We recently started a new feature in which bike riders tell us about the everyday experience of riding a bike, wherever and however they ride.
Or in this case, show us.
kdbhiker with a very fast paced video condensing an 18-mile roundtrip ride from Burbank to Lake Balboa via the Chandler/Orange Line bike paths to just 35 seconds.
If you’d like to share your ride with us, just send it to the email address on the About BikinginLA page. It can be a rant, rave or anything in between, from a few sentences to a detailed description. Or any other format you think tells the story best, wherever you ride.
It’s said that nothing kills a bad product like good advertising.
But the question is, what effect does excruciatingly bad advertising have on a new product? Like this virtual reality stationary bike that lets you pretend you’re pedaling a race car. Or a pony.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up; my apologies to Mike for misspelling his name earlier.
San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputies will give bikes refurbished by honor farm inmates to kids in need for the 26th year; last year they donated 175 bikes and helmets.
Sad news from Sacramento, as a lightless bike rider was killed shortly after dark on Tuesday. Always carry lights with you this time of year, even if you don’t expect to be out after dark; even a slight delay or a flat can mean riding home later than planned.
A Davis bike thief is busted with meth, two loaded guns and a large quantity of stolen mail, along with five high-end stolen bikes. There’s got to be a punchline in there somewhere.
National
A new medical study offers advice for parents of children with ADHD, who are more likely to have collisions and close calls when riding their bikes across the street.
Evidently, if you want to stop bike theft in Portland, it takes an intern.
After tackling the man who just stole his bike, a Texas rider talks it out and lets him go with a fist bump instead of calling police.
The Missouri mayor charged with deliberately ramming a cyclist before fleeing the scene insists the rider blew a stop and swore at him before grabbing the car and falling down on his own.
A British man is about to complete a 12,000 mile ride from Australia to the UK to raise money for a children’s hospice.
A Facebook post tells the story of an Indian man who spent four months riding through eight countries to be reunited with his Swedish wife in the 1970s, only to learn he had married into the royal family. True or not, it’s a nice enough story to wish it is.
Australia tries out a glow-in-the-dark bike path, which is expected to replace electric lights with over eight hours of illumination.
Representatives of a Thai airline ride through the country in matching yellow jerseys. “We all ride in a yellow peloton, a yellow peloton, a yellow peloton…”
Finally…
A cherubic-looking bicycle-riding car thief is busted for the 20th time, which is an impressive rap sheet for a 12-year old. When you’re running away from home, making your escape by riding your bike on a busy freeway probably isn’t the best choice.
This is the fourth traffic fatality on the street in the last six months, with three pedestrians and a cyclist losing their lives on a street that was supposed to have been made safer by now.
And would have been, if Councilmember Gil Cedillo hadn’t unilaterally killed a fully funded, shovel ready road diet for reasons he has yet to fully explain, instead bizarrely claiming he was halting the safety project in the name of safety. Yet as yesterday’s tragedy clearly shows, his inaction has merely helped keep a dangerous street deadly.
Unfortunately, we live in a city where councilmembers oversee virtual fiefdoms, thanks to the reluctance of their fellow councilmembers or the mayor to challenge them for fear of retaliation against projects in their own districts.
This has to change.
If Cedillo is unwilling to admit his mistake, someone in city leadership or LADOT has to find the courage to stand up to him to protect the lives of our fellow Angelenos.
Otherwise, people will continue to die needlessly.
And our much-vaunted and fought-for Vision Zero will be nothing more than a very unfunny joke.
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Today’s theme is bizarre court cases involving allegedly traffic-blocking bike riders.
A Louisville KY bike and pedestrian advocate rejected a plea deal on charges of blocking traffic and running a red light, insisting that bicyclists aren’t required to use bike lanes. Or stop at red lights, for that matter.
A Pennsylvania bike rider faces charges for repeatedly obstructing traffic by slowly riding his bike in the middle of the road; a prosecutor hints he may be trying to get hit after receiving a settlement from a drunk driver for a 2007 collision. Or he could just be taking the lane on a narrow street, like bike riders are instructed to do.
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‘Tis the season.
For the seventh year, the Burbank Bike Angels will donate over 120 refurbished bikes to children of local low-income families.
A Rochester NY bike shop donated 20 bikes to an organization serving children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, for the second year in a row.
