Tag Archive for Metro

Op-ed says put Metro in charge for carfree LA28, CHP vetoes noise cams, and reality show family victims of traffic violence

Day 274 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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An op-ed from a Los Angeles advocate says if LA really wants to hold a carfree Olympics, we need to give Metro more power.

Or rather, just put Metro in charge, and let ’em rip.

Joshua Seawell, head of policy at the Inclusive Abundance Initiative, says Metro showed what it could do during the pandemic, by closing Wilshire Blvd to traffic for two weeks to finish a leg of the D Line subway ahead of schedule.

That success tells us how to serve Angelenos, let alone the world: Let Metro cook. Empowering the agency — with its ever-increasing competence, guaranteed funding stream, mandate straight from voters, and accountability to a board of electeds — would be a smart way to resolve stasis and reduce regulatory headwinds.

Sure, a reform package from the state or county should generally obligate Metro by default to follow each city’s permitting standards and to make good-faith efforts to modify projects at the request of cities. But it should formalize an expectation that cities, in turn, move quickly and put up funds or match funds to the best of their ability (perhaps drawing on their own allocations under Measures M and R). Metro should also be allowed to judge when those standards and modifications are sufficiently specific, objective and cost-effective.

He clearly has more faith in Metro than I do — especially in light of the agency’s failure to include bike lanes required by Measure HLA on Vermont Ave, asserting that the measure doesn’t apply to it as a county agency.

But he has a point, in that no one — no person, department or agency — is fully responsible for streets and transportation in LA County.

We have far too many hands stirring the pot. Yet not one has the authority to cut through red tape to get things done, and no one is accountable.

Which is the best way to ensure that little or nothing ever gets done. And what does get done takes far too long, and costs too much.

We’ve already seen what happened with former Mayor Garcetti’s vaunted Twenty-Eight by ’28 plan, which was repeatedly watered down to the point of near meaninglessness.

So whether it’s Metro or someone else, someone needs to be in charge.

Or dreams of a carfree ’28 Los Angeles Olympics will remain just that. If not a nightmare.

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No surprise here, as the CHP studied noise cams and, like speed cams before them, said they just won’t do the job.

Even though they’re already doing the job other places.

According to the On The Road column from the Southern California News Group,

In a report to the Legislature in January 2025, the CHP said that of the three devices installed, only one generated data which the CHP could analyze on a web-based interface. All three devices were found to be “inadequate as a standalone enforcement tool and unsatisfactory in their ability to identify individual offending vehicles to the degree necessary for enforcement action,” the CHP concluded.

The devices had technical problems, location limitations, there were privacy concerns, and there also was the possibility that any revenue generated from tickets using these noise cameras would not cover maintenance and staffing costs for them, the CHP report said. Based on the study’s results, the CHP did not recommend using the cameras as a standalone enforcement tool for ticketing drivers suspected of exhaust noise violations.

So you can look forward to many more years of floor-shaking bass, blaring car horns and thundering muffler-free motorcycles, cars and trucks.

Because once again, the CHP said no, just like they do with everything else.

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This is the cost of traffic violence.

A truck driver faces charges following a Michigan crash that killed three members of the Putman family, known for the TLC reality show Meet the Putmans.

The family members known as Papa, Neenee and Aunt Megan all died at the scene, while five other members of the family were hospitalized, some in critical condition.

The Florida-based driver was charged with three counts of moving violation causing death, and five counts of moving violation causing serious impairment of a body function.

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Mark your calendar for next month’s Corazón del Valle Active Streets event.

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Pro cyclist Sean Green became just the second person known to climb and descend all of Scotland’s Munros, a group of 282 mountains topping 3,000 feet elevation, descending them all by mountain bike.

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

Someone clearly missed the irony of posting red and green colorblindness tests to remind London bike riders to stop for red lights, when studies show the people on four wheels are more likely to break the law than the people on two — and more likely to cause a near miss or crash when they do.

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

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina arrested and handcuffed a 12-year old boy for the crime of “recklessly riding a bicycle;” a video of the kid in cuffs has already viewed over 50,000 times. If that was a crime when I was a kid, I’d still be behind bars. 

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Local 

Pasadena police are urging drivers to slow down for National Pedestrian Safety Month, something that would improve safety for everyone, regardless of how we all get around.

Speaking of which, the Pasadena Department of Transportation is teaming with local nonprofit Day One and the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition to sponsor the city’s eighth annual Walkober.

 

State

Ultramarathoner Kilian Jornet is nearing the completion of his quest to climb every mountain over 14,000 feet elevation in the lower 48, while running and biking from one to another; he recently topped California’s Mt. Whitney and Mt. White, with only Mount Shasta and Washington’s Mount Rainier left.

Santa Barbara is rolling out a new citywide bike parking plan, pledging to replace traditional hitching post racks with something newer and more secure.

Sad news from Fresno, where authorities identified a 15-year old high school student who was killed by a driver while riding his bike on Monday; a woman passing by the next day prayed for drivers to slow down. Which is probably a prayer we can all share. 

A San Francisco group has opened the Big Art Loop, a walking and biking trail connecting 100 large sculptures around the city.

Sacramento is already removing and replacing pavement on the city’s two-year old Del Rio Trail biking and walking trail, after construction defects resulted in cracks in the pavement shortly after it opened.

 

National

Prevention considers whether bicycling or walking is better for weight loss, but just throws up their hands and calls it a tie.

DoorDash says their new delivery robot is designed to “travel seamlessly on bike lanes, roads, sidewalks and driveways.” So you’ll now have even more competition for what little road space we’ve got.

Great idea. A Colorado Rotary Club is sponsoring a fundraising ride to help eliminate malaria deaths by bringing healthcare to remote villages of east-central Africa.

A career criminal in Houston, Texas is suspected of breaking into homes and stealing bicycles — yet was somehow out on the streets despite a series of prison sentences totaling 99 years behind bars. And this in a state that’s supposed to be tough on crime. 

They get it. Officials in St. Louis says pedestrian safety will be improved by a new bike lane project, since studies show bike lanes — especially protected bike lanes — improve safety for everyone.

Members of the horrorcore rap group Insane Clown Posse stepped up to donate to a crowdfunding page for a 12-year old Indiana girl, who was killed when she was struck by the driver of a semi-truck while riding her bike across a roadway, after her family posted a photo of the girl wearing the group’s t-shirt.

Boston will test several different kinds of bike lane barriers in hopes of replacing the flimsy car-tickler flexposts currently in use — and too often favored by Los Angeles officials — with something more durable.

Authorities in New Jersey are continuing to investigate the hit-and-run crash that killed two high school girls sharing an ebike; the driver was arrested after literally running away from the collision. And even then, the radio station insists on saying the two best friends were somehow killed by a Jeep, rather than a driver in one.

Philadelphia residents fought it out in the endless battle of bike lanes versus parking during a contentious five-hour city council meeting, as drivers argued bike riders need to compromise, while bike riders said their lives are at stake. So, apparently, they just expect us to compromise our lives. Seems reasonable. 

Eighty-five-year old New Orleans bluesman Little Freddie King is one of us, as he recovers in the hospital after falling from his new ebike, explaining that his “two-wheel Cadillac let him down.”

 

International

Momentum ranks the top ten bike-friendly North American cities to visit this fall, none of which are in California. Or any closer than Oregon, for that matter.

A London father describes how a custom e-cargo bike replaced the family car and changed his life.

A team of 18 London firefighters will ride 370 miles over five days to raise funds for a firefighter’s charity, visiting every fire and rescue station in Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.

No surprise here. A Russian court has extended the pre-trial detention of French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili until November, after he was arrested last month for illegally entering the country while attempting to set a new record for crossing Eurasia by bike, despite holding a valid visa. Like others arrested in the authoritarian country, he will likely be used as a bargaining chip to gain concessions from other countries.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Rwandan world championship road race was “an utter sufferfest” even for the peloton’s best climbers, with Tom Pidcock describing it as “the most unenjoyable race of the year.”

