

Business Insider goes inside the world’s largest bicycle garage in The Netherlands.

Talk about taking the scenic route. A Moroccan man traveled four years through 26 African countries to attend the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, starting on foot before buying a bicycle along the way.

A Ghanan woman is working to empower women and help children get an education by building low-cost, environmentally sustainable bamboo bicycles, planting ten new bamboo stalks for every one she cuts down.

Competitive Cycling

Chris Froome hopes the delay in this year’s Tour de France will aid his hopes for that elusive record-tying fifth yellow jersey. Even though he who must not be mentioned won seven, before he didn’t.

 

Finally…

If you don’t have work to commute to these days, just turn your foldie into a fishing bike. And when you’re white, riding a bike while falling down drunk and carrying a loaded gun, chances are, white cops probably aren’t being racist by arresting your ass.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Climate mayors call for 15 minute cities, thief ransacks Anaheim bike room, and trade your privacy for Road ID discount

August 3, 2020 / / One comment

A report from the C40 Cities group promotes the new Paris model of putting all necessities within a 15 minute biking or walking distance.

The climate group, currently led by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, encourages the model as a response to municipal budgets ravaged by Covid-19.

Which makes it worth noting that the “world’s climate mayor” is doing nothing of the sort in his own city, except for encouraging greater density.

Which is problematic in itself, after a number of current and former city officials have been implicated in a bribery scheme to approve building projects.

As we’ve noted before, cities around the world have taken advantage of the lighter traffic brought on by the pandemic to make temporary, and sometimes permanent, changes to encourage more biking and walking.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, has done absolutely nothing outside of the Downtown area, where Councilmember Jose Huizar has been a driving force behind a move to Complete Streets.

He is also charged with being the ringleader behind the bribery scheme.

Which pretty much sums up the current state of the city.

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A bike thief was caught on video ransacking an Anaheim building’s bike room. Which is exactly why I don’t recommend using them.

Bike rooms give the illusion of security while providing an enticing target for thieves. Better to find space in your home to keep your bikes inside.

And register your damn bike already.

https://twitter.com/lemusss29/status/1287897963927281664

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Road ID is offering half off to VIP members starting tomorrow — if you’re willing to sacrifice your privacy to become one by signing up for texts.

I wear mine every time I ride my bike. And any other time I leave home.

But I also prefer to maintain a little privacy, and not get spammed with commercial messages every time I look at my phone.

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Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley is one of us.

Orlando Bloom is one of us, too.

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

No surprise here, as Oregon bike riders report a rising tide of road rage incidents in recent months. Everyone is stressed because of the coronavirus and the resulting restrictions, which means too many drivers will end up taking it out on us.

Seriously? A moonlighting Arizona cop says he felt his life was threatened by a mountain biker who ignored no trespassing signs at a golf course while looking for a formerly accessible trailhead — so he tackled the rider off his bike and pulled a loaded gun on him during the scuffle, while insisting the victim somehow lunged off his bike at him.

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

Chicago police appear stumped about why a man on a bike shot and killed a Rastafarian community activist, though conservatives are quick to blame his surprising support for Donald Trump for his murder.

A New York bike rider went on a racist and homophobic obscenity-laced rant after an Asian driver honked at him, then faked an injury claiming the driver hit his “$11,000 bike.”

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CDTvX1UhjFe/?utm_source=ig_embed

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Local

Metro Bike is offering a bikeshare relief program through this month, with discounted passes ranging from a single $1 ride or 24-hour pass, to a $100 pass for a full year.

LA-area streets are being reimagined as outdoor dining spaces; the question is whether it will last post-pandemic. Actually, the real question is why we can find street space for restaurant patrons, but we can’t manage to find any for bike lanes.

KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis talks with Lex Roman, author of a guide to where to vote and how government works, about how you can become a more civically engaged Angeleno. Because most of us need to.

 

State

Encinitas has finished work on protected bike lanes and other infrastructure improvements, including mosaic art panels designed by local students and artists

Groups of wheelie-popping teens are ignoring the dismount signs on Santa Barbara’s newly pedestrianized State Street.

The Bay Area’s East Bay Times recommends more than a dozen “great, scenic bike trails” crisscrossing the region.

Yreka’s Leslie Burley-Cobb has been nominated for the BMX Hall of Fame; she was one of the first women in the sport in the late ’70s, collecting 268 trophies before she retired in 1985. Raise your hand if you knew there even was a BMX Hall of Fame. And yes, mine are firmly in my pockets. 

 

National

A Harvard professor is nearing the end of his cross-country bike ride to call attention to Black Lives Matter and Black Birders Week.

A writer for Gizmodo says riding an ebike has changed her entire perspective on how we get around.

Yahoo Life! says you don’t need bike shorts or clip-in shoes for these “cute” commuter bikes. Then again, you don’t need them for any other bikes, either.

“Beloved” international security expert and self-defense trainer Dave Acosta was killed in a Utah mountain biking crash last week.

Beloit, Wisconsin’s Bike Elves program has refurbished and given away 5,380 bicycles over the last nine years, after being founded by a man suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s.

An Illinois driver is being held on $1 million bail for reckless homicide after killing one bike rider and critically injuring another while fleeing from police.

Minnesota has found a used for abandoned mine pits by converting them to 30 miles of mountain bike trails.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A well-known Memphis minister died after being taken off life support following a bicycling collision last week.

The worldwide bike boom continues, as Boston bike shops are running out of bicycles.

Now that’s more like it. The New York Times offers tips on how to stay safe on mass transit — and includes bikeshare as a recommended alternative.

Drive-in movies are popping up all over New York; bike-in movies, not so much.

A New York novelist says riding through the pandemic has changed her perspective of the city.

 

International

Road.cc previews the bike tech trends for next year.

Rapha was justifiably criticized for water bottles printed with a message that could lead to eating disorders if anyone actually followed it.

After a London cabbie posted photos of Dutch parents riding their kids to school on cargo bikes, sarcastically asking if that’s really the kind of morning school run people want to see, the public responded with a resounding “Yes.”

A Croatian expat living in London says helmets, Lycra and flashing lights have become part of his new reality exploring the city by bike in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.

Five Northern England bicycle trails to add to your bike bucket list. Unless maybe you’d rather combine beer and bikes on five trails surrounding Prague in the Czech Republic. I’ll take both, thank you. And they make some pretty decent beer in the UK, too.