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Local
Democratic legislators ask Obama for funding to start planning and design work for the restoration of the LA River, which could include extensions of the LA River bike path.
The family of a Portland driver accused of fleeing the scene after killing a cyclist while driving stoned says it was just an accident and he’s really an awesome person. Except when running down bike riders while too high to drive, evidently.
A New Mexico man is arrested for his seventh DUI, just three months after being released from prison for killing a bike rider in 2005 while driving at three times the legal limit. Yet somehow, despite repeatedly proving he’s incapable of resisting the temptation to drink and drive, he’s still allowed behind the wheel.
Forget skiing. If you’re looking for a little winter adventure, try fat tire cycling through the Minnesota snow.
The Wall Street Journal says New York safety advocates say more needs to be done even though traffic deaths are declining. After all, it’s Vision Zero, not Vision Slightly Better.
A Savannah writer nails it. “A legion of scofflaw cyclists cannot inflict the amount of pain, suffering and death as one young man driving a Dodge Durango.”
International
Unbelievable. A Costa Rican cab driver denies doing anything wrong after pulling out from the curb and hitting three lead riders of a bike race after police had cleared the route; fortunately, no one was badly hurt.
A road raging bus driver deals with a confrontation with a London cyclist by running over his bike.
A candidate for London mayor offers a six-point plan to make the city a “byword for cycling around the world.”
Brisbane, Australia’s Green Party proposes a network of protected bike lanes, which would allow cyclists to ride in safety to within two blocks of any location in the downtown area.
December 15, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: They Drive Among Us part deux, and Marina del Rey rider stopped for biking while black
How disappointing.
Last week we looked at the angry anti-bike rants of a self-described former Disney executive, as he vented his spleen over the cyclists who ruined his three week motorized trip through the late, great Golden State.
And how what he termed “nasty, radical bike Nazis” and “selfish bicycle jackasses” were ruining it for everyone with their war on cars.
I was actually looking forward to the promised second part of Greg Crosby’s rant, the same way some people used to pay to see train wrecks.
Sadly, though, he reveals himself to be just another conspiracy nut, convinced there’s a secret plot to use bicycles to turn America into a third world country.
As proof, he offers the bios of the staff of the California Bicycle Coalition, who are well respected in Sacramento. But not, sadly, by our esteemed Mr. Crosby, who faults them all as “proud radicals” and “social justice activists.”
And what do those crazed radicals want? To triple the amount of bicycling by building bikeways — paid for, in his estimation, with your hard-earned gas taxes and registration fees.
Never mind that most bicyclists also drive and pay those same taxes and fees. Or that the general public subsidizes the roads he drives, since those fees cover only a fraction of the cost of building and maintaining the roads.
And never mind the free on-street parking that most drivers seem to feel is a God-given right.
He goes on to complain about being unable to pass cyclists with at least three feet distance, as the law now requires, as if the requirement to pass a bike rider safely was something new. Drivers were always expected to pass at a safe distance; the three foot law merely codifies what that distance is, unlike the six inches some motorists seem to find acceptable.
And he closes with a hint at conspiracy, noting that cities like Burbank have been narrowing streets by building center islands and extending sidewalks. Not to improve safety, in his apparent estimation, but just to frustrate drivers like himself by making it impossible to pass a cyclist.
Oh, the humanity!
Just imagine, all those drivers forced to endlessly idle behind slow-moving bikes, unable to ever get home to their families because of a vast leftwing conspiracy to bring America to its knees.
In all, his rumblings were a disappointment.
Just the self-deluded babble of an angry, indignorant* man so desperate to find someone to blame he creates an enemy in his own mind, rather than taking a few moments to try to understand the world from someone else’s perspective.
*Indignorant, an expression coined by my friend Will Campbell to describe someone who is both indignant and ignorant, usually willfully so.
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A celebrity chef is justifiably outraged after he was pulled over by police — most likely sheriff’s deputies — in Marina del Rey for biking while black.
According to his video statement, he was stopped for “going too fast,” and asked if he was running from something; the officer also implied that his pale blue t-shirt might be some sort of gang attire.
Just to be clear, unless he was riding faster than the posted speed limit, or somehow going too fast for conditions, which was highly unlikely, he wasn’t going to fast.
Period.
