Tag Archive for Los Angeles

LA suggests un-Healthy Streets alternative, LADOT commits climate arson, and drivers back it up on Ventura Blvd

August 28, 2023 / / 2 comments

My apologies if you received an email with just the barest outline of a post earlier.

I seem to have had a twitchy publish button finger.

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Somehow, you knew this was going to happen.

A full year after the Los Angeles City Council rejected the proposed Healthy Streets LA ordinance, the city has finally come back with their long-awaited alternative version.

And suffice it to say it leaves a lot to be desired.

The original measure, which easily qualified for next year’s ballot, requires the city to build out the already-approved Mobility Plan 2035, which subsumed the 2010 Bike Plan, any time a street in the plan gets resurfaced or resealed with slurry.

The council had the option of approving it as written, or sending it to a vote of the people.

They chose the latter, while promising to come back within weeks with an even better, new and improved version of their own.

You can guess how that turned out.

According to an analysis of the proposal from Streets For All, who wrote the original ballot measure, the city changed the requirement from covering any resurfacing over 1/8 of a mile to 1/4 of a mile, which they say would exclude 80% of the projects in the Mobility Plan’s Neighborhood Enhanced Network, as well as removing slurry seals from the plan.

Correction: I originally wrote that the change to 1/4 mile would exclude 80% of the projects, which was a misreading of the text on my part. I have corrected the paragraph above to more accurately reflect the effect of the change.

Then there’s this.

When defining “standard elements” it was interesting that the City Attorney didn’t simply say “the improvements in the Mobility Plan” but said that it’s the improvements that the Board of Public Works, Director of City Planning and General Manager designate for inclusion in a Project.” In other words, if any of those entities don’t “designate” an improvement to be included in a Project, then it’s excluded, and a bike or bus lane is ignored. This is the first “out” the City has given itself, and it’s a big one.

But wait, there’s more, as they say in the world of informercials.

This next section is a doozy. It basically says that the General Manager of LADOT and Director of City Planning — in “consultation” with LAPD, LAFD, and the City Attorney (three entities often hostile to bike and bus lanes in the first place) — can “revise” Mobility Corridors. In other words, they’re usurping City Council’s authority over the Mobility Plan and taking it for themselves. It’s a dangerous precedent to set that City departments can change the City’s General Plan without Council, and especially dangerous to put it in the hands of LAPD, LAFD, and this City Attorney (who has implied the City shouldn’t be at fault for pedestrian deaths even if the City has failed to implement its own Vision Zero or Mobility Plan 2035 plans).

Read that again.

The city’s revised version would remove the requirement to include any street or project in the already-approved Mobility Plan, and replace with the judgement of city officials likely to be hostile to any changes.

The city version goes on to include a public outreach process, which has too often been gamed by city officials to kill projects they don’t like, or are afraid to implement.

Like shovel-ready lane reductions on Lankershim, North Figueroa and Temple Street, just to name a few.

Streets For All ends their insightful analysis this way.

So what is our overall take on the City’s version? It’s full of holes, exceptions, and bureaucracy, and is not an attempt to actually implement the Mobility Plan during repaving; it’s an attempt to look like it’s doing something, while actually continuing to mostly ignore the Mobility Plan. It also does not address any of the equity additions (former Council President Nury Martinez) had promised, nor does it establish a centralized office of coordination, or provide for a multi year funding plan.

In other words, it’s not nearly good enough. We have raised more than $2,000,000 to get our ballot measure across the finish line this spring. Our polling shows an overwhelming number of Angelenos are sick of the status quo — and will support Healthy Streets LA at the ballot box. If you’re ready for change, join us! You can stay up-to-date, volunteer, donate, and get involved on our website.

See you at the ballot box.

And in the meantime, contact your councilmember to let them know the city’s proposal is dead in the water.

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LADOT appears to be committed to committing climate arson.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports Los Angeles continues to widen streets throughout the city, calling out more than a dirty dozen streets that will soon have more room — and in most cases, more lanes — for motor vehicles.

In fact, Linton lists a full fifteen streets either currently being expanded or set for expansion, at a total cost of more than $218 million.

Although that’s barely a fifth of what the city is spending to give raises to the LAPD.

Some folks out there may be under the mistaken impression that Los Angeles is not really widening roads any more. Though widening roads is counterproductive in many ways, it has long been and continues to be an incessant L.A. City practice.

Streets for All founder Michael Schneider terms L.A. City road widening “the opposite of fighting climate change,” noting that “widening streets induces more driving, meaning more pollution burden locally and more greenhouse emissions further harming the climate.” Widening is expensive, and adversely impacts safety, health, climate, air, water, noise, housing, historic preservation, and more.

That money could make a sizable dent in the city’s bike plan, which could actually get some of those cars off the streets, rather than flushing more money down the toilet by funding still more induced demand.

This far into the 21st Century, it should be clear that we can’t build our way out of traffic congestion.

And that fighting climate change will require getting people out of their cars, and onto their feet or bikes, and into transit.

Widening streets is the exact opposite of what we should be doing.

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Reverse angled parking is supposed to improve safety for people on bicycles by improving sightline for drivers pulling out of spaces.

But the new configuration on western Ventura Blvd isn’t exactly winning rave reviews, as bicyclists complain about drivers using the bike lanes to back into parking spaces, as well as double parking to wait for a space to open up, forcing riders out into unforgiving traffic.

https://twitter.com/gatodejazz/status/1695998850182660507

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Santa Monica is improving safety on deadly Wilshire Blvd by making several cross streets right turn only.

https://twitter.com/santamonicacity/status/1695150351966466427

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CicLAvia’s North Hollywood CicLAmini along the Lankershim Blvd corridor is less than four weeks away.

The good news is you can just step off the B (Red) Line subway at the NoHo station and you’re there.

https://twitter.com/CicLAvia/status/1695487795165364512

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OC bike advocate Mike Wilkinson forwards evidence of why you should always hesitate pulling out from a red light, until you know every driver in every direction is coming to a stop.

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If you build it, they will come.

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Remember this the next time someone questions why bike riders insist on riding in the street.

Or better yet, just send it to them.

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

Maybe starting the Vuelta in the Catalonia region wasn’t the best idea, as someone tried to sabotage the complicated second stage by tossing tacks and nails on the course, flattening the tires of around 15 cyclists.

An “arrogant” road-raging driver — and possible government employee — in the Philippines assaulted a man riding a bicycle, then pulled out a gun and aimed it at the victim before cooler heads apparently prevailed.

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Local 

Beverly Hills is looking for your input on the parking-protected bike lane pilot project on Roxbury Drive, as they consider making the bike lane permanent.

Police in Long Beach are looking for a pair of robbers who fired a gun as they struggled with a man to steal his bicycle along the Los Angeles River bike path Thursday night; the thieves eventually ran off without the bike.

 

State

Video from a TikTok user shows people in San Diego standing by and watching as a man steals a woman’s bike in broad daylight, calling it an example of the Bystander Effect. Then again, the person taking the video didn’t intervene, either. 

Sad news from Sacramento, where a woman riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

 

National

US colleges are beginning to ban ebikes due to a fear of fire risk as well as a risk to pedestrians. After all, it makes so much more sense to force students and faculty back into their cars, which evidently don’t pose a greater risk to anyone. Right?

The Better Business Bureau offers tips tips to help you pick the right ebike for your budget.

Bike Rumor offers their picks for Best in Show at Portland’s MADE handmade bike show; Velo offers their favorites, too.

Cycling Weekly visits MADE to examine the new Moots prototype spec’ed with 750D wheels, asking if we really need another wheel diameter standard.

A Seattle website profiles Seattle Bike Blog author Tom Fucoloro, who has a new book examining the city from behind the handlebars.

My hometown paper offers highlights from the massive turnout for the country’s last remaining Tour de Fat.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Sixty-four-year old John Kezdy, the lead singer of the ’80s punk band The Effigies, died on Saturday, three days after he was critically injured crashing his bike into an Amazon van illegally parked in a Chicago bike lane. The inevitable lawsuit will be just the cost of business for the online shopping giant.

It’s apparently open season on bike riders at Indiana University, as three students who participated in the iconic Little 500 bike race were hit by drivers in three days last week; the race was made famous in Breaking Away.

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run driver who left a 12-year old Boston-area boy bleeding alone in the streets. Or any other kid, for that matter. 

A writer for The New York Times says he improved his mental and physical health by ditching his car and walking to biking to run errands, though he suggests that anyone wanting to emulate him may not want to start with a trip to Costco. Thanks to Bike Talk’s Taylor Nichols, who suggests getting writer Andrew Leonard to appear on the show, for the heads-up.

A Long Island woman faces charges for slamming into a triathlete as he rode his bike in the middle of a race, after pulling out of a parking lot at a high rate of speed and onto the race course that had been closed to traffic.

The AP offers not necessarily safe for work video from the Philadelphia World Naked Bike Ride.

This is who we share the road with. A road-raging Philadelphia driver with a concealed carry permit pulled out a gun and began firing after his car was surrounded by dirt bike riders on an apparent rideout, shooting one man before he was wounded by return fire.

 

International

Evidently, you can kill a man on a fundraising bike ride while driving drunk, bury his body a shallow grave on a remote Scottish estate for three years, and get off with just 12 years behind bars — and could get out in as little as six. And get just five years and three months for helping your brother hide the body.

BBC host and bicycling advocate Jeremy Vine causes a stir in the UK by saying drivers should pull over and let bicyclists pass in urban centers, since people on bicycles can often travel faster than people in cars — and that drivers shouldn’t be allowed to pass bicyclists at all. Finally, a campaign platform I can get behind.  

Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of us, after he posted video of going on a cargo bike ride with his twins while vacationing in Yorkshire, England. From the looks of it, the bike was almost as long as his name. 

GCN shares the “most bizarre and beautiful” bikes from last week’s Paris-Brest-Paris.

A Nigerian website says bicycling is a must if the country hopes to “be rid of hydra-headed transportation gridlock that often sends road users to nightmarish spasm.”

Giant Taiwanese bikemaker Giant warns customers that a scam website posing as the bike brand may be ripping off consumers.

 

Competitive Cycling

Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel said enough is enough and intentionally slowed the peloton after a crash by Primož Roglič in Sunday’s stage 2 of the Vuelta; Italy’s Andrea Piccolo took the leader’s red jersey as Denmark’s Andreas Kron won the day on a stage shortened by flooding near rate finish.

Britain’s William Bjegfelt just won the Paracycling World Championships after he was told he’d never walk or bike again following a head-on collision with a driver in 2015.

L39ION of Los Angeles cyclists Kendall Ryan and Ty Magner wons the elite women’s and men’s races, respectively, at the IU Momentum Health Indy Crit in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Cycling Weekly takes a look at the alternative, off-road race scene in the UK.

More bad news, in what has been an unbelievably tragic year for pro and amateur cyclists, as 22-year old Belgian rider Tijl De Decke was killed when he crashed into the back of a car on a training ride.

 

Finally…

You may have to blow up your next bike helmet. That feeling when the man accused of stealing your bicycle finally gets arrested — 38 years later.