Velo says Tadej Pogačar’s total domination of the men’s worlds has reignited debate over whether he is better than the legendary Eddy Merckx. Which is something that should only be considered when his career is over, because he might be one day. But today ain’t that day. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when a website maps and ranks the best bike routes in Sequoia National Park, just in time for the government shutdown. If your bike brakes malfunction and you have to roll through a red light, try to find something soft to crash into — like a police car, for instance.

And now you, too, can own Albert Einstein’s bicycle seat. So maybe you can solve the unified field theory by putting it on your own bike.

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

WeHo councilmembers explain support for Fountain Ave, and Metro approves $85.5 million for LA County bike/ped projects

Day 261 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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They get it.

Well, some of them, anyway.

As we mentioned on Tuesday, the Complete Streets makeover of Fountain Ave in West Hollywood will go forward, after a seemingly endless multi-year process.

One that saw far too many avoidable deaths and injuries along the way, along with countless dollars in property damage.

Sam Mulick, a reporter for the Beverly Press & Park LaBrea News, reported on Monday’s West Hollywood City Council, where the first phase of the Fountain Ave redesign was approved on a 3-2 vote.

Councilmembers John Heilman and Lauren Meister cast the no votes, while Mayor Chelsea Byers, and Councilmen John Erickson and Danny Hang voted yes.

I’ll let you read Mulick’s story if you want Heilman’s and Meister’s reasoning for opposing the project.

But at least Meister asked the right questions, even if it seemed like she could benefit from sitting down with someone who could correct a few misperceptions on traffic safety.

Heilman, however, seemed to be a lost cause.

But let’s take a moment to examine why the other three supported the project, which could have a dramatic effect on traffic safety, while significantly improving livability on the corridor.

“It’s our responsibility to create options for a diverse community,” (Byers) said. “That is something that’s really important to me especially in this extremely dense area of our community. Kids, especially, have been locked inside of their homes … it is because cars and collisions and the violence they experience interacting with them is the No. 1 contributor to kids’ deaths. And that is a horrific reality that we can transform without having to send families to suburbs.”

Then there were these heartrending comments from Erickson and Hang, both of whom seemed to fully grasp the cost of keeping the street in its current deadly, car-choked form.

“This is my backyard and the sheer fact that I walk by Blake Ackerman’s ghost bike every single day to walk my dog is truly one of the most haunting experiences I have ever had to experience,” (Erickson) said. “This process that we have been going through for five years is killing people. It’s just that simple.”

Councilman Danny Hang said that the redesign will help lower income residents who travel without cars and help the city meet climate goals by reducing emissions. Hang added that the redesign is personal to him because his partner was the victim of a vehicle collision on Fountain Avenue and was hospitalized as a result.

“Fountain Avenue has long been one of the most dangerous corridors in our city,” he said. “Just over a decade we have seen dozens of severe crashes and five lives lost. Those aren’t just numbers. Those are our neighbors and friends and family members and for me, the most important measure of success is simple – fewer people getting hurt and more people getting home safely.”

However, the war isn’t over.

The project will come back before the council again next year, when they will have to approve a construction contract for the first phase. Any change in the makeup of the council could adversely affect that vote.

But for now, at least, we’re finally on our way to a safer Fountain Ave. Even if it comes too late for Ackerman, and too many others.

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Local 

Metro approved $85.5 million in grants for 16 projects throughout Los Angeles County, primarily for first mile/last mile connections and improving mobility for the Olympics; among the projects are new protected bike lanes on Overland Ave in Culver City, and closing another gap in the LA River bike path through the San Fernando Valley.

 

State

Huntington Beach is considering extending restrictions on ebike-riding kids, requiring them to ride on city streets or bike lanes near places like schools and churches. Never mind that bike lanes are, by definition, on streets, or that once again, there appears to be no distinction between ped-assist ebikes and illegal dirt bikes and electric motorcycles.

Carlsbad continued its march to age restrictions for ebike riders, after the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission voted Tuesday to recommend banning kids under 12 from riding ebikes, although the Coast News calls the restrictions “toothless.”

Cathedral City is installing new painted bike lanes on Whispering Palms Trail as part of the city’s Active Transportation Plan.

Ventura’s city council voted to keep six downtown blocks carfree, like they have been since the early days of the pandemic.

Parents in Menlo Park are complaining that new speed humps installed as part of a Complete Streets project are making it more dangerous for their kids to bike to school, because they extend all the way across the bike lane.

San Francisco voters recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio by a nearly two-thirds margin over his support for turning a two-mile stretch of the Great Highway into a linear park; now recall proponents will try to force its return to a smog- and traffic-choked coastal highway.

 

National

Electrek scrubbed Rivian’s behind-the-scene promo video, and pieced together leaked images of their upcoming ebike that the company had blurred, revealing what appears to be a ped-assist cargo bike.

Seattle opened new protected bike lanes on the least-steep section of the city’s Beacon Hill, creating a 6.5 mile protected corridor across the city. Thanks to fellow corgi dad Mike for the heads-up. 

Good idea. Spokane, Washington’s Bicycling Advisory Board took to their bikes to ride the city’s streets, looking for areas that need improvement. Although with 7,500 miles of streets in Los Angeles, that could take awhile here. 

I want to be like them when I grow up. Sequim, Washington’s Ancient and Honorable Cyclists held their annual meetup; 18 of the group’s 22 octogenarian members turned out, most of whom ride three times or more a week.

Utah just found the skeletal remains of a 47-year old homeless man who disappeared three years ago after setting out for a bike ride.

The editor of a Colorado newspaper says “the world feels like it’s going to h-e-double-toothpicks without the incentive of a handbasket right now,” but at least living in a small town where kids can ride their bikes makes life a little better.

New York is claiming progress on Vision Zero, as the city experienced its lowest level of traffic deaths in five years. Proof that reducing traffic deaths is possible if cities actually take it seriously, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis I could name. 

 

International

Vancouver, British Columbia is reversing course once again on bike lanes in the city’s 1,000-acre Stanley Park, after the Park Board approved a new mobility plan containing separated bike lanes, just two years after ripping out previously installed bike lanes through the park.

A 62-year old Englishman rode his bike 105 miles from London’s Hyde Park to his home in Wiltshire to raise money for hospice care — despite two previous strokes and having a pacemaker, osteoarthritis and just one kidney.

The UK’s biggest bicycle retailer says things are finally starting to look up, following a modest 1.7% increase in sales this year.

French ultra cyclist Sofiane Sehili is being held in pre-trial detention in Russia until October 4th on unannounced, super-secret charges, after being arrested for an illegal border crossing while attempting to set a record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia by bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling Australia examines the process that brought Africa’s first UCI Road World Championships to Rwanda.

Sports Illustrated says the stampede to join the ever-expanding Team Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team continues, as 23-year old Italian “superstar” Davide Piganzoli signed a three-year “mega deal” with the team. Although that seems like a very generous use of the term “superstar” for someone who just graduated from the U23 ranks. 

 

Finally…

Now even the trees are out to get us. Being violent ebike thieves is bad enough, but kitty-napping is just going too damn far.

And if the Jolly Green Giant ever needs a new bike, he’ll now know where to find a few.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Petition for red light cam at Fountain and Gardner, build a more livable South Bay, and tell Metro how to improve public safety

Day 203 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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A new petition is calling for a red light cam at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street to combat the ongoing toll of traffic violence, including the hit-and-run death of Blake Ackerman two weeks ago.

As of this writing, it stands at 199 signatures, including mine.

Let’s help get it a lot higher.

Photo by Thomas from Pixabay.

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Here’s your chance to get started on building a more livable South Bay, with an in-person discussion next Monday evening at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach.

What does it take to create livable and walkable communities?

Join us for an informative and dynamic conversation with special guests from Livable Communities Initiative and Parking Reform Network on policy and planning reforms to create a more livable, affordable South Bay community. We’ll learn from experts in urban planning and parking reform and hear from local organizations engaged in this work. This event will spark real conversations about local reforms that can bring down the cost of living and shape neighborhoods focused around people instead of cars.