The Irish Times recounts 12 reasons to start riding a bike, almost all of which apply equally well on this side of the Atlantic.

Take a nearly 1,250 mile ride over trees and beneath the water on the trails of the Belgian home of stinky cheese.

Bicyclists have been unofficially banned from the highways of Jalandhar, India, even though it’s legal to ride there; despite the law, riders are being told to stay off the roads following the death of a bike rider.

A Philippines foundation is changing lives one bicycle at a time by donating mountain bikes to people struggling to hold onto their jobs in the face of the pandemic.

Red Bull Australia picks their ten favorite gravel bike shoes, as well as eleven cycling jerseys that apparently don’t care where you wear them.

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Ellen Van Dijk won the Strade Bianche gravel race on a bike borrowed from a teammate, after her Trek-Segafredo team was struck by thieves the night before the race. Meanwhile, Wout van Aert won on the men’s side.

Former Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali suffered an injured hand in the Strade Bianche, just one of the 124 cyclists who abandoned the race in 104° temperatures out of the 166 who started; only 45 cyclists finished the women’s race.

 

Finally…

High-end bike options for people who have more dollars than sense, and are willing to part with a lot of the former.

And don’t dare ride a whole six miles below the speed limit after lunch with you mom.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Father seeks witness in Irvine bike crash, powerful look at race and bicycling, and more on the lack of UC accessibility

July 31, 2020 / / Comments Off on Father seeks witness in Irvine bike crash, powerful look at race and bicycling, and more on the lack of UC accessibility

The father of Barbora Kabatova, the 26-year old woman killed riding her bike near the Jeffrey Road connection to the 405 Freeway is begging anyone with information to come forward to help find justice for her.

I am trying to find any witness of this tragic accident.
Any camera on the ground or on the car, anyone biking, driving, walking around when this has happen.
Are there any witnesses do you know someone who witnessed this?
This is big intersection there must have been many people around.
I am desperate. Please help.
Juraj Kabat
Barbora’s dad

Seriously, if you know anything, share it with the police.

Before they find a way to blame the victim for causing her own death.

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Biking While Black seems to be the ongoing theme of the week, as a familiar LA face took over Bicycling for a much-needed conversation about race.

And the magazine has lowered its new paywall on these important stories so everyone can read them.

The founder of Atlanta’s Civil Bikes says there’s a tremendous untold story of Black people on bikes.

A product development quality engineer at SRAM describes growing up surrounded by bias, which didn’t change when he started winning races, saying the more he won, the bigger barriers he faced.

The cofounder of Pedal 2 the People describes what it’s like, and what it means, to never see Black people like her riding bicycles.

A pro cyclist for B&B Hotels–Vital Concept argues that racism in pro cycling should be treated like doping violations, saying no one ever faced consequences for the slurs he encountered from competitors in the peloton.

The founder of Black Girls Do Bike says if you love bicycling, you need to have uncomfortable conversations about race.

The Director of Mobility for the Oakland Mayor’s Office dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling without having to worry about anything else, noting there are challenges Black people face riding through any space that others don’t. Seriously, anyone who poses for a national bike magazine holding a corgi is more than okay in my book.

The owner of LA’s Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-op describes being stopped by Beverly Hills cops because he “fit a description;” in other words, he was Black and on a bike.

According to the co-director of PGM ONE Summit, claiming bicycling is colorblind doesn’t help anyone because bikes may not discriminate, but the people on them do.

LA’s own Nelson Vails, the first African American to medal in Olympic cycling, tells a somewhat different story, saying he never felt discrimination in his racing career, but Black Lives Matter opened his eyes to the need to rase the bar on equality.

Ayesha McGowan, America’s first Black women’s pro cyclist, says it’s exhausting making people in white spaces comfortable with her blackness.

The founder of the Level Up Cycling Movement questions how something as innocent as riding a bicycle can make another human being feel discarded, saying she was treated like she didn’t exist when she started riding.

Former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler offers advice on how to become anti-racist, on or off your bike. And explains on her own site how this extraordinary edition came together, and why it was necessary.

At this point, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that Black bike riders are stopped by police far more often than white riders, and face a much higher risk when they are.

Meanwhile, PeopleForBikes shares their commitment to rooting out racism in the bicycling industry. Maybe they can tackle the industry’s blatant sexism while they’re at it.

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Another reminder that the UC system isn’t accessible until it’s accessible to all.

https://twitter.com/AccessUc/status/1288904877628772353

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Regardless of politics, some things just aren’t right. In Portland, New York, or anywhere else.

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We missed this one earlier in the week, as we lost the last living link to old Hollywood. Along with a truly iconic bike rider.

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Evidently, motorized scooters are nothing new.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for forwarding the tweet.

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Thanks to Adam Ginsberg for sending what instantly became my favorite email of the week.

I’ll look forward to trying the same thing with our new four-footed intern.

After all, if she’s going to work for a bike site, she needs to know what it’s like, right?

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

A Coachella man will face charges for jumping out of his car and shooting at a group of bike riders, for unknown reasons. Thankfully, his aim seems to suck. Thanks to Victor Bale and Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

A Utah man faces a murder charge for allegedly running over his roommate as the other man was riding his bicycle. Maybe next time, don’t leave your license plate behind at the crash scene. Just a suggestion.

Anti-bike vigilantes are accused of ripping out the plastic ballards protecting a British bike lane. Although a thin, bendable plastic post doesn’t offer much protection anyway.

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

Riverside County deputies busted a cruiser bike-riding man for sexually assaulting a woman on a Temecula bike path.

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Local

LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds worries that LA traffic may be worse than ever post-pandemic. Or maybe not, because an economic collapse could mean fewer people can afford to drive. Although both of those problems could be helped with the sort of bikeways other cities are building, but LA isn’t.

Yelp maps out all things bicycle in the City of Angels. As long as your idea of Los Angeles doesn’t extend more than a few blocks south of I-10, or east of the LA River. Thanks to Brandi D’Amore for the tip. 

The Glendale City Council will discuss plans for the Verdugo Wash in an online meeting starting at 6 pm this Tuesday; if you live or ride in the city, let them know what you think.