And they get it.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

A call to keep drivers out of SaMo bike lanes, drop in CA traffic deaths, and today-only deal on select CicLAvia merch

August 25, 2023 / / Comments Off on A call to keep drivers out of SaMo bike lanes, drop in CA traffic deaths, and today-only deal on select CicLAvia merch

When is a bike lane not a bike lane?

When it becomes a parking lot. Or a traffic lane for motor vehicles.

A coalition of bike and safety advocacy groups has written an open letter to Santa Monica leaders praising their work building safer bikeways, but complaining about daily intrusions from motorists that put bike riders at needless risk.

To:  Santa Monica City Council, Santa Monica Planning Commission, City Manager David White, Mobility Manager Jason Kligier, Director of Public Works Rick Valte,  

Subject: Protecting our bikeways from motor vehicle incursions

Dear Council Members and City Leaders:

Santa Monica has become an exemplar of far-sighted bikeway design and implementation in our region.  Recent innovations seen on Ocean Ave. and 17th St. have raised the bar for creating protected bike facilities that provide the safety and comfort to allow many more people to bike for their everyday mobility. Additional protected bikeways planned in Santa Monica’s Bicycle Action Plan will bring us ever closer to realizing a citywide bikeway network that will be a game-changer for mobility, traffic reduction and meeting our Vision Zero and climate goals.   

Unfortunately, some motorists are undermining the benefits of recently-installed protected bike lanes (and standard, striped bike lanes) by parking in them and sometimes even driving in them. This behavior is photo-documented almost daily in social media posts (see examples: https://youtu.be/yYtqlHnEVVM). 

 

When motor vehicles block these lanes it forces cyclists to divert into traffic lanes, sabotaging the safety and utility of these facilities, spoiling their potential to provide safe, equitable mobility choices for greater numbers of people.  Further, when cyclists need to divert around vehicles blocking bikeways, this induces unsafe cycling behavior that might expose the city to liability as a result of negligence in maintaining proper bikeway access.

Therefore we, the undersigned organizations strongly urge the city to take steps to address this epidemic of bikeway incursions.  There appear to be several strategies that could be explored:

– Physical barriers where they are safe and appropriate to prevent or discourage drivers from entering bikeways, such as bollards at entrance points, concrete separators and modular curb elements (like seen on Broadway).

– Additional signage and pavement markings to make it blatantly clear that bikeways are off limits to cars at all times.

– Signs that stipulate substantial fines for violations.

– Enforcement by parking and traffic officers, especially where vehicles park on the sidewalk or driveway aprons. But as a general rule, officer enforcement is sporadic and therefore less effective than physical elements. 

– Perhaps photo enforcement, using something like the Automotus camera technology recently deployed in the Zero Emission Delivery Zone program.  

– A literature search to explore best practices being used by other municipalities.

Clearly, physical barriers that prevent motor vehicle incursions 24-7 without the need for enforcement personnel is the superior and likely most cost-effective choice.  And it makes sense to implement effective solutions to this problem before new bikeways are installed, so that this problem is not perpetuated and to save from having to make costly retrofits.  

Please direct staff to find effective solutions to this vexing problem so that we can fully realize the many benefits of our growing bikeway network, especially public safety, and prevent this critical investment from being compromised.

Thank you,

Kent Strumpell, Laurene von Klan, Co-chairs Climate Action Santa Monica  https://climateactionsantamonica.org/

Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance  https://samosafestreets.org/

Santa Monica Spoke  https://www.smspoke.org/

Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets  https://www.santamonicafamilies.org/

Streets For All  https://www.streetsforall.org/

BikeLA (formerly Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition)  https://www.la-bike.org/

Santa Monica Forward  https://www.santamonicaforward.org/

Let’s hope they listen. And do something about it.

Video by Caro Vilain.

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The National Safety Council is out with preliminary stats on traffic deaths for the first six months of the year, showing a slight decline nationwide.

California is one of nine states where traffic fatalities decreased more than 15% compared to last year, with a 17% drop. Maine showed the greatest improvement, with a 48% decrease.

Nine states and the District of Columbia increased more than 10%, led by Rhode Island with a horrifying 164% increase.

Meanwhile, new research examines a public health approach to road safety, considering transportation engineers as part of the public health workforce, while arguing that they should emphasize strategies that reduce risk for greater proportions of the population.

Then again, if we can’t even get the country to agree that a deadly worldwide pandemic was a public health issue, I wouldn’t hold you breathe on finding any agreement on ending traffic violence.

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CicLAvia is offering a special deal today only on the unsold t-shirts and buttons from last weekend’s cancelled Koreatown Meets Hollywood event.

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There is nothing in California even close to this, despite having the perfect environment for lengthy bikeways.

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Local 

Bicycle centric Pedaler’s Fork restaurant in Calabasas is hosting Femmes en Motion, a “film & photo gallery honoring seven prolific female photographers at the forefront of capturing women’s professional cycling.”

 

State

San Francisco Streetsblog asks why unpaid advocates can install safety infrastructure faster than the city, concluding it’s a question of leadership. Actually, they can move faster because they are unpaid advocates, with no rules to follow and no one to answer to.

A Marin op-ed argues that officials need to learn the difference between ped-assist and throttle-controlled ebikes, with kids allowed to ride the latter everywhere, while adults on a former are banned from local fire roads. I agree. We need stricter regulation of throttle-controlled ebikes, without restricting ped-assist bikes. 

A Sacramento TV station recommends pedaling to bike-friendly Davis, aka Bike City USA, to visit the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.

 

National

The Consumer Products Safety Commission is recalling Ecnup all-purpose kid’s bike helmets sold only on Amazon for failing to meet minimum safety standards.

Cycling Weekly recommends the year’s best pannier racks and bags, while Bike Rumor rates the best road bike pedals.

Schwinn scion Richard Schwinn reflects on his family’s legendary history in the bike business after shutting down his Wisconsin-based Waterford Precision Cycles; the family lost their eponymous company in bankruptcy court back in the ’90s.

A Pittsburgh company is producing an AI-powered bicycle taillight that watches for motor vehicles coming from behind you, and calculates whether they pose a risk.

Bike riders in Somerville, Massachusetts, are calling a police crackdown on bicyclists riding through red lights misguided, arguing police resources could be better spent on other matters — and at least one city councilmember agrees.

Security cam video captured a frightening Staten Island hit-and-run crash, where a 22-year old man riding a bike was nearly run over by a 26-year old woman, who briefly got out of her car before fleeing the scene.

This is who we share the road with. A New York motorcyclist is dead after a plain clothes cop threw a loaded ice chest at him as he fled from a drug bust, knocking him off balance and into a metal barricade.

There’s a special place in hell for a New Jersey man who was arrested for trafficking in kiddie porn, two years after he was busted for a failed attempt to ride his bike up to a woman dining at an outdoor table and steal her wallet.

 

International

Writing for The Conversation, a group of European researchers and professors examine how social movements are leading to the return of child-friendly urban spaces.

London bicyclists complain about a new bike lane that ends suddenly, dumping riders into bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Scottish drivers who kill bike riders or pedestrians will now be subject to tougher sentences, with the death of a vulnerable road user considered an “aggravating factor,” along with additional penalties if the death resulted from aggressive driving, such as tailgating.

A British woman just completed an epic ride around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland despite battling Multiple Sclerosis, while raising thousands of pounds to fight the disease.

An Irish coroner warns about the dangers of combining ebikes and booze.

Momentum talks with Rebecca Lowe, author of The Slow Road to Tehran, about her meandering solo bike ride from her home in the UK to the capital of Iran.

 

Competitive Cycling

Remco Evenepoel will begin his title defense as the Vuelta kicks off tomorrow, going up against the Jumbo-Visma juggernaut of two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard and thee-time Vuelta champ Primoz Roglic.

Nineteen-year old Brit Joshua Tarling became the youngest cyclist to win a WorldTour race, capturing the time trial in the 115th running of the Renewi Tour, nee Eneco Tour, then the BinckBank Tour.

USA Cycling is investigating a crash involving L39ion of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams and AUTOMATIC Racing’s Thomas Gibbons in a Denver crit earlier this month, when Williams appeared to deviate from his line on a curve; Gibbons was investigated for appearing to cause a 2019 crash, while Williams was suspended last year following a fight with another cyclist.

Forget the Vuelta, the real action action takes place in Copenhagen, where the “historic and hilarious” annual Svajerløbet street cargo bike races will roll this weekend.

More on 22-year old Welsh transgender cyclist Emily Bridges vow to fight the UK’s ban on trans athletes competing in women’s cycling “in the courts and on the streets,” while some advocates for women’s sports complain there are “thousands of fabulous athletes Vogue could have chosen” to represent women athletes instead of Bridges.

 

Finally…

Why tour with a tent when you can tow your own cabin. You shouldn’t have to be told to treat other bike riders with courtesy and respect.

And they may have SUVs, but we have saxophones.

https://twitter.com/abrahams_music/status/1694741584821043534

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

He doesn’t need WeHo bike lanes so you don’t either, just say no to guns on bikes, and bike lanes are handicap mobility lanes

August 24, 2023 / / 2 comments

No bias here.

The editor of WeHoVille says he’s a bicyclist. And because he doesn’t need bike lanes, neither do you.

Then again, it’s always a red flag when someone feels the need to self-identify as a bicyclist before making their case.

True to form, Brandon Garcia writes that he’s more than happy to take back roads to get where he’s going, and thinks that the planned bike lanes on Fountain Ave and Santa Monica Blvd will be too disruptive to the city.

Never mind, he says, that the existing bike lanes on Santa Monica are usually blocked by buses or double-parked drivers. Although that would seem to be a reason to enforce the laws against blocking bike lanes, than oppose building them.

What the city wants to do with Fountain and Santa Monica will disrupt the lives of too many people who depend on those roads to get across town. Who depend on those parking spaces for their guests or their customers, or whose leases don’t include a parking spot.

Up to 37,000 cars travel down Fountain every day. At most, there are 145 bicycles that use it daily.

The city expects the removal of two lanes on Fountain to reduce traffic by 900 vehicles every hour. 600 of those will be diverted onto Santa Monica or Sunset. The drivers of 250 cars per hour will simply decide not to make the trip, the city oddly believes.

Never mind that, as others have noted before, you can’t judge the need for a bridge by how many people swim across the river. The fact that most bike riders don’t feel safe on Fountain is a far better argument for making it safer, rather than keeping it dangerous.

Meanwhile, numerous studies have shown that making driving more difficult results in a reduction in the number of cars on the road — not an odd belief, but simple traffic science.

And that reduction is absolutely necessary in the face of our current climate emergency, when the world is literally burning from over-reliance on fossil fuels.

The simple fact is, people on bicycles have places to go, just like people in cars, and need safe routes through the city to get there.

He may not need them, or want them.

But that doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t.

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Back when I lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana about a hundred or so years ago, I had a friend who dealt with the city’s abusive and road raging drivers by riding with a .22 strapped to his bike.

By his account, it made most motorists give him a wide berth. And if anyone actually threatened him, just a tap or two on the holster was enough to defuse the situation.

Maybe.

Although I doubt many drivers actually saw it as they zoomed by. Never mind the fact that they came pre-armed with a multi-ton weapon of their own, should they choose to use it.

I mention that because a writer for Outside has written a response to the Armed Cyclist seen below, an influencer who calls for arming yourself — whether with a gun or some other weapon — for self-defense when you ride.