This event is co-sponsored by South Bay Forward, League of Women Voters of the Beach Cities, and South Bay Bicycle Coalition Plus.

Featured speakers: Lindsay Sturman, Co-Founder of Livable Communities Initiative and Tony Jordan, President of Parking Reform Network.

Suggested donation of $10 per person to cover event costs.

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Metro is now accepting applications to join their Public Safety Advisory Committee.

Metro is seeking applicants to participate on our Public Safety Advisory Committee which will work to review, comment, and provide input on how the agency can reimagine public safety on our system.

We are looking for individuals who regularly ride Metro and are committed to supporting the agency in fulfilling its Public Safety Mission Statement, to “safeguard the transit community by taking a holistic, equitable and welcoming approach to public safety, in recognition that each individual is entitled to a safe, dignified and human experience.” Metro also seeks to ensure that the perspectives of youth, women, seniors and people with disabilities are represented. Please note, members serving on the PSAC are not required to be U.S. citizens but need to reside in Los Angeles County.

PSAC meetings occur in person monthly over a two-year term, with the potential for additional outreach, engagement, and subcommittee meetings as deemed necessary.

The PSAC is composed of individuals who can contribute their relevant experience as riders and expertise in:

  • Racial justice
  • Equitable transit
  • Public safety reform
  • Law enforcement
  • Victims’ rights
  • Mental health
  • Homelessness
  • Social services

We appreciate your interest in helping us ensure that Metro provides world-class transportation for all.

Applications for Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee will be accepted until Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

Apply Today to submit your application online.

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That’s more like it.

New York prosecutors threw the book at the speeding hit-and-run driver who killed a 55-year old man on his morning bike ride and a 63-year woman sitting on a bus bench in New York’s Chinatown over the weekend, as we mentioned yesterday.

Twenty-three-year old Autumn Donna Ascencio Romero was hit with charges of with murder, manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, criminal possession of a weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and criminal possession of stolen property.

That last one is because she was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car when she “flew” off a bridge at an excessive speed before jumping a curb, hitting the victims and slamming into a police van hard enough to knock it into a jewelry store.

Meanwhile, her 22-year old passenger faces two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

None of which will bring either victim back, of course.

But it’s a start.

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

Forget cell phones. A Boston driver says he killed a 62-year old man riding an ebike because he was distracted by a bug.

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

Elderly Singaporean residents complain that the area outside a market and food center has become a “dumping ground” for disorderly parked bicycles. Although we could also applaud the market for being exceptionally successful at attracting bicycle traffic.

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Local 

Metro Bike is teaming with LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes for a seven-mile bicycle tour of Boyle Heights rich musical heritage. I’ll settle for anyplace that has anything to do with LA music greats Los Lobos, thank you.

A Pasadena committee will consider updating the city’s ebike regulations today to bring them into compliance with state regulations while eliminating a requirement to register ebikes, which the state prohibited in a 2023 bill.

 

State

California governor and undeclared presidential candidate Gavin Newsom signed a pair of ebike bills, one requiring lights and reflectors visible up to 500 feet, and the other merely cleaning up an existing law prohibiting ebike modifications to increase the speed.

This is who we share the road with. A San Diego woman faces charges for the hit-and-run death of a man walking on a bike path — yes, a bike path — after allegedly four miles on the pathway while under the influence.

A Fresno bicycle and pedestrian safety operation resulted in 144 citations, including 90 tickets given to drivers and 54 to pedestrians and bicyclists.

San Francisco’s “premier” open streets event returned to a short 1.4-mile segment of Valencia Street in the Mission District on Sunday.

Sacramento updated its Vision Zero Action Plan. Just in case you want to remind LA’s elected officials that we have one, too.

 

National

He gets it. A writer for Singletracks says he doesn’t regret riding one of America’s worst mountain bike trails, because “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” Amen, brother.

CyclingSavvy is hosting a Zoom bike safety training seminar tomorrow on how to prevent the most common types of crashes — even those caused by motorist errors.

Seattle Bike Blog says the city’s new bike lanes are actually freight infrastructure for cargo bike riders. Then again, that’s just as true for Los Angeles if you choose to use them that way. And maybe you should. 

Quick action by an Iowa state trooper, along with several bystanders, is credited with saving the life of a 62-year old California man who has no pulse after crashing his bike during the annual RAGBRAI ride across Iowa.

Rhode Island’s annual Newport Folk Festival is expecting another record-setting year of bicycle traffic, with an anticipated 1,600 ticket holders arriving each day representing 16% to 18% of all attendees, thanks in part to a new city safety plan.

They get it, too. Jacksonville, Florida completed an $11 million road diet, slimming a four lane roadway down to one lane in each direction, along with sidewalks and bike lanes, in part because they expect it to attract business.

 

International

That’s more like it, part two. A 20-year old Sheffield, England man will spend the next eleven years behind bars for killing an 81-year old man riding a bicycle, after blowing a red light while high on nitrous oxide and traveling an estimated 30 mph over the post 50 mph speed limit.

A British coroner is criticizing a French investigation into the death of a high-end wine merchant, who was stuck by a driver while on a bicycling vacation in Burgundy, concluding the investigation “by the gendarmerie was inadequate” and finding no evidence the victim and his companions were riding recklessly, as the French cops had concluded.

A man in the UK is riding his bike unsupported around the coast of the country to encourage more men to bike and to get help for mental health, because “Suicide is the biggest global killer of men.”

A museum in Bhopal, India features 30 “luxurious” bicycles that cost more than some cars, including a tri bike with a frame made from a single sheet of carbon fiber with no joints anywhere. Then again, an entry-level car costs less than five grand in India. 

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where the family of a bike-riding 11-year old girl is demanding a longer sentence for the hit-and-run driver who killed her while driving drunk, high and speeding on the wrong side of the road because she was enraged that her boyfriend was having an affair; they called the 34-year old woman’s four year and five month sentence a “slap in the face,” especially considering her 29 previous convictions. Yes, 29.

 

Competitive Cycling

While other websites are obsessed with how male cyclists pee during a race, Cycling Weekly considers the problem of how women cyclists manage their periods.

A new report from Zwift says we could be entering a new golden age of women’s cycling, saying the revival of the women’s Tour de France has already transformed women’s cycling on screen, on the road and in the pro peloton.

Mountain Bike Action examines the mountain bikers currently competing in the Tour de France, including Americans Matteo Jorgenson, Quinn Simmons and Sepp Kuss.

Velo wants to let you in on the secret human side of “Tour de France King” Tadej Pogačar.

Bike Radar considers the question of why the pain tolerance of pro cyclists is so much higher than other sportspeople. Although boxing, MMA fighting and pro football kind of hurt, too.  

That’s not red wine cyclists are sucking down at the finish line, it’s tart cherry juice.

 

Finally…

Only in America could a cat grow up to be mayor of a bike path. That feeling when the county encourages you to ride on Gallows Road.

And the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Los Angeles County is just a fraction under $4.50.

Just in case you walk and ride your bike everywhere and have no idea what it costs these days.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Density boosts bike & walking rates, Metro protects parking over bike riders, and buy bike stuff to pay off Bezos’ wedding

Day 190 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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If you build it, they will walk.

And bike.

A new report on transportation mode share from Streetlight Data shows a direct correlation between increased urban density, and bicycling and walking rates.

In other words, the closer things are together, the more likely people will walk or bike to them, as well as being more likely to use transit.

According to Government Technology,

“Both [walking and biking] are impacted by the availability of transit, because transit makes it possible to get to your destination on a trip that could involve both walking and transit,” (Martin) Morzynski (of Streetlight Data) said. “The availability of transit will impact this data. The availability of access to transit.”

What is clear is that 9 out of 10 U.S. counties with the highest levels of active transportation — walking and biking — have a population density of at least 4,000 people per square mile. For example, New York County, N.Y., which includes Manhattan, has the highest level of active transportation, where 48 percent of trips are taken via walking, 11 percent are taken by bicycle and 41 percent in an auto.

But while biking and walking as seen as key transportation elements that can benefit from density, those aren’t the only benefits.

