Tag Archive for mea culpa

Another bike unfriendly ranking for Los Angeles, more on South LA’s RideWitUs LA shop, and a mea culpa from, uh, me

June 4, 2021 / / 3 comments

Another day, another ranking of the best — and worst — bike cities.

PeopleForBikes released their annual city ratings, adding 107 international cities in 12 countries to the 660 American cities.

Evidently, to show just how badly we’re doing on this side of the Atlantic, and how far we have to go.

Shockingly, one American city — Provincetown, Massachusetts — interrupted the expected list of cities from the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Belgium in the top ten.

As usual, though, the ratings often make little sense, like faux Dutch Solvang coming in ahead of more noteworthy bike cities like Davis CA and Boulder CO.

Santa Monica is the highest rated SoCal city with a score of 52; Los Angeles comes in at a lowly 33, tied with San Diego, Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks.

And bizarrely, one point above bike-friendly Long Beach.

But be prepared to be frustrated if you check out the site. The design is confusing, the search function is hidden in the upper right corner, and the links seem to freeze at random.

Or at least they did for me, regardless of browser.

As part of their survey, PeopleForBikes also examines how to build a bike city.

………

A few weeks back, we told you about South LA’s Kellie Hart, and how the RideWitUs LA bike club she formed during the pandemic lockdown morphed into a brick and mortar bike shop.

Now the LA Times picks up the story, viewing it through the rising entrepreneurship in the Black community.

Researchers found that 440,000 Black business owners nationally shuttered their businesses between February and April 2020 — a 41% plunge. Those numbers represent a tremendous loss for Black communities, but they don’t paint the full picture. New data show there’s also been a surge in new businesses despite the pandemic, with Black communities experiencing the greatest increase in business registrations.

The paper explains how the club grew organically from a single woman out for a ride to a fixed schedule serving well over one hundred riders.

The rides became more frequent, and one by one, Hart’s crew got bigger. Friends brought friends, and sometimes people out biking alone saw the group of young, mostly Black and Latino cyclists and joined them. By April 2020, the informal bike rides had a schedule and the group had evolved into a club…

Members of the RideWitUs bike club are mostly in their 30s and 40s. Most are Black or Latino and hail from South L.A. neighborhoods. They number about 150 strong and ride between 12 and 25 miles three times a week including to Santa Monica, Redondo Beach and downtown L.A. Most did not see themselves becoming cyclists when they took their first rides, but they came back for the sense of community.

Then from that, to a thriving informal bike business.

Early on, Hart used her savings to buy three bikes and sold them within 24 hours. The next day, she bought five bikes and those sold immediately too.

“I haven’t stopped since that first day and the business has been booming,” she said.

From there, Hart grew into an actual bike shop.

And a Black-owned business was born, successfully riding the wave of the pandemic bike boom — one with big plans for future expansion into other services and events.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole story.

Then taking a few more to join the ride.

And shop the shop.

………

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

A few weeks back, I included a short link back to a group criticizing a code of conduct for a London Park to help bike riders and motorists get along.

Not that cars belong in parks to begin with, but still.

In doing so, I picked up Road.cc’s characterization of a bike group’s critical characterization of the code, writing ““A London park’s code of conduct tells bike riders not to scare the people in the big, dangerous machines. No, really.”

Okay, I added the part about the big, dangerous machines. Because they are.

But Bryan Dotson wrote from Houston to tell me I missed the mark.

I followed the link and read the Code of Conduct.  It was on the website of a cycling group that had pushed for removing motor vehicles from the park.  It was 180 degrees from your short summary.

I tried to comment but it didn’t appear to go through.

Since then, there has been a fuller discussion of this on Road.cc:

Richmond Park Cyclists’ co-founder responds to critics of controversial Code of Conduct | road.cc

As I said, my read of their Code of Conduct is that it probably pretty reasonable.  (I’m not there and don’t know local conditions, so I would give them the benefit of the doubt on some items..)  Others may disagree on points,

I’m inclined more favorably to those who light a candle in the dark…

After following Bryan’s example and clicking through to the link he provided, I had to agree that the code of conduct does seem like a relatively reasonable attempt to keep the peace on sometimes contentious streets, and comes from the right place.