Frederick Dreier describes an incident when a driver began harassing, then threatening him as he rode in New York. 

His response was to first kick out a headlight, then hurl his U-lock, shattering the car’s rear windshield, before disappearing down a one-way street.

OK, back to my anecdote involving the hurled lock. Look, I wish I had the calm and mature demeanor to simply bite my upper lip and walk away from situations like the one I had a decade ago. I’ve been to therapy and I’m working on becoming an enlightened and self-actuated member of society. But I’m not there yet. I can still transform into a raging lunatic at times—specifically when some jerk driver messes with me on my bike. Had I been carrying a gun during my moment of rage years ago, I probably would have emptied the clip into the windshield, which means I’d likely be writing pithy takes from a cell in Rikers right now. And that ugly encounter is hardly the only one I’ve had with drivers. Over the years I’ve been sideswiped, t-boned, intimidated, and buzzed too many times to count. If I rode with a gun, I might be responsible for multiple crimes.

That’s precisely why I don’t own a gun.

I have a temper, which I manage to control most of the time. And I’m a firm believer in nonviolence.

But if I had a gun, there’s just too much chance I might use it.

And one weapon is one too many in most situations, even if most people just call it a car.

Read the story on Yahoo if Outside blocks you. 

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Remember this the next time someone tells you bike lanes are bad for handicapped people.

A New Zealand writer says she uses a wheelchair and bike lanes, rejecting the argument that people with disabilities need more car parking.

It is infuriating and painful to see people speak on behalf of disabled people when they are really only trying to protect their non-disabled car parks. Have you ever wondered where these people go when it’s time to fight for a building code that requires accessible universal design features like lifts, ramps and doorways of a decent width? Or why these same faces and names appear again to oppose the social housing initiatives in their neighbourhoods that would house disabled people? Or why they’re not advocating for more mobility parking at all?!

She goes on to write that many disabled people use bicycles, and consider their ebikes, scooters and trikes to be their mobility devices.

And need safe places to ride them.

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Joni Yung loves the new bus and bike lanes on La Brea, even if they’re too often blocked with parked cars.

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GCN offers bike handling drills to elevate your skills and confidence on the bike.

And impress the hell out of your friends while you’re at it.

Meanwhile, the site also looks at the fast-growing gravel fondo in my Colorado hometown.

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

Seriously? A Vermont columnist responds to a self-admitted scofflaw bicyclist by saying consider how bad a driver would feel if they hit him with their car. Never mind how bad he might feel after bouncing off a couple tons of glass and steel.

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

If you’re already on state-supervised probation with a lengthy rap sheep, maybe don’t rob a couple of stores, then ride your bike back to your apartment. And definitely ditch the bike and clothes before the cops find ’em.

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Local 

LA County Sheriff’s deputies will conduct a bike and pedestrian safety operation in West Hollywood on Tuesday, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that could put either one at risk. So ride to the letter of the law until you’re safely back in LAPD or Beverly Hills PD jurisdictions. Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up. 

Pasadena will host the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Union Street protected bike lane on Saturday, September 9th in front of City Hall. That’s Pasadena City Hall, not Los Angeles or any of the other 86 cities in LA County.

 

State

An environmental law website says California policy makers are embracing ebikes, despite the New York Times wrongheaded take, but questions whether the state is falling behind.

Monterey County Weekly considers how fast is too fast on a bike path, with one local city setting a 12 mph speed limit that the writer considers far too low. My take is ride as fast as you want if you’re the only one on it, but slow down around slower bike riders and pedestrians. At least, that’s what I always did. 

Sticking with Monterey County, a 14-year old junior track star ran down a purse-snatcher on a BMX, grabbing back the stolen handbag before the thief could get away.

 

National

Gizmodo says Peloton’s business is as busted as its bike seats, which have been recalled due to a risk of breaking off if you pedal too hard, sending the company’s stock into a tailspin.

Portland’s all-new MADE handmade bike show is making its debut this week; Cycling Weekly discusses three things they’re excited to see.

While potential ebike buyers continue to wait for California’s long-delayed rebate program, with the latest update nearly two month’s old, Boulder, Colorado is already gearing up for its second round of rebate vouchers.

Gravel bike tires could be growing, as Colorado-based Moots introduces the 750d standard, which Bike Radar says is comparable to a 29″ mountain bike tire.

This is who we share the road with. A Galveston, Texas bike rider was seriously injured when a driver swerved into oncoming traffic, hit the victim and carried them both over the seawall and onto the beach.

A convicted drunk driver has been sentenced to anywhere from three-and-a-half to 15 years behind bars for dragging a Michigan bike rider for one-and-a-half miles under his van as he fled from the crash site; he was nearly three times the legal limit after his arrest, with multiple bottles of booze rolling around in his van.

A Massachusetts artist is unveiling a new series of paintings inspired by a local bike path. And yes, it makes me want to ride it.

The rich get richer. New York is removing a traffic lane on the city’s Tenth Ave through Hell’s Kitchen and narrowing traffic lanes to make room for a spacious, ten-foot wide, two-way protected bike lane.

An Andover, Maryland study finds there wasn’t a single reported bicycle crash in a city square during the study period, despite a total lack of bike infrastructure — but also found most bike riders avoid it like the plague.

 

International

Momentum looks at “awe-inspiring” bicycle infrastructure from around the world. None of which is in LA, or anywhere else in the US.

A woman riding a bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver fleeing from police in Mississauga, Ontario; the victim was found lying in the grass an hour-and-a-half after the police chase, and half an hour after police found the abandoned car nearby.

A 69-year old Scottish truck driver will finally face charges for killing a 22-year old French woman as she rode her bike in Glasgow eight months ago, although there’s no word on what he’s charged with.

This is who we share the road with, too. An English driver was busted for doing a whopping 61 mph in a 30 mph zone, while passing just feet from a child riding a bicycle.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a woman was sentenced to just 14 months behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that left a bike-riding man seriously injured.

NPR reports on the bankruptcy of Dutch ebike maker VanMoof, noting that it’s left owners of the bikes stranded with no way to repair the company’s nonstandard designs. And that owners of the bikes in the Netherlands have resorted to stealing other people’s VanMoof’s just to strip them for parts.

 

Competitive Cycling

Transgender British cyclist Emily Bridges was named to an annual roundup of Britain’s 25 Powerhouse women by the country’s edition of Vogue Magazine; needless to say, the British tabloids took offense, if only to rile up readers to drive up readership. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

However, Out Sports reports Bridges has quit competitive cycling in the face of both British and UCI bans on trans women competing in women’s cycling.

American ultra-cyclist Nick DeHaan won the 758-mile Paris-Brest-Paris on Tuesday, finishing 48 minutes ahead of his nearest rival while setting a modern course record of 41 hours, 46 minutes and 30 seconds.

 

Finally…

Get your bikes for Burning Man. Why settle for double ebike suspension when you can have triple?

And don’t ride alone to the state fair when you can join a pedaling pastor and a public radio announcer.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Nelson Rodriguez gets 15 to life for killing pregnant bike rider and 2nd man; 21 years for Long Beach man for bike dispute killing

August 23, 2023 / / One comment

That’s more like it.

The driver who killed two people in an apparent DUI hit-and-run in Chatsworth last year could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Sixty-year old Chatsworth resident Nelson Rodriguez was sentenced to 15 years to life behind bars after pleading no contest to two counts of murder last month.

Rodriguez was convicted of killing 37-year old Ana Hernandez, who was 29 weeks pregnant, and 58-year old Matthew Zink as they rode their bikes on Plummer Street in January, 2022.

He fled from the scene, crashing into several other cars and objects before finally coming to rest against a wall on Knapp Street, west of De Soto Ave, where he was finally detained by witnesses.

There’s no word on why he was charged with murder, which usually requires driving under the influence, after receiving a Watson advisement following a previous DUI conviction. That informs the driver that they could be charged with murder if they kill someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

The only other explanation for the murder convictions is that police investigators concluded the killings were intentional, but there’s been no suggestion of that in the press.

There’s also no word on why Rodriguez wasn’t charged with hit-and-run for leaving the scene of multiple crashes.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

………

A 26-year old Long Beach man will be well into middle age before he gets out of prison.

Junior Alexander Munguia was sentenced to 21-years in state prison for fatally shooting 46-year old Fernando Rodriguez five years ago in a dispute over who actually owned a bicycle.

As we’ve said many times before, no bicycle is worth taking another person’s life. Or giving your own.

………

Streets For All is hosting their latest virtual happy hour this evening, featuring Metrolink CEO Darren Kettle.

………

The late, great River Phoenix was one of us.

And the Curries were, too.

………

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

No bias here. Michigan’s Supreme Court denied an appeal from a man who was injured when his bike hit a “yard-wide” pothole in a public park, after the park’s lawyers argued the pothole was pretty obvious and easy to see. And implying it was his own damn fault.

No bias here, either. Residents of a couple Baltimore neighborhoods rallied against traffic calming and expanding bike lanes, calling Complete Streets a “complete failure” that prioritizes special interest groups over the needs of everyday people. Because people who ride bikes or want safer streets aren’t everyday people, evidently. 

Multiple North Carolina bicyclists went down when they were brake-checked by a road raging driver, who had honked and yelled over having to briefly slow down when the group of bike riders took the lane as they climbed a blind hill; no word on whether the driver will face charges, even though he used his vehicle as a weapon.

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

Police in Brisbane, Australia are looking for a bike-riding man, after he apparently deliberately scratched 20 cars along the same road.

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Local 

LA Walks is looking for a new executive director.

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, helped install the first two ghost tire memorials to honor victims of traffic violence in Los Angeles County; the program is similar to ghost bikes, but for people who were walking or in cars when they were killed.

Streetsblog says the 500-foot long, tree-lined bike and pedestrian Alameda Esplanade is partially open, and should be finished later this month.

Electrek suggest Commerce-based ebike and electric motorcycle maker SONDORS may be the next ebike brand to fail, as all signs point to a serious financial meltdown at headquarters — in fact, their California headquarters appears to be permanently closed, and their website is no longer taking orders.

ActiveSGV wants your input on the Santa Anita Avenue Complete Streets project in South El Monte.

One of the world’s biggest fundraising triathlons will take place in Malibu next month, when the star-studded Malibu Triathlon returns to Zuma Beach for the 38th year.

Metro, Metro Bike Share and the Auto Club of Southern California are offering a free virtual class on bikeshare 101.

 

State

Sad news from Fresno, where a 35-year old man was killed when he allegedly rode his mountain bike off the sidewalk, and into the path of trailers being pulled by a semi-truck. Which sounds more than a little suspicious, since it would require attempting the impossible by riding between the truck and the trailers. Never mind that a local Central Valley website seems to think a bike helmet could have protected him from harm when he was run over with a truck. 

San Francisco Streetsblog says the protected intersection and bike lane project on Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue is nearing completion, without the commercial armageddon feared by local business.

 

National

Streetsblog says young people of color must be at the forefront of the mobility justice movement.

Bicycling highlights 22 bicycle products they say are among the best made in the US. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Speaking of Electrek, a writer for the site says stop calling it an electric bike craze because we’re looking at the future of transportation. Although a Santa Barbara paper evidently didn’t get the memo.