Increasingly, walking and biking are seen as key pieces of the overall transportation ecosystem in a region spurring the development of infrastructure like bike lanes, mobility hubs and the advancement of micromobility programs for sharable bikes and scooters. And indeed, public transit is viewed as an enabler of active transportation, since if it were not an option, a number of biking and walking trips would simply become car trips, Morzynski said…

Increasing density can accomplish more than converting car trips to walking or biking. It can also help to solve housing shortages, urbanists have said. Researchers with the Urban Institute have cited studies showing increased density, coupled with reduced parking requirements, help to bring down the cost of housing, while also making smarter use of transit investments.

Your move, Los Angeles.

Photo by Josh Hild from Pexels

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No surprise here.

Streets For All says Metro is once again protecting the convenience of drivers over the lives of bike riders, this time on the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project.

Metro is choosing parking spaces over a protected bike lane!

Metro is seeking feedback about the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project. The BRT will add 19 miles of faster and more reliable transit and 22 bus stations between NoHo and Pasadena, connecting Burbank, Glendale, and Eagle Rock.

But…the latest design completely removed the protected bike lane on Glenoaks through Glendale because it would have required removal of 30% of the on-street parking spaces.

Tell Metro that it’s unacceptable to choose parking over safety, and demand they restore the protected bike lane through Glendale!

There are six Metro community feedback meetings, attend as many as you can, and make your voice heard! 

Meeting Details:

Virtual
Thursday, July 10, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Call-in: 213.338.8477
Webinar ID: 849 6832 2391
Link to Join

Pasadena
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Pasadena City College, Circadian Room
1570 E Colorado Bl, Pasadena, CA 91106

Glendale
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Adult Recreation Center
201 E Colorado St, Glendale, CA 91205

North Hollywood
Saturday, July 19, 2025
10:00am – 11:30am
East Valley High School
5525 Vineland Av, North Hollywood, CA 91601

Eagle Rock
Monday, July 21, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Yosemite Recreation Center
1840 Yosemite Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90041

Burbank
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Buena Vista Branch Library
300 N Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA 91505

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Glendale and beyond!

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In case you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, it’s Amazon Prime Days, giving you the opportunity to help pay off Jeff Bezos’ recent Venice wedding.

Oh, and get some bike stuff, too.

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This is who we share the road with.

A 24-year old road-raging driver is charged with 1st degree murder after allegedly ramming his Tesla into a San Diego motorcyclist, killing the victim instantly.

He then tried to walk away from the crash in his bare feet, offering cash to other drivers to give him a ride before flipping them off when they refused.

He was finally taken into custody at gunpoint by CHP officers, reportedly incriminating himself with his own statements afterwards.

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This is who we share the road with, part two.

The CHP reports 1,311 California drivers were busted for DUI over the holiday weekend. Although the only real surprise is that the number is that low.

Officers wrote a total of 34,548 during the enforcement period that began Wednesday evening and ran through Sunday night, 21,328 of those for issues related to speeding.

And no, I have no idea what “issues related to speeding” means, as opposed to just violating the damn speed limit.

Especially since all you have to do to catch a speeding driver in California is pick one and point a speed gun at them.

………

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

Over 100 bike riders turned out on Saturday to protest plans to either reduce the width of Manilla bike lanes to make room for motorcycle lanes, or convert them to shared lanes with motorcycles. And on a related note, Philippine residents say it’s fear, not laziness, that keeps them from riding bike — a situation that’s not likely to be helped reducing or eliminating bike lanes.

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

A Singaporean man filed a pair of formal complaints, alleging that reckless bicyclists and e-mobility users are endangering his pregnant wife by the way they ride on walkways, and leave their bikes blocking the way. Although when I look at the photos he submitted, all I see are hundreds of bicycles safely and considerately parked along the sidewalk, while leaving space for people to pass.

………

Local 

Metro approved $2.9 billion in transit fund allocations for the 2026 fiscal year to help fund municipal and local transit operations throughout LA County, including bike and pedestrian projects.

 

State

Calbike says don’t believe the misinformation coming from Big Highway — aka companies who profit from highway expansion — about mitigating Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, offering a detailed explainer of why the highway builders are wrong.

The new San Diego State University Mission Valley is the nation’s first college campus purpose-built as a bicycle-friendly, transit oriented development, or TOD.

San Diego’s stormwater department has belatedly come to the realization that bike paths shouldn’t be underwater, and committed to fixing a frequently flooded section of the SR-56 bike path. Even if a bike path deserves better than to be named after the freeway that blights it.

Vista will remove berms and bollards from protected bike lanes, just months after they were installed, due to complaints from bicyclists who said they made them feel less safe. Although they don’t seem to have bothered to gather safety stats to determine whether they actually increased or reduced injuries. 

Mountain View is considering a road diet on El Monte Ave after a series of pedestrian deaths, removing one lane to create a single lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and converting the existing bike lanes to buffered lanes.

 

National

You can now legally ride an ebike on Oregon bike trails and park roads.

The youngest of the four kids who killed an Albuquerque nuclear scientist as he biking to work by — allegedly — intentionally driving into him with a stolen car has been charged with murder, despite being just 12 years old; he was 11 at the time of the crime, and suspected of being involved in a string of burglaries dating back to when he was just ten.

New York will hire up to 45 unarmed “peace officers” to enforce rules against illegal moped, ebike and e-scooter use. Because apparently, the city’s existing 36,000 sworn peace officers aren’t up to the task. Or maybe just don’t want it. 

Hundreds of Asheville NC bike riders took to the streets and gathered in bike shops to honor two men who were killed when the driver of a dump truck crossed onto the wrong side of the road, and hit them head-on as they rode their bikes; a friend said one victim’s greatest fear was dying alone, which he tragically avoided by getting killed along with the other victim.

He gets it. The father of one of those Asheville victims says unsafe roads are a national problem.

 

International

One of the most prominent British politicians of the Thatcher era of the 1980s has died at age 94; Norman Tebbit, aka Lord Tebbit of Chingford, was responsible for popularizing the now common English phrase, “On yer bike,” for which he may never be forgiven.

Former pro cyclist Molly Weaver says she was relieved and disoriented after shaving a whopping 17 hours off the record for riding around the coast of Britain, while becoming the first woman to hold the record.

New research shows demand for ebikes is growing in the UK, even as bicycling rates are dropping — although bicycling rates appear to be rising in the Scottish Highlands.

TNT Magazine says bicycling is the best way to connect with “authentic” Spanish life.

A local writer says yes, bicyclists have a right to ride on Malaysian roads, but have to ride single file under every circumstance.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar surged at the finish to take stage four of the Tour de France, marking his 100th career victory, while pulling even in overall time with race leader Mathieu van der Poel, who retained the yellow jersey for one last day. Meanwhile, a 22-year old Scotsman was stunned to find himself just off the podium.

Bike Radar offers 11 surprising things you need to know about Pogačar. Some of which actually are, but none of which you actually do. 

A UK site examines how the Tour is mitigating its environmental impacts.

All 11 bikes stolen from the Cofidis cycling team before the Tour’s second stage have now been recovered by police across the border in Belgium, though no arrests appear to have been made.

USA Today looks back to the deep, dark days of the 1980’s, when America’s only remaining Tour de France winner was dominating the race, despite a shotgun blast to the gut.

Meanwhile, women are still racing, even if they’re overshadowed by the Tour, as Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes took a crash-filled stage three of the Giro D’Italia Donne, while Britain’s Anna Henderson retained the pink leader’s jersey after a late crash that involved all but 10 riders, resulting in almost the entire peloton receiving the same time.

 

Finally…

That feeling when even husbands of Bachelorette stars aren’t safe from hit-and-run drivers. Or when you try nearly every bike bag known to man before finding one you can live with.

And a new study shows that saddle height and setback, pedaling intensity, rider height, and sex can affect comfort in the lower limbs.

Although it should be obvious that sex on a bike saddle would affect the lower limbs — especially this one.

Or so I’m (ahem) told.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Vermont Ave bike commuters deserve safe multimodal route, and someone finally takes an anti-bike booby trap seriously

Day 188 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

He gets it.

