Tag Archive for Los Angeles

Morning Links: Another epic CicLAvia, safe bike access to LA River parks, and another deadly street payout

October 1, 2018 / / One comment

If you missed the Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour yesterday, you missed a long, hot and fascinating bike through LA history.

Those sites on the Militant’s tour of the CicLAvia route ranged from the Wiltern Theater…

To Jack London’s purported LA home, which actually wasn’t…

To the television home of the Cunningham family on Happy Days.

Along the CicLAvia route we were entertained by Korean Dragon Dancers…

Cool bikes and their Ridaz…

And a selfie with the Target dog, even if it looked more like a stickup.

Although it took a passing stranger to point out the globe atop the former home of the legendary RKO Pictures.

And a chance encounter along the CicLAvia route led to the first meeting of the Militant Angeleno and CiclaValley.

And everywhere there were hordes of people on bikes, boards, feet, and every other manner of non-powered conveyances and ebikes.

Here’s what a few other people saw along the CicLAvia route.

https://twitter.com/LAcycleHelper/status/1046593554087174144

https://twitter.com/LAcycleHelper/status/1046593036824670208

The Whittier Daily News offered their own take, saying yesterday’s Celebrate LA! CicLAvia offered a slower paced slice of the city.

Meanwhile, CiclaValley clearly demonstrates the need for CicLAvia and non-polluting forms of transportation to clear the air in Los Angeles.

And no, it doesn’t feel good knowing that’s what we were all breathing yesterday.

………

Pedal2Parks has laid out a detailed, and much-needed, case to improve safe bicycle access to state parks along the LA River.

Thanks to Jon Christensen and Steve Anderson for the heads-up.

………

Los Angeles has opened its checkbook once again, paying out $5 million to the family of a pedestrian killed while crossing a Playa del Rey street in 2016, rather than fixing deadly Vista del Mar.

That comes after the city paid out $9.5 million for the death of a 16-year old girl last year, leading to the botched rollout of lane reductions on Vista del Mar, as well as other Playa streets.

A rollout that was reversed when LA Mayor Eric Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Councilmember Mike Bonin, caving in to demands from angry pass-through drivers and traffic safety deniers.

A reversal that means the next death on the street will cost the city even more, and sending a clear message that drivers own Los Angeles streets.

A message LA councilmembers appear to have received loud and clear.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.

A British cab driver admits on video that he gave a bike rider a punishment pass just to teach him a lesson.

A bike rider in Malta was attacked with brass knuckles following a punishment pass, for the crime of simply riding in the roadway.

………

Local

LAist says LA’s scooter wars seem eerily reminiscent of the early days of automobiles. Or the early days of bicycles, for that matter.

The Bike Laugh Heal comedy tour is coming to West Hollywood on October 14th; New York comedian Mara Marek is riding across the US to perform and raise money for survivors of domestic & sexual abuse.

Santa Clarita has officially opened a new extension of the San Francisquito Creek Trail.

If you didn’t get your fill of open streets yesterday, Santa Monica’s COAST Open Streets Event takes place this Sunday.

The Long Beach Post looks at safe streets in the city, and says it depends on where you live, ride and work.

 

State

Chino held a mini ciclovia on Saturday, closing three streets around the Chino Community Building to demonstrate what they could be.

Berkeley advocates held the city’s first people-protected bike lane protest.

 

National

No bias here. Conservative website Reason says bike ridership is down in the US, despite millions spent on bike lanes. Actually, ridership is up dramatically in cities that have built safe bicycling networks. And the declining numbers in Los Angeles are based on volunteer counts conducted by the LACBC, which are subject to the whims of weather and other factors, since the city apparently doesn’t think it’s worth it’s time to determine how many people actually ride bikes. Thanks to Tim Rutt and Eric Griswold for the head’s up. 

Bike Snob says we sold our souls to fight drunk driving, while absolving sober drivers of any responsibility for their actions.

Pro cyclists are working with the Little Bellas program to make mountain biking more accessible to young girls, and get them riding.

It only took three and a half years for a Hawaiian cop who killed a bike rider to finally go on trial for negligent homicide for killing a bicyclist while driving his squad car. And yes, that’s sarcasm.

Triple Pundit questions whether Oregon’s $15 bike tax is a fair way to support the bicycling community. It might be worth a small tax on the sale of new bikes just to shut up the people who ignorantly insist we don’t pay for the streets.

Business Insider shares the coolest gear they found at Reno’s recent Interbike trade show.

Over 2,000 cyclists take a page out of American Flyers, and ride Colorado’s legendary Tour of the Moon course.

They get it. Kansas City is removing a traffic lane and installing a month-long temporary bike and scooter lane on a street known for speeding.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $21,000 for a Chicago bike shop owner who suffered a serious brain injury falling from her bike while descending at a training camp in February. Make that over $24,000 now. 

An Illinois bike advocacy group takes issue with a recent column, arguing that bike riders are not required to hug the gutter, and shouldn’t ride drunk even if the law doesn’t specifically forbid it.

Detroit’s bike-hating curmudgeon, the publisher of Crain’s Business, is out with his latest rant, complaining that bikes are taking over the city, despite the coming winter — and despite the derision his last diatribe garnered. And that soon, we can expect bike lanes on the Freeways.

A New Hampshire woman’s response to a new parking protected bike lane had her so stressed she couldn’t sleep.

An MIT publication says secret data collected from dockless bikeshare is mapping where people actually ride.

Virginia Tech tested bike helmets to find the safest ones. And the opposite.

No shit. A North Carolina newspaper says something is seriously wrong when bike riders have to wear cameras to defend themselves from road raging drivers. And that maybe it’s time to stiffen penalties for drivers who harass bicyclists.

Florida researchers explain how media reports fail fallen bike riders.

 

International

A new study argues with a straight face that lower speed limits actually increase traffic deaths, because drivers ignore them. Meanwhile, a Canadian writer says no, lowering speed limits in residential areas is not a war on cars.

An Ontario city is considering using bicycles to speed paramedics responding to the opioid crisis.

The Daily Beast says the best way to sightsee Cuba is by bicycle. Which is usually the best way to see any city or country. 

Bristol, England is about to complete a 75-mile segregated cycling network.

You can’t make this stuff up. A British radio host has filed a complaint over an ad for one of London’s cycle superhighways — because it doesn’t show any cars in the background. Never mind that his last name is Ferrari.

UK researchers say 35% of the country’s bicyclists have had their bikes stolen.

The British dad who was riding his daughter’s tiny pink bicycle across the country in memory of the seven-year old girl who died from a brain tumor three years ago, has finished his journey after raising the equivalent of nearly $42,000.

Here’s more to add to your bike bucket list, as The Guardian recommends the top places to bike Britain.

They get it too. Australian site The Conversation says the problem isn’t dockless bikeshare, it’s the lack of adequate bike parking.

A group of Thai doctors, paramedics and people trained in first aid stand ready to respond on two wheels to medical emergencies at public events.

 

Competitive Cycling

Anna van der Breggen is your new women’s world road champ; Cycling Tips recounts the race as it happened. 

Alejandro Valverde finally claimed his first world championship after six podium finishes over the last 15 years.

Tom Boonen says the new junior world champ still has work to do as he makes the jump to the WorldTour. Then again, what 18-year old phenom doesn’t?

A new regulation going into effect next year will guarantee that women cyclists on the WorldTour earn the same $38,000 minimum salary as the men.

Cycling Tips’ Neal Rogers says US road cycling is in a downward spiral.

The Guardian examines the world of 24-hour bike races.