Pasadena police are planning yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation next Friday, ticketing any violations that endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who does it. As always, plan to ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State

Seriously? San Diego business owners worry about plans for a socially distanced bicycle scavenger hunt that promises to bring more customers to their community, because they’re unsure about coronavirus protocols. But people coming in cars are perfectly fine, apparently.

The kindhearted members of an Oxnard hip hop organization raised $750 to replace a bike stolen from a 15-year old member of the group.

A pair of coastal bike paths north of Ventura will close for construction this weekend; one will close during the day, while the other will just see overnight closures.

San Francisco opens a new one-third mile, two-way protected cycle track across the Lefty O’Doul Bridge, improving connections with a nearby protected bikeway. Which is exactly what Los Angeles should be doing, but isn’t.

 

National

Essence explains why everyone on your timeline is riding a bike right now. Hint: It’s fun. And good for you. 

Business is thriving for the owner of a Denver coffee bike, after he lost his other job to the pandemic.

A Colorado mountain biker recommends criding — crying while riding a bike — to maintain your sanity in these trying times. Which may just be my new favorite word. Although indignorant is still pretty hard to top.

A Pittsburgh writer says slowing traffic and improving safety on city streets will actually make them more dangerous for kids. No, really.

Former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin is one of us. Although he may wish he wasn’t right now, after another rider clipped his wheel, leaving him with four fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a bleeding head wound.

New York’s Westchester County considers mandating bike helmets for all bike riders. Apparently attempting to drive down bicycling rates while doing little to actually improve safety. Or at least that’s been the experience in other places that have done it.

 

International

A British Columbia woman is looking for two Good Samaritans and a cop who helped save her life following a crash just days into a cross-country bike tour.

Now there’s a first. London police are asking bike riders to wear helmet cams to help them catch and prosecute dangerous drivers.

The UK’s new focus on bicycling gives local residents the power to close streets to through traffic, as well as prohibiting local governments from building substandard bike lanes. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the link.

Nearly a hundred bike riders died on the streets of Great Britain last year, which represents an improvement of exactly one, as the fatality rate dropped from 99 to 98.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to drive drunk through a drive through, at least secure your bike and fix your flat tire — and maybe leave the machete at home. It may not the best idea to take a shortcut by riding through a shooting range.

And always practice good social distancing when dining.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Biking While Black: Violently arrested buying bike in Walmart, kid manhandled by cops, and man detains bike-riding teen

July 30, 2020 / / 2 comments

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

You know I’m having a bad night when I can’t even manage to post something to say I won’t be posting anything. 

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A preliminary hearing has been postponed in the case of the Pennsylvania man violently wrestled to the ground and arrested for the crime of…wait for it…Biking While Black.

In Walmart.

And legally paying for the bike he’d been test riding as a gift for his kid.

In the video, you can hear him repeatedly asking why he was being arrested, and insisting that he had paid for the bike.

Security camera video shows him riding up and down the aisles without posing a danger to anyone; the only visible risk in the video comes from a woman who pushed her shopping cart into a man.

He was also accused of shouting obscenities at other shoppers, though witnesses at the scene reported that he was simply exuberantly wishing them a good day.

Apparently, that’s a crime now.

If you’re black, anyway.

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Speaking of Biking While Black, a pair of New Jersey cops are under fire for manhandling a 15-year old kid during a bicycle flash mob, apparently for the crime of riding a bike in an annoying manner.

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And while we’re on the subject, a Florida man faces charges for illegally detaining a 15-year old Black teenager who was just riding his bike to basketball practice.

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

Milwaukee police are looking for a bike-riding man who fatally shot a Black Rastafarian Trump supporter.

A group of Chicago bikeshare riders were caught on security cam carjacking an 82-year old man.

A British hit-and-run bike rider will face charges of manslaughter and causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving for a collision with a pedestrian.

Cyclists in Ghana are keeping fit by riding in the midst of Covid-19.

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Local

Construction is underway on the new Elysian Valley walk/bike bridge connecting Frogtown to the upcoming Taylor Yards project.

Cal Matters says no, Los Angeles and other cities aren’t playing Big Brother by tracking dockless ebikes and scooters.

 

State

The national president of insurance brokerage firm Hub International died of a heart attack while riding his bike, apparently in San Diego; David Reich was just 50 years old.

It’s not unusual to find things while riding a bicycle, although a driver’s severed foot following a violent collision in Templeton is another matter.

Tragic news from the Bay Area, where a ten-year old boy was killed by an Amazon delivery driver while riding his bike in Lafayette.

 

National

A competition to design better protected bike lane barriers resulted in a number of innovative designs; the winning entry converts recycled car tires into planters to create an effective barrier any city can afford.

Gear Junkie explains how to pump up a bike tire in nine easy steps. Or you could just get a pump that matches your valve stem, and fill the damn thing. 

After spending the last five months indoors, a writer for Vox says maybe Peloton isn’t so bad.

Now that’s more like it. Portland is fining the feds $500 for every 15 minutes they illegally keep unpermitted fencing blocking a bike lane.

A Montana columnist says maybe bad drivers should get a time out.

After some jerk stole a seven-year old boy’s bicycle, kindhearted Arkansas cops stepped up to give him a new one, along with a birthday parade.

Hundreds of Chicago bike riders turned out for a Ride Against Racism.

Tragic news from a Chicago suburb, where one bike rider was killed and another critically injured when a driver fleeing police slammed into them.

They get it. A New Hampshire letter writer says don’t blame the new bike lane for a bike rider getting doored, blame the driver.

A group of unruly Long Island teenagers are accused to harassing people at a gym, before riding their bikes to Wendy’s and throwing drinks at other customers.

New York’s dockless moped company Revel shut down after a second rider was killed in just ten days.

 

International

They get it, too. The UK is creating a new government agency with a five-year budget equivalent to $2.57 billion to promote active transportation and improve cycle and pedestrian infrastructure across the country; the agency is as much about improving health as it is curbing pollution.

No surprise here, as a British program offering vouchers worth the equivalent of $65 to get bikes repaired proved so popular it crashed the website on the first day.

British bikemaker Raleigh is introducing a line of bakfiets-style e-cargo bikes.

A pair of women from Great Britain now officially hold the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by tandem bike.

A British paper asks who was in the right when a turning driver left crossed a Boston bike rider, even though they both had the green light — forgetting that a vehicle going straight always has the right-of-way over a turning vehicle.

