As promised, the new BikinginLA merchandise store is now up and running; just click the top link over there on the right.
It’s just standard T-shirts for now, while I’ve been focused on design, but I’ll extend the product selection soon with women’s T-shirts, as well as introducing other materials, coffee mugs and maybe even a cap or two.
It’s a great way to show your support for this site and bicycling in general.
Not to mention make a statement or two supporting bikes and calling for better road conditions in this City of Fallen Angels.
Full disclosure, most of the images were rendered by AI, in most cases based on a photo I provided. As much as I’d love to use actual human-produced artwork, I lack the artistic skill, and can’t afford to pay anyone right now.
So if you’re diametrically opposed to AI, I offer my apologies.
If not, take a look. And wear them with pride.
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He gets it.
An op-ed from our old friend and longtime LA bike advocate Jonathan Weiss argued that a short ferry ride could close the gap on the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, eliminating a dangerous and laborious 1.5 mile detour around Marina del Rey.
Every summer, Los Angeles County runs the Marina del Rey WaterBus — a small, seasonal service that quietly demonstrates how much mobility can be unlocked with modest infrastructure. What the WaterBus doesn’t do, at least not yet, is help the thousands of people who bike between the South Bay and Santa Monica.
At Ballona Creek, the Marvin Braude Bike Trail reaches the exact point where a short water crossing — roughly 250 to 300 feet — would link riders directly to the Marina Peninsula. Instead, cyclists are pushed into a 1.5-mile long inland detour through Fiji Way, Admiralty Way, and Washington Boulevard.
For people commuting to work, that detour adds time, stress, and exposure to fast‑moving traffic.
A bike‑friendly micro‑ferry would change that. The County already has the operational framework through its contractor Hornblower: vessels, insurance, staffing, and a proven seasonal schedule. One potential stop could be at the UCLA Marina Aquatic Center, with its low‑slope concrete ramp used for rowing shells and sailboats.
It would also eliminate the need for a long-debated, and very expensive, bike and pedestrian bridge over the waterway, which would force people to climb the equivalent of a steep hill to allow boats to pass underneath.
I used to ride that section of the trail on a regular basis, and can attest that the detour around the marina was a high-stress segment, sharing Washington Blvd with inattentive speeding drivers, crossing Admiralty Way at a light where drivers may or may not bother to stop, then getting buzzed by drivers on Fiji Way.
And yes, I’ve seen people get hit by drivers at every one of those areas.
Even if you had to wait for a ferry, it would be worth it to avoid that mess. It could also be kinda fun, as anyone who has ever taken the Coronado Ferry in San Diego could attest.
It’s certainly something worth discussing.
Thanks to Jim for the heads-up.
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Tragic news from New Mexico, where 35-year old ultra-endurance cyclist Alyssa Secreto suffered severe injuries while competing in the 2026 Tour Divide.
Secreto was in second place, just 60 miles or so from the finish line when she was struck by a driver traveling at highway speeds.
She is reportedly in stable condition, but has sustained multiple major injuries including eight fractured vertebrae, six cracked ribs, a broken arm, internal bleeding, a brain bleed, and lacerations to the kidney, spleen and liver.
According to her friend Molly Murrow,
Alyssa is out of her first surgery. Here’s the verdict after today: 8 fractured vertebrae, 6 cracked ribs, a broken arm, internal bleeding, a brain bleed, lacerations to the kidney, spleen and liver. Alyssa will go back in for more surgery tomorrow. Highway Patrol believes that she was hit while the driver was going somewhere between 50 and 60 mph. I will be increasing the goal amount of this fundraiser to reflect the needs of the surgeries required. If you are a prayerful person, please pray for her. If you are a spiritual person, please send love her way. Thank you for supporting Alyssa during this incredibly difficult time!
A crowdfunding campaign to help pay her medical expenses and replace her bike, which was completely destroyed in the crash, has raised over $100,000 of the $130,000 goal.