I’m the first to admit that I can be pretty flip, and quick with the snark; it’s both a reflection of my own personality, and a conscious effort to keep things light when I can, when so many of the stories we have to discuss can be so dark.

But sometimes I get it wrong.

And when I do, I count on you to help keep me honest.

Thanks to Bryan Dotson for doing exactly that.

………

It was just a week ago that we learned about the death of Utah Jazz legend Mark Eaton, the 7’4″ shot blocking specialist who was found lying unresponsive in the roadway next to his bicycle, and died after being taken to a local hospital.

We still don’t know what caused Eaton’s death.

But Phillip Young writes to suggest that we all brush up on CPR in case a riding companion should suffer a similar collapse, or is involved in a crash during a ride.

Doctors with the University of Arizona have made a short, six-minute video explaining Continuous Chest Compression CPR, aka Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. 

It’s worth taking a few minutes out of your day to watch it, and take notes.

As Young reminds us, heart attacks can be induced by exercise, even in seemingly healthy people.

And you might be called on to save a fellow bike rider’s life on some future ride.

………

Apparently, LA drivers already know how to use protected bike lanes.

………

Okay, so it feels good to have a president and first lady who celebrate her 70th birthday with a bike ride.

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

………

This is the New York edition of the dreaded Bike Life that is apparently terrorizing drivers in the Northeast.

No, really.

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the video.

………

Here’s something else to worry about.

When your bike breaks, you may not be able to fix it.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the forward.

………

Streets For All is hosting another in their series of online virtual happy hours next week.

………

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

Two men intentionally crashed a motor scooter into a 63-year old bike-riding New York man for no apparent reason, as well as kicking him while he was down, in what appears to be a totally random attack.

There’s a special place in hell for the jerk who punched a British teenager in the face, and rode off with his bicycle.

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

Santa Maria cops busted a man for a fatal shooting, as well as trying — and failing — twice to kill another man, while he was riding a bicycle in the city.

………

Local

The wife of fallen bicyclist Branden Findley wants the residents of their St. Andrews Square neighborhood — and the rest of us — to know about this past Tuesday’s arraignment of Ronald Earl Kenebrew, Jr, accused of killing Findley as he made his getaway in a carjacked van in DTLA, then simply walking away from the crash. Meanwhile, the gofundme for Findley’s daughters remains a little over a thousand dollars short of the $45,000 goal. Thanks again to Keith Johnson.

A Culver City man got his stolen ebikes back when police busted a serial burglar who was riding one of them, and had the other with him.

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Seth Davidson’s Cycling in the South Bay; today he announced he’s throwing in the towel and shutting down the popular bike blog after more than ten years and one highly entertaining book. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the link.

 

State

A San Jose bike rider says traffic is no worse after a recent road diet and didn’t spill over into side streets, as the local NIMBYs had predicted.

You’ve got to be kidding. Oakland is proposing ripping out one of the Bay Area’s first and most successful protected bike lanes, on iconic Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, and replacing the barriers with buffers.

Sacramento Magazine recommends what looks like a very pleasant and placid 42-mile loop ride from Maidu Park to Flower Farm.

 

National

Bicycling offers advice on how to ride bikes with kids. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

Cycling News offers a quick primer on the different classes of ebikes.

Um, no. Best Reviews recommends the best commuter bikes, with a very short list that is oddly heavy on Schwinns and all available on Amazon.

Portland’s citizen police review board says yes, twerking in a bike lane a protest is grounds for arrest.

After an Oregon man died of ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease, his wife is fulfilling his bucket list wish to ride a bike through all 50 states.

The bighearted owner of a Tucson burger stand donated 100% of their sales on Tuesday to support the bike-riding victims of a red light-running tow truck driver who killed one woman, and seriously injured four others.