The family behind Ferrari is getting into the ebike business by investing in Belgian bikemaker Cowboy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Bike League introduced the new Kittie Knox award for equity, diversity and inclusion in bicycling, with the award going to Ayesha McGowan, the first Black American woman’s pro cyclist. Although someone should tell them it won’t be an annual award until they do it again next year.

Three-time Austrian Olympic cyclist Johann Lienhart got a ten-year ban for helping his triathlete son dope. Evidently, the family that dopes together stays together. But seriously, the era of doping is over, right?

 

Finally…

Your next Yamaha could have pedals and climb hills. Why buy a bike when you can buy the entire company?

And stealing a lousy $72 from Burger King seems like a waste of a perfectly good getaway bike.

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Meet the newest member of the BikinginLA team.

Our new intern is taking awhile to get up to speed after joining us on Monday. But she should be able to contribute more once she learns to stop pooping inside. 

You can follow her new adventures in Hollywood, if you’re so inclined. 

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Paralyzed Long Beach man’s handcycle stolen, dangerous Circle K parking lots, and carrying a kid across China on a bike

July 27, 2020 / / 2 comments

Seriously, what kind of schmuck would steal a disabled man’s handcycle?

Long Beach’s Richard Dahl was paralyzed two years ago, just a month after graduating from college, and used the recumbent bike to take him places his legs no longer can.

According to KABC-7,

Dahl had received the bike through a $6,000 grant.

He says the thief didn’t just steal his bike, but also took part of his independence.

“What this individual stole wasn’t just a bike, it wasn’t just a handcycle, it wasn’t just a $6,000 object, it was my independence. It was my ability to ride,” Dahl said.

Hopefully someone will spot the bike before it gets sold or dismantled.

If not, if anyone wants to start a crowdfunding campaign to buy him a new one, I’ll be happy to feature it here.

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Apparently, shopping at a Circle K convenience store can be bad for your health.

A Colorado man faces a murder charge for a fight that began with a dispute over a gold bicycle in a Circle K parking lot.

And two Florida men are charged with attempted murder for attempting to smash their car into a man on a bicycle after spotting him shopping at Circle K, then shooing him when they caught up with him again.

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Think your cross-country ride was tough?

A Chinese dad took a 71-day bike ride across the country with his young daughter in a child seat.

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

British police are investigating an alleged hate crime where a group of teenagers verbally abused a man riding a bicycle and threw rocks at his bike. Although in typical British fashion, they fail to mention what racial, ethnic, religious and/or sexual group he was being targeted for.

Police in Perth, Australia are looking for a pair of moped riders who pushed a man off his bike on a local bike path.

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

Not every violent assault starts in a convenience store parking lot, though; a British Columbia man got a measly five years for killing another man, stopping his bike to kick the victim in the head with steel-toed boots, in a dispute over encroaching on his preferred panhandling spot.

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Local

Call it yet another LADOT fail. At a time when new bike riders are begging for safe bikeways, the city gives them these sad North Hollywood sharrows — even though there’s more than enough room for a protected bike lane instead. As we’ve noted before, sharrows appear to exist only to help drivers improve their aim.

The Malibu Times wants to introduce you to the wealthy beachside city’s mountain bike-riding mayor.

Long Beach’s Studebaker Road is getting a five-mile long protected bike lane, thanks to funding from Metro.

 

State

The Canyon News looks at California’s bike boom, and says hopefully it won’t take another crisis to get people riding. Although maybe they shouldn’t illustrate a story about LA collisions rising with a photo of a mangled New York police cruiser.

A Bakersfield op-ed says the San Joaquin Valley city benefits from having more people on bicycles, and is lucky to have a robust bicycle network.

Mammoth Mountain wants you to come there to ride your new offroad ebike, opening a new trail for ped-assist mountain bikes.

 

National

At last, a Segway you might actually want to ride. Even if it doesn’t have pedals.

Livestrong offers a step-by-step guide to start riding a bike for people over 50. Although a writer for the Wall Street Journal says it can be hazardous to your dignity. If you can get past the Journal’s paywall, that is. And as if I had any left.

Refinery 29 wants to keep you looking your best on your bike, with eight cool and comfy women’s outfits without a shred of Lycra.

This is why you should always carry ID on your bike. Police in Lone Peak, Utah are struggling to identify a man who was struck by a driver while riding his bike on Saturday.

Gear Patrol recommends buying a premium used bike from Colorado’s online Pro’s Closet marketplace.

That’s more like it. A Montana drunk driver will spend the next eight years behind bars for killing a woman riding her bike while driving home from a Christmas party.

A Montana food distributors organization teamed with the local Rotary club to build and donate 195 bicycles for members of the Crow Nation.

Once again, bike riders are heroes, after a San Antonio TX couple jumped off their bikes to help rescue victims from a burning plane crash.

A 61-year old Minnesota man is riding 6,000 miles from LA to New York to raise funds for breast cancer research.

They get it. A Michigan town is offering residents a $150 rebate on the purchase of an ebike to help the city achieve carbon-neutrality in the next ten years.

A bighearted stranger gave a seven-year old Ohio girl a new bicycle after someone stole hers.

A bike-riding New York priest is planning his first century ride to inspire people and raise funds for a Catholic food pantry.

Probably not the best idea to try to steal a bike cop’s bicycle during dueling pro and anti-police protests in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kindhearted Savannah, Georgia cops gave a seven-year old boy a new bicycle after Covid-19 cancelled his birthday party.

No, “anger issues” is not an excuse to fight a cop who tried to stop a Florida man for riding his bike into traffic.

 

International

Pez Cycling News looks at the brief rise and fall of spine bikes, made in the early years after the turn of the century with half-carbon/half steel frames. Like my 2004 LeMond, for instance.

How to get the best stopping power from your rim brakes.

Bike Radar makes the case for why you only need a gravel bike.

Four people have been arrested for a hit-and-run crash that injured an off-duty British cop as he was riding his bike, though police say he wasn’t targeted.

A Glasgow paper takes a ride through the city to see what’s changed thanks to the city’s the new bicycling measures.

A massive e-cargo bike is patrolling the streets of The Hague on a mission to collect abandoned plastic products.

Hundreds of Turkish bicyclists rode to call for safer streets after a 19-year old bike rider was killed by a drunk driver.

Bollywood star Sara Ali Khan is one of us. 