A British Paralympic champ says she races bikes at 50 mph, and doesn’t want her sight back.

Tel Aviv residents block a bike race to protest African immigrants moving into their neighborhood. Nothing racist about that. Nope. Not a thing.

 

Finally…

We may have to deal with LA drivers, but at least we seldom have to worry about sulfuric acid spills.

And here’s a hint: If you flee the scene after hitting someone, don’t say you thought it was a deer.

That one hardly ever works.

………

Let me give a special shout out to Eric Weinstein, who was one of the earliest BikinginLA readers and supporters, and still reads this site with his coffee every day. Thanks for sticking with it!

 

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Morning Links: An epic symphonic CicLAvia, the Militant Angeleno, and free JUMP Bikes through next week

September 28, 2018 / / One comment

This is not just another CicLAvia.

Sunday’s Celebrate LA! open streets event combines bikes and music to mark the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with an eight-mile route stretching from Downtown’s Disney Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.

Although the last part will rely on shuttle buses to transfer people to the Bowl from the western CicLAvia terminus at Franklin and Vine.

In addition to the usual CicLAvia activities, this one will feature performances from symphony members and musical guests throughout the day and all along the route.

It will also feature the first ever public appearance of the Militant Angeleno, author of the popular Militant’s Epic CicLAvia Tour, offering a guide to noteworthy sites along the route.

And this one really is epic, with sites ranging from the new tallest building in LA, to a pair of Brown Derbys.

The Militant, who guards his non-camo clad identity as carefully as legendary LA hero Zorro, will host an informal free tour along the route — cohosted by yours truly.

Though how he intends to hide it in public remains to be seen.

As for my contribution, I’ll be there to answer questions and comment on bike safety issues as they come up.

But like everyone else, I’m really just tagging along to see the Militant Angeleno, and experience CicLAvia in a whole new way.

RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com if you want to join us.

I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

………

Santa Monica’s new JUMP dockless ebike bikeshare is free for the next week.

………

Long Beach Mobility & Healthy Living Programs Officer Michelle Mowery sends word that the San Gabriel River Bike Path will be closed one more time next month.

The LADWP needs one more day of bike path closure to complete their work on the power plant.  We expect the path to be closed on October 4th between 2nd Street and 7th Street (California State Highway 22) from 8 AM to 5 PM.

Hopefully this will be the last time it’s necessary.

………

Local

A Los Angeles man was sentenced to three years probation and a $550 fine for scooting under the influence; he fled the scene after crashing into a pedestrian with a BAC over three times the legal limit.

Streetsblog says the missing sharrows have returned to 4th Street. The residential street is a popular route for bike riders headed to and from Downtown. Fourth Street was supposed to become a bike boulevard, but former Councilmember Tom LaBonge backed down in the face of local opposition to installing a red light.

 

State

Palo Alto will honor a former councilwoman who set the city on a bike friendly path.

 

National

A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board says better car design could prevent pedestrian deaths. And bike riders, too.

Now that’s my kind of state. The most Googled search term in Colorado is “Tour de France.” Which beats the hell out of Ohio’s “Ken Doll Man Bun.”

Seriously? A New Hampshire newspaper says converting a traffic lane on a bridge to a bike and pedestrian lane is a bad idea — even though it would only slow peak rush hour traffic five to ten mph below the posted speed limit.

A Nashville trauma surgeon urges scooter riders to wear a helmet, while a Massachusetts doctor says it’s irresponsible to offer bikeshare without also providing bike helmets. And that ebikes endanger everyone on the local bike path.

The New York Yankees are the only major league team that won’t allow bike helmets into the stadium, forcing riders to either go without one or rent a locker across from the stadium for $20 a game.

Shades of Los Angeles. DC bicyclists and councilmembers complain about the mayor’s Vision Zero plan, saying there’s no sense of urgency and the city isn’t doing enough to save lives; the head of the Department of Transportation says updating the Vision Zero website is just “too labor intensive.”

An Alabama YouTuber explains how to get a Walmart bike that doesn’t suck much.

The Tampa Bay newspaper insists the area isn’t really the nation’s most dangerous place for bicyclists, regardless of what the Wall Street Journal says.

Apparently it’s open season on bike riders and pedestrians in the nation’s second most dangerous city for bicyclists, with seven people hit by drivers in Jacksonville in just the last two days.

 

International

Canada’s Banff National Park considers lowering the speed limit to the equivalent of 18 mph to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians.

Seven of the eight candidates for mayor of Winnipeg voiced their support for bike lanes and boosting active transportation.

No bias here. A Montreal pedestrian looks at bicyclists from a decidedly sidewalk perspective, saying she’s sick and tired of dealing with scofflaw cyclists on the sidewalk. Never mind that people don’t ride their bikes on the sidewalk if they feel safe on the street.

An advocacy group on Canada’s Prince Edward Island says licensing bicyclists isn’t the way to improve safety.

There’s a special place in hell anyone who’d punch an 80-year old British man after being told bikes aren’t allowed on a pedestrian path.

This is why you always need to carry ID when you ride. Authorities in the UK are trying to identify a 70-year old man who died of a heart attack while riding his bike last week.

NPR examines the proposal to ban phones on bikes in the Netherlands.

A Polish city is opening a six and a half mile, four lane bike highway, allowing bike riders to travel at speed up to 30 mph. Can we have that here? Pretty please?

Korean police are preparing to crack down on bicycling under the influence; under a new law, anyone riding a bike with a BAC of just .05 will be subject to a $27 fine. Which could be as little as two drinks for someone under 150 pounds.

A J-pop star faces charges for a drunken hit-and-run that injured a bicyclist and a pedestrian; the former singer with Japanese girl group Morning Musume turned herself in to Tokyo police 15 minutes after the crash.

 

Competitive Cycling

Eighteen-year old rising Belgian star Remco Evenepoel overcame an early crash to win the junior road cycling world championship; he won the junior time trial title earlier in the week. Although just days after he asked not to be called the next Eddy Merckx, that’s exactly what the Telegraph did in that last link.

A pair of quad-tandem teams from Great Britain and Canada are racing from Portland to San Francisco to raise money for mental health programs.

A bike race took 45 competitors over 6,000 miles from Lyon, France to Guangzhou, China on solar-powered ebikes.

Former Vuelta and Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich faces yet another assault allegation for attacking a man at the Hamburg airport, as he was preparing to fly to the US for rehab. Which clearly can’t come soon enough.

 

Finally…

Who needs a bike bell when you can put a 100 decibel siren on your handlebars. And walking on water may be a miracle, but biking on it isn’t anymore.

 

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

Morning Links: Phil Gaimon pens his own obituary, balance bike parking, and Bike the Vote endorsements

September 27, 2018 / / One comment

Take a few moments, right now, and read this hard-hitting piece from Phil Gaimon, who narrowly avoided being turned into road kill by a salmon driver speeding around a curve on the wrong side of the road.

Just like the squirrel he passed several minutes later after he composed himself.

Of course, the squirrel did dart into traffic and he’ll get no mention in the local paper, but if I’d shared his fate I expect that would be the headline for me. I’ve made peace with the fact that this probably is how I’ll die someday and I’m choosing to still do it, but I’d like to set the record straight here. When I die on my bicycle, I didn’t do anything erratic and I didn’t make a mistake. I’m an expert at bike riding, I did it for a living among the best in the world for years, and in my retirement I ride cautiously because I had enough broken bones when it was my job. When I die it’s because of some asshole not paying attention, speeding, texting, or both, on roads where there’s no infrastructure or room for error, and most likely there won’t be much of a punishment. I’m dead, so at least they can get the story right.