A Substack writer considers the bike commuters who ride LA’s Vermont Avenue, as Jonathan Hale argues they “deserve a multimodal transit artery done right.”

Taisha was riding on the sidewalk. There are no bike lanes along Vermont north of Gage Avenue. I asked her why she liked riding a bicycle around Los Angeles.

“You know, it’s quicker, it’s easy to get around,” she said. “It gives me peace of mind.”

“You ever been hit by a car?” I asked, keeping an eye on the evening mayhem in my periphery.

“Absolutely!” she exclaimed, laughing. “Yeah, everybody gets hit by cars. It’s always a victim of someone looking left and turning right. Always.”

Hale continues by pointing out that Metro is building bus rapid transit lanes on the corridor, without considering the need of people like her and others he spoke with.

And LA doesn’t seem to care.

The city of Los Angeles, meanwhile, has looked the other way, refusing to collaborate with Metro to build a truly multimodal transit corridor – even though the city is legally required to fund the project under Measure HLA. That’s why local activist Joe Linton has sued the city, alleging that Los Angeles has shirked its legal responsibility to make roadway improvements in accordance with its Mobility Plan 2035.

It’s more than worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Dr. Grace Peng points out that it’s personal for her, too.

The Vermont protected bike lane through South LA to Del Amo is personal. It connects the J line Harbor Gateway Transit Center to 99 Ranch on Artesia. What places could you go on a Vermont Ave protected bike lane? @bikinginla.bsky.social

Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T19:16:03.192Z

………

That’s more like it.

A 23-year old man from Osaka, Japan have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and obstructing traffic for stringing a rope across a city street, causing a bike rider to fall and strike his head.

About damn time someone, anywhere, took a booby trap like that seriously, treating it the dangerous, potentially deadly assault it is, instead of just a harmless prank.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

Gravel Bike California celebrates its 6th anniversary by delving even deeper into the darkest dens of the Angeles Forest.

………

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

No bias here. The Encinitas city council approved contracts for bicycle education programs from grade school to high school — but ordered city staffers to ensure they weren’t teaching “political” pro-bike propaganda.

A North Vancouver, British Columbia city councilor is calling for mandatory bells on every bike, even though drivers can’t hear them, and pedestrians don’t know what to do if they do.

Clearly suffering from a severe case of windshield bias, a member of the Irish parliament demanded that the country’s Transportation Ministry consider making hi-viz jackets compulsory for all pedestrians, bicyclists and school bus passengers.

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

Police in New York initially arrested a 30-year old woman for hit-and-run, accusing her of leaving the scene after crashing her bicycle into the rider of an electric unicycle — but prosecutors dropped the charges after discovering she had waited 45 minutes for the cops to show up, while speaking with witnesses and waiting for paramedics before going home.

A Washington Post reader takes the paper to task for showing a shirtless, helmet-less bike rider with a corgi in a backpack in high heat while checking his phone with no hands on his handlebars.

A London barrister posts video of his confrontation with a traffic cop after he got a ticket for riding with no hands during rush hour traffic, even though there’s no law against that in the UK.

………

Local 

An op-ed from the chair of Bike Long Beach argues the city is falling behind on life-saving speed cams. Just like its much bigger neighbor next door. 

 

State

A portable pump track is making it’s way around Orange County, popping up in Buena Park before moving on to Santa Ana, after appearing already in Mission Viejo, Garden Grove, Tustin, Irvine and Huntington Beach.

Sad news from San Raphael, where a 54-year old man who was one of the mountain biking coaches at a local high school was killed by a driver in a left cross collision while he was riding his bike, at an intersection where four bike riders were struck by drivers in similar crashes over a five-year period, yet the city did nothing to fix it.

The people running Apple clearly don’t get it, donating $4 million to close a funding gap to build a Cupertino freeway interchange with funds originally planed for a bikeway project, helping fuel induced demand and climate change.

 

National

Bicycling considers why so many girls are giving up biking, and what parents can do to help keep them on two wheels. You can read the story on MSN if the magazine blocks you. 

An architect’s newsletter says it’s time to come up with an infrastructure design solution to safely integrate ebikes.

Car and Driver recommends the best electric cargo bikes. Because who knows more about replacing your car with an ebike than a driving magazine?

Singletracks wants to know whether you think mountain bike trail difficulty ratings are accurate.

Velo explains how to find an actual, factual real deal on bicycling gear on Amazon Prime Day.

A Black father and son describe how they began biking together after the 65-year old dad underwent three heart surgeries, including the multi-day ride from St. Louis to Chicago recounted in their PBS documentary Bike Vessel. 

Um, okay. Hundreds of Portland bike riders were expected to turn out for the “We’re Better Than You” bike ride to raise awareness for “their superior lifestyle choices,” riding at exactly 6 mph to send a message that “Cars are murder machines, walking is inefficient, and public transit is for people who haven’t maxed out their REI credit cards yet.”

Denver bike riders spent their 4th of July riding in silence to honor the victims of traffic violence, following a 78% jump in bicycle and pedestrian deaths in the past ten years.

An Ohio driver faces multiple charges for the alleged DUI hit-and-run that seriously injured two of three kids riding a “three-wheeled bicycle.” Which sounds a lot like a tricycle, although they don’t mention the age of the victims. 

A New York news site says the Parks Department is trying to have it both ways by allowing ebikes and e-scooters in parks and pathways, while restricting cars in parks to protect people on bicycles, arguing that reckless ebike riders pose as much risk to pedestrians as drivers do.

Once again, a motor vehicle was a weapon of mass destruction, when a North Carolina dump truck driver crossed the center line and hit three bike riders head-on, killing two men and injuring the other; an Asheville bike shop planned a memorial to remember the victims, one of whom had worked there for four years.

 

International

Momentum tries to explain People For Bikes’ seemingly inexplicable ratings for the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities.

Thirty-one-year old British cyclist Molly Weaver set a new record by circumnavigating the country in 21 days, 10 hours and 48 minutes, shattering the previous record by 17 hours.

Students from the vocational school founded by the two Václav’s who founded Czech carmaker Škoda as bikemaker 130 years ago transformed one of the company’s cars into a bike race support vehicle as their graduate project.

An 18-year old man with dual French and German citizenship disappeared while riding his bike through Iran on a 400-day bicycling trip across Europe and Asia; he went missing on the third day of the recent Israeli bombardment, and could be one of the estimated 20 foreigners being held by Iran on suspicion of spying. 

The best places to ride your bike in Tokyo for your next trip to Japan.

Bicyclists and traffic safety advocates staged a protest in Manila over the weekend, demanding the Philippine capital cancel plans to remove a protected bike lane to make room for motorcycle lanes.

China is experiencing a boom in ebike sales thanks to a generous nationwide “cash for clunkers” style trade-in program.

This is the cost of traffic violence. An Australian race car driver described as a “extraordinary figure” in Australian motorsports, and who recently competed in the 24 Hours of La Mans, as well as backing the careers of several young racers, was killed by a bus driver while he was riding a bike with his wife near the local zoo.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mathieu Van der Poel ended the first weekend of the Tour de France in yellow after outsprinting Tadej Pogacar in a photo finish to win the second stage, with Jonas Vingegaard third; Cycling News offers a moment-by-moment recap of how the stage unfolded.

The Cofidis cycling team was hit by thieves before the second stage, breaking into one of the team trucks to steal 11 Look bikes worth an estimated $170,000, as well as the team mechanics’ tool sets.

Trine Marie Vingegaard Hansen, the wife of Jonas Vingegaard, stirred up a hornet’s nest by publicly criticizing the training methods of her husband’s Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team, as well as the time away from family demanded by the team, though the team insisted it was blown out of proportion.

Former world time trial cham Filippo Ganna’s Tour de France experience didn’t even make it through the first stage, becoming the first rider to abandon the race after suffering a concussion in a crash.

Cyclist profiles the seven North American cyclists taking part in this year’s Tour — two of whom came up through the same Boise, Idaho youth cycling program.