There’s no word at this time whether the driver will face any charges.
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Her gets it, too.
A Tennessee physical therapist writes to defend our right to the road. Even if some people don’t like it.
A lot of people hate people on a bicycle. It’s true. I’ve been cussed, been the recipient of way too many single finger salutes, and have had vehicles (mostly trucks) swerve in an attempt to scare me.
My wife, who used to quietly support my need for riding, now makes it clear that she doesn’t like for me to go out on my road bike.
He pushes back on the idea that bike riders belong on the city’s greenbelt, arguing that it’s meant for casual riders and not serious bicyclist out for a hard ride.
But here’s the thing — bikes have every right to be on the roads. There are laws governing bicycles on public roads (stay to the right, double line only, pull off if traffic is backed up behind you), but it is completely legal for me to ride my bicycle on a road. Any road.
It may not be smart, but it is legal. It is also illegal to come within three feet of a bicycle rider on the road. That law was passed after a local man was killed, riding on the shoulder of the road.
Smart riders — and that would be most of us — stay off busy roads. Main arteries in and out of town should be avoided, but what about the person that rides their bike to work? Or maybe the individual who made a mistake and lost their driver’s license?
It’s worth remembering that driving is a privilege, which can be taken away. But bicycling, at least as it stands now, is a right, just like walking.
We may be expected to obey the law.
But we have a right to the road that came before motor vehicles, and still supersedes them. Regardless of what the “roads were built for cars” crowd has to say on the subject.
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A 30-year old Oxnard man was critically injured when he allegedly ran a stop sign on his ebike, and was hit by a driver. The 36-year old driver remained at the scene, and was arrested for DUI.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Oxnard Police Officer Joseph Clarke at 805385-7749 or email joseph.clarke@oxnardpd.org, or call the Oxnard Police Department at 805/385-7600.
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Road.cc focuses on what cycling trends you shouldn’t copy from the pros.
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Merced County bike rider was busted for DUI after a CHP officer spotted him riding with an open Budweiser tallboy
A Denver woman took to TikTok to complain that “cyclists are the worst” after her car got t-boned by a driver who ran a stop sign, then a passing bicyclist complained about her wrecked car blocking the bike lane. Seriously, don’t do that.
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Local
A person riding with the popular Bikes and Hikes tour was stuck by a driver in West Hollywood; the tour guide thought the driver had acknowledged that there were others in the group behind her, but the 60-something driver proceed through the intersection and hit the victim, anyway.
She gets it, too. A a 73-year-old Culver City homeowner says opponents of the Better Overland Complete Streets project are trying to frighten elderly homeowners about the project, which would only result in the loss of 44 parking spaces, not the 160 spaces opponents claim.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 95-year old Arizona man drove to Pasadena to compete in the cycling events in the Pasadena Senior Games, which had its strongest turnout in roughly a decade as about 1,200 athletes competed in this year’s Games.
No bias here. The publisher of the Crescenta Valley Weekly says she finally saw a bicyclist using the new La Crescenta Ave bike lanes after “we destroyed an entire traffic lane for these bicyclists not to mention the parking spaces we sacrificed.” Never mind that bike lanes are more efficient at moving traffic than lanes for motor vehicles, so if you don’t see someone using them at the exact moment you happen to look, that doesn’t mean no one is using them.
A virtual community meeting will take place on July 16th to discuss the Potrero Canyon Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge, a proposed crossing over Pacific Coast Highway that would connect George Wolfberg Park to the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot, providing a safe and convenient way to get to the Marvin Braude Bike Trail from Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades.
State
The owner of San Diego’s Havana Grill blames new bike lanes on Clairmont Mesa Blvd for the closure of her business, saying it exacerbated pre-existing problems, particularly with the loss of parking.
A kindhearted Delano cop bought a new bike for a woman out of his own pocket after the bicycle she relied on as her only form of transportation was stolen.