Engineers at the University of Minnesota have developed a smart, if somewhat awkward, ebike that can calculate a car’s trajectory, and honk to warn drivers who pose a treat. Then again, I can do that myself. And add some choice words and a gesture or two to go with it.

A Harvard professor may have still won a Nobel Prize even if he wasn’t “a bicyclist of quite an extreme kind.” But it probably didn’t hurt.

A New York prosecutor says victims of a terrorist who used a rental truck as a weapon as he sped along a Hudson River bike path are agonizing over the infinite trial delays in the case.

No surprise here, as a New York report found 70% of the city’s drivers exceeded the speed limit. Although chances are, Los Angeles drivers could easily leave that figure in their rear view mirror.

The annual Remember the Removal Bike Ride is set to roll from Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, as six young members of the Cherokee Nation retrace the route their ancestors took in the infamous Trail of Tears, one of the most shameful events in American history.

Attorneys for the Georgia State House Whip are working to quash an indictment the Republican legislator earned for helping a friend cover up a hit-and-run by failing to report it to the authorities, in a test of political power versus any semblance of justice.

 

International

The UK’s Cyclist profiles America’s last remaining Tour de France winner.

A new bike taillight incorporates an alarm to keep your bike from being stolen, and a GPS to help find it if it is.

In an effort to boost ebike adoption, the UK is considering a plan to allow people to try out ebikes at various events and popular holiday locations.

Never ride without full body armor, as a Paris startup introduces an inflatable flack jacket that turns into a full torso airbag if it senses you come off your bike.

Portugal is expanding bicycle factories and hiring new workers as they work to meet the sudden increase in demand caused by the worldwide bike boom.

Thanks to a bad day with my diabetes on Wednesday, we missed the observance of yesterday’s World Bicycle Day, as Entrepreneur looks at four Indian bike startups that are changing the way the country commutes.

Gulf News offers a photographic look at World Bicycle Day in the Mid East.

Aussie university researchers took a look at speeding drivers. And found they usually just keep speeding, regardless of tickets, fines or crashes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Something to look forward to. An eight stage women’s Tour de France will return next year, kicking off on the last day of the men’s Tour; the women’s Giro will also return to the WorldTour calendar after being downgraded.

If you’re in the mood for a European cycling vacation next summer, the 2022 European cycling championships scheduled for Munich in August is looking for English speaking volunteers. And nothing says you can’t stick around for Octoberfest the following month. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the link.

 

Finally…

That feeling when n+1 = 1, at least when it comes to a combination road and gravel bike. Your next bike could be more vegan than you are — and yes, that’s really a thing.

And learn how to ride a bike with rapper A$AP Ferg.

………

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

And get vaccinated, already.

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

Morning Links: A mea culpa, discussion of bikes & climate change in the ‘Bu, and murder change for speeding NoHo driver

June 13, 2019 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: A mea culpa, discussion of bikes & climate change in the ‘Bu, and murder change for speeding NoHo driver

Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

Let me start with a profound apology for yesterday’s unexcused absence.

Usually when my blood sugar crashes, I get warning signs, like uncontrollable shaking or yawning, sleepiness, or the cold sweats, that allow me to catch it before it’s too late.

But sometimes, none of those thing happen. And that’s when it’s most dangerous, when I have no idea that my blood sugar has dropped to dangerous levels.

That’s what happened Tuesday night.

When I checked my blood sugar before taking the Corgi out for her last walk of the day, I felt fine. So I was shocked to discover it was just 53 mg/dl.

Normal for you is around 100; normal for me, as a diabetic, is 100 to 150.

And much below 50, for too long, is dead.

In fact, that’s the point where my doctor has instructed my wife to get me to the ER, stat, if I can’t get it back up.

I was just four points from that before I even knew there was a problem.

Fortunately, a fig bar and a bowl of ice cream got me back up around 80 mg/dl  within half an hour.

And no, the irony is not lost on me that my life-saving medication is dessert for anyone else.

But the damage was done.

The symptoms, when they finally came, hit with the impact of a failed parachute.