I’ve long thought the same thing as Phil Gaimon describes.

Odds are, when I finally meet my maker — which hopefully will be a very long time from now — it will happen on a bike.

Not because bicycling is dangerous, but because I’ve spent far more time on my bike than I have doing anything else. And plan to continue as long as I’m able to remain upright and turn a pedal.

But now that I live it Hollywood, it seems even more likely, thanks to streets filled with aggressive and distracted drivers. Along with a near total lack of bike lanes, protected or otherwise.

And no, sharrows don’t count.

Like Gaimon, I fully expect to be blamed if that ever happens.

And like Gaimon, it won’t be true.

That’s why I use a bike cam when I ride, so I’ll have proof I didn’t run a red light or stop sign, or suddenly suicide swerve out in front of traffic.

It’s cold comfort.

But to will have to do until Los Angeles finally gets serious about Vision Zero.

And finally commits to building the bike plan its already committed to.

………

On a happier note, this tweet gave me the biggest smile I’ve had in weeks.

https://twitter.com/asausagehastwo/status/1044233989064708097

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

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Get ready to bike the vote this November, as Calbike offers its endorsements in the coming election.

Interesting to note that all but one of the legislative candidates they endorse supports using clean transportation financial incentives for bike purchases.

Which translates to giving rebate to encourage people to buy bicycles, ebikes or otherwise. And actually use them to replace car trips.

Meanwhile, Bike the Vote LA has released their own voter guide for the LA area. Nice to see my own Assembly Member made the list.

………

Local

A new study ranks the 20 most congested cities in the US; for a change, Los Angeles wasn’t at the top of the list. In fact, LA ranked seventh, behind Chicago and ahead of Seattle.

It’s a busy bike weekend in DTLA this week, with CicLAvia rolling on Sunday, and the Bike! Bike! conference Thursday through Sunday at Los Angeles State Historic Park; Bike! Bike! is intended to bring bike owners, bicycle shops and bike groups together to “workshop new ideas and methods to advocate for urban bicyclists.”

Community stakeholders conducted a “slow jam” on Temple Street, where limited safety improvements are underway after Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Mitch O’Farrell combined to kill a desperately needed road diet on the dangerous street. Although the improvements might help people on foot, it’s not a Complete Street unless it safely accommodates people on two wheels, as well.

Streetsblog visits the new purple curb extensions on the Pico Blvd Great Streets project. But how great can it really be without bike lanes?

CiclaValley races his wife from Westwood to the San Fernando Valley, pitting bike against car. You can guess who won.

Santa Clarita City Councilmember Cameron Smyth explains why you should ride in the city, and explains how Santa Clarita’s Heads-Up traffic safety campaign applies to people on bicycles.

 

State

Unsafe routes to schools. A mother and her eight-year old son were lucky to escape with minor injuries when a turning driver struck their tandem bike while they were riding to school. Police said the driver couldn’t see because he had the sun in his eyes, which makes it okay, right?

The Ventura County Star says it’s time to stop the madness, and do what you can to clean the air by car-pooling, taking the bus, walking or riding a bike.

San Francisco’s new mayor called on the city to speed up Vision Zero safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians. It would be nice if LA’s mayor would say the same thing. But don’t hold your breath.

 

National

A new AAA study shows 80% of drivers overestimate the technical capabilities of their car’s safety devices, especially the ability to detect bicyclists and pedestrians. Maybe because every other car commercial shows them doing exactly that.

Uber has announced a $10 million fund to advocate for congestion pricing and charging stations for dockless ebikes near transit stations.

Bicycling offers 30 bike hacks every bicyclist should know. As long as you’re willing to put up with their annoying click-through format that only shows one item at a time.

Seattle bike commuting is down to its lowest level since 2007; just 2.8% of city residents rode to work last year, down from 3.5% the year before.

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on. An Iowa woman faces a 1st degree murder charge for stalking a man who accused her of stealing, and using her car as a weapon to intentionally run him down as he rode his bike in a parking lot, while driving under the influence.

Michigan’s new three-foot passing law goes into effect today.

A road raging Ohio lawyer lost his license to practice for a year — make that six months — after he brake checked a bike rider, and stomped the cellphone of a physician who stopped to record the incident. He also skipped out on the court hearing for the misdemeanor he ended up charged with, leading to his later arrest and conviction.

Seriously? It will now cost DC drivers who park in a bike lane three times as it does to door a bike rider under the city’s new Vision Zero laws; meanwhile, a bicyclist who hits a pedestrian crossing the street will be fined $150, but just $100 for hitting someone walking on a sidewalk.

A DC council member says the city has to do more to protect bike and scooter riders, including building protected bike lanes. Meanwhile, an advocacy site says it’s been just two days since a driver killed someone biking, walking or scooting in DC.

A Tampa FL columnist says a proposed transportation sale tax, which would reserve 12% of funds for bike and pedestrian projects, is a good start to change the city’s ranking as the nation’s most dangerous place for bike riders.

 

International

This is the cost of traffic violence. A promising young Canadian ballet student was killed in a collision on Sunday.

No bias here. A deputy mayor on Canada’s Prince Edward Island says requiring bike riders to attach a license plate to their bike or helmets would make the city friendlier to bicyclists. No, really.

A writer for London’s Evening Standard says bicycling must be made safer after decades of half-hearted attempts.

Members of an Oxford, England men’s choir will ride 100 miles to Wales to remember their roots as descendants of Welsh residents who moved to Oxford during the Great Depression.

This is who we share the roads with. A British motorcyclist records a road raging minicab driver running over his parked bike after he got off to confront the man. But the motorcycle rider was no angel, either, kicking and hitting the car after threatening to break the driver’s skull.

An American Vietnam vet with an Ivy League education gave up his life in this county to live as a hermit in Ireland, using his bicycle to get around.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist examines the superstitions and rituals of the pro peloton, and concludes they might give riders a mental edge.

An 18-year old Belgian cyclist insists he’s not the next Eddy Merckx, as he prepares to make the leap from the junior ranks to the WorldTour next year.

Canada’s “starry girl cyclist” of the 1930’s is being inducted into the country’s Cycling Hall of Fame, after a riding career spent leaving fellow riders and stereotypes in her wake.

After years of misfortune, Australian time trial specialist Rohan Dennis claimed the world champ’s rainbow jersey in the event.

 

Finally…

Before you complain online about a bike riding mom and her child, make sure you’re right.

And when a cop right hooks a bike rider, it’s just a “momentary lapse in attention.”

Right.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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

Morning Links: Pendleton bicycle restrictions take effect, and LA’s not the deadliest place to bike after all

September 26, 2018 / / One comment

Let’s start off today with a reminder that this is the last weekend you can ride through Camp Pendleton without registering first.

To make matters more complicated, you have to register in person, on base at Camp Pendleton, at an office that’s only open Monday through Friday.

Which is a problem, considering that the popular route through Pendleton is the only way to get from southern Orange County to North San Diego County by bicycle without riding on the 5 Freeway.

One more reason Caltrans needs to create a protected bikeway — if not a separate bike path — through the base.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

………

A new study from the Wall Street Journal pinpoints the most dangerous place in the US to ride a bike.

And for a change, it’s not Los Angeles. Or even in Southern California, for that matter.

Instead the study, which ranks bicycling deaths per capita, lists the Sacramento area as the nation’s fifth deadliest, after four Florida cities.

Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida ranked number one, with an average of seven deaths per 100,000 people.