Road.cc offers a definitive guide to what all the pros are riding at the Tour, while your favorite cyclist could now risk getting a yellow card for bad behavior, just like soccer players.

The Tour de France is overshadowing the Giro d’Italia Donne, aka the women’s Giro, where Swiss individual time trial champ Marlen Reusser won the Giro’s first stage ITT to take the pink leader’s jersey.

The final day of the German Track Cycling Championships was cancelled when two cyclists crashed over the track barriers on final bend of the men’s keirin semi-finals, injuring seven spectators, two seriously enough to be airlifted to local hospitals; the two racers escaped with minor injuries.

A 19-year old British pro apologized for causing a massive crash after hitting a pothole in the country’s national road championships, while reporting that he fractured a vertebrae in his neck, and suffered a “fair amount” of road rash.

 

Finally…

Achieving world peace by sharing an off-road tandem. Your next e-recumbent could look like a velomobile, with a removable roof and a trunk in the back, or maybe it could be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell — but is it really a bicycle if it doesn’t have pedals?

And that’s one hell of a polka dot tan line, dude.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Crowdfund launched for fallen rider Virgo Datu, nominations for Burbank kids bike giveaway, and Metro meetings this month

Day 183 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

We’ve got a lot of ground to cover after yesterday’s unexcused absence.

But before we get started, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help pay funeral and memorial expenses for fallen bicyclist Virgo Datu.

Datu passed away unexpectedly after crashing when he caught a wheel on Saturday’s Montrose Ride.

The campaign has already raised over $10,000, more than double the initial $5,000 goal.

Photo of Virgo Datu from crowdfunding page.

………

I’m always a sucker for a good cause, especially when it comes to giving kids bicycles.

Which brings us to the 4th Annual Bikes for Kids giveaway sponsored by Burbank native and personal injury attorney Adrianos Facchetti.

According to a press release for the event,

Facchetti, who helps families recover after car accidents and injuries, says the giveaway is one of the most meaningful things his team does all year. “After seeing the struggles many of our clients go through, we wanted to create something that spreads joy.”

The event has grown steadily since its launch in 2021. Past winners included kids who helped care for siblings, stayed strong through medical challenges, or simply showed up every day with kindness. The firm invites the ten selected children to its Burbank office, where they receive their new bikes, helmets, and a round of applause…

“This community raised me,” Facchetti added. “This is one small way we can give back.”

Nominations are open for any child aged 6 to 17 who lives within ten miles of The Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti at 4444 W. Riverside Drive, Suite 308, in Burbank. Submissions should explain how the child has gone “above and beyond” to help someone else, or positively impacted their siblings, classmates or community.

Nominations are open from July 5th through July 26th; just click here to submit yours.

………

Metro will hold a series of important public meetings this month to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit Project, and the Sepulveda Transit Corridor.

………

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

Seriously? An English town defends fining people the equivalent of nearly $1,400 just for riding a bike through the town center, claiming residents have been “scarred for life” by “anti-social” bicyclists.

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

If you’re trying to flee from San Bernardino Sheriff’s deputies while carrying several baggies of meth, try not to crash your ebike into one of their cars.

No bias here. A Santa Barbara grand jury examined complaints about bad behavior and near accidents involving young people on ebikes, concluding that better eduction and stricter enforcement were needed to rein them in — although the local paper doesn’t put it that nicely. And yes, some kids are out of control, with far too many e-motorbikes passed off as ebikes. But just wait until the jurors learn what drivers do out on the streets, as well the relative risk ebike riders pose compared to people in the big, dangerous machines.

………

Local 

A 31-year old man was in stable condition after being shot while riding his bike in DTLA Sunday night, telling police he didn’t see the shooter. Or presumably, know why.

The LA Country Sheriff’s Department will conduct another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation in West Hollywood on Thursday, ticketing anyone who commits a traffic violation that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits it. So as usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line to make sure you’re not the one who gets written up. Thanks to David for the heads-up. 

Santa Clarita officially broke ground on the new Haskell Canyon Bike Park on Tuesday.

 

State

California cities are now using drones to catch people riding illegal ebikes, aka out-of-class, not street legal or illegally modified.

Oceanside will dedicate a segment of the San Luis Rey River Trail in the city to Jensen Taylor Hughes, a young woman who was killed while riding on the trail in September, 2023. I don’t seem to have a record of her death, and can’t find any news reports.

An Oceanside man is working to transform the community through a lowrider bicycle project.

Family and friends of a 12-year old girl killed this April in an Encinitas crosswalk call out a proposal to widen deadly Encinitas Blvd to add a third traffic lane in each direction, calling for bicycle and pedestrian improvements instead.

A 41-year old man was busted for an allegedly drunken hit-and-run after rear-ending a bike rider in Perris; the victim was hospitalized in stable condition despite suffering serious injuries.

Ventura nonprofit Bike 4 A Cause will launch a free program to teach kids to ride bicycles this Saturday.

Hats off to Oakland’s Bay Area Bicycle Rescue, which collects unloved bikes from community members and repairs them to redistribute to people who need them, saving over 1,200 bikes from the landfill last year alone.

Singletracks talks with the Calirado Kid, a Sacramento-based mountain bike content creator “known for posting hilarious bike-related videos on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube,” while working with a science group to encourage riders to help document biodiversity in California.

 

National

Good damn question. A movie site questions whatever happened to all those great cycling movies like we had in the ’80s.

Buyer beware. Electrek considers what you really get when you order that $500 ebike online.

He gets it. A writer for Cycling Weekly argues that bicycling is a political act, and the battle for public lands is a reminder that cyclists can’t afford to stay on the sidelines of politics.

No bias here, either. A writer for a sustainable journalism newsletter examines the slow progress American cities are making in becoming bike friendly — but positions it by misleadingly asking if that progress is a good thing. But at least they have the good taste to include a photo of a Boston corgi in a cargo bike

The Atlantic bemoans the decline of a classic childhood pastime, as fewer kids are riding bikes. But you’ll have to sign up for a free trial if you want to read more than the first few paragraphs.

He gets it, too. Alaska writer Craig Medred complains that the public is usually kept in the dark about traffic violence, at a time when even AAA says only 35% of American drivers can be classified as “good,” and “only luck and the capabilities of modern medicine” keep the carnage from being worse.

As of yesterday, bike riders in New Mexico now enjoy the full benefits of the Idaho Stop Law, which lets bicyclists treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs, although in both cases they’re required to observe the right-of-way and proceed only when safe.

Livability says diverse terrain, beautiful views and a lack crowds make Idaho’s Palouse region a bicycling paradise.

A new Denver bike app helps bicyclists find “low-stress” bike routes, while rewarding them for stopping at local businesses along the way.

A New York judge calls time out, ruling that a restraining order protecting an endangered bike lane will stay in place for now, until he rules on a case trying to stop the city from ripping it out.

More proof that bikes are good for business, after the US Pro Road National Championships generated a $6.9 million impact on Charleston, West Virginia — a whopping 50% jump over last year.

A new report says bike-unfriendly Alabama has the nation’s strictest bicycle laws.

 

International

Momentum recommends Canada’s best bike cities, for anyone looking to flee for snowier pastures.

More on the Toronto bike lane that Ontario officials want to rip out “because no one uses it” — even though it carries more rush hour traffic than the traffic lanes next to it. Maybe they should rip out one of the lanes drivers use to make more room for bikes, instead. 

After selling his eponymous bikewear brand, former Canadian Olympian Louis Garneau has started a new company focused on making more affordable kids bikes.

Shimano wants to know why Europe has a “critical” shortage of bike mechanics, saying it risks creating barriers to bicycling.

Police in Wales will stop accepting video evidence of overly close passes — or doing anything about them, anyway — even though video is been accepted as proof of traffic violations throughout the UK.

They get it. An Irish bike advocacy group says we try to rationalize traffic violence as freak accidents, when the roads are “still engineered, policed and legislated for in ways that accept, and sometimes even enable, lethal outcomes.”