We should be long past this sort of harassment. Let’s hope he got a badge number and files a complaint.
And that someone in the department actually cares.
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Sometimes zoning and planning regulations can seem a little arcane, at best. But this PSA from Ottawa, Canada clearly explains in just 90 seconds the harm minimum parking requirements can do, and how getting rid of them can make room for bike lanes and transit.
The president of the American Public Works Assoc says the new $305 billion federal transportation bill lacks “targeted funding for bike and pedestrian projects that promote physical and social health, decrease emissions, and ease congestion.”
A writer in my hometown offers 10 reasons why cars are in decline. None of which Mr. Crosby would probably agree with.
A writer for the Louisville KY paper calls for a three-foot passing law in the bike-unfriendly state, which is rated 49th out of the 50 states.
The entire bicycle committee of Salem MA resigned at once to protest their concerns being ignored. Good for them; let’s hope the city takes the hint.
Nice gesture, as Buffalo NY police give a new bike to the family of a four-year old boy who survived on milk and maple syrup for two days after his mother died unexpectedly.
Under the first 10 months of New York’s Vision Zero plan, crashes are up 1%, while traffic fatalities are down 12, and injuries have decreased 2.5% — even if some drivers don’t like the new lower speed limits.
International
The Calgary paper says it takes a special kind of creep to steal a bike from a special needs kid. No argument here.
A London cyclist urges people to look out for each other on the roads, after surviving a crash with a stoned driver.
A British driver who deliberately slammed into a cyclist last June has confessed to murder most foul.
A London bike advocate discovers the loudest voices aren’t always the majority, as most local residents support a plan to turn their neighborhood into a bike-friendly Mini Holland.
An Aussie woman’s post went viral after saying she wanted to give a bike to someone whose kids really needed it, not someone “who wastes money on cigarettes;” she finally settled on a family whose daughter spent six weeks in the hospital after nearly drowning.
December 14, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: Still more big hearts for the holiday season, and driverless cars won’t solve LA’s traffic problems
Don’t forget to tell us what it’s like to ride your bike, wherever you ride, for our new Describe Your Ride feature — good, bad, or anything in between.
It can be anything from a few sentences to a detailed description, a rant, a rave, a bike cam view or your latest bike-related music video, here in LA or anywhere else.Just send it to the email address on the About BikinginLA page.
Civic leaders are working to improve safety for bike riders in Orange County, where an average of four riders were injured or killed every day in 2012.
San Diego service members remember an Army vet who was killed in Texas last month, while on a cross country ride to call attention to the plight of homeless veterans.
San Franciscans are in a heated debate over the proposed Idaho stop law, with the city council still two votes short of a veto-proof majority.
National
The first legally blind musher to compete in the Iditarod gives up her dream of competing as a tandem cyclist in next years Paralympics to become a mom.
In a truly bizarre tragedy, a Minnesota bike rider is killed in a collision with a train, at the same station where he had survived a similar collision just four months earlier.
Columbus, Ohio drivers and cyclists are confused by the city’s first protected bike lane. Actually, the description does actually sound pretty confusing.
Former Victoria’s Secret and current L’Oreal Paris model Karlie Kloss is one of us, as she rides a Citi Bike through the streets of New York.
Controversial Russian cycling team owner Oleg Tinkoff vows to leave the sport after next year’s racing season; a Canadian site says the man who compared Obama to a monkey won’t be missed at all.
A New Zealand cyclist sets a new record for riding around the world in just 125 days, although he’s disappointed it only raised the equivalent of just over $2500 for charity.
Five hundred Filipinos ride for cleaner air and call more action to help sustain the environment.
Caught on video: Twenty passers-by save the life of a Beijing bicyclist by teaming up to lift a car off her. Warning: Even knowing the positive outcome, the first part of this video is very hard to watch.
Finally…
Why bother checking the statutes when you can just ask Twitter whether sidewalk cyclists should be fined. An e-car driver wants permission to politely honk to tell bike riders to get the hell out of his way.
And chances are, you’ll never win the Nobel Peace Prize, but your bike might.
According to a recent GAO study, the rate of bicycling fatalities has increased only slightly, while ridership has gone up; in fact, bike commuting is up over 60% since 2005. As a result, the actual risk to riders has decreased significantly.