Previous studies have shown Los Angeles as the nation’s deadliest city for people on bicycles. However, those fail to consider that LA is the nation’s second largest metropolitan area.

While even one death is one too many, Los Angeles ranks just ninth on the Journal’s list at 2.8 deaths per 100,000 people, above San Jose and behind Riverside San Bernardino.

So we still suck when it comes to providing safe streets for bicyclists.

We just don’t suck as much as some other places.

Note: You may or may not hit a paywall when trying to access the Journal article; I was blocked trying to access it directly, but was able to get in by clicking the link in the Sacramento pieces.

………

Unbelievable.

A Florida man is under arrest for grabbing a woman’s bicycle and throwing it off a bridge as she was walking across it with a flat tire.

Then he threw her boyfriend off when he tried to intervene.

Fortunately, he only suffered a cut and a bloody eye in the 30 foot drop to the ocean, and was able to swim to a pylon to await rescue.

The whole thing was witnessed by a cop who just happened to be crossing the bridge at the same time, and caught part of the incident on video.

………

Sometimes, showing a little courtesy and respect is appreciated.

And it’s not that hard to do.

https://twitter.com/Satar_Gaza/status/1044640978873782273

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Local

Good piece from CiclaValley, as he accuses CD4 Councilmember David Ryu of having a one-size solution to traffic on Rowena Ave, and pursuing 20th Century solutions to 21st Century problems.

The Verge looks at LA’s scofflaw underage e-scooter underground. Which is ridiculous, when you consider that a 16-year old can legally operate two tons of high powered glass and steel, but can’t legally ride a 15 mph scooter.

 

State

Abandoned Ofo bikes are still strewn about in San Diego after the dockless bikeshare provider pulled out of the city, but left its bikes behind.

The annual Eroica California ride for classic bicycles will now be based in Cambria.

Marin bike shops are the latest to feel the effects of Trump’s trade war with China.

 

National

A new baseball cap-style bike helmet folds down to the size of a water bottle.

Texas Monthly looks at the cyclist safety that isn’t happening in the Rio Grande Valley, after city commissioners walked out on a 19-year old woman as she spoke passionately about the death of her friend, who was killed in a collision as he was riding.

The Vision Zero program in San Antonio, Texas awarded a $10,000 prize to the city’s safest driver, after an app tracking the winner’s speed, hard braking and distracted driving showed he beat out over 14,000 other participants.

A local paper says that despite what people say, thousands of people bike and walk in Houston; the proof is the number of people hit by cars.

Bizarre tragedy in Chicago, where a motorist chased down a driver who fled after striking a bicyclist — moments after telling another rider in the group that he was going to jail — then was shot and killed by someone in a third vehicle as he argued with the hit-and-run driver. He was facing trial for discharging a weapon in a road rage incident last year, which he claimed was self-defense. Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

A blind DC woman now rides a tandem bike once a week, after not riding since she was a girl. And discovers that riding a bike really is just like riding a bike, whether or not you can see.

Instead of demanding safer streets, the Washington Post calls for kicking e-scooters off the sidewalk and requiring helmets for users. Never mind that mandatory helmets are impractical for a device that encourages spur of the moment usage, and could halt their rapid spread; few people just happen to carry a helmet with them everywhere they go on the off chance they might want to ride one.

 

International

Business Insider ranks the best bike lights.

A writer for Bike Radar examines ten things to consider when commuting by bike.

New aero wheel fairings — think hi-tech fenders — claim to cut wind resistance more than aero wheels.

The new VeloGuide website developed by a pair of Calgary men acts like a combination of Tinder and Airbnb for bicyclists, connecting riders with local guides in cities around the world.

Hamilton, Ontario police blame a bike rider for not wearing a helmet and riding on the sidewalk after she swerved to avoid a pedestrian and crashed into a stone wall, instead of blaming the dangerous street that made her feel safer on the sidewalk.

A Cayman Islands website says danger lurks around every corner for bicyclists, on a daily basis.

A Manchester, England teen pleads guilty to beating a man to steal his bicycle in a daylight attack that that went viral.

An annual program in the UK has given away over 750 refurbished bicycles to Londoners who can’t otherwise afford them.

Strava says it hasn’t seen any verified cases of bicycle theft related to the platform, after a British rider blames the app for leading bike thieves to his home.

This is who we share the roads with. A road raging Brit driver was sentenced to three years behind bars for deliberately running down a bike rider after the victim complained about a dangerous pass.

Great idea. A new website in the UK is designed to help local bike shops compete with internet dealers by allowing bicyclists to shop online from multiple shops across the country, and have their purchases shipped to them or pick them up at the store.

The director of a Scottish sportive has dropped charges against two farmers who allegedly attacked participants with sticks to protest the road closures during harvest time, saying they’ve learned their lesson. And that the decision doesn’t give others a green light to attack bicyclists.

Well organized Dutch bike thieves stole 33 bicycles worth over $117,000 from a single shop.

Bike riders in the Netherlands face a ban on distracted bicycling.

University students in India can now take a short course in bike culture and learning how to use European bikeshare systems.

An Aussie woman says the key to a happy marriage is a spouse who keeps your bike in working order.

Two other drivers report nearly hitting famed enduro cyclist Mike Hall on the morning he was killed while competing in an cross-Australia endurance race, saying he came out of nowhere — even though other drivers said he had front and rear lights, as well as reflective gear.

Hong Kong will lift bicycling bans on 16 bridges and underpasses, while keeping them in place on another 324.

Singapore will deal with the problem of dockless bikeshare bikes blocking sidewalks and private property by charging users $5 for improperly parking bikes; three fines in a single year will result in a 12 month ban.

 

Competitive Cycling

A writer for Bicycling says the cyclocross race between Dutch veteran Marianne Vos and young American Ellen Noble was a battle for the ages. Even though she didn’t actually, you know, see it.

Cycling Tips gives a shout out to the “ageless” six-time cyclocross World Cup winner Katerina Nash, who finished third behind Vos and Noble.

An Emirates website goes behind the scenes with the UAE Team Emirates at the Vuelta.

 

Finally…

No spoiler here; this race ended — tragically — 122 years ago. Why choose between beer and bikes when you can roll out the barrel with a single Octoberfest?

And who wins a fondo when neither rider finishes rubber side down?

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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

Morning Links: CicLAvia and the Militant’s Epic Tour, riding a JUMP Bike up Mandeville, and Metro bike motions

September 25, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: CicLAvia and the Militant’s Epic Tour, riding a JUMP Bike up Mandeville, and Metro bike motions

Have you made your plans for Sunday’s CicLAvia yet?

Curbed provides details for Celebrate LA!, the epic Disney Hall-to-Hollywood Bowl CicLAvia, sponsored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

LA Phil has more info on performances scheduled for throughout the day on their website. And it can’t hurt to download the app to make sure you don’t miss anything.

However, they both forgot to mention the first-ever public appearance of the Militant Angeleno, author of the popular Militant’s Epic CicLAvia Guides, as he co-hosts the Militant’s Epic CicLAvia Tour with yours truly.

You can find details at the end of this piece.

I’m planning to do more listening than talking, since I’ve been trying to talk the Militant into doing a tour like this for some time.

But if you’re aware of safety problems or anything in need of improvement along the CicLAvia route, let me know, and I’ll be happy to discuss it on Sunday.

………

It’s one thing to ride a dockless bikeshare bike on level ground.

It’s another to take one up Mandeville Canyon.

But that’s exactly what David Drexler did over the weekend. Here’s what he had to say about the experience.