This is who we share the road with. Police arrested 86-year old Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for a wine country hit-and-run that caused major damage to a parked car; Pelosi seemed confused after he was stopped, telling officers that he knew he hit something but wasn’t sure when or what caused the damage to his car. One again raising the eternal question of how old is too old to drive, although he was also the victim of a violent attack with a hammer less than two years ago.
Sad news from Chico, where a 78-year old man was killed when video shows he ran a stop sign on his bike and collided with the right front side of a passing car.
National
Forbes celebrates the Tour de France with a list of nine bicycling-themed breweries across the US; the only one in Southern California is Pedals & Pints Brewing in Thousand Oaks.
A Seattle couple stepped in to stop a man from removing a ghost bike for a 76-year old woman, just one week after it was installed.
No surprise here. A Colorado CBS station reports that a company that promised free ebikes based on the state’s relatively meagre $250 ebike rebate program may not be a scam, but it’s struggling to deliver the ebikes it promised.
A pair of Nebraska men completed a two-month, 2,500-mile bike trip from Texas’ Gulf Coast to central Saskatchewan, following the route of endangered migrating whooping cranes.
A Wisconsin woman plans to ride around 400 miles in a multi-community listening tour across Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District as she runs — or in this case bikes — for Congress.
A high school kid proposes hanging Dutch-style bicycle infrastructure in Brooklyn, making it easier to pass through the city, and making Brooklyn a destination for bike-riding tourists.
Pint-sized patriots took to their tricycles and training wheels, decorating them for a 4th of July bike parade in Lake Charles, Luisiana.
A man was killed by Florida’s Brightline high-speed train while trying to ride his bike across the tracks in Fort Lauderdale, just the latest death caused by the at-grade train line, which averages roughly 24.5 deaths per million miles traveled, making it 150% more deadly that the nation’s second worst train line, San Diego County’s Coaster train, and six times deadlier than the Amtrak system.
Nice lady. A 72-year old Florida woman defied a no-contact order to steal her neighbor’s cane at a local spa, then wrecked his ebike and assaulted officers while being arrested.
International
Momentum looks at Canada’s most popular rail trails.
Road.cc considers the best British-designed road bikes.
Momentum talks with Paris-based bicyclist, adventurer, model, and co-founder of the Quiet Hiking Club, Jeanne Toinon, who they describe as “part of a growing wave of riders who see cycling less as a category of sport or transport, and more as an extension of personal style, curiosity, and everyday life.”
A Canadian writer returns to tackle Mont Ventoux, one of the Tour de France’s most notorious climbs.
Speaking of Road.cc, the bike site considers if the island of Mallorca, Spain lives up to its reputation for bicycling, concluding it “is a truly stunning place to visit with your bike!”
A Singapore man took early retirement from his job as executive and opened a bike shop offering free bicycle repairs for people in need — and named his shop Free Bicycle Repairs to drive the idea home.
Aussie bicyclists have to use a bike lane if there’s one parallel to the road, and can’t ride more than two abreast, regardless of circumstances.
Competitive Cycling
Jonas Vingegaard is back in yellow after his Visma-Lease a Bike team took the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, winning the team time trial by eight seconds, finally coming all the way back following his near fatal high speed crash at the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country race.
Tadej Pogačar held back in Sunday’s second stage, sacrificing a possible win that could have put him in yellow to give Mexico’s Isaac del Toro his first state win in his first Tour de France.
The peloton will compete without an audience for today’s third stage of the Tour, as French police are blocking access to the stage route due to a wildfire in the area.
Members of the Netcompany Ineos team dealt with Europe’s extreme heat by soaking their arms in ice water before Saturday’s team time trial.
UCI nixes any ice socks in riders’ skinsuits, arguing it changes the “morphology” of the rider’s profile.
Finally…
Why settle for just a bike when your ride can be…different. Ad cycling fans can really be bananas at times.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