Bicycling is up in Delhi, as people respond to the coronavirus crisis by taking to their bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Tips offers an on-the-ground perspective of how the coronavirus crisis affected bike racing.

The BBC retells the tale of how the Flying Scotsman Graeme Obree became a world record holder on his own homemade bicycle.

 

Finally…

Forget parked cars, now we have to deal with giant saw blades in the bike lane. Your next bike could have a built-in wine cooler and charcuterie board.

And we may have to deal with angry LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about hungry bike-seat eating bears.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

37-year old father killed riding bike in South Los Angeles hit-and-run; once again, public not informed for weeks

July 25, 2020 / / 3 comments

Once again, a man has died following a violent hit-and-run while riding his bike in South Los Angeles.

And once again, the LAPD doesn’t seem to think the public needed to know about it.

According to KCBS-2/KCAL-9, 37-year old South LA resident Jorge Guerra was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding home from the park with his two young children on July 8th.

Fortunately, his two-year old son Nathan and four-year old daughter Madelyn weren’t seriously injured; their father wasn’t so lucky.

Guerra was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, but lapsed into a coma after arriving; he died of organ failure on July 16th.

The LAPD places the crash on northbound Wadsworth Ave north of 88th Street at 8:40 pm, when a speeding driver slammed into the bike they were riding after turning onto the narrow residential street.

The driver continued north on Wadsworth, crashing into several parked cars before stopping just south of Manchester Blvd. He ran off, leaving the damaged car behind.

Police are still looking for the suspect, who hasn’t been identified; unsurprisingly, the car he was driving was stolen. As always, there is a standing $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.

Now Guerra’s wife is faced with raising her kids as a grieving single mother while in the middle of a pandemic.

A crowdfunding campaign to help defray Guerra’s funeral expenses has raised just under $6,000, far short of the $25,000 goal.

Unfortunately, like the death of Melvin “Peanut” Frye last month, the LAPD apparently failed to inform the public at the time of the crash — or alert them to a dangerous car thief hiding in their midst. Even though both Los Angeles and California have Yellow Alert systems to get the word out as quickly as possible.

There’s no explanation for why the LAPD continually refuses to use them; evidently, they’d rather wait until the trail goes cold and people have forgotten key details before asking for their help. Which could be one reason why hit-and-run drivers continue to get away with it here.

Even though similar systems have been used successfully in other cities to bring hit-and-run drivers to justice.

This is at least the 35th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. Over half of those deaths in the county have been hit-and-runs.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jorge Guerra and all his family and loved ones.

Category: Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Bike riders under attack around the world, pickup-driving Torrance racists, and PCH bike path closure above Ventura

July 24, 2020 / / Comments Off on Bike riders under attack around the world, pickup-driving Torrance racists, and PCH bike path closure above Ventura

This is who we share the road with.

A Utah driver faces a murder charge for deliberately killing a bike rider, smashing into him and dragging him down the road, then turning around and doing it again; his rage appeared to stem from living in the same building with the victim.

No surprise here, as a Cleveland man who tried to run over a group of bike-riding Black teenagers while hurling racial slurs has been indicted on charges of felonious assault and ethnic intimidation; he also robbed his own brother at knife point.

Unbelievable. A British driver who used his car as a weapon to attack a bike rider walks without a single day behind bars, because the judge doesn’t want to send anyone to jail during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Then there is this stunning attack stemming from the ongoing protests in Seattle.

https://twitter.com/capang9555/status/1286464045185249280

………

Closer to home, the danger comes from hate.

https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1286441313429266435

 

………

Congress finally got around to approving the Great American Outdoors Act.

The bill creates an ongoing $900 million annual fund for conservation and address the massive backlog of maintenance projects in American National Parks and other public lands.

………

Caltrans has announced a nighttime closure of the PCH bike path above Ventura.

………

That cycling KOM you’ve been gunning for may be a goner, thanks to bored pros waiting for the season to gear back up.

Although some pros may be looking for something a little more challenging.

………

Good point.

………

No. Just…no.

https://twitter.com/LkCycleDesign/status/1286320588911501312

………

Bikes are good for soccer careers, too.

………

Pink Bike looks at easy ways to tuneup your mountain bike.

………

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

See above.

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

A Texas man told a Target employee he could take whatever he wanted as he stuffed a pair of shoes and shorts into his backpack; police stopped him as he rode his bike nearby to tell him “No, you can’t.”

A road-raging British bike rider punched a 78-year old driver in the mouth, knocking out a tooth, after the driver stopped his car when the man made rude gestures and shouted at him as he passed him and his two kids. Violence is never the answer. But that kind of response from a man riding with his kids just might imply that the guy earned it.

………

Local

Essential workers can get a free 30-day Metro Bike pass.

Pasadena is introducing Project Wheelie to bring a bike-matching service and basic bike repairs to low income residents who might not otherwise be able to ride a bike right now; it’s presented by public health nonprofit Day One in conjunction with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, Active SGV and the LACBC.

Speaking of Pasadena, the Rose City received a $150,000 state grant for a bicycle safety outreach program.

Construction has started on a new bike park in Santa Clarita.

 

State

Calbike and Streets for All are urging you to contact your state senator to support AB 3153, which would extend an LA-style bike parking law to the entire state, allowing developers to substitute bike parking for car parking minimums.

Electrek reviews the latest 28 mph offering from Newport Beach’s Electric Bicycle Company.

In another sign the coronavirus hasn’t made our streets any safer, San Francisco authorities say they’ve seen a significant uptick in bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities.

An Oakland councilmember calls for ripping out the protected bike lanes on iconic Telegraph Avenue. Apparently, increased retail sales and a 40% reduction in collisions is a bad thing now.

Volunteer members of the American Ski Patrol have traded slats for wheels, and will be patrolling the 32-mile American River Parkway multi-use trail in the Sacramento area. Maybe we can talk them into patrolling a few trails down this way, too. Because no one else is doing it.

 

National

Market Watch says cannabis, whiskey and mobile bike repair businesses are thriving during the pandemic. Now if someone would just combine the three they might really be onto something.

A Portland State University study says no, bike riders don’t slow down drivers on most urban roads without bike lanes. But try telling that to the next impatient driver who gets on your ass.

Ebike sales will continue to drive the bike boom through the end of this year.