UBER’s JUMP Bike Company Social Cycles dumped a ton of these glowing red electric bicycles on the streets of Santa Monica this past week, so I could not help jumping on one and putting it through some tests.

See my stats here.

I wanted to see if these 3 speed HEAVY monsters — and they are Heavy — have what it takes (the torque) to make it 5 miles straight up to the top of Mandeville Canyon Road. I do it all the time on my road bike, but what about JUMP?

Anyone that thinks these things with only 3 gears! can’t make it up a hill, think again — in 30% less time than self-powered.

And the constant demand for power only drained the battery from 96% full at the start to 56% from Montana at 9th Street in SM and Back over the course of 1 hour.  I could have done it again.

Here are some photos of the bike and me at the top gate at the end of Mandeville most cyclists are familiar with.

And I would also mention that the bike had excellent stability and control at fast downhill speeds, more stable than my road bike.

 

………

Metro will consider two motions involving bikes at their board meeting this Thursday. One would provide full funding for 14 open streets events and partial funding for one more, while another would authorize a report on options to provide more secure bike parking at Metro stations.

………

Local

The LA Times urges a no vote on Prop 6, the ballot measure to revoke the recent gas tax increase, saying it’s hard to overstate how destructive it would be.

An ebike website reviews the Cero One e-cargo bike from LA’s three-year old ebike maker Cero.

 

State

A 19-year old man was shot and killed in unincorporated Anaheim Monday afternoon; later reports indicated he was shot while riding his bike, and you can see his abandoned bicycle on the sidewalk in the background of the video.

A San Diego advocacy group has developed a comic book hero called Captain VZ to promote Vision Zero to school kids.

 

National

Bicycling looks at the history of your bike shorts. And says every bike community needs the riders who don’t fit in.

Streetsblog says the recent e-scooter deaths point out the need for safer streets, while a DC website puts the blame on car-centric streets, not scooters.

A Seattle writer says the best way to visit a nearby island is on two wheels.

Moots bicycles brings together Colorado ranchers and gravel cyclists to try to find common ground.

This is who we share the roads with. A pair of motorcycle riders punched out a Chicago bike rider with a hard-shell glove when he caught up to them after one of the motorcyclists grabbed his wife’s ass as she rode in a bike lane.

A Detroit man saved his own life by taking up bicycling after being diagnosed with diabetes five years ago; he lost 45 pounds in the first two months, and is now in the pre-diabetic range.

The Providence Journal questions whether Rhode Island’s bikeway system is safe for children after a six-year old was killed earlier this summer; warning signs and crossings blocked by vegetation doesn’t help.

New York urges people to ride bicycles instead of driving to avoid gridlock caused by the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, while the NYPD responds by blocking key bike lanes for security purposes. Streetsblog says it’s an argument for a carfree city.

A local historical society looks back at a six-day women’s bike race held 118 years ago in Elmira NY. Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

A Philadelphia program brings bicycling to students who might not otherwise have a chance to ride.

DC advocates plan to install a ghost scooter for the e-scooter rider who was killed in a collision on Friday.

A South Carolina bike shop owner warns that bicycles are about to get a lot more expensive, thanks to Trump’s tariffs.

This is what real heroes look like. An Alabama couple opened a coffee shop as a side business, with 100% of the profits going to buy bikes for people with MS.

 

International

A British letter writer gets it, saying bicycling is fun and should be encouraged.

Over 25,000 people took part in Cycle to Work Day in the UK and Ireland last month.

Ireland is considering a plan to cut speed limits to 20 mph in built-up areas around the country, with support from Mark Beaumont, who set the record for the fastest trip around the world by bicycle.

Fifteen thousand woman took part in last weekend’s Fancy Women Bike Ride in 60 cities in Turkey and throughout Europe to celebrate World Car Free Day.

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real, as a South African bike rider suffered serious injuries when someone sabotaged a bike trail with a wire strung at neck level.

Sydney, Australia agrees to conduct a lane reduction on a four lane bridge, converting it to three motor vehicle lanes and a two-way protected bike lane.

Australia is conducting a three-day inquest into the death of famed endurance cyclist Mike Hall, who was killed in a collision last year while competing in the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race; authorities say he was virtually “indistinguishable” in the dark, despite a red taillight and reflective stripe. Needless to say, no charges are expected against the driver.

Seoul, Korea averages ten collisions involving a bike rider every day; bicycling fatalities were up 25% last year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Next year’s Giro will start with a short uphill time trial in Bologna.

A former columnist for the New York Times looks at the startling descent of once-feared cyclist Jan Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1996 when he was just 23, and little or nothing since. He admitted to doping in 2013, and was briefly admitted to a psychiatric facility earlier this year after attacking a prostitute, as well as a neighbor.

 

Finally…

Who needs drugs when you’ve got bikes? A new bike rack could let you keep going if you flip your car.

And you’ve gotta have fuel to ride, which means some serious donuts.

Although they should have included the amazing peanut butter and jelly donuts from Stan’s Donuts in Westwood.

I’m just saying.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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

Morning Links: Iconic LA interchange condemned Angelenos to car hell, and 2nd US e-scooter death in DC crash

September 24, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Iconic LA interchange condemned Angelenos to car hell, and 2nd US e-scooter death in DC crash

Nice piece in The Guardian from LA’s Nate Berg, who says one of the most famous — and infamous — buildings in LA is a freeway interchange.

He singles out 1948’s groundbreaking four-level freeway interchange in DTLA, which set the standard for cities around the world.

For better or worse.

And helped condemn the city’s residents to a life dependent on cars; an unwilling addiction we’re still fighting to overcome.

………

Sadly, it was almost inevitable.

The nation’s second e-scooter death was announced over the weekend, as a man riding one was killed in a DC collision, just weeks after a Dallas man died after falling off a scooter — a crash his family blamed on a hit-and-run.

And no bias here, as a tech website unfairly puts the blame on Lime for the deaths.

………

Brandi D’Amore forwards news that Bike Index is rapidly nearing their 5,000th stolen bicycle recovery. Just one more reason to register your bike right now.

And if you want to donate to Bike Index, here’s the link.

………

Local

Nice gesture from 3rd District LA Councilmember Bill Blumenfield, who introduced a motion in the council (scroll down to the ninth page) that would allow permanent memorial signs calling for safer driving where bike riders were killed. If they did the same for pedestrians, there’d be a sign on nearly every corner. Thanks to TJ Knight for the heads-up.

CiclaValley offers his thoughts on placing a ghost bike for the victim of last week’s bicycling crash in Winnetka, saying it didn’t have to happen.

Loyola Marymount University held its own Bike Week last week to introduce students to bicycling on campus.

Writing for the Pasadena Star-News, Steve Scauzillo offers lessons learned from Pasadena’s failed Metro Bike bikeshare program, placing the blame on a lack of sponsorship and safe streets.

 

State

San Diego’s Bike IB rolled from Imperial Beach yesterday to encourage women to be more comfortable riding a bike.

Thousand Oaks opened a new park offering six miles of trails and a bicycle skills park.

San Jose residents turned out in force to celebrate the city’s fourth annual open streets event.

 

National

Wired considers the nation’s stubborn bicycling gap, saying American cities are either cycling cities, or hardly one at all.

The conservative AASHTO guide has finally added design standards for protected bike lanes.

The Electrek website looks at the new ebikes introduced at last weekend’s Interbike bike show in Reno, while a writer for Singletrack compares the show with earlier editions in Las Vegas.