The same report adds that bad street design may explain why bike and pedestrian deaths haven’t dropped, even though motor vehicle deaths have.
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‘Tis the season.
A Sacramento charity is raising funds to give homeless people patch kits, tools and air pumps to keep their bikes on the road.
An Illinois group raises funds and collects bicycles for a rescue mission. Although they probably don’t have much competition as “North America’s premiere professional fur-covered bicycle cycling team.”
Belfast police dig into their own pockets to replace a bike stolen from a boy with Asperger’s syndrome.
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A top amateur cyclocross racer was banned for one year for using coke, although presumably there’s no way to tell if was recreational or performance enhancing.
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The LA Weekly lists the city’s most dangerous intersections, all but one of which are in the Valley or the Southside, and mostly in low-income areas. Not surprisingly, two of the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians are just a block apart on Hollywood Blvd; nothing like inviting tourists to visit LA, then throwing them to the wolves on our deadly streets.
Culver City installed bike Fixit stations along the “bike path” at Sepulveda and Culver Blvds and adjacent to Syd Kronenthal Park near Jefferson and National Blvds. It would be nice if they said which bike path, though; presumably, the first is on the bike path along Culver, while the other appears to be at the east end of the Ballona Creek path.
If you read this early, there may still be time to clean up trash on Mulholland with pro cyclist Phil Gaimon, and get a free cookie.
The madness continues in Coronado, where a letter writer complains about bikes and skateboards on the sidewalks. A problem that could have be solved if residents hadn’t risen up with torches and pitchforks to fight proposed “vertigo inducing” bike lanes.
The Santa Barbara planning commission approves a plan for bike lanes that will require the removal of 85 parking spaces on a busy street , over the vociferous objections of local residents.
Caught on video: A driver appears to deliberately attack a San Francisco cyclist. Unfortunately, the beginning of the incident is cut off, so it’s hard to determine exactly what happened.
Seattle police are looking for a bike rider who left an 85-year old man with serious injuries in an October collision as he was walking for a flu shot. Like the recent case in Echo Park, the rider stayed to talk to paramedics, but left without giving her contact information; and despite the tone of the article, it’s entirely possible that it may not have been her fault.
Atlanta kills plans for bike lanes on the city’s iconic Peachtree Road in the face of heavy opposition, even though the planned road diet will go forward.
Now that’s more like it. DC dramatically increases fines for traffic offenses, including a ten-fold boost in the penalty for hitting a bicyclist; naturally, AAA calls the increases draconian and promises to fight them. Then again, it was only a fifty buck fine to hit a cyclist before, which some drivers probably considered worth it.
International
An Aussie cyclist plans to ride non-stop across Cuba in less than 55 hours. Lengthwise, I assume; crossing the width of the island would be little more than a century, at best.
The rich get richer. Bike-friendly Vancouver approves another 12 new bike lanes, mostly in the downtown area, even though that will mean the loss of up to 50% of parking spaces on some streets. However, Vancouver bike lanes aren’t just for bikes anymore.
Just five months after opening, ridership has doubled on Calgary’s network of protected bike lanes.
A 20-year old Indian track cyclist is the first woman from her country to be ranked fourth in the world, just eleven years after she survived the Indonesian tsunami by hiding in a tree.
Finally…
Make your own DIY bike-powered menorah, just in time for the last few days of Hanukkah. Challenge an auto-centric writer to bike commute for a week, and he may actually enjoy it.
And kids, don’t try this at home; it’s probably not the best idea to hold onto a truck with one hand with a full-size dog slung over your shoulder.
December 11, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Morning Links: A Vietnamese bike flute, up on the rooftop with St. MacAskill & a self-pumping bike tube
It’s Friday, and no one really wants to work.
So kick back with a veritable boatload of links, starting with a couple of perfect pre-weekend timewasting videos.
Turn the sound down and pretend you’re working while you watch Danny MacAskill turn the rooftops of a Spanish town into his own cycletrack.
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A Swiss inventor claims to have perfected the first self-inflating bike tube, which works with standard wheels and tires by pushing air into the tube through the mechanical energy from riding.
This would be great if it actually works. But they’ll have to prove it to me.
And Lance says his biggest regret isn’t doping, it’s being such a colossal effing jackass in the way he treated people. Okay, I may have paraphrased that a little.