Colorado bike rack and lock maker Rocky Mount barely survived the pandemic, thanks to a loan from the Payroll Protection Program, but the owner realizes it’s not over yet. Just to be clear, the pandemic is barely getting started; it’s going to be a rough ride for all of us before things get better.

After someone stole a three-wheel adaptive bike from an Iowa man suffering from non-verbal autism, an anonymous, kindhearted stranger took it upon themselves to replace it.

Three burglars broke into a Texas bike shop and cleaned it out, stealing 19 bikes worth at least $45,000. Schmucks.

An Arkansas woman describes how she kept mountain biking, even if her first ride ended up in the back of an ambulance.

A Wisconsin nonprofit has managed to donate 100 bicycles to people in need, despite reopening from the coronavirus lockdown just one month ago.

Dozens of Louisville residents took to their bikes to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, who was mistakenly shot by cops busting into her apartment on a no knock warrant.

Calls for bikemakers to stop making police bikes after they were used as shields and weapons by cops during the Black Lives Matter protests is putting a Massachusetts Black-owned police bike startup in an awkward position.

After bikeshare user Sarah Jessica Parker intervened on behalf of a 100-year old New York restaurant, New York’s mayor agreed to move a bikeshare dock so they could set up outside dining.

Philadelphia bicyclists will ride this weekend to honor three young men killed by drivers while riding their bikes, and send a message that “We are not expendable;” meanwhile, an op-ed from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia asks how many preventable deaths will it to make the city care about bicycle safety.

When life gives you a pandemic-induced Florida school closure, take a cross-country bike ride with your twin brother to raise funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

 

International

Google Maps now offers live bikeshare availability for 24 cities around the world, including Los Angeles.

No surprise here, as Streetsblog says the most important traffic safety technology is street design.

Heartbreaking news, as an experienced bike tourist was killed in a collision just as she was starting a two-month bike ride across Canada. Although it would be nice if the story didn’t wait until the next-to-last paragraph to mention that the pickup that hit her had a driver.

Turns out the Mounties don’t always get their man, particularly when the suspect is one of their own, who ran down a bike rider with his car.

Dooring a bike rider will now cost British Columbia drivers $368, after the province quadrupled the previous $81 fine. Which is still way too low, but at least it’s going in the right direction.

An Ontario bike rider was just nine miles from the finish of a 472-mile fundraising bike ride when he was attacked by hornets while crossing a bridge, nearly dying before paramedics could get to him. So naturally, he went back and finished the ride as soon as he was released from the ER.

They may be considered safe enough for US streets, but Great Britain says American SUVs are too dangerous for their roads. Those killing machines shouldn’t be allowed here, either.

British filmmaker and Madonna ex Guy Ritchie apparently isn’t one of us. Although he may be soon, after losing his license for six months after a bicyclist caught him on camera driving distracted.

An Irish cycling organization was upset they weren’t allowed to compete in the ’72 Olympics, so they just crashed the race and did it anyway.

When the US Army challenged soldiers stationed in Europe to ride a bike 1,000 kilometers — 621 miles — they probably weren’t expecting anyone to do it in 19 days, on a mountain bike.

Even in France, demand for bicycles is outstripping supply.

This Dutch bike may be the world’s longest functional bicycle. But just try finding a place to lock it up.

More on Germany’s new safety standards for e-cargo bikes, which should be expanded worldwide — including here.

Six-time Formula 1 world champ Lewis Hamilton is one of us, enjoying a shirtless and well-tatted mountain bike ride just days after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix.

A bike rider in Kyiv, Ukraine says bike ridership has probably seen a ten times increase during the pandemic, even though riding in the city remains a deadly business.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canada’s WorldTour races are the latest to bite the dust due to Covid-19.

Britain’s erstwhile Team Sky, which changed its name to Team Ineos after a sponsorship change, will now be the the erstwhile Team Ineos, as it changes once again to Ineos Grenadiers to promote an upcoming brand of SUV.

Former WorldTour cyclist Peter Stetina’s shift to gravel racing is on the rocks after everything was cancelled due to coronavirus.

Austrian cyclist Georg Preilder got a one-year suspended sentence for his role in a German doping scandal uncovered last year. But cycling is clean now, right?

 

Finally…

No, turning a bicycle into a monochrome planter is not upcycling, in any sense. On the other hand, turning it into a mobile washing machine might be.

And don’t use gasoline to disinfect your cloth face masks.

And don’t smoke if you do.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

Man killed riding bike in South LA hit-and-run last month; no alert or information from police for nearly 4 weeks

July 23, 2020 / / 4 comments

Note: Because of the time spent writing this piece, there will be no Morning Links today; we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we missed.

A hit-and-run alert system doesn’t do a damn bit of good if the police won’t use it.

That was the case last month, when a man was killed while riding his bike in a South LA hit-and-run.

Yet no information about the crash was released until a press conference was finally held yesterday morning.

The LAPD reports 57-year old Melvin “Peanut” Frye was killed when he was struck by a driver around 9:05 pm on June 27th, nearly one month ago.

Frye was run down by an unknown motorist as he was crossing Main Street at 103rd Street in the Broadway-Manchester neighborhood; he was riding west across Main while the driver was headed south.

He died at he scene.

The driver kept going, without stopping or identifying themself as required by law. Authorities are looking for a black or dark-colored Dodge Durango; no description was given for the driver.

No announcement appears to have been made at the time.

Then again, Frye’s family wasn’t even notified until more than a week later, after frantically calling hospitals and checking jail bookings before they were finally contacted by the coroner’s office.

The press conference was held to request the public’s help in solving the crime. The city offers a standing $50,000 award for information leading to an arrest and conviction for any fatal hit-and-run, regardless of whether the reward has been announced by the police.

According to KTLA-5, the victim’s sister is urging witnesses to come forward.

Mishy Frye said people have called her to relay information about the type of car involved, “and then nobody can give the detectives no information.”

“I’m just shocked, because you guys know him,” she said. “Everybody know him in this area. Everyone. It’s not right…”

“I want justice for him, not through you calling me, but call the detectives,” she said. “Holding onto a secret makes you no better than the person that hit him.”

In addition to LA’s citywide hit-and-run alert system, California has approved a statewide Yellow Alert system to notify the public in the event of a hit-and-run. Both are intended to alert the public as quickly as possible to watch for the suspect vehicle in the event of a hit-and-run, and encourage witnesses to come forward while the event is still fresh in their minds.