Here’s your chance to own a new limited edition Swiss watch honoring cycling great Fabian Cancellara, for the low, low price of nearly $6,400. Although the only nod to Cancellara is a few touches of yellow, so it could honor anyone of your choice who has ever worn yellow, if Sparticus doesn’t do it for you. 

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a judge acquitted a semi driver for killing a longtime bike commuter in their equivalent of a right hook, blaming poor road markings for making it unclear who had the right-of-way, even though the driver admitted to never even seeing the victim.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist calls out the favorites for this year’s Tour de France, which they swear goes beyond Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, and digs deep to examine who stands to get a cut of the race’s $2,714,901.48 in prize money (at Tuesday’s exchange rate).

Velo identifies “all the bikes, components and gear” used by the 23 teams rolling out for the Tour this Saturday.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own your very own established bike brand. Your next handlebars could be reminiscent of America’s military HQ, but with less brass.

And call it the next best thing to biking naked.

Thoughts on this skinsuit
byu/BaewuIf inCyclingFashion

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Stop Metro’s induced demand inducing 71 Freeway project, and reinventing upper body bicycle workouts for the first time

Day 176 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Streets For All wants your help to stop Metro’s proposal to flush even more millions down the induced-demand toilet by widening the 71 freeway through Pomona.

Even though freeway projects go against California’s ostensible commitment to Complete Streets, as well as the state’s pollution and climate goals.

But if it gives drivers a faster commute for a few months until the corresponding crushing increase in traffic makes it worse for the rest of eternity, it’s worth it.

Right?

Tell the CTC: No More Freeway Widening!

The California Transportation Commission (CTC) on Thursday is considering funding (tab 21) widening the 71 freeway in Pomona (State Route 71 Gap Closure Project – Phase 2), a project being proposed by Metro Los Angeles.

This is Destruction For Nada! The expensive trend of disastrous highway widening projects must stop.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Tell the CTC that you DO NOT support freeway widenings! Let’s use that funding on sustainable projects instead.

EMAIL THE CTC (CUSTOMIZE THE BOTTOM!)

Photo by MART PRODUCTION from Pexels

………

Once again, someone has invented the “first” bicycle with moving handlebars to give you an upper body workout while you ride.

Something that seems to get “invented” for the first time every few years.

Never mind that they keep running into the recurring problem that handlebars already serve a purpose, which isn’t helped if the damn things keep moving on you.

………

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

No bias here. A Eugene, Oregon TV station reports on a “vehicle versus bicycle crash,” which apparently had no humans involved in or on either vehicle. Although their primary concern is just warning drivers about the traffic inconvenience, rather than any potential risk to human life or anything.

Apparently, a new bike lane will destroy Gloucestershire, England’s historic city center, but all those “historic” streets and cars are just fine, even though bikes were there first.

No bias here, either. A radio station on the Isle of Man released a petition calling for banning bike riders from a 13-mile roadway, claiming it’s too dangerous for bikes and cars to share — which garnered a whopping 200 signatures, representing less than 0.25% of the island’s population. Something tells me they’d get more signatures if they called for banning cars, instead.

………

Local 

Santa Clarita was set to consider approving a construction contract for the long-awaited Haskell Canyon Bike Park at last night city council meeting.

 

State

The good news, Apple Valley approved a new Complete Streets Action Plan, including a number of new bike paths throughout the city; the bad news, it’s funded by a federal grant, so the funds could be on the chopping block.

A Menifee teenager suffered severe, but non-life-threatening, injuries when he was t-boned by a driver while riding his ebike across the street.

 

National

Streetsblog digs into the recent City Ratings from People For Bikes to uncover the country’s fastest improving bike-friendly cities, led by a small town in Idaho — something else that could be threatened by cuts to federal funding.

Bicycling offers tips on how to survive riding in the heat now enveloping more than half the country. But it doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you may have to bake of the magazine blocks you; my best advise is to ride early or late, drink plenty of water, and stick to shaded routes if you ride midday. 

To mark the upcoming 4th of July, a freedom loving Bend, Oregon man says his bicycle set him free.

Good says Seattle’s body-painted naked bike ride offers a lesson in colorful living.

Santa Fe, New Mexico will consider adopting a Vision Zero program this week. But it comes too late to save a 42-year old competitive cyclist, staple of the city’s pickleball scene, and veteran of the famed Little 500, who was killed by a driver while riding his bike last week.

Colorado will celebrate the summer Bike to Work Day today, offering the second part of their twice-yearly Bike Day schedule. Never mind that Los Angeles, with its ideal weather and mostly flat terrain, barely observes one Bike to Work Day anymore, let alone two. 

A Boulder, Colorado weekly suggests riding your bike to work, then enjoying a variety of local mountain bike and road bicycle tours later in the day.

Cheyenne, Wyoming is hosting a Bike to Work Day of their own today. Which is only surprising if you ever tried riding the extremely bike-unfriendly, cowboy-centric home of the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo back in the day, which I was only brave enough to attempt once. 

A 54-year old Missouri man has ridden his bike every day since December 29, 2015, averaging 33 miles a day, while surviving two traffic collisions, a dog attack and crashing when he swerved to miss a squirrel. That works out to “just” 11,566 miles, assuming he went out again today. 

A New York grand jury indicted a 54-year old man for murder, manslaughter, unlawful fleeing a police officer, leaving the scene of an incident, and assorted other related crimes, for allegedly killing a 36-year-old woman riding a bicycle while he was fleeing from the cops.

He gets it. A New York man writes that NY Mayor Adams is playing a dangerous game by pitting community members against bicyclists in attempting to rip out a bike lane in predominately Jewish neighborhood, apparently forgetting bike riders are part of the community, too. And they vote.

A North Carolina bike columnist recommends riding a 22-mile rail-to-trail conversion from downtown Durham to the next county.

 

International

If you build it, they will come. Bicyclists now outnumber cars on a major Toronto street — with one of the bike lanes the provincial government wants to rip out.

It takes a real schmuck to steal an ebike from a Liverpool, England crash victim after he was struck by a stoned driver, and whisked away to the hospital.

While everyone else will be stuck in traffic trying to get to the UK’s famed Glastonbury Festival, a Spanish man will only have to lock up his bike after rocking the 1,000 miles from his Madrid home to the music fest.

A British driver complains about an “incredibly dangerous” bike rider, arguing that “you shouldn’t be cycling if you don’t know the rules of the road” — then admits without irony to driving 30 mph in a 20 mph zone.

Ireland’s Cycle to Work Scheme — “scheme” meaning program in this case — allows you to buy a new bike and safety gear tax-free, with the payments deducted from your salary over the next year.

Travel site Lonely Planet recommends some of France’s best bicycling routes that start in Paris. Or end there, depending on your perspective.

The last 12 months have been the deadliest on Australian roads in 15 years, largely because of a 15.7% increase in pedestrian deaths and a 36.7% jump in bicycling fatalities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Italian cyclist Diego Ulissi won the Giro dell’Appennino with a solo breakaway on the next-to-last climb, marking 16 straight years with at least one win for the 35-year old pro.

Proving it’s never too late, 35-year old former Moto Grand Prix racer Aleix Espargaró will swap his leathers for Lycra, and make his professional cycling debut for the Lidl-Trek developmental squad at the Tour of Austria. Okay, so it’s way too late for me. But still. 

USA Cycling is merging with US Paralympic Cycling, bringing all Olympic and Paralympic bike racing under a single roof to create a “more unified, inclusiv, and efficient support system” for American cyclists.

Apparently, bikewear takes on a whole new meaning at the tongue-in-cheek Brompton World Championships held in the UK.

 

Finally…

LA drivers may be hard to bear, but at least we don’t have to deal with actual bears most days. Apparently, sexy baggage handlers make better bike stewards.

And if you’re going to jump a roadway, at least try to stick the landing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Is something rotten in the state of Metro, make Warner Center more bikeable, and help spend OC Measure M funds

Day 156 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

To paraphrase the bard, something may be rotten in the state of Metro.

LA Public Press reports that formal complaints filed by Metro Bike operator BTS, aka Bicycle Transit Systems, accuses transit agency officials of violating procurement laws and creating conflicts of interest to favor ride-hailing giant Lyft.