Then once I got that under control, I passed out. Except this time, it didn’t last for just an hour or two, allowing me to resume work once I woke up.

Instead, it was 4:30 in the morning before I could rouse myself just to make it from the couch to the bed. Then almost noon before I woke up enough to take the Corgi out, sleeping through a number of alarm clocks and a phone call from my wife along the way.

Not to mention one hell of a headache.

So my apologies for not posting yesterday, or even posting about why I wasn’t posting. But I was in no shape to write anything.

And frankly, too out of it to care.

………

On the other hand, there’s one bit of good news before we get started.

My physical therapist has given me the okay to actually ride my bike out on the street, instead of on the trainer, once I feel up to it.

Problem is, I don’t feel up to it right now.

If I lived in a quieter neighborhood, or had better access to an offroad path like the LA River of Ballona Creek, I’d give it a try.

But here in Hollywood, with its heavy traffic and almost complete lack of bicycling infrastructure, I need a lot more strength in my newly repair leg before I’m confident enough to mix it up with LA drivers.

And don’t even get me started on those laughable sharrows on Vine Street.

I’m getting stronger every day now, though, and hopefully I’ll have enough confidence in my new knee to give it a try in the next week or two.

Because we definitely won’t be getting any new bike lanes anytime soon.

………

A team of UCLA “climate explorers” is riding from Oakland to Los Angeles as we speak, to learn “first-hand about climate change impacts and solutions.”

They’ll pitstop in Malibu on Saturday, June 22nd for a panel discussion about climate change and sustainability.

And presumably, what they learned along the way.

………

Now that’s more like it.

A 24-year old woman faces murder and hit-and-run charges for the high-speed crash that killed a motor scooter rider in North Hollywood last week.

Now if we could just see charges like that when someone runs a bicycle rider down.

………

A British bike rider blocked a pair of angry salmon motorists from taking a short cut on the wrong side of the road. And got so many pats on the back from fellow bike riders and passing drivers he may not be able to wear a backpack for a few weeks.

Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

………

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

Police are looking for whoever strung rope at varying heights in several places along a Newport RI bike path with “the intent to cause harm.”

………

Local

LA Councilmember Paul Koretz tries to shove the genie back in the bottle, declaring his fevered desire to get rid of e-scooters entirely, while calling them anti-Vision Zero. In which case he should support them, since he’s been fighting Vision Zero since the beginning. And if he really wants to talk anti-Vision Zero, wait until he hears about cars.

Long Beach responds to drivers complaints about the new Broadway parking-protected bike lanes by ending street-sweeping in favor of sweeping just the bike lanes, and restoring 65 parking spaces.

CiclaValley shows you the sights and sounds of PedalFest 2019. And he’s leading a Pacifico Mountain Ride for Gravel Bike California on June 30th.

 

State

Lyft is dumping their association with Ford and the Ford GoBike brand for their Bay Area bikeshare system, and will bring their new black and pink ebikes to San Jose next.

Bird buys its way into the San Francisco e-scooter market by buying scooter competitor Scoot, after being blocked out by the city.

Bicycling remembers Petaluma master framebuilder Bruce Gordon, who passed away last Friday.

A Modesto paper calls Yosemite’s bike trails among the park’s best kept secrets.

 

National

Bicycling lists eleven things you need to start riding on gravel. Or you could just get a bike, put wider tires on it, and ask CiclaValley to take you for a ride.

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske is back with advice for how to deal with an assault by an unfunny prankster. Best advice — always ride with a bike cam. I mount mine on my helmet; the minimal neck strain is offset by the ability to focus it anywhere I turn my head.

Your next ebike could be made of plastic.

An Oregon man is riding across the US in memory of a friend who died of breast cancer — despite suffering seven strokes himself.

Great idea. Denver public libraries will now allow you to check out a bike repair kit, including tools and a tire pump.

Bike cops in an Illinois town will now be patrolling the streets on a pair of massive, “military-grade” ebikes.

A Michigan bike rider is shocked when an SUV driver rear-ends his bike — then blames him for the crash before fleeing the scene.