Not a month later.

Had the police released information about the crash at the time, along with announcing the standing reward, someone might have come forward by now.

And maybe Frye’s family could have been spared the pain of not knowing what had happened to him for ten long days after the crash. Let alone knowing that the heartless coward who killed him is still out there.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Detective Keith Gonzales at 323/421-2500, or 323/421-2577 after normal business hours.

This is at least the 34th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Half of those deaths in LA County have been hit-and-runs.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Melvin “Peanut” Frye and all his loved ones.

 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , , ,

PA man tased and hogtied for buying bike while Black, and LADOT plans North Valley protected bike lane

July 22, 2020 / / 2 comments

As if Biking While Black wasn’t bad enough, you can add buying a bike while Black.

Pennsylvania police were caught on video tasing and hogtying a Black man who was buying a bike for his son at Walmart.

The store manager accused him of riding recklessly through the aisle and disturbing other shoppers, while some witnesses said he was just test riding the bike and telling people to have a nice day.

https://twitter.com/labousaab44/status/1285372331502772226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1285372331502772226%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D42378action%3Dedit

Police threw the book at him, filing charges of aggravated and simple assault, disarming a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.

So instead of a bicycle for his birthday, his son will get to see his father behind bars.

And remarkably, it only took a single day for the DA to absolve the officers of any wrongdoing.

………

LADOT appears to be waking from their coronavirus slumber.

In addition to new bike lanes in DTLA, they released videos explaining two upcoming projects, including this one in the North San Fernando Valley.

Let’s hope this is just the start of long-delayed action to make the streets safer for people on two wheels.

………

CiclaValley takes you gravel riding up Mt. Lowe above Altadena.

………

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

A driver in Australia’s Queensland state is accused of intentionally crashing into five cars and three bike riders in eight separate incidents over a single three hour period; fortunately, no one was killed.

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

Police are looking for a bike-riding man who may have sexually assaulted two women on a Temecula bike path.

………

Local

Metro Bike wants to know what you think about LA’s bikeshare system, with a chance to win a $200 gift card.

Los Angeles Magazine readers voted Helen’s Cycle’s the city’s best bike shop, although the magazine only seems to know about two of the LA area chain’s locations.

 

State

No bias here. Tomorrow Riverside police are planning yet another of the frequent safety operations targeting violations by bike riders and drivers that put bicyclists at risk. Yet My News LA, which usually does better, suggests the operation is targeting unsafe bicycling. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

The CHP blamed a bike rider for a Fresno collision, saying he shouldn’t have been riding  on the limited access highway.

A local news site has more on the death of 23-year old fixie rider Andrew Sanders, who died on Sunday following a crash with a skateboarder during last week’s Hill Bomb on San Francisco’s Dolores Street.

 

National

Google Maps is promising to up their bike game.

The newest version of the Lumos smart bike helmet set a Kickstarter record by raising nearly $3 million.

Seattle bike riders formed a line to protect marchers demanding racial, climate, economic, worker and social justice.

Denver bike shop owners say don’t count on getting a mountain bike until next year.

He gets it. An op-ed from a Colorado environmental design professor says this is the time to reinvent our roadways and how we use them while the coronavirus pandemic results in fewer cars on the streets.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a three-wheeled adaptive bike from a nonverbal autistic man in an Iowa town.

A Chicago Streetsblog editor teamed with a local weekly to publish an illustrated low-stress bicycle map of the city showing the most comfortable riding routes.

Good question. A Chicago public radio station wants to know what happened to 76 bicycles police seized from people at a recent protest.

A Champaign IL bike rider was pushed off his bike, punched in the mouth and robbed of his money by a knife-wielding man.

An Illinois hit-and-run driver turned himself in after smashing into a bike rider because he felt bad about what he’d done. Every hit-and-run driver should feel the same way. And do the same thing.

Life is cheap in Michigan, where a sleepy driver got just 20 days for the fiery crash that killed a postal worker after lawmakers wiped negligent homicide off the books, which would have carried a two-year penalty. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

It takes a real schmuck to steal a ghost bike installed for a Pittsburgh area man. Or any other ghost bike, for that matter.

 

International

Mexico City is expanding its bicycle network to encourage more riding during the Covid-19 crisis.

Kindhearted strangers pitched in to buy a new bike for a British Columbia boy after his BMX bike was stolen.

He gets it, too. A writer for the conservative London Times calls on officials to stand up to anti-cycling NIMBYs if the “golden age of cycling” promised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ever going to become a reality.

David Beckham is one of us, although Esquire seems more impressed with the former LA Galaxy and English soccer great’s shorts than anything else.

No bias here, either. A British taxi site blames an elderly man for damaging a cab with his bike and fists during a road rage incident, when the cab driver interfered in a dispute the older man was having with someone else after “purposely inconveniencing” other people on the road. Purposely inconveniencing people usually just means legally riding a bicycle in the roadway in front of impatient drivers.

The founders of music sharing platform SoundCloud are starting an all-inclusive ebike subscription service, beginning in Berlin.

Tern’s e-cargo bikes were among the first to exceed Germany’s still new safety standards.

German arts curator Hella Mewis was kidnapped by unknown assailants as she was riding her bicycle home from her office in Bagdad, Iraq Monday night.

Four Australian kids were killed by an alleged drunk and stoned in a horrifying crash as they walked on a sidewalk to get ice cream this past February; of the five cousins, only one boy who was riding a bicycle behind the others survived the brutal crash.

Despite the pandemic, bike and pedestrian deaths in Australia’s Queensland state are going the wrong way, with fatalities more than doubling compared to last year.

A road raging Singapore driver had his appeal for intentionally swerving into a bike rider denied, and will spend the next seven weeks behind bars; the rider he was arguing with got a $2,800 fine for his part in the dispute.

 

Competitive Cycling

Women’s pro cycling gets back to racing in Spain tomorrow after a four month coronavirus hiatus; the Women’s WorldTour fires up next week with the Strade Bianche.

 

Finally…

Who needs a front wheel when you’ve got a ski? Block parties are out, bike the block parties are in.

And bicycles are officially cool again.