Bicyclists in a St. Louis suburb have started a petition calling for a Complete Streets ordinance that would require it to consider bike riders and pedestrians in any street project.

Milwaukee bike riders are worried about the city’s new streetcar after a number of riders have been injured on the tracks, months before it actually opens.

A Wisconsin letter writer says, contrary to common perceptions, bike riders already pay more than their fair share.

A new Minnesota study shows drivers are less likely to buzz bicyclists in bike lanes, especially in protected bike lanes.

No bias here, either. A Detroit writer complains about a growing sense of entitlement and invulnerability among pedestrians, blaming the victims for the rising rate of pedestrian deaths. If she thinks pedestrians are entitled, just wait until someone tells her about drivers. Or just hands her a mirror.

An Ohio bike shop owner says yes, riding a bike on the sidewalk is dangerous, but sometimes it’s the best choice.

Streetsblog says charging a New York bus driver who killed a bicyclist with a misdemeanor for violating the victim’s right-of-way is like “letting Jack the Ripper off with a misdemeanor for soliciting a prostitute.” Yet somehow, a British tabloid still finds a way to blame the victim. A video showing the crash was released last week. However, I wouldn’t recommend watching it; there are some things you just can’t unsee.

Definitely no bias here, as an Annapolis, Maryland newspaper asks if a new downtown bike lane broke the city.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 85-year old Virginia man still rides his age on his birthday.

A New Orleans website says the city is literally walking and biking away from their cars.

 

International

Sony introduces a set of wireless earbuds that are designed to enhance environmental sounds, allowing you to hear both your music and the noises around you.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A British expert in human and molecular genetics who was researching hearing and sight loss in children was killed in a collision with a London black cab driver.

An English woman still has her bike because a bystander intervened to stop a young thief as he was riding off with it.

A man in the UK is riding 200 miles on his seven-year old daughter’s pink bicycle to raise awareness of the brain tumor that killed her three years ago.

Britain is planning to connect a network of existing horse trails to create a 1,000-mile offroad bikeway running the entire length of the country.

A British high school has ordered students to place numbered license plates on their bikes so people can report any antisocial behavior to the school. However, anyone who arrives on foot or by car is apparently welcome to carry on, antisocial or otherwise.

A road raging Irish cab driver intentionally brake checked a man, knocking him off his bicycle after arguing with him moments earlier; the whole incident was caught on video.

Oslo, Norway is taking a number of steps to actively discourage driving in the city center to “give the city back to the people.” Which drivers naturally see as a war on cars.

Three-quarters of Swiss voters agreed to enshrine bicycling in the country’s constitution to protect the rights of bike riders, forty years after voters protected hiking and walking. And no, that’s not likely to happen here in the US anytime soon.

A Venice, Italy design exhibition features the work of British bespoke bicycle maker Hartley Cycles, founded by a former artist and jewelry maker.

A bicycle ambulance program is saving the lives of people suffering from malaria in Zambia, and could be rolled out across Africa.

Collisions between bike riders and kangaroos are on the rise in Australia, and expected to double the normal annual total as a drought brings the wild animals out of the bush.

An Aussie mom has forbidden her teen children from bicycling after concluding the country’s drivers are too aggressive behind the wheel.

 

Competitive Cycling

British Cycling officials have approved adding a sixth day to the women’s Tour of Britain, which already offers prize money equal to the eight-day men’s race.

 

Finally…

Seriously, stealing a kid’s bike is bad enough without taking a dump on their lawn. How to lie and beg your way into a new bike.

And Trump ordering the removal of bike lanes is just a bad joke.

For now, anyway.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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

Morning Links: Court sticks LA and Caltrans for $9.1 million in PCH crash, and Brown signs e-scooter helmet bill

September 21, 2018 / / 4 comments

In the latest massive court case against the City of Los Angeles, a jury awarded $9.1 million to a man injured while riding his bike on PCH.

The Los Angeles Times reports Robert Jeffrey Watts suffered a severe brain injury four year ago, when he swerved his bike to go around rocks and debris on PCH in Pacific Palisades, and was struck by the wing mirror of a passing truck.

Watts came across a pile of sand and rocks on the pavement, and steered into the travel lane to avoid the debris. He was struck by a truck’s side mirror and lost control of his bicycle, resulting in a crash that left him with a “significant amount of brain damage,” according to a complaint filed in 2015 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Watts was an experienced bicyclist who rode to his office in Culver City for years to keep fit, said his attorney, Boris Treyzon. Watts, who ran a successful freelance camera company, was left unable to work.

The jury split blame for the case, finding Caltrans 40% liable for the crash, with Los Angeles responsible for the rest.

Caltrans, which owns the highway, had hired Los Angeles to sweep the pavement at least once a month and keep it free of debris, but jury testimony and records left it unclear how often the work was performed, Treyzon said.

During the trial, he said, two city street sweepers testified that at the Tramonto slide, “they would simply swing around … and ignore it,” rather than remove the sand, gravel and rocks from the roadway.

No surprise there to anyone who has watched LA City street sweepers in action. Or had to ride through the debris they left behind.

The size of these awards keep climbing. And those payments come out of your taxes.

Money that would be much better spent to fund quality bike infrastructure and safer streets to keep bike riders and pedestrians from getting injured.

Instead of paying out massive legal judgements after they do.

………

Go ahead and scoot without a skid lid.

To the surprise of some — okay, me — Governor Brown signed AB 2989, allowing adult users of e-scooters to ride without a helmet.

In addition, the law allows scooters on streets with speed limits up to 35 mph; current law limits scooters to streets with speed limits up to 25 mph unless they have bike lanes.

No word on when the law takes effect.

………

CiclaValley wants to know whether Decker Canyon or Westlake Blvd offers the scarier descent.

Although Phil Gaiman might vote for Tuna Canyon.

………

Cheetahs don’t pedal.

Just saying.

 

………

Local

Ride Metro Bike bikeshare free tomorrow for World Car Free Day.

A writer for City Watch takes a miserable walk down Fairfax Blvd, followed by a harrowing bike ride. And says Metro could fund trees, sidewalk improvements and bike lanes on Fairfax, as well as on Wilshire Blvd and all the major streets in the area that connect to Wilshire, for less than $50 million. Let’s hope someone is listening to him.

Downtowners weigh in on plans to remake LA’s Civic Center, calling for protected bike lanes and trails with bike and scooter parking.

Bicycling profiles the founder of LA-based women’s bikewear brand Machines for Freedom.

The third annual Gran Fondo Santa Clarita rolls next Saturday.

 

State

The Tahoe-Pyramid Trail is nearing completion, following the Truckee River 116 miles from the north shore of Lake Tahoe to Nevada’s Pyramid Lake.

 

National

A writer for Forbes explains in detail why you have a greater right to ride a bicycle than to drive a car, and proposes a Micromobility Bill of Rights giving you the same entitlement on smaller devices like e-scooters.

Bicycling looks at the “newest and coolest gear” from this year’s Interbike show.

Your next bike could be made of Super Magnesium.

No bias here. A Colorado columnist complains about “Bicyclist Entitlement Syndrome,” saying courteous bike riders are so rare you never see them. And the rest park their bikes on handicap ramps and run over kittens.

Omaha police agree to keep patrolling the city’s paved trails in response to bike riders’ concerns about “wrongdoers.”

A Chicago city alderman has proposed requiring bike riders to dismount and walk their bikes on the popular downtown Riverwalk, saying it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

The administrators of the bike-hating Northern Kentucky Facebook group we linked to earlier this week have turned it into a closed group after it got public attention, and changed the name to “Share the Road;” local bicyclists are worried it could incite violence against bike riders.