Sad news from Kern County, as a bicyclist was killed while riding in East Bakersfield.
The active transportation coordinator in bike-friendly Davis says don’t pile leaves in bike lanes, for obvious reasons. The same goes for trash cans, parked cars, delivery trucks, or anything else that keeps the people they were intended for from using them.
The CHP finally releases the 911 call from when a Sacramento judge ran down a cyclist last month. Clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks something stinks with the investigation on this one.
Traffic author Tom Vanderbilt talks with Kurt Searvogel, the American rider trying to break the year record for most miles traveled by bike in a 12-month period.
Fort Worth is finally on the long road to becoming bike friendly, even if it takes a Chihuahua in a backpack to make drivers back off.
Someone strung a rope across a bikeway in New York’s Prospect Park where it clotheslined a cyclist. Acts like this aren’t pranks, they’re deliberate attempts to injure and intimidate bike riders, and should be treated like the crimes they are.
Caught on video 2: A British cyclist gets caught in a terrifying ongoing dispute with a road raging driver who repeatedly attempts to run him off the road.
The UK’s Milton Keynes wants to become the city of bicycles, with its 170 miles of bikeways.
Extra added bonus: If, like me, you’re struggling to get into the holiday spirit, a polka version a Christmas tune couldn’t hurt. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
Donating to BikinginLA ensures your name will move to the top of Santa’s Good List. Or maybe Hannukah Harry’s.
In case you missed it, we started a new feature yesterday in which everyday riders describe their rides, starting with Adra Graves’ commute along the beach in Venice and Santa Monica.
If you want to tell us about your ride, good, bad or otherwise, just send it to the address on the About page.
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‘Tis the season for bighearted people.
Hats off to Long Beach’s Velo Allegro Cycling Club for donating 197 new bicycles, one for every kid in the third grade at the city’s Roosevelt Elementary School. Thanks to Allyson Vought for the heads-up.
The Southern California Velo Cycling Club is collecting toys in conjunction with Incycle Bicycle Stores, and will host a Toy Ride on the 19th to deliver them to the San Dimas Sheriff’s station.
Midnight Ridazz is hosting the annual All City Toy Ride this Friday, with feeder rides starting throughout the city (scroll down).
Menlo Park police and city officials will join with cyclists for a bike ride with Santa Claus to deliver gifts to children at the Boys and Girls Club this Saturday.
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Trust me, it’s worth three minutes and 44 seconds of your day to watch The Bike Instructor’s Guide to Cycling in Amsterdam. Especially since it explains why you should always ride with a potato in your pants.
LADOT Bike Blog asks riders and pedestrians to to safely and politely share the LA River Bike Path at the Glendale Narrows.
An Aussie website looks at LA artist Carolina Fontoura Alzaga, who turns junk bike parts into high-end chandeliers. As much as I admire the art, my preference remains turning bike parts into bicycles.
A Manhattan Beach attorney gives kind of a weak response to a question about whether bicyclists should be licensed and insured, though he more or less gets it right about where we can ride.
State
Oceanside votes for temporary safety improvements where a 12-year old bike rider was killed on his way to school — but still has the boy’s father ejected from council chambers.
Modesto is building an additional two miles of curb-protected bike lanes. Which is about two miles more than LA has.
San Francisco’s proposed Idaho stop law moves towards a threatened mayoral veto. But despite what a local TV station says, it wouldn’t be the first city to have such a rule, since treating stop signs as yields has been legal in Idaho since 1982.
A Vacaville teen is convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing another boy who laughed when he fell off his bicycle; he was acquitted on a more serious charge of attempted murder.
HuffPo talks with the director of Bikes vs Cars about how cities worldwide are rethinking bike safety.
Visually impaired New Yorkers naturally fear reckless bike riders, just like they are undoubtedly afraid of reckless drivers and careless pedestrians. Which has absolutely nothing to do with allowing cyclists to roll stops when it’s safe to do so, despite the breathless fear mongering of the local press.
A Florida killer hit-and-run driver gets a sweetheart deal from the DA; instead of facing 40 years, he gets off with a sentence of just two. On the other hand, Florida courts weren’t so generous with a 21-year old woman, who will spend the next 30 years of her life behind bars for killing a cyclist while fleeing from police in a stolen car.