A pair of Tacoma, Washington brothers face murder charges for killing a man they had robbed less than two hours earlier, after the victim spotted the men and chased them down an alley to recover his stolen bicycle and necklace.

F! cars don’t have lights, so Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing team used bike lights to light their drive down the Las Vegas Strip.

Nevada’s Burning Man has issued guidelines for ebikes at the festival after deciding not to ban them — for now.

Utah is opening new world-class downhill mountain bike trails as phase one of the new Solitude Mountain bike park.

A Denver couple were violently attacked with a bat and five-foot tow chain when they spotted their stolen bike, and tried to buy it back from the person who had it. Which is another reminder to let the cops deal with it — if you can get them to, that is.

Colorado bikewear maker Pactimo is donating $60 from the sale of bike jerseys and running t-shirts designed by a Maui artist to benefit victims of the recent fires on the island.

An Abilene, Texas newspaper says pedestrians are worried for their safety after a man riding a bike was hit by a driver, in a town with limited bike infrastructure. Evidently, they couldn’t find any bike riders to talk to. 

The Arkansas Farm Bureau is attempting to educate rural farmers on what to do when they encounter a spandex-clad bicyclist on a gravel road, and vice versa.

Kalamazoo, Michigan installed a lane reduction and two-way parking-protected bike lane on a major street, while insisting there’s still enough room for downtown traffic to flow freely.

A Michigan developer is suing a township over its requirement that builders fund bike lanes in order to get their projects approved, claiming it’s unconstitutional. Which should be a hard case to make, since it’s a pretty common provision throughout the US.

They get it. A Kentucky paper says yes, people on bicycles are required to stop for stop signs, then goes on to explain why someone reasonably might not.

Life is cheap in New York, where a 19-year old flatbed truck driver faces a whopping $500 fine or 15 days behind bars for killing a bicycle advocate as he rode his bike home from the market; the driver got a lousy traffic ticket for failing to yield.

New York’s Great White Way could soon have a two-way bike boulevard running next to Union Square.

She gets it. A Princeton, New Jersey pedestrian and bike safety educator says if people ride their bikes on the sidewalk, it’s because a lack of safe infrastructure means they don’t feel safe on the street.

Good question. The family of a Maryland man killed while riding his bike wants to know why the hell the driver hasn’t been charged.

Kindhearted Florida cops gave a 10-year old boy a new bike after a driver crashed into his old one.

 

International

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid, who marks a full century since cars drove people walking off the roads.

He gets it. An op-ed from a Toronto ER doctor says the bicycling injuries he sees are preventable if the city would just build more bike lanes.

He gets it, too. A Halifax, Nova Scotia writer tries Googling “bicyclist” and “pedestrian” compared to “person biking” or “person waking,” and discovers the difference is more than semantics.

After a pair of Scottish men were convicted of killing and burying the body of a man taking part in a fundraising bike ride in a drunken crash, a government watchdog has launched an investigation into the police who investigated the missing person’s case.

James Corden is one of us, as the former Late Late Show host was ordered to move his bikeshare bike when he tried leaving it in front of a posh restaurant in London’s Mayfair district.

A British designer has launched a new line of bike-friendly streetwear in a collaboration with Lime, featuring the company’s lime green branding.

The largest bicycle association in the Netherlands announced they will no longer insure fat tire ebikes, citing a 90% chance they’ll be stolen. So there’s hope, then. 

A US Army major maintained her readiness by riding over 1,000 miles on local mountain bike trails while she was deployed in Poland.

After a writer buys a “super cheap” Chinese ebike, he quickly concludes it was a super bad idea.

A 14-year old Malaysian boy was injured when he crashed his bike into a house while being chased by a dog, which wisely ran away after he hit the wall.

 

Competitive Cycling

American Sepp Kuss is confirmed for the Vuelta, marking his fifth-straight grand tour in support of Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, as their Jumbo-Visma team looks to sweep all three of this year’s grand tours.

 

Finally…

Seriously, how bad a driver do you have to be if you can’t even escape bike cops with a Dodge Charger? That feeling when a DeSantis supporter’s naked bike rides and fake fuzzy balls would run afoul of Florida’s new drag ban.

And even the great fail sometimes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Special Offers / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A call to remove the Marina Freeway, why more people don’t ride bikes in LA, and car-ticklers don’t protect a damn thing

August 21, 2023 / / Comments Off on A call to remove the Marina Freeway, why more people don’t ride bikes in LA, and car-ticklers don’t protect a damn thing

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

After surviving through hours of pouring rain, I lost my internet connection just as the storm was letting up — and just as I was about to put Monday’s post online. 

Then waited nearly 19 hours to get it back again. 

So here’s the post you were supposed to get yesterday. We’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on Monday’s news after I have a chance to catch up myself. 

………

I hope everyone came through this weekend’s hurriquake in one piece. 

If you’re riding anywhere in Southern California today, try to avoid going through any standing water. 

As much fun as it might be to relive your splash-filled youth by riding through puddles, there’s usually no way to know how deep it is, or what may be hidden underneath. 

The result could be anything from a broken wheel to a broken collarbone. So it’s just not worth the risk. 

Image from From Streets For All/SWA Group.

………

Urbanize examines the call from Streets For All and landscape architecture firm SWA Group to remove the underused Marina Freeway stub, and replace it with a linear park.

The concept unveiled yesterday, dubbed Marina Central Park, calls for converting the roughly 128-acre right-of-way lined with nearly 4,000 new homes, as well as roadway with space for vehicles, bus rapid transit, and bikeways. Renderings show low-rise structures located throughout the park, standing five stories in height with commercial uses located at the first floor.

Likewise, the proposal calls for reconnecting the freeway corridor surrounding ecological resources such as the Ballona Wetlands and Centinela Creek, which is shown with new terrace decks lining the concrete channel.

It’s worth considering, even if the prospect of removing a freeway —even one as useless as the Marina Freeway — in car-addled LA seems unlikely, at best.

………

According to Joni Yung, aka ayogist, if you want to know why more people don’t bike in the LA area, consider the quality of our roads.

Or the lack thereof.

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This is why LADOT’s favorite form of bike lane “protection” doesn’t protect a damn thing.

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The East Side Riders Bike Club forwards news of Saturday’s Non-Profit Day in Watts.

Hope in the Community! / Esperanza en la Comunidad!

Watts Non-Profit Day!

This Saturday August 26th

10:00am-3:00pm

Watts Civic Center

1513 E. 103rd St, Los Angeles, 90002

It’s an opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate our triumphs in our amazing City!

Non-Profit Day with East Side Riders Bike Club is not just a one-time event, it’s a steppingstone toward lasting Community Transformation, Empowerment, and Unity. The purpose of the day is to bring all non-profits in Watts and surrounding areas together so we can get to know one another, showcase their work to the community and bring Government Departments together so non-profits can interact and learn from their local government on policies and procedures. It’s a STEPPINGSTONE toward lasting community transformation.

As the organization’s email says, they’re more than just a bike club.

A lot more.

………

Once again, a someone riding a bike was a hero, and a bicycle was the difference between life and death in an emergency, as a man in Maui borrowed a bike to get past a long line of stalled traffic and warn his grandmother in time to escape the flames of the Lahaina fire.

Meanwhile, a Kona bike shop owner is collecting “gently used” bikes to donate to victims of the Lahaina fire to meet their needs for transportation and recreation.

………

Today’s best story comes from the UK, where an English man sold his bikes to pay for an operation for his dog.

When his dog, named for the bikewear brand Rapha, needed a lifesaving operation costing over $7,600, he put his four bicycles up for sale to pay for it.

So he was surprised when one of the buyers turned out to be a friend of his, who gave the bike back to him.

And when word got out about what he’d done, a local bike shop gave him another bike so he could keep riding.

………

The recent world championships in Glasgow included competition in cycle-ball.

Seriously, raise your hand if you even knew that was a thing.

 

And don’t watch the next two videos if you want to remain proud of your ability to track stand or bunny hop.

………

Alpha Romeo F1 driver Valtteri Bottas is one of us, competing in a Colorado hillclimb dressed as Duffman, the iconic Duff Beer mascot from the Simpsons.

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

A Utah columnist says the local government tries to appease bike haters by randomly chip sealing the most popular riding routes, even if it forced them to repaint all the bike lanes. With tongue firmly in cheek, I hope.

No bias here. An Irish paper asks why Mike van Erp, aka Cycling Mikey, is Britain’s most hated bicyclist, just because he films drivers breaking the law.

A New Zealand paper says “bike lane bullies” are putting bike riders at risk, with road raging repeat offenders and bike lane-encroaching drivers needlessly increasing the danger for people on bikes.

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

A 40-year old man has been arrested for a string of sexual assaults in San Mateo County, accused of riding his mountain bike on local trails and assaulting women as he rode by.

There’s a special place in hell for the Portland man who allowed his dog to attack a beloved 17-year old cat outside its owner’s home, then stomped on the wounded animal and rode his bike over it to finish it off, before riding off with the cat’s lifeless body.

Police in New York are looking for the couple who attacked a pair of Orthodox Jews when a woman passenger on a bikeshare bike slapped a man on the back of the head as they rode by, then attacked an Orthodox woman; another Orthodox man was attacked when a man got off his e-scooter to knock the victim’s yarmulke off his head.

North Carolina cops are looking for the spandex-clad bike rider who tried to kick over a political sign saying “Trump won,” before returning at night to set the sign on fire.

British bike riders competing in a wildcat race — aka “thugs” in tabloid parlance — were accused of plowing into an elderly woman and a tourist, and nearly striking a little boy, although only the latter can be seen on video.

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Local 

Long Beach wants to know how you use bikeshare and dockless e-scooter programs in the city.

Sixty-four-year old former Bell police chief Andreas Probst was killed while riding his bike near his northwest Las Vegas home last Monday when he was struck by an alleged speeding, underaged driver; his daughter learned about the crash through a notification from Probst’s Apple Watch moments after it happened.

 

State

Police in La Mesa are looking for the hit-and-run driver who seriously injured a 51-year old man riding a bicycle on Wednesday; the driver of the pickup is described as a Hispanic male in a white T-shirt, black shorts and white shoes.

Good question. The San Francisco Standard wants to know why you can’t ride your bike across the Bay Bridge, with bike riders currently required to turn around halfway.

Megan Lynch forwards word that UC Davis is now offering accessible bikeshare, although with no recumbents or trikes, it may not be accessible for everyone.

 

National

The maker of a cargo bike designed to transport kids saw a big jump in sales after a successful 2021 Shark Tank appearance, although they faced a recent recall for exceeding federal lead paint guidelines.

A writer for Electrek argues that we need more kids on e-balance bikes, not fewer, even though The New York Times calls them motorcycles for kids.

After biking 3,000 miles across the US, a German man is now attempting to run all the way back, running more than a marathon distance every day.

The Cherokee Nation is accepting applications for next year’s Remember the Removal Bike Ride, which retraces the northern route of the Trail of Tears through seven states over a span of three weeks and 950 miles; applicants must be between 16 and 24 years old, and members of the Cherokee Nation.

A Chicago man is riding across the city bearing signs calling for 10% of the city’s streets to have bike lanes, instead of the current 2%.