Police in Knoxville TN are the latest department to use an ultrasonic radar device to enforce the three-foot passing law. The LAPD, not so much.

A pair of Cleveland bike riders were brutally attacked and robbed in separate early morning attacks.

New York is closing a pair of key bike lanes, apparently for security reasons, in preparation for next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting — but leaving open a car tunnel that runs directly underneath.

A DC Twitter bot instantly uncovers the unpaid traffic tickets for any license plate, including one driver with 84 tickets totaling $10,700. Can we get that here in LA? Pretty please?

 

International

The co-founder of Zipcar warns the changes autonomous vehicles will bring could be paradise, or it could be hell.

Bike Radar offers tips on how to take inexperienced bike riders out for their first road ride.

Now that it’s legal north of the border, Canada’s military says don’t drive for 24 hours after you toke.

The Guardian looks at the colorful reinvention of city intersections.

Now that’s more like it. After a driver in the UK tweets that she should have run over a bike rider, police tell her to return her license because she’s clearly not fit to have one.

A British ebike maker says restricting ebikes to 15.5 mph in the UK and European Union is too slow for riders to be safe in traffic.

A Brit bike rider blames Strava for leading thieves to his home, where they stole five bikes worth nearly $16,000.

Heartbreaking news from the Netherlands, where four children were killed when the daycare cargo bike they were riding in was hit by a train.

VeloNews takes a tour of Italian bicycle factories.

 

Competitive Cycling

Forty-three-year old Amber Neben continues to defy the calendar as she prepares to compete for her third road world championship.

But maybe you’d rather watch bike racers about 40 years younger.

 

Finally…

Forget bike polo, it’s Cycleball season. Now you can own your very own British bike chain; no, not that kind.

And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think those are bike racks.

………

Thanks David D, and everyone who has contributed this week, for their generous donations to help support this site. 

One final reminder, if everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep it going for a full year.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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

Morning Links: Road raging drivers and pedestrians around the world, and a Montrose movement to reward riders

September 20, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Road raging drivers and pedestrians around the world, and a Montrose movement to reward riders

Let’s start off today with a pair of truly horrific road raging stories from the Boston area that once again drive home just who we share the roads with.

In the first, a tow truck driver is in critical condition following a fatal collision.

Just not from the crash.

After he struck and killed a woman as she was crossing the street, her son pulled out a knife and stabbed him five times, shouting “You killed my mom!”

The driver swore he didn’t see her as he ran around the truck trying to escape.

In the second, a road raging driver intentionally ran down a pair of scooter riders for the crime of not using the bike lane.

The victims can be seen clinging to the hood of the driver’s car as she flees after running over their scooters.

Fortunately, they only suffered minor injuries, and the driver was quickly captured, according to a Boston news site.

Pires, of Cambridge, was arrested and brought back to the Everett Police Department, where she was charged with four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury and driving to endanger.

Steve forwards a photo of the ghost bike that was installed last night for the victim in Monday’s fatal crash in the San Fernando Valley; the victim still has not been publicly identified. 

Let that be another reminder to ride — and drive — safely and defensively at all times.

………

Evidently, he was telling the truth.

A road raging London driver who told several bike riders he was driving a stolen car as he deliberately swerved at them, and threatened to run them over, has pled guilty to auto theft and dangerous driving, as well as a number of other charges.

Here’s the video of the assault to refresh your memory.

………

Local

Montrose cyclist Sean Hall has started the No Braques movement to reward riders who push the limits, with cash out of his own pocket.

 

State

A map prepared by UC Davis shows where in California animals are most likely to end up as roadkill. Make sure the roads you ride aren’t on there. Because you don’t want to end up as roadkill, either.

The California Coastal Commission has approved plans to add a 10-foot wide multi-use path to an existing train trestle over the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz.

 

National

Bicycling looks at the problem of cultural appropriation in the bike industry, and four companies that are doing it right. The story they cite of Czech brand Apache Bicycles is seriously cringe inducing.

Caught on video: A Portland bike rider is nearly run down by someone driving in a two-way plastic-post protected bike lane without headlights.

A local Reno NV website visits the Interbike bike industry trade show to look at the latest products, including a stop at ex-Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’ cannabis-infused Floyd’s of Leadville booth. Am I the only one who continues to be amused by a former cyclist who was stripped of his title for doping getting into the pot business?

A Mashable writer joins in on a 600-mile ride from Irvine to Interbike on an ebike. But no, Irvine’s Brian Sarmiento was far from the first person to bike to the Vegas-based Interbike from out of town; I’ve known a number of people who rode from LA to Vegas for the show over the years.

Speaking of Reno, the city will dedicate a new bike path alongside a highway in honor of a woman who was killed on her way to a California bike race three years ago.

Santa Fe police have purchased a bike sonar device to enforce the city’s five-foot passing law; the device goes on an officer’s handlebars, and measures the distance to a passing car. We’ve tried to talk the LAPD into trying the same device, without any success so far.

A Colorado Springs CO newspaper displays its windshield bias with an editorial that calls on the city to stop impeding traffic by building bike lanes; readers have mixed opinions on their success. Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

A Texas teenager refused to give up when her local city council wouldn’t listen, and went back a second time to demand safer streets after her friend was killed as he was riding his bike.

A Minneapolis woman fulfills a promise to herself by biking to work for the first time, and discovers she actually likes it.

A Detroit clothing store is teaming with a bike co-op to conduct a third annual bike drive; the drive has collected 400 bikes for local kids in its first two years.

Indianapolis sheriff’s deputies stopped a fleeing bike rider who failed to register as a sex offender by crashing into him head-on; bystanders accused the deputies of doing it on purpose.

A writer for Bicycle Times describes how the 275-mile Boston to New York Cycle for the Cause ride gave him hope during the AIDS crisis.

The owners of a mom-and-pop bike shop in Tennessee will lead a fundraising ride to fight human trafficking.

A Concord, New Hampshire paper calls for ticketing delivery vehicles blocking bike lanes.

 

International

No bias here. Bike Radar asks if shaved legs are hot or not. Never mind that some of their readers might be women who shave their legs for reasons that have nothing to do with bicycling.

The Conservative party leaders in Quebec intend to cut the size of Toronto’s city council, because “All (the) city council wants to do is build bicycle lanes.” Which seems like a pretty good reason to keep it just the way it is.

The Sun explains what’s going on with Saturday’s World Car Free Day. Which will be observed in Los Angeles by most people continuing to drive everywhere, as usual.

An Irish woman turned to bicycling to quit smoking, cut back on drinking and revamp her lifestyle.

Cyclist examines noteworthy classic bikes from Italian bikemaker Bianchi in words and pictures.

Photos of Israeli highways on Yom Kippur that look like CicLAvia.

Caught on video too: An Aussie bike rider is nearly run down by a motorist in an SUV who was driving in a bike lane.

Verge says Trump’s trade war with China could put the brakes on American bike riders.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling News takes a deep dive into whether women could handle racing a three-week Grand Tour.

It’s been a year since study abroad company EF Education First rescued America’s longest-running WorldTour squad from extinction.

Bicycling profiles Rwanda’s first women’s pro cyclist.

 

Finally…

If you’ve been drinking underage, put a damn light on your bike — and don’t resist arrest. Yes, it’s against the law to run over people on bikes. No, really.

And if your local velodrome is closing, just buy it, dismantle it, move it and rebuild it.

Easy, right?