International
A Brazilian cyclist plans to attempt a new world record for drafting a car on a public highway at the equivalent of 124 mph. Which is only about 90 mph better than my best.
A bike cam catches a near collision between runners and a mountain biker on an Australian trail. A good reminder to always be prepared and on the lookout for, and considerate of, others.
Domino’s has switched to e-bikes in an Australian city to increase delivery efficiency with a lower environmental footprint.
About damn time. An Aussie coroner says trucks should not be allowed on the roads without appropriate technology to eliminate their blind spots. Now we just have to get authorities to come to the same conclusion here and everywhere else.
A successful Chinese entrepreneur walks away from the global business he built to found a new smart bike company; the $390 bike includes GPS tracking, puncture-resistant tires and a self-powered, battery-less electric system.
Today we’re starting a new feature, Describe Your Ride, in which normal, everyday bike riders tell us how and where they ride, good, bad or otherwise.
So come back later this morning, when Santa Monica bike commuter Adra Graves will describe her usually pleasant, and in places, challenging ride to work.
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Big news from Santa Monica, as bike traffic continues to rise, up 4.4% from 2013, while bike crashes are down 10% over last year.
Bicycling now has a 5% mode share, far beyond any other city in the area, even that’s still just one third of the city’s goal of a 15% share by next year.
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‘Tis the season.
For the 20th year in a row, a Portland group gives bicycles to kids, along with a helmet and safety lesson; 300 kids were able to pick out their own bikes this year.
A Billings MT group donates 50 bikes to elementary school children, including 26 unclaimed bikes from the local police department.
Atlanta cyclists will dress up like Santa Claus to raise funds to fight leukemia and get a free beer.
And if anyone needs a stocking stuffer, GoPro has slashed the cost of their ice cube-sized Hero4 Session cam to just $199, less than half the original $399.
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Local
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) wants your input on a draft regional transportation plan covering the next 24 years; the proposal includes regional greenway and bikeway networks, as well as a plan for continuous trails along the coast.
Santa Monica considers changing vehicular access to the pier, and converting the existing bridge to pedestrian and bike use as an extension of the coming Colorado Esplanade.
Santa Monicans freak out about parklets approved last week for Main Street, fearing that people using them will be sitting ducks for out of control cars. Because that’s been such a problem everywhere else they’ve been installed, right?
Multicultural Communities for Mobility hosts a year-end fundraiser this Friday; the suggested $25 donation includes vegan food and custom brews.
Not surprisingly, the proposed 50-mile bikeway circling the Coachella Valley will do little to improve air quality, though it could have lasting health benefits.
San Francisco’s proposed Idaho stop law passes it’s first committee test, even though members of the disability community somehow feel it would adversely affect them. However, the law would be strictly advisory, requesting that the SFPD make bicyclists rolling stops their lowest priority.
Caltrans big idea to improve safety for NorCal cyclists will require riders to push a beg button before crossing a narrow Fernbridge bridge, which will then cue flashing lights to warn drivers that there’s a bike on the bridge. How about making drivers get out and push a button before they’re allowed to cross, instead?
People for Bikes says the latest trend in protected bikeways is getting them done fast. Let’s hope LA lives up to its trendy reputation, then.
Go ahead and have that drink. A new study shows a positive relationship between exercise and moderate drinking. As W.C. Fields said, “A woman once drove me to drink, and I didn’t even have the decency to thank her.” But I will thank Richard Risemberg for the heads-up.
Seriously? After a bike-riding Seattle radio host nearly hits a ninja cyclist while driving to work, he says that drivers have the deck stacked against them and bike riders should have to pay for their share of the roads, just like drivers — except we already do, and drivers actually don’t, as an Austin TX writer patiently explains. Thanks to Steve Katz for the latter link.
Most bike riders have trouble getting service at drive-through windows; a West Virginia man gets 60 years for robbing a bank on one.
Richmond VA’s person of the year isn’t one, as a local magazine proclaims this the year of the bicycle.
International
Must be nice. Bike friendly Vancouver plans for 12 new bike lanes over the next five years, which will require a substantial loss of on-street parking. That would make it a non-starter just about anywhere else.
Caught on video: An angry London motorist drives over a cyclist’s bike during last month’s Critical Mass, apparently on purpose, after honking and shouting abuse.