Minneapolis-based All-City Cycles is on the way out, after its parent company announced the bikemaker won’t be releasing any new models after next year, despite its cult-like following.

In what may be a dangerous prank gone wrong, a Buffalo, New York man faces up to 25 years behind bars for fatally shooting a 38-year old man riding a bike with a BB gun.

New York’s recent Vision Zero progress has come completely undone this year, as the city sees its deadliest year for bike riders in decades, and with no one but the victims paying the price.

A 28-year old Philadelphia man faces life behind bars after he was convicted of the fatal driveby shooting of a 67-year old man riding a bike in Camden, New Jersey.

 

International

A Whistler, British Columbia pro mountain biker returned home to conduct her own anti-racism mountain biking clinics, teaching bike riders to be not only better mountain bikers, but better humans, as well.

Life is cheap in Ontario, Canada, where a 22-year old man will spend six years behind bars for killing two First Nation’s women out for an early morning bike ride, while driving under the influence.

Fed up with drivers blocking bike lanes, a Toronto bike advocate is dressing up as a World Cup referee and handing out yellow cards to offending motorists.

A Glasgow university professor has created a music map of the city to encourage people to ride their bikes or walk between music venues.

The British manufacturer of a new anti-theft smart bike light claims it’s more secure than most relationships. Which is probably true, sadly.

Bundesliga star Kevin Behrens is one of us, as the German soccer player rode his bike home after scoring a hat trick in a recent game.

A young man from Malta rode his bike over 2,700 miles from the Mediterranean island through Europe, traveling from the boot of Italy through Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, while carrying just his tent, sleeping bag, four changes of clothes and a phone charger.

An Indian paper says bike riders struggle for space on the roads in Chennai at the risk to their own safety, as the city of nearly 12 million has lost its love for bikes over the past 90 years.

A Nigerian man rode his bicycle for 15 days and 500 miles just to meet afrobeats star Davido in Lagos.

That’s more like it. Motorcyclists in the Philippines will face arrest if they continue to use a bike lane on a major roadway, although the fine converts to less than $18.

 

Competitive Cycling

Newly crowned world road champ Mathieu van der Poel may extend his WorldTour season to train for mountain biking.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the highly touted new bike route just leads to a pair of locked gates. When you’re trying to escape from the cops, try not to ride your bike into a stopped police van.

And now you, too, can own a bicycle custom made for the legendary Fausto Coppi, for the low, low price of nearly $132,000.

So who wants to start a crowdfunding campaign so I can buy it?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

CicLAvia throws a hurricane party Sunday, and Finish the Ride calls for support for South Pasadena pilot bike lane

August 18, 2023 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia throws a hurricane party Sunday, and Finish the Ride calls for support for South Pasadena pilot bike lane

Let’s start with a correction.

I don’t know what the hell I was thinking yesterday when I said CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown a week from Sunday.

It’s this Sunday, of course.

The Koreatown Meets Hollywood CicLAvia follows a portion of the route first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood CicLAvia celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

Maybe someone should buy me a calendar. Or better yet, teach me how to use one.

Thanks to Joe Linton for the correction. 

Update: Sunday’s CicLAvia has been canceled due to the hurricane.

………

It looks like we’re going to luck out, and get Sunday’s CicLAvia in before Los Angeles gets hit with the remnants of the Cat 4 Hurricane Hillary now moving through the Pacific.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm should roll in late Sunday, bringing possible rain and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.

We don’t get a lot of hurricanes here in Los Angeles; news reports yesterday said this would be just the third one in LA history.

However, the tradition in Louisiana is to throw a raging hurricane party when a hurricane approaches, because as Jimmy Buffet put it, if you’re going to get blown away, you might as well get blown away.

And as it just so happens, we have a party already scheduled for Hollywood and Koreatown on Sunday before it gets here.

You know what to do.

Let’s all turn out, and make this one a CicLAvia for the ages.

………

Finish the Ride is calling for your support for a pilot bike lane in South Pasadena, in the face of the seemingly inevitable NIMBY opposition.

………

Speaking of Finish the Ride, the group is gearing up for their annual Halloween event in Santa Clarita in just over two months.

………

Bike Walk Glendale is hosting a walk through the city tomorrow, followed by an advocacy workshop on Wednesday.

………

Gravel Bike California celebrates the annual Tour de Big Bear, calling it “perfectly timed and extremely well-organized” and complementing “a fantastic course which is hard to imagine being so close to LA.”

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More proof that a bike is your best way to get around before, during or after a disaster.

………

The Bike League is less than $26,000 away from their relatively modest $50,000 fundraising goal, which will turn into a cool hundred grand if they make it.

………

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

No bias here. A writer for Britain’s conservative The Spectator warns about the dangers of cargo bikes, calling them hell for motorists “piloted either by smug yet very stressed parents or by delivery hipsters with ironic facial hair, retro clothing, flexible sexuality and a heavily-worn social conscience.” And yes, he claims to be a bike rider himself — a “member of the Lycra lancers” — which is always a red flag. 

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

A North Carolina bike rider had to be airlifted to a hospital after colliding with another bike rider traveling in the same direction, knocking each other out.

………

Local 

A British expat living in LA’s Westchester neighborhood takes a century ride to get some fish and chips in Port Hueneme.

The Greening America’s Cities initiative of the Bezos Earth Fund will address heat-related social inequity in the LA area by providing $3.5 million to fund a greenbelt and a biking and walking path along the Pacoima Wash, replacing the existing concrete embankment with a less heat-absorbent surface.

 

State

A guest commentary from Cal Matters refutes the argument that adding speed cams to California cities will target people of color, but will protect them, instead.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department says thieves are targeting ebikes in North County cities, as riders run into Target or Walmart stores without locking their bikes. Which is yet another reminder to always lock your bike everywhere, unless you take it with you.

A 51-year old bike rider suffered serious, but non-life threatening, injuries when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver in La Mesa, who got out of his pickup following the crash, but drove away before police arrived.

Bad news from Fresno, where a 50-year old man was critically injured when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in a crosswalk, reportedly against the light. As always, who was actually at fault depends on whether there were any independent witnesses who saw the crash, other than the driver who hit him.

Oakland underground cartoonist and muralist Fred Noland is one of us, as the Black artist prepares to release a 250-page biographical comic about the legendary Major Taylor.

More bad news, this time from Sacramento, where a man riding a bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver early Thursday morning.

 

National

Legendary union leader and American socialist Eugene Debs was one of us. Because of course he was.

Outside offers advice on how to avoid being taken in by greenwashing.

Sports Illustrated rates the best rear racks for every kind of bike.

Seattle readers report having a love/fear relationship with biking in the city. Which pretty much goes for bike riders anywhere in America.

Trek donated a quarter of a million dollars to restart expansion plans for a bike park in Idaho Springs, west of Denver.

An inspector with a Connecticut state attorney’s office — the equivalent of a district attorney — faces charges for hitting a 17-year old bike rider after failing to come to a full stop at a red light, and leaving the scene afterwards — twice.

Life is cheap in Staten Island, where a 35-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for killing a 52-year old man riding a bicycle, despite originally being charged with criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.

Streetsblog complains there’s too much green on Brooklyn greenways, as the New York borough neglects overgrown weeds lining the bike paths.

New York is banning ebikes and scooters that haven’t been certified for safety starting next month, in the wake of a rash of deadly ebike battery fires.

A Florida state trooper explains who has the right-of-way when a driver is making a right turn across a bike lane and a bike rider is going straight. And surprisingly, gets it right.

 

International

Momentum considers the best cities around the world to fall in love with bicycling all over again. None of which is Los Angeles. Or anywhere else in Southern California, for that matter.

Road.cc offers “essential” money-saving tips to keep riding without breaking the bank.

Following the lead of competitive cycling, the world’s top chess federation has ruled that trans women can’t compete in women’s chess events, apparently concluding that their birth sex somehow gives them a unfair advantage in the Sicilian Defense.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old Winnipeg, Manitoba man rode his bike over 1,800 miles to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.

In a pleasant change, a spokesperson for a British bicycling group says Belfast, Northern Ireland, businesses are firmly behind calls for less car parking and more emphasis on active travel.

An Irish columnist says the country’s police and Road Safety Authority don’t have the resources to keep bicyclists safe.

Cyclist takes a rare route up France’s legendary Mont Ventoux.

In what could be an intriguing matchup, the electric scooter unit of British Formula One engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied is reportedly in advanced talks to buy bankrupt Dutch ebike maker VanMoof.

China Daily reports the bike business is booming in the Middle Kingdom.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo says this could be the best start list ever for the Vuelta, with the reigning champs of all three grand tours set to clash at the Spanish grand tour.

The one-day Maryland Cycling Classic is now America’s top race, with a “star-studded preliminary roster” featuring leading American cyclists and Tour de France stage winners.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a paracycling champ without arms wins a pair of high-end watches. Or when you lose your KOM — or QOM — to a Dutch cycling champ.

And why that bike crash was definitely your fault.

No matter how it happened.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Fountain & SaMo bike lanes back in WeHo, K’town to H’wood CicLAvia, and new Adventure Cycling LA short routes

August 17, 2023 / / 2 comments

There may be hope yet in WeHo.

Nine months after proposals for new and enhanced bike lanes on Fountain Ave and Santa Monica Blvd were nearly derailed over concerns about increased traffic and lost parking spaces, WeHoVille reports they will be back before the West Hollywood city council next week.

According to the paper, the Fountain Ave proposal is planned for two phases.

The first phase of the study, known as Phase 1 PS&E (Planning, Specifications, and Estimates), focuses on the design of protected bike lanes, with specific plans to reduce travel lanes from four to two and remove approximately 150 on-street parking spaces on the north side of Fountain Avenue. This phase includes an 11-month timeline, with an expected conclusion in July 2024. The construction phase is anticipated to begin in early 2025, taking another 4-6 months. The preliminary construction cost for Phase 1 is estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million…

As the study progresses to Phase 2, the focus shifts to the permanent installation of protected bike lanes and the redesign of sidewalks along Fountain Avenue. The timeline for Phase 2 spans 16 months, starting in January 2024, with potential construction beginning in Q1 or Q2 of 2026. The construction of Phase 2 is estimated to be between $30 million and $35 million.

Meanwhile, the council directed the city to study the feasibility of upgrading the existing painted bike lanes on the western portion of Santa Monica Blvd to protected bike lanes.

City staff were also told to conduct a block-by-block analysis of the feasibility of installing painted bike lanes on the narrower eastern segment of the boulevard, which would likely involve narrowing traffic lanes and the removal of parking spaces.

………

CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown this Sunday with a return of the Koreatown Meets Hollywood route, first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood route celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

According to a press release from CicLAvia,

On Sunday, August 20; between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., CicLAvia – Koreatown meets Hollywood, presented by Metro, and in partnership with LADOT, welcomes everyone of all ages and abilities to its 47th car-free open streets event connecting Hollywood and Koreatown along Vine St, Melrose Ave, Western Ave, and Wilshire Blvd, for participants to jog, ride, bike, skate, run, walk, skateboard, spectate, play, to enjoy the 5-mile route. Always free, CicLAvia participants just show up anywhere along the route at any time to enjoy the open streets and to take the time to explore two of L.A.’s iconic communities. Participants are encouraged to take Metro.