Louisville KY police recover a boy’s brand new bike after it was stolen, and personally deliver it to the emergency room where he was taken for apparently unrelated injuries.

He gets it. A Nashville op-ed writer says don’t give up on e-scooters, following calls to ban them after a man was killed.

Best argument so far for not stopping at a red light. A Chattanooga bike rider was injured when someone walked up and shot him as he was stopped at an intersection.

Tuesday night races are back on at a defunct Brooklyn naval air base after nearly getting priced out of existence.

City Limits says if New York’s Vision Zero isn’t working, blame the lack of consequences for drivers who hit bike riders and pedestrians.

New York rapper A$AP Ferg is one of us, partnering with Redline to market his own limited-edition line of BMX bikes showcasing his own mad skills.

A New York Streetsblog editor picks the best bikes for foldie lovers on a budget, testing “a bunch” of bikes to pick the best folding bikes for under $1,500.

An op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer says a bill under consideration to legalize parking-protected bike lanes in Pennsylvania would improve safety for everyone, while helping to improve people’s heart health.

You’ve got to be kidding. The hit-and-run driver who fled after crashing into a Charleston SC pedicab while driving with a BAC of .24 — three times the legal alcohol limit — walked with less than a slap on the wrist, as a judge sentenced her to a fine and a lousy 48 hours of community service. If you want to know why people keep dying on our streets, this is it.

Best product placement ever. A Florida bike rider refuses to go to the hospital after he was hit by a truck driver until someone bought him a Coke. They did, and he did.

 

International

National Geographic gets it, saying bikes are the best way to tour cities around globe. And good for the planet, too.

Saskatoon takes a big step backward, ripping out protected bike lanes because the city’s drivers somehow couldn’t figure them out, and wanted more parking places, anyway.

An Ottawa bike rider made the point the hard way when he was hit by a driver just blocks from a protest at city hall calling for safer streets.

A Berlin group is helping refugee and migrant women gain confidence and independence by learning to ride a bike.

When Aussie bike riders post a video of crashes and near misses, commenters are quick to blame the people on two wheels. Even though a kangaroo caused one of them.

A writer for Cycling Tips pulls out his deerstalker hat and pipe to uncover the strange tale behind the rapid rise and sudden disappearance of disruptive Chinese smart bike maker SpeedX.

 

Competitive Cycling

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome suffered a major setback in his quest for a fifth title when he crashed into the side of a house at high speed. Froome had just finished a descent when he took his hand off his handlebars to blow his nose, and a sudden gust of wind blew him off the road; he’s currently in intensive care with undisclosed injuries.

VeloNews looks at LA’s Justin Williams and his new Legion of Los Angeles cycling team following his two stage wins and second place finish in last weekend’s Tulsa Tough.

Maybe the thief just wanted to take a joy ride. The Jumbo-Visma cycling team was victimized by a bike thief who struck when the team mechanic turned his back for a moment, then left the distinctive looking bike on the side of the road the next day.

 

Finally…

Pedal harder, or no Netflix for you. On the other hand, how slow can you go?

And you might want to hold off on using the New Orleans bikeshare for awhile.

 

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

No Morning Links today

May 19, 2016 / / 2 comments

Unfortunately, keeping up with yesterday’s two breaking news stories — and an attempt to correct a CHP officer’s mistaken interpretation of the ride-to-right requirement in yesterday’s Orange County Register — has taken up the time I would normally have used to write today’s Morning Links.

So please accept my apologies. And come back tomorrow, when I’ll try to catch up with an expanded Weekend Links.

Use the extra free time today to get out for a bike ride if there’s a break in the predicted drizzle. Or even if there isn’t.

And if you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition as part of our first-ever May BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive.

We’re now up to 19 new members, so we need at least one more person to sign up now or renew your membership to keep up our one-a-day pace and make it 20 on the 20th.

And a special thanks to everyone who has joined already to help build a more bikeable community.

Category: General / Tags: , , ,
 
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