Bike Magazine asks if mountain bike tourism could aid in Nepal’s recovery from a devastating earthquake.
December 7, 2015 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Weekend Links: Deplorable Gold Line bike locker, distracted beach biking, and a 17-mile non-CicLAvia ciclovía
What good is a bike room if it’s not clean, not maintained and not secure?
Sean B forwards these photos of the bike locker at the Pasadena Del Mar Metro Station, noting that the floor is filthy, half the racks are broken and one appears to have been sawed through to steal the bike that was presumably in it.
I’m told this isn’t actually part of Metro’s bike locker program, but rather, just a set of racks with walls and a roof, where a sign tells riders to lock up there at your own risk.
Seriously?
If Metro really wants to encourage people to use their own bikes to solve the first mile/last mile problem, they’ve got to do a lot better than this.
Deplorable conditions like this only serve to encourage bike thieves, making it clear that no one is paying attention and they aren’t likely to be interrupted.
Sean also notes that he’s tried contacting Metro about these conditions on numerous occasions, with no luck.
Let’s hope someone there sees this and makes fixing this room a priority. Or better yet, does whatever it takes to replace it with a secure bike locker.
Because bike riders deserve a hell of a lot better than this.
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Clearly, distracted drivers aren’t the only ones we have to worry about.
Thanks to David Wolfberg and Tony K. for the heads-up.
Pro cyclist Peter Sagan and wife light up the holidays in this Euro commercial, no translation necessary.
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Local
Richard Risemberg says the new bus and bike only lanes on Wilshire Blvd seem to have increased ridership, though dangerous gaps remain on the Westside thanks to wealthy, short-sighted residents.
A Honolulu man faces up to 15 years for killing a bike rider while high on meth.
Caught on video: A Portland thief shows how easy it is to snatch a bike off the front of a bus. Always lock or disable your bike in some way before you put it on a bus rack to discourage potential thieves.
A bighearted Washington cop buys a stolen tandem from a homeless man, and fixes it up before returning it to its owners, who met while riding bikes 66 years earlier.
A Denver driver gets six years in a halfway house for seriously injuring a bike cop after lying about having a seizure-inducing medical condition. Although you have to wonder how long that sentence would be if his victim hadn’t been a cop.
Austin TX considers removing a bike lane to provide more parking, while local residents fight to keep it. Meanwhile, police in Austin bust a bike thief responsible for stealing 97 bikes, valued up to $12,000.
After an Ohio cyclist is rear-ended, he gets yelled at by the driver and lectured by a cop for riding in the traffic lane. Until he points out the sharrows he was riding on.
A Maine writer offers seven ways to improve bicycling in the state, most of which would make sense anywhere. Let’s face it, there are very few politicians I’d want to see naked, on a bike or otherwise. Even if the idea of voting for someone who has nothing to hide is appealing.
Turns out it’s legal for a woman to ride a bike topless in Philadelphia, even if it is a challenge to get the local police on board.
A Toronto woman has started a petition to require cyclists to be licensed, even though the city has rejected that four times in the last 30 years. Although riders may not have to worry too much; the petition had just 15 supporters so far.
Brit pro cyclist Bradley Wiggins was bullied growing up and called a gay slur for having the audacity to wear spandex in public.
If your headphones are so loud you can’t even hear a London train coming, maybe you should turn them down a little. And don’t ride around the damn crossing barriers.
London police are treating an apparent road rage hit-and-run as attempted murder; the same driver who ran down a cyclist may have tried to crash into a cop who responded to the incident.
A Glasgow taxi driver suffered a broken nose and cheekbone when he was punched by a bike rider, after the rider had fought with the cab’s passenger. Violence is never the answer, no matter how angry you are or how much you think they deserve it. It only makes a bad situation worse.
A trio of British cyclists riding a single bike made for three survive a collision on US Route 66 when the sun gets in a driver’s eye; needless to say, he wasn’t charged.
A pair of apparent German tourists came to the aid of a Kiwi bike rider when she was assaulted by a man who punched her several times before throwing her to the ground.
Finally…
Help keep the Corgi in kibble this holiday season.
Thanks to Erik Griswold for contributing to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
An ancient Norse tradition I just made up says giving to an underfunded bike website ensures the wind will always be at your back in the coming year, and your tires will be impervious to thorns.