There are many local gems, activities, and businesses to check out near and along the route – discover them through CicLAvia’s new Interactive Digital Map. Hubs have family-friendly activities, restrooms, free water refilling stations, free basic bike repair, bike parking, and first aid. In addition, free pedicab rides, sponsored by AARP, are available at each information booth. Activities along the route can be found here.

A press conference kicking off the event will be held starting at 8:30 am on Sunday, August 20th, at 1750 Vine Street, at the Hollywood Hub next to Capitol Records.

………

Adventure Cycling announced the launch of their Short Routes Program, featuring shorter bike touring routes designed to break down barriers accessibility and make bike travel more approachable, regardless of experience level or how much time someone has available.

The program launches with routes starting from Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Austin and Seattle.

Anyone can submit a route in the US that a beginner can bike in two to five days, with approximately 20-50 miles of riding each day.

According to the group, there are three short routes currently available in the Los Angeles area:

Carpinteria to Refugio

Created by tour leader, Johnny Lam, this route has camping available at both ends, in Carpinteria — where riders can easily get to by Amtrak or car with many amenities including a great coffee shop and various restaurants — and Refugio, where the hiker biker site is given the best plot of land looking over a beach and the Pacific Ocean.

LA to Catalina Island

Created by local transportation planner Danielle Parnes, this is a fun bikepacking trip full of beautiful beaches, mountains, and wildlife. It’s relatively easy to get to from L.A. via a ferry departing near Long Beach but feels like a faraway destination. Campsites on this route are only accessible by hiking or biking, making for calm, quiet evenings, and the dirt roads have few cars.

Santa Monicas Overnight

Also created by Danielle Parnes, the Santa Monicas Overnight route leaves from West LA and goes up fire roads into the Santa Monica Mountains, camping in Topanga State Park, and then down to the beach, with a mix of city, desert mountains, and ocean views and swims. This route starts and ends at Expo line light rail stations in West LA, for easy access from downtown or other parts of the city.

………

Streets For All announced a call to remove the three-mile 90 Freeway in Marina del Rey, converting the remaining stub of the otherwise unbuilt highway into a linear park.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1691892199338951011

………

Good point.

………

Remember these tables from a tweet by traffic planner and co-host of The Planning Commission Podcast Don Kostelec the next time someone complains about the great ebike menace.

And remind them what the real danger is.

 

………

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić one of us, riding his bike to a horse track in his native Serbia.

https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/1691492802235133952

………

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

A British news producer was slammed for comments comparing 20 mph speed limits for motorists to bicyclists using training wheels, while sarcastically suggesting that maybe cars should have giant beanbags attached to them, as well. Actually, I might be in favor of that one.

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

A man carrying a cross somehow managed to ride his bicycle through burned-out Lahaina, Hawaii, despite being closed to the public after the town was destroyed by a wildfire last week.

………

Local 

An op-ed from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider calls for banning cars from streets around schools, which would greatly improve safety for kids, and everyone else.

The Los Angeles Times considers the benefits and challenges of living carfree in the City of Cars, uh, Angels.

The Eastsider reports a final design has been chosen for the 12-acre Paseo del Rio greenway being created on the former Taylor Yard railroad property next to the LA River.

 

State

Sad news from Ridgecrest, where a 48-year old man was killed when he apparently struck the center median with his ebike; police suspect he was riding under the influence.

This is who we share the road with. A 71-year old woman was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and failing to yield to pedestrians after killing a four-year old girl crossing a San Francisco street with her parents, and critically injuring her father. But at least she stayed at the scene, so there’s that.

The partner of fallen San Francisco cyclist David Sexton is still looking for answers, over a month after he was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the East Bay city of Richmond. A tragic reminder that most California hit-and-runs are never solved. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. According to the LA Times, 20 bears have been killed by motorists in Lake Tahoe, and nearly as many seriously injured.

 

National

NACTO calls out six things to look for in the forthcoming revision of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, which sets the standard for traffic control laws and devices in the US, including elimination of the deadly 85th Percentile Rule.

The bike industry is rallying around a pair of bike shops destroyed in the Lahaina wildfire.

An Albuquerque NM man faces a murder charge for allegedly stabbing another man 15 times in a dispute over a stolen bike.

My Colorado hometown newspaper examines the causes of bike and pedestrian crashes in the platinum level bicycle-friendly community, as bicycling collisions trend downward, but remain the most common crashes affecting vulnerable road users — including another one injured by an SUV driver just two days ago.

No surprise here, as the website for Colorado’s new ebike rebate program crashed due to overwhelming demand. Meanwhile, California’s program still suffers from failure to launch.

Four years after Cape Cod voters rejected plans to extend a 25.5-mile bikeway, there are still no options to replace the proposal.

Bizarre tragedy in Mississippi, where a 64-year old man was killed when a trailer being towed by a pickup broke loose and fell off an Interstate Highway flyover, striking the man as he rode his bike on the shoulder of a another freeway down below.

De Soto County in central Florida is the deadliest county for bicyclists in the nation’s deadliest state.

 

International

Ouch. A new international report finds that senior leadership within the bike industry remains overwhelmingly white, male and heterosexual, and that efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion were described as “tokenistic and shallow” at best, while revealing “cultures of harassment and unfair treatment.”

A Scottish man is called the “unluckiest cyclist in Scotland” when he was run down by a driver for the third time in two years, but at least this driver stopped, unlike the first two. Although considering he survived all three, I’d call him pretty damn lucky.

Missing Iranian cyclist Mohammad Ganjkhanlou has reportedly been granted asylum in the UK, a week after he disappeared following the world championships, where he placed 66th in the time trial.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the nascent National Cycling League, and says there may be hope for its fan-first format.

I want to be like them when I grow up. A pair of 81 and 79-year old men will complete in Maine’s Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, 50 years after competing in the inaugural race up the tallest mountain in the Northwest. Meanwhile, a man who’s suffered from Parkinson’s disease for nearly five decades will once again compete in the annual race, after finishing the difficult climb in just under one hour and twelve minutes last year.

Former Syracuse basketball player Terrence Roberts suffered three broken ribs and a collapsed lung after crashing with another bicyclist on a June training ride, just three days after the 6’10” former forward completed in his first crit with LA’s Major Motion Cycling team.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the 122-year old, first-ever motorized bicycle prototype goes on display, even if it is a replica. How to tell when a roadie rides a mountain bike.

And how cars took over American streets, explained.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bike lanes as next big US infrastructure program, why we love cars more than children, and banning GOP reps from bikes

August 16, 2023 / / Comments Off on Bike lanes as next big US infrastructure program, why we love cars more than children, and banning GOP reps from bikes

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

As of this week, I’m now on insulin four times a day, and riding a wild blood sugar rollercoaster as I adjust to the new regimen.

I’ll get used to it eventually.

But I ain’t there yet.

………

Streetsblog asks if building bike lanes could become America’s next big infrastructure project, as a new online portal positions them as “key components of a national effort to end climate change.”

Nonprofit PeopleForBikes’ recently launched the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, a new advocacy portal which aims to map all the “protected bike lanes, off-street trails, pump tracks, bike parks, and more” that U.S. communities are poised to build — particularly following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which multiplied the amount of federal funding for cycling by roughly six.

Rather than treating those efforts as disconnected, though, the group says advocates need to start thinking of their hyper-local bike projects as part of one massive, national effort to combat climate change, cure traffic violence, and end universal car dependence — and do the urgent work of bringing transportation decision-makers together in a unified front.

………

In a hard-hitting Streetsblog op-ed, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition volunteer Liz Schiller considers the recent $8.9 million makeover of Pasadena’s Huntington Drive.

And asks why we love our cars more than our children.

Huntington is a wide, wide road. Eight lanes widening to eleven at intersections, plus on-street parking, and a landscaped median. An average of 15,000 cars travel on it every day. Drivers on Huntington routinely exceed the posted speed limit of 45 mph. On that brand new piece of bicycle infrastructure, only paint separates a person on a bicycle from exactly the type of hazard that killed the Encinitas teen. A pedestrian or cyclist interacting with a motor vehicle at a speed of 40 mph or above is very likely to be killed.

What if we had given up a lane to create a place for bicycles that is physically separated from all those speeding cars?

It’s a damn good question.

………

You’ve got to be kidding.

The House majority whip told members of the Republican caucus not to take any chances so they don’t risk losing their slim majority in Congress.

Including riding a bike.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told Republicans on a caucus conference call, “Please take care of yourselves. We do not need to lose anybody else.”

He went on to explain that he saw Rep. James Comer (R-KY) biking over the weekend.

“Stay off the damn bike,” Emmer said.

………

ActiveSGV needs your help to slow South Pas down.

………

They’ve got a point.

………

Pour one out for the late rapper and community organizer Nipsey Hustle, who was one of us.

………

This is what we could have in Los Angeles.

Here’s what the Mayor of Paris says the tweet below.

Our streets are changing to offer ever more space and nature to Parisians! The proof by example with the rue de la Presentation in the 11th.

………

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

No bias here. A multi-ton pickup rolls a stop sign, but all a reporters sees are ebike riders observing the letter of the law, with one rider even putting their foot down at the stop.

https://twitter.com/KNXBaird/status/1691193282309799936

No bias here, either. A San Diego TV station reports that residents of the East County neighborhood of Jamacha are worried about their safety after a parking-protected bike lane was installed. It’s not as if that’s the first parking protected bike installed anywhere; the station could have pointed out that they have improved safety for people throughout the US, including in Los Angeles. But they didn’t. 

A Sacramento bike advocate can’t remember the crash that left her with four broken ribs, a fractured clavicle and a partial collapsed lung, after police arrested the alleged road raging driver accused of deliberately running her down as she rode with a small group.

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

There’s a special place in hell for the man who rode up behind a Millbrae woman on a mountain bike and groped her as she walked on a trail.

Boston transit cops are looking for a man who used his bike to smash a bus windshield, after drinking on board and spitting on the floor.

………

Local 

The Los Angeles Times calls on the state to ban traffic stops for minor violations that are too often used as pretext stops to target people of color.

The new bus and bike lanes on LA Brea Avenue are officially open, but have been reduced to around two and a half miles as appointed CD10 Councilmember Heather Hutt continues to block them below Olympic Blvd.

LA County is offering rewards in four cold case homicides, including the murder of 70-year old Luis Sandoval, who died three months after he was shot while riding a bike on on Olympic Boulevard in East Los Angeles in 2007.

Pomona is developing a bike park for all skills levels, driven by a homegrown BMX rider and police detective.

The Santa Monica Daily Press looks at last weekend’s Open Main Street open streets event in the city; if you missed it, like I did, you’ll have two more chances in the coming months.

 

State

The president of the Bay Area’s BART transit system was fined more than five grand for lobbying local officials on behalf of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition over 200 times without registering as a lobbyist.

 

National

Bicycling debates whether the bike industry is in trouble, or if it’s poised for another comeback. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus goes on a local podcast to offer an introduction to bike safety.

Heartbreaking news from Las Vegas, where a 64-year old man riding a bike was killed in a hit-and-run by an underage driver in a stolen car.

Tour de Fat may have abandoned the rest of us, but it’s still going strong in my Colorado hometown.