As if they ever weren’t.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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

SF bike rider killed by hill bombing skater, fighting back from a heart attack to ride again, and uncuttable bike locks coming

July 21, 2020 / / 3 comments

Earlier this week, I made a decision not to link to a hill bombing event in San Francisco.

After watching a number of videos, it became clear it was just for skate boarders, and the only bikes were being held by spectators on the sidelines.

What I didn’t know was that Andrew Sanders was killed when he was hit by a skater while riding his bike on the hill.

Now the city is installing rows of Botts Dots across the base of the hill to put an end to competitions like this.

………

Take a few minutes to read this great thread from a man who worked his way back on his bike after nearly dying from a heart attack; just click on the date to load the full thread.

Thanks to Tim Rutt, Rickard’s friend and former coworker, and my friend for over four decades, for the heads-up.

………

There may be hope yet in the battle with bike thieves.

A new material promises to make bike locks that can’t be cut — even by an axle grinder.

Seriously, take my money.

Please.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A British bike rider blames an overly close pass on the perceived protective powers of a thin strip of magic white paint.

………

This is exactly what we’ve been worried about.

https://twitter.com/anneramsey740/status/1285002157264117770

If we can’t give them safe places to ride, those new bike riders who started during the coronavirus lockdown are likely to head back to their cars after getting frightened off the streets.

And a once in a generational opportunity to reimagine our streets will be lost forever.

………

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

Utah police are looking for a killer driver who appeared to intentionally run down a man on a bicycle, then turn around and run over him again before fleeing the scene.

No bias here. A British TV fashion advisor apologized after saying she “fucking hate(s) cyclists” and wants to kill them all with her car — including her own bike-riding husband. Although her apology only came after extensive online criticism, and doesn’t change the fact that she said it to begin with.

There’s a special place in hell for the reckless wrong-way Welsh driver who ran an 85-year old bike rider off the road; remarkably, he wasn’t seriously injured, despite his age.

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

If your “friend” beats you to death in front of his daughter for trying to use his bike, you probably weren’t really friends to begin with. Just saying.

A Scottish couple vowed to never use a bicycle delivery service again after a road-raging bicyclist spit on their car window when they honked to alert him to their presence. Although something tells me the bike rider might tell the tale just a tad differently.

………

Local

The East Side Riders Bike Club teamed with the LA Galaxy for a ride to the closed-to-the-public Dignity Health Sports Center for Saturday’s match with LAFC; it didn’t help, though, as the Galaxy fell to their crosstown rivals.

The West Hollywood City Council was asked to reconsider the city’s ill-conceived ban on e-scooters, which is blocking a dockless ebike bikeshare pilot program.

 

State

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a man riding a bike was killed in a hit-and-run collision Sunday night.

Santa Barbara County has completed a temporary bridge in Montecito crossing the mudflow from the disastrous flooding in January 2018, allowing bicyclists to finally ride through the area without using busy highways. Although hopefully, they’ll pause to remember the 23 people who died that night.

SF Gate professes to offer tips on how to maintain your bike, when all they’re really doing is pimping online sites for tool kits and accessories.

 

National

If you haven’t already hit the extremely low, four article monthly limit on the Bicycling website, they have tips on how to ride with no hands like a pro.

Gear Patrol looks at the outdated concept of men’s and women’s bicycles, when they really mean the differences between top tube and step through frames.

A new four-wheeled bike promises an offroad ride for wheelchair users.

A Nebraska man was the victim of a violent thief who chased him down and assaulted him with a baseball bat to steal his bike.

The community rallied to support bike riders after Chicago police seized the bicycles of people serving as bike marshals during recent protests.

After a bighearted Tennessee boy won a new bike in a drawing, he turned around and gave it to his neighbor.

The New York Times examines the problem of ensuring marginalized residents are heard in the rush to repurpose streets due to the coronavirus, and that outdoor dining, Slow Streets and popup bike lanes don’t just benefit wealthy white residents. At least the last one’s not a problem in Los Angeles, because the city doesn’t have any.

Sad news from New York, where a 26-year old TV reporter was killed when she was thrown from the back of a Revel Vespa-style dockless scooter; neither she nor the man she was riding with were wearing the helmets that come with the scooter rental, even though they’d been disinfected.

New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare celebrated its 100 millionth bike ride.

A physician assistant capped off eight weeks on the front lines of the Covid-19 crisis in a New York hospital with a 3,500-mile coast-to-coast bike ride.

New Jersey residents are complaining about obnoxious kids on bikes. Again.

 

International

No bias here, as Toronto bike riders celebrate a new bike lane, but the headline on the website only focuses on people who oppose it.

Despite writing for a London site, a woman offers 11 reasons why living outside the city is better, including safer places to ride a bike.

An 84-year old British driver will be nearly 87 before he’s a free man again, after he was sentenced to 30 months behind bars for killing a bike rider, despite being told twice to stop driving due to his poor eyesight.

The UK has allotted the equivalent of $48 million for popup bike and pedestrian routes in response to the coronavirus crisis. Which compares favorably to the zero dollars approved by the US for the same purpose.

An English bike rider says no, a new popup bike lane didn’t endanger an ambulance on an emergency call.

Dueling petitions call for opening a seaside Brighton, England street back up to motorists, or keeping it closed to everyone but bike riders and pedestrians.

A UK dentist recalls a 2018 bike commuting crash that nearly ended his dental career, leading him to sell his handmade fixie and promising to never ride a bike again.

Some European countries are great for bicycling; evidently, Luxembourg isn’t one of them.

Just like our friend above, a South African man is back on his bicycle following a “remarkable recovery,” just 16 months after a mountain biking crash left him a quadriplegic with little hope of improvement.

 

Competitive Cycling

More on the cancellation of this year’s Colorado Classic women’s stage race to prevent crowds from gathering during the pandemic.

They get it. A WorldTour team offers advice on how to safely watch cycling again as they prepare to start the season. But say if you’re in doubt, just stay home.

Or better yet, just stay home, period.

 

Finally…

Bike helmets may not protect against cars, but evidently, they can be used to protect against federal secret police. Your next bike could be a brand new 40-year old racing bike.

And listen to the founder of the Major Taylor Cycling Club discuss America’s first Black sports hero with his son. (Correction: I originally misread that as a discussion with Major Taylor’s son, even though he didn’t have one, and would be pretty old if he did. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link, and Andy Stow for the correction.)

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already. 

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