………

The surprising generosity of BikinginLA readers this week continues to blow me away. So let me thank Steven K, Tyrone C and Gold Leaf Films for their generous donations to help support this site. 

As we’ve been saying all week, if everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep it going for a full year.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Another bike hating Facebook group, 95-years old and still riding, and LA worst city for walkers

September 19, 2018 / / One comment

This is who we share the roads with.

According to the founders of a Northern Kentucky Facebook group, throwing quarters and lit cigarettes at bicyclists, directing homophobic slurs at bike riders, and saying “exterminate these assholes” is just good, clean American fun.

One of the group’s administrators — a candidate for the local school board, had this to say.

“I see both sides but people need to realize we are just fucking around,” he wrote in a comment on a post in the group. “I hope no one from this group would ever intentionally hurt someone.”

Despite comments like this from others in the group.

“It’s going to look real bad when one of us accidentally run over one of these bicyclist lol,” reads one post a group member wrote Sunday. That post seems to have since been deleted.

” ‘Accidentally’ lol” another member comments.

“What body?” Heim replied.

“You need an alibi I got you,” a fourth group member wrote.

A post by another group administrator, David Andriot, shows a car plowing into a group of cyclists, with several flying into the air.

“I’ll get even with those cyclist (sic) one way or another…” Andriot wrote above the photo.

Evidently I don’t have a very good sense of humor.

Because harassing and assaulting other people — let alone threatening their lives — because you don’t like their chosen means of transportation doesn’t seem very funny to me.

But what the hell do I know?

………

I want to be like him when I grow up.

A 95-year old Iowa man still rides 10 miles a day using an adult tricycle, even though he can barely walk.

More proof that just about anyone can bike. And that bike lanes benefit the elderly and disabled, despite what bike lane opponents and traffic safety deniers insist.

………

Local

Is anyone really surprised that Los Angeles is the most dangerous city in the US for pedestrians, with more than twice as many fatalities as the next highest city?

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton says the positives about the $20 million, ten-year MyFigueroa Complete Streets project are undermined by scofflaw drivers.

Curbed writes about nine cities throughout the US with smart ideas to improve transportation — including LA’s commitment to electric buses and Santa Monica’s Scooter City USA.

KABC-7 offers advice on how to deal with neck and back pain caused by riding, while Red Bull gives tips on how to stay comfortable on endurance rides.

 

State

The last fatal mountain lion attack in California came 14 years ago, when a mountain biker fixing a broken chain was killed in Orange County’s Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. Note: Thanks to Mike Wilkinson and J. Patrick Lynch for pointing out that I originally wrote “mountain bike attack,” rather than “mountain lion.” It should be noted that mountain bikes seldom attack. And when they do, it’s usually their owners.

San Diego approved plans for dense housing and commercial projects around the city’s sports arena, including 30 acres of parks, bike lanes and a bay-to-bay trail.

A writer from the University of California says the problem isn’t the scooters on our streets, it’s the streets themselves.

Curbed’s Alissa Walker says representatives of more than 400 cities around the world attending the recent climate summit in San Francisco were obsessed with electric cars, rather than biking and walking, which have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions faster.

 

National

An architecture and design site questions whether e-scooters are bad for the environment.

After a series of bicycling fatalities in Chicago, the city council opened the floor to bike riders to vent their anger. And more importantly, actually listened to them. Unlike a certain SoCal city we could name.

Life is cheap in Ohio, where a driver will serve 16 days home confinement, followed by a whopping 14 days behind bars after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of a bike rider.

Indiana second graders learn the meaning of a ghost bike near their school, and decide that everyone should know about it.

A bikeshare rider goes for a ride, partly against traffic, in a Boston highway tunnel.

A planned expansion of Arlington National Cemetery could be good news for local bike riders.

A Florida woman woman rides 50 miles a day after surviving a stroke five years ago, riding primarily through black communities so they can see an African American woman on a bike; she’s planning to ride 2,200 miles across the US to Burbank.

 

International

Keep riding your bike. Greenhouse gas emissions have started to decline in 27 cities around the world — including car-choked Los Angeles.

Five cities around the world that made their streets safer through urban design. Any guesses on whether LA is one of them? Anyone?

Cycling Weekly tells you what to look for in energy gels. How about one that comes with a wet wipe to clean your hands afterwards?

The Guardian asks what a truly walkable city would look like. And looks at life in the Spanish city of Pontevedra, where cars are banned from the central city. We could only dream. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.

Vancouver’s aggressively auto-centric mayoral candidate, who’s running on a platform attacking lawless bike riders and pedestrians, while promising to rip out the city’s bike lanes, failed to show up for a court hearing on a distracted driving ticket; she claims the officer mistook her makeup compact for a cellphone. Sure, let’s go with that.

Monday was a rough day for Toronto bike riders, with three injured, and a 72-year old man killed, in just a single four-hour period. Thanks again to Stephen Katz.

Fifty London streets will be closed to motor vehicle traffic on Saturday for World Car Free Day.

A new survey shows Glasgow bicyclists and drivers hold a dim view of one another.

The Jerusalem Post celebrates Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, by relating the history of bicycling in Israel and Palestine.

The next round of Trump’s tariffs going into effect next week will include Chinese-made bicycles, frames and components, potentially making your next bike or parts 25% more expensive; bike safety equipment like helmets and lights were removed from the list.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling profiles Mike Wood, the Canadian cyclist who made the WorldTour just three years after he started racing. And made cycling fans cry by revealing he dedicated his stage win in the Vuelta to his stillborn son.

2016 Paris-Roubaix champion Mathew Hayman will retire after 20 years in the pro peloton.

 

Finally…

Now you can go electric on gravel. When you’re carrying meth on your bike, don’t ride salmon without lights and run red lights — or flee from the police.

And if you’re going to spend ten years riding your bike around the world, don’t wait until you’re already 60 miles away to tell your wife.

………

I’ve been blown away by the generosity of BikinginLA readers this week. So let me thank Kevin G and Alan C for their generous donations to help support this site. 

If everyone who visits BikinginLA today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep to keep this site going for a full year.

And G’mar Tov to all our Jewish friends; may your fast be easy.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Update: Bike rider killed on Winnetka Blvd in the San Fernando Valley

September 18, 2018 / / 2 comments

Word is just breaking that a man in his 60’s was killed yesterday while riding his bike in the Winnetka neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

The victim was reportedly riding his bike in the crosswalk on westbound Lanark Street crossing Winnetka Ave when he was struck by the driver of a 2001 Toyota Corolla around 6:30 pm.

He was taken to Northridge Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A street view shows a wide four lane roadway on Winnetka, with a center left turn lane and a bike lane in both directions, and an uncontrolled crosswalk on the west side.

No other details are available at this time.

This is at least the 35th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 18th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

A ghost bike ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 9 pm tomorrow night. (Note: This originally said it would be held on Tuesday, but it will be Wednesday, instead.)

Update: According to a source with the LAPD, the victim is an unidentified, 72-year old ebike rider.

He was struck when he rode off the north sidewalk on Lanark into the crosswalk, and was struck by a driver headed north on Winnetka. 

This is yet another reminder of the dangers of sidewalk riding. Drivers often aren’t looking for you there, so you have to assume they don’t see you. Even if you have the right-of-way, it’s often safer to wait until cross traffic has passed. 

And always carry some form of ID. This crash is even more tragic knowing that the victim’s loved ones may have no idea he was killed.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones. 

Thanks to Zachary Rynew and Steve for the heads-up. Photo of the victim’s ghost bike from Steve.

 

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