Colorado will start their statewide ebike rebate program tomorrow, less than a year after approving the program. Meanwhile, California’s program remains vaporware, despite being the first ebike rebate program approved in the US. 

A Minnesota man is in the midst of an 11,000-mile, year-long bike ride throughout the US to raise awareness and funds to fight prostate cancer and schizophrenia, despite suffering from stage four prostate cancer himself.

Boston will launch a pilot program offering cargo bike delivery services in the city’s Allston neighborhood next month.

New York is allowing wider cargo bikes following a pilot program, while a local advocacy group calls for wider bike lanes to accommodate them; a local TV station accuses their drivers of speeding down sidewalks, running red lights and going the wrong way against traffic.

Once again, an innocent person was the victim of a police chase, as a 54-year old New York woman is in critical condition after she was struck by a driver fleeing from the cops while riding her bike.

The New Yorker talks with cover artist Kadir Nelson about his illustration depicting teenagers participating in a rideout on the Williamsburg Bridge.

 

International

A writer for Momentum shares what she calls the empowering path to bike commuting.

That’s more like it. A 24-year old English man will spend the next 13 years behind bars for the reckless, drunken hit-and-run that killed a 53-year old man riding his bike home from work.

An Edinburgh city councilor complains about “extremely light” bike racks that can be easily unscrewed to steal any bike locked to them.

A woman in the Netherlands got her bike back thanks to a hidden AirTag, after she found it locked to a light post.

Police in Dubai seized 8,786 bicycles, ebikes and e-scooters in the first six months of a new law allowing seizures for anyone over 16 riding an e-scooter or ebike without a driver’s license, or anyone under 16, period.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Italy, where 17-year old Italian junior cyclist Jacopo Venzo died following a crash while racing on Friday.

Utah mountain bike pro Keegan Swenson took his third consecutive win at the Leadville Trail 100, shattering the men’s record in the process; Argentina’s Sofia Gomez Villafañe took the women’s race.

A Virginia paper explains how five local teenagers became Team USA for the the Quad Tandem World Championships in British Colombia, competing four to a single bike.

The former doctor for British Cycling and Team Sky was banned from all sports for four years for violating anti-doping rules. But the doping era is over, right?

Twenty-six-year old Iranian cyclist Mohammad Ganjkhanlou has disappeared after finishing 66th in the time trial at the world championships in Glasgow.

 

Finally…

Don’t bother asking a cat about bike lanes. Your next bike could look like a Transformer — and act like one, too.

And we may have to deal with jumpy LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about kangaroo crashes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

East Side Riders help send kids back to school, bikes to the rescue in Maui fires, and The Wire creator’s speed cam rant

August 14, 2023 / / One comment

Anyone need a top tube bag?

Orange County bike advocate and tandem pilot — or maybe stoker — Mike Wilkinson says he has a brand new ROCKBROS Waterproof Top Tube Bag he’s not going to use.

And he’ll send it to the first person who donates $20 or more to BikinginLA. 

The bag, with a clear top screen for your cellphone, retails for $19.99 on Amazon. Which means you’ll save taxes and shipping charges, if any.

On the other hand, if you’re the second person to donate, at least you’ll enjoy the warm feeling of knowing you’re helping bring all the best bike news and advocacy to your fellow SoCal bike riders every day. 

And that ain’t nothing. 

Photo by Keenan Constance from Pexels.

………

Once again, a SoCal bike club goes well beyond bicycling to benefit the community.

And once again, it’s Compton’s East Side Riders Bike Club.

According to KTLA-5,

A lucky group of 30 kids were selected by their school districts to receive the ultimate back to school package on Sunday in an event hosted by the East Side Riders Bike Club and the Hey Leche Foundation in Huntington Park.

Attendees from Compton, Watts, Willbrook and the Huntington Park communities turned out for the event, with families receiving a laptop, $100 grocery gift card and kids getting a free backpack, new shoes and a haircut.

As East Side Riders president and founder John Jones III said, it’s just a drop in the bucket to meet the community’s needs.

But for these kids, it could be life changing.

………

Bicycles are emergency vehicles.

Our friend Joni responded on Friday to forward a brief mention of the bike riders who rode through Lahaina in the face of onrushing flames to shout a warning for people to evacuate, as the island’s emergency system remained silent.

Although it was actually from the New York Times, not the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, CNN reports some of the city’s residents escaped the flames by bicycle, while others sprinted away or used skateboards.

As many of us have experienced in city traffic, there is no better way to bypass stalled traffic than with a bicycle — something that becomes even more urgent in an emergency, when roads inevitably become clogged by evacuees in motor vehicles.

And there is no better way to navigate city streets to shout a warning, traveling at a human pace to alert people of danger.

………

Maybe the writers strike should apply to tweets, or x’s, or whatever the hell Elon insists on calling them these days.

Take The Wire creator David Simon.

Please.

The Emmy-winning author, journalist, screenwriter and producer took to Twitter, uh, X, to complain about getting a speed cam ticket in a New York school zone.

He might have a point if it was his first ticket — never mind that school employees get there long before sunrise at times, including in the summer.

But according to New York Streetsblog, he has a whopping 16 prior school zone speed cam tickets.

Count ’em, sixteen.

Given his apparent history of speeding, his rant makes a better argument for why we need to legalize speed cams in California.

………

Good question.

………

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

No bias here. A drunk driver plowed into a parked car in San Diego’s Lisbon Street, so naturally the local TV station blamed a new bike lane through the Jamacha-Lomita and Skyline neighborhoods, not the alleged jackass who got behind the wheel after getting loaded.

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

No bias here. A British journalist says angry motorists and scofflaw bicyclists are nothing compared to “the menace of the electric bike and the e-scooter” and the people who ride them. No, really.

A Shanghai paper calls out reckless bicyclists who congregate on local streets for “lively” Thursday night gatherings, accusing them of disregarding traffic rules and disturbing the public while filing the entire road with bicycles and people. Sounds good to me. 

………

Local 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Los Angeles County Public Works led a community bike ride to celebrate a new bike lane and other improvements at the intersection of Pasadena’s Huntington Drive and Madre Street/Muscatel Ave. But the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition says it should have been a protected bike lane, and we can do better.

Speaking of Pasadena, the aforementioned PCSC wants you to sign their petition calling for an “All Ages and Abilities” safety standard for the El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita and Craig Avenue greenways.

 

State

Encinitas named a longtime employee as the city’s new mobility manager, in the wake of the city’s ebike state of emergency; Nick Buck has served as recreation coordinator in the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department, and as the city’s events and special projects supervisor.

Police in San Diego are looking for bike thief who violently assaulted another man in a failed attempt to steal the victim’s ebike in the city’s South Park neighborhood.

It takes a real schmuck to assault a nine-year old Santa Barbara kid to steal his bicycle; police made an arrest a short time later.

A father and son were run over by a driver at a Fremont classic car show while riding their bikes; fortunately, they don’t seem to have been seriously injured.

The Frisc says the urgency expressed by San Francisco officials after the death of champion bicyclist Ethan Boyes appears to have waned, as fixes to the street where he was killed have slipped into next year.

A writer for SF Gate says the lack of a bike path on the west span of the Bay Bridge means it takes “uncompromising quadriceps and a willpower to rival Thomas the Tank Engine” just to ride a bike from San Francisco to Oakland.

 

National

CNN rates the year’s best ebikes, starting at just $1499 for an REI cargo bike.

Elektrek explains why ebike makers and PeopleForBikes are fighting right-to-repair laws that would allow you to fix your own ebike — or have it fixed by someone other than the manufacturer — over fears of starting fires by damaging the lithium-ion batteries. Then again, where would we be if you could only have your car serviced by the dealer?

An Oregon writer responds to a question asking why bike riders don’t have to pay for a license if paddleboarders do, and says similar programs have failed in cities throughout the west — including Los Angeles. And bike riders already pay their share when they buy a bike.

An Alaska bicyclist takes the contrarian view, arguing that the recent moves by Anchorage to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians will only benefit a few people, and that safety would improve more if the city enforced existing laws.

It’s not unusual for someone to ride their bike across the US these days, but not many do it diagonally; two men are nearly a third of the way into a 5,000 mile ride from Anchorage AK to Jacksonville FL to raise awareness and funds to fight childhood cancer.

Evidently, they do things differently in Alaska, as an Alaskan man seeks official recognition from the Guinness World Records for riding his bike backwards across 500 miles of Iowa during RAGBRAI.

Houston’s Vision Zero program says it’s building bike and walk paths as fast as they can, as bicycling deaths are on track to double over last year.

San Antonio, Texas says “oops” about raised bumps on a protected bike lane that were inadvertently extended into an intersection, making right turns difficult, at best.

Chicago bicyclists cheered when authorities towed a car parked in a bike lane, saying they’ve never seen it happen before.

A Minneapolis letter writer says drivers may think they’re being polite when they randomly stop for bike riders and pedestrians, but everyone is safer when they observe the right-of-way.

Once again, President Biden rode his bike in Rehoboth Beach, Delware without falling off.

The family of a North Carolina woman unveiled a new mural painted by one of her close friends, next to where she was killed riding her bike.

 

International

Forbes says the bicycling industry is in financial collapse after the pandemic bike boom officially ended this year.

A Glasgow writer says closing the city’s streets down for the cycling world championships shows real possibilities for what could be done.

An architecture firm in Glasgow has begun a campaign calling for safer intersections in the city, after a 22-year old staffer was killed while riding her bike.

According to a Scottish writer, the future of bicycling in Scotland looks bright  well beyond the world championships in Glasgow, including in the southern borderlands he describes as “the St Andrews of cycling.”

A Welsh bicycle delivery rider was beaten unconscious when he tried to resist a group of bike thieves who attempted to steal his ebike at knifepoint, after he had stopped to pray.

Heartbreaking news from Italy, where a 27-year old British woman was killed in front of her husband as they rode together on a mountain bike trail; the victim was an expert on Covid-19 who advised the British government during the pandemic.

A 70-year old French doctor rode his bike 2,500 miles to Ukraine to raise funds to generators and first-aid kits for the Russian invasion.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel became the youngest person to win the individual time trial at the world championships at age 23.

Lotte Kopecky became the first Belgian to wear the rainbow jersey for road cycling in 50 years by winning the women’s world road cycling championship on Sunday, topping the Netherlands Demi Vollering and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig of Denmark; no American finished in the top ten.

British WorldTour cyclist Tom Pidcock delighted the local fans by winning the world cross-country mountain bike title, beating ten-time champ Nino Schurter in the process; French cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won the women’s rainbow jersey.

Evidently things were pretty peaceful at the worlds, as Scottish police made just nine arrests during the ten day event — five of them during a climate change protest during the men’s road race.

A cartoonist screatively ays maybe riders in the pro peloton could do a little more to resist the bicycle greenwashing that runs rampant in team sponsorships.

Peter Sagan called an end to his legendary road cycling career, as he transitions to professional mountain biking.

 

Finally…

Oh, nothing, just the world’s best cyclists grabbing a pint down at the local. That feeling when your half-million dollar Rolls Royce plows into an Amsterdam bike rack, and you’re not even in it.

And why just ride a bike when you can ride your own ass?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvdC3e-gKhr/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=40b41a64-e69a-4e66-86a4-536afd7b907d

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Bicycles aid in Maui inferno; and California organizations say deadly roads are the real problem, not ebikes

August 11, 2023 / / 2 comments

Sometimes I feel like I’m beating a dead diabetic horse. 

But the physical problems I’ve had for the past few years — from debilitating neuropathy and carpal/ulnar nerve problems to possible damage to my vagus nerve — don’t stem from diabetes, but rather, from going undiagnosed with the disease for over two decades. 

Which is why I keep harping on the need to get tested. 

Despite having diabetes on both sides of my family, my doctors insisted a healthy diet, lean physique and riding over 300 miles a week meant I had nothing to worry about. 

Instead, all that did was hide my symptoms when I could have done something about it, and maybe prevented some of the problems I’m having now. 

Or maybe not.

But if you’re overweight or have a family history, or have any of these symptoms — including unexplained weight loss, which is how I finally found it — go to your doctor and demand to be tested.

No, now.

My doctor insisted I couldn’t have diabetes, and only gave in when I put my foot down. Then asked me why I wasn’t dead yet when he saw the results.

So call me a nag if you want. But I don’t want you to have to go through this if you don’t have to. 

Because diabetes sucks.  

Now let’s talk bikes. 

Photo by Cole Keister from Pexels.

………

In a brief comment, the governor of Hawaii mentions seeing people escape by bicycle from the infernos on Maui.

Another reminder that your bicycle may be the most reliable form of transportation in an emergency.

Unfortunately, I can’t find it online, but I’ve also heard some of the survivors mention in news reports that they first learned of the fire in Lahaina from people riding their bicycles through the city shouting warnings to evacuate.

There’s no way of knowing how many lives they might have saved. Or even if they were able to make it out safely.

But it’s one more example of bike riders as heroes.

………

They get it.

Calbike is joining with a very long list of California bicycle and street safety advocacy groups to say the real problem on our roadways isn’t ebikes, but deadly street designs.

However, this is not an “e-bike emergency” that can be solved by limiting or over-regulating people who use e-bikes. An elite bike racer was killed in San Francisco earlier this year, and an experienced teenage cyclist — a Junior Men’s National Champion— was killed by a driver in Colorado just this week while riding a regular bike; no amount of skill or education can save a person on a bike from a careless driver or our outdated and unsafe infrastructure.

Pinning the blame on e-bikes obscures the real problem. For example, 2022 was Oakland’s worst year for road fatalities in over 10 years, with 35 deaths. That included 15 people killed while walking and at least three people killed while riding bikes. None of the people riding bikes  was on an e-bike, yet Oakland, like most California communities, is suffering from a surge in traffic violence.

They go on to counteract anecdotal arguments, however tragic, with the facts regarding ebikes and street safety.

  • NHTSA data show California highway fatalities trending upward since 2010, long before e-bikes became popular.
  • Deaths of people riding bikes declined 8% between 2020 and 2021, as the number of people riding e-bikes increased, according to the Office of Traffic Safety. During that same period, OTS reports pedestrian deaths increased by 9.4%.
  • Many more pedestrians die in traffic collisions than bike riders (1,108 vs. 125 in 2021, according to OTS). Safety for vulnerable road users is an emergency that won’t be solved by regulating e-bikes.
  • IIHS data show a 55% increase in people on bikes dying in traffic collisions from 2010 to 2021. Despite recent hysteria about teens on e-bikes, most of those who died (90%) were aged 20 or older. During this period, deaths of bike riders under 20 decreased by 90%, while fatalities among those over 20 increased by 400%.

The groups — which include Streets For All, BikeLA, Active SGV, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition and the San Diego Bicycle Coalition, among several others — call on the state to increase funding for the Active Transportation Program, and support the expansion of quick-build bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

Which beats the hell out of victim blaming and a knee-jerk call for ebike licenses — let alone snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by pulling California’s Stop As Yield bill from consideration by the legislature.

Meanwhile, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer writes to correct the New York Times, saying roadway design, not bicycles, determines the safety of our communities, and that ebikes aren’t motorcycles and shouldn’t be treated as such.

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I’ve seen similar stats from all over the US, including right here in Los Angeles.

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Sounds like fun. Ride with the OC Wheelmen in two weeks.

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This is what we could — and should — have here in Los Angeles.

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

No bias here. After a 73-year old Illinois woman was killed in a collision while riding her bike, the local paper blames “a vehicle” for her death, without ever mentioning that said vehicle may have had a driver.

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

A Santa Cruz letter writer says an ebike almost killed his friend, who ended up with his knee fractured in three places, and asks why an ebike was on a crowded sidewalk — never mind that the rider fled the scene. Aside from the fact that no one ever died from a fractured knee, the problem wasn’t the type of bike, but rather why it was being ridden on the sidewalk. Although it’s probably a safe bet that there wasn’t a safe bike lane next to it. 

Police in Philadelphia busted man for allegedly grabbing the butts of at least seven women as he rode by on a bicycle over a two day period. Or as a local paper calls him, the notorious South Philly bicyclist butt grabber.

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. A pair of men are facing murder charges for the street racing death of an innocent woman in South LA last month, who was just crossing the street when they slammed into her.

Streetsblog examines the proposal to protect the existing painted bike lane on Forrest Lawn Drive, while reducing traffic lanes from four to two. Which is the real protection, rather than LADOT’s flimsy, car-tickler plastic bendy posts.

Downtown El Monte could soon be transformed by Complete Streets.

Metro Bike wants your opinion for their 2023 user survey.

Speaking of Metro Bike, the county bikeshare is hosting an easy 3-mile community ride to the California African American Museum tomorrow morning, followed by a day at the Exposition Park museum.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition will host an 11-mile evening ride in West Pasadena tomorrow night — for “bike enthusiasts” according to the local paper.

 

State

Anaheim is investing $100 million to create a family-friendly two-mile OC Riverwalk along the Santa Ana River near the Honda Center, including a 350-foot bike and pedestrian bridge connecting Anaheim and Orange.

San Diego recommends seven of the city’s most scenic bike routes. It’s been a long time since I lived and rode down there, but as I recall, “scenic” is putting it mildly.

This is who we share the road with, part two. A 13-year old boy was arrested for leading police on a motorcycle chase through San Bernardino, racing head-on into oncoming traffic at speeds up to 65 mph.

Sad news from Berkeley, where bike shop owner Peter “Pete” Starke Rich passed away last week at 83 years old; Rich is credited with organizing the original Tour of California, the first American stage race in modern times.

San Francisco is considering an appeal after the California Public Utilities Commission voted to allow robotaxis to operate 24/7, continuing to use all of us as unwitting guinea pigs; WaPo — whose owner is also in the autonomous car business — calls it a pivotal moment for the autonomous car industry.

The connected Sacramento River Rail Trail and Sacramento River Trail, which form the backbone of a 250-mile trail system, will be inducted into Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame.

 

National

Slate says Lyft wants to get out of the bikeshare business, which could mean big trouble for American bikeshare systems.

Cosmo recommends the best gifts for bike riders.

Triathlete considers the new art and science of finding the perfect women’s bike saddle.

Life is cheap in New Mexico, where a 33-year old man will spend just six years behind bars after copping a plea for fatally stabbing a 70-year old man in a dispute over a bicycle. As we’ve said many times before, no bicycle is worth a human life.

Following on the heels of Denver’s highly successful ebike rebate program, Colorado will begin a statewide ebike voucher program on Wednesday. Meanwhile, California’s ever-gestating ebike rebate program remains vaporware. 

An Illinois man received a record $9 million jury verdict after he suffered a brain injury from going over his handlebars, while riding on a bike path that had been inadvertently torn up by trucks from the local utility.

A Detroit man faces up to 30 years behind bars on a pair of felony charges for the alleged drunken crash that killed a man riding an ebike; police found “full and empty alcohol bottles as well as a cooler filled with ice and full beer bottles” in the driver’s truck. But once again, the type of bike the victim was riding had nothing to do with the crash.

Evidently, those flimsy, car-tickler plastic bendy posts don’t work any better in Indianapolis.

Baltimore residents argue against plans for bike lanes along a roadway, saying there’s not enough room and they’d rather have parking, anyway. Maybe a better question is would they rather have a bike lane, or a funeral?

More proof there are still good people in this world. After a West Virginia man’s bike was trashed in a collision, a bystander reached out to a local bike shop to replace the bike the victim used as his only form of transportation.

They get it, too. After a man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding an ebike, “angry and frustrated” Bronx bicyclists demanded more protected bike lanes, arguing that paint is not protection.

A New York driver faces 8-1/3 to 25 years behind bars after the Manhattan DA threw the book at him for killing a man riding a bicycle, then careening into another bicyclist and two pedestrians after a “day of boozing” at multiple locations.

Huh? A man from New York state was killed when his bike was struck by a driver on a Florida causeway, who somehow hit the right side of the victim’s bike as they were both traveling in the same direction on the two-lane bridge.

 

International

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old American man hopes to ride for at least another decade, after winning the hearts of Scottish spectators by finishing first in his age group in a Glasgow fondo.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a bike-riding father of three while high on weed, because the judge feared jail would be hard on his elderly mother. Never mind how hard it will be for the victim’s wife and kids to live without him. 

Amen, brother. Or maybe sister. An anonymous Irish bike columnist argues that we need safe, secure bike parking at the end of a trip, and we need to keep asking, pestering and reminding venues to install it.

An Indian woman went viral for riding her bike with a water bottle balanced on her head. Then again, you’ve got to put it somewhere.

Philippine transportation advocates decried the “non-priority” of bicyclists and pedestrians in the country’s budget for next year, in a country where 94% of the people don’t own a motor vehicle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Instead of cheering for 17-year old Colorado cyclist Magnus White at the Junior Mountain Bike World Championships in Scotland, his family rode their bikes to his funeral on Thursday; they want to know “why Magnus was killed while riding his bike on a designated bike route, on a straight road with a wide shoulder, in broad daylight.”

American pro Chloé Dygert finally made it all the way back from a devastating leg injury by winning the world championship in the road time trial on Thursday, and cementing her status as one of the most decorated US cyclists in history, despite multiple setbacks.

Twenty-eight-year old Jennifer Valente won world title in omnium, adding to her record as the most decorated American track cyclist in history.

The Olympics website says Britain’s Tom Pidcock, Switzerland’s Nino Schurter and Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel are all aiming for victory in Saturday’s mountain bike cross country race at the worlds, even though Pidcock says he has “zero to no expectations.”

Outside takes a detailed look at new world champion Mathieu van der Poel’s poopgate.

Twenty-year old Sebastopol cycling star Luke Lamperti is joining the WorldTour after signing a two-year contract with Belgium’s Soudal-Quick-Step.

British cyclist Ben Wiggins says he’s a lot better than his dad Bradley, as the 18-year old son of the cycling legend sets his sights on the 2028 LA Olympics.

Apparently, Julian Alaphilippe can’t even beat a three-year old. Although to be fair, the kid did have a massive head start. 

 

Finally…

Oh, sure, anyone can ride RAGBRAI facing forward. Maybe a cyclist shouldn’t be promoting his massive SUV — let alone owning one.

And that feeling when you befriend a cow while training for the worlds.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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