BTS alleges Metro was set to award Lyft a nearly $200 million contract to operate the city’s bikeshare system after illegally structuring the bid to benefit  Lyft.

On May 22, the Metro Board of Directors was set to approve Lyft’s $198 million proposal to operate Metro Bike Share, a countywide rental system of 1,800 public bikes.

But the board removed the scheduled vote from the meeting agenda after BTS alleged in a “protest” letter filed May 14 that a Lyft subcontractor wrote a section of the county’s request for proposals for the Metro Bike Share contract. BTS claims the subcontractor’s involvement could have given the ride-hailing company an unfair advantage. BTS filed a second protest letter on May 20 naming the subcontractor and alleging broader issues with Metro’s procurement process.

It’s possible this is nothing more than a last-ditch effort by BTS and Metro Bike union members to retain the contract they’ve held since 2016.

But if there’s any truth to it, we deserve to know.

And something needs to be done to ensure a level playing field, and guarantee they select the best people for the job.

………

Here’s your chance to help make car-centric Warner Center more bikeable and walkable, as Los Angeles moves forward with plans to remake the current office desert.

The city is looking for feedback at the Woodland Hills Farmers Market on June 21st, a short walk or bike ride from the Sherman Way G (Orange) Line Station.

HELP SHAPE THE WARNER CENTER ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION HUB

The Warner Center Active Transportation Hub project supports the transformation of the Warner Center area into an active transportation hub for jobs and housing. Active transportation includes walking, biking, scootering or using a wheelchair – any form of human-powered mobility.

Thanks to everyone who was able to join us at the Open House! If you missed it, check out the meeting presentation online.

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO CONNECT

Visit Our Booth at the Woodland Hills Farmers Market

Saturday, June 21, 2025 | 9 am – 2 pm

5650 Shoup Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91367

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Drop by and tell us

  • What would make you want to walk, bike, or roll more often in Warner Center area?
  • What challenges need to be addressed?
  • Your input will shape future solutions.
CAN’T ATTEND IN PERSON?

Take our 10-minute survey!

………

As long as we’re on the subject of public meetings, the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, wants to know how you want to spend Measure M transportation funds.

Annual Measure M Hearing set for June 10 to Ensure Accountability of Taxpayer Funds for Transportation

Taxpayer Oversight Committee will hold its 34th public hearing to ensure transportation funding is being delivered as promised to Orange County voters

ORANGE – The Taxpayer Oversight Committee will hold its 34th annual public hearing to ensure that Measure M, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, is being delivered as promised to Orange County voters.

This year’s public hearing is scheduled for:

6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, at the Orange County Transportation Authority headquarters, 550 S. Main St. in Orange.

The independent, 11-member oversight committee was formed to monitor OCTA’s use of Measure M funding, approve all changes to the Measure M Transportation Investment Plan, and hold annual public hearings on the expenditure of funds generated by the half-cent sales tax. The original measure was first approved by voters in 1990 and overwhelmingly renewed in 2006.

The renewed Measure M is continuing to fund balanced and sustainable transportation improvements through 2041, estimated to invest approximately $14 billion in all. The voter-approved plan allocates 43% of funds to freeways, 32% to streets and roads, and 25% to transit, and includes two environmental programs focused on preserving natural habitats and improving water quality through stormwater capture systems.

The first Measure M helped fund more than $4 billion worth of transportation improvements. These include enhanced freeways, smoother streets, synchronized traffic signals, improved intersections, and regional Metrolink rail service – which continues to be funded by Measure M.

OCTA remains committed to relieving congestion, maintaining infrastructure, expanding travel choices for seniors and people with disabilities, and protecting the environment.

Measure M also supports projects that reduce travel times, improve safety, and coordinate traffic signal systems across cities.

Those unable to attend the public hearing can submit comments by visiting octa.net/PublicHearing.

All written comments must be submitted by noon on Monday, June 9.

Written comments may be addressed to:

Andrea West
Clerk of the Board
Orange County Transportation Authority
550 South Main Street
P.O. Box 14184
Orange, CA 92683-1584

By phone at (714) 560-5611

Or by email at clerkoffice@octa.net.

For more information about Measure M or the Taxpayer Oversight Committee, visit octa.net/TOC.

………

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

A San Diego letter writer says the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG’s, approval of a $27 million Complete Streets project to reconfigure University Ave “proved once again that it is run by a consortium of incompetents.” Because he recently drove to Balboa Park without seeing a single bus in the bus lane, or a bike in the bike lane, which apparently serves as conclusive proof no one ever uses them.

No bias here. An Idaho county judge jerked back the permit for a bike park, just ten days before it was due to open, after the owners had built a network of world-class mountain bike trails on their own dime.

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

A visitor to the Boston suburb of Somerville says they were nearly struck by reckless bike riders three times just trying to cross a street, requiring “evasive maneuvers that would make a Cirque du Soleil performer break a sweat.” Although commenters said having to take a step back isn’t the same as getting hit, and oddly, they’ve never had a problem there.

They’ve got a point. A British bike advocacy group urged Parliament to reconsider a plan for on-the-spot fines equivalent to $677 for bicycling violations in pedestrian zones, arguing that the considerate bike riders are easy to catch, while speedy and/or aggressive anti-social ones will get away scot-free.

………

Local 

Caltrans is resurfacing a 20-mile stretch of PCH through the harbor area — likely without building the bike lanes and pedestrian improvements required under the state’s Complete Streets policy — ensuring this stretch of LA’s killer highway will remain that way.

 

State

Thousands of people came out last weekend for Irvine’s second annual CicloIrvine open streets event.

Wrightwood’s Mountain High Resorts will open a new downhill mountain bike park on June 14th.

Sad news from Merced, where a 27-year old man riding a BMX bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver, who later called police to say he had hit “something;” police blamed the victim’s black clothing and a lack of reflectors, saying the driver was unable to see him from behind on the dark street.

West Sacramento is considering a Vision Zero plan with a goal of cutting traffic deaths in half over the next decade. Which is laudable, but half ain’t zero — which is what the “zero” in Vision Zero means. 

 

National

Outside broke out the angle grinder to pick the year’s best bike locks.

A Las Vegas bike shop owner, and former Republican candidate for governor, is working to educate customers about the effects of tariffs that increase the cost of bikes and parts from China, while limiting availability.

A 16-year old Albuquerque, New Mexico boy, the oldest of the four kids charged with fatally running down a Los Alamos scientist in a stolen car as he was biking to work, will remain in custody pending trial after a judge ruled she couldn’t ensure public safety if he was released. No shit.

Ohio will invest nearly $52 million dollars in bike and pedestrian safety projects over the next four years, funding 44 projects in 33 counties.

An unsigned op-ed by “avid cyclists” says Boston’s “willy-nilly installation of bike lanes is the epitome of virtue-signaling,” and that encouraging senior citizens to use bikes as a means of transportation “is tantamount to inviting them to die or suffer serious injuries,” insisting they’re not being hyperbolic. Although it’s worth noting that Boston has an average of seven bicycling deaths per year affecting people of all ages, which makes it seem kinda hyperbolic.

A man and woman were injured when they crashed into a kite string while riding in a bike lane on bridge in Brooklyn, slicing the woman’s hand and forehead, while slitting the man’s throat; the string appeared to be coated in glass like the kind used for kite fighting in South Asian countries. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay the man’s medical bills has raised just over $4,500 of the $15,000 goal.

New York City will impose a 15 mph speed limit on ebike and scooter riders on city streets, forcing people on ebikes, including delivery riders, to go slower than someone on a decent road bike.

An upstate New York man was welcomed back to his Pennsylvania adjacent town after spending the last year riding over 13,000 miles circumnavigating the US, sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

A neighborhood group filed suit to stop Philadelphia from installing cement barriers to protect a bike lane, even though a bike-riding pediatric physician was killed there last year by a driver who drove through the current plastic bollards.

 

International

The dangerous trend of young bike riders popping wheelies and swerving into traffic has spread to the Caribbean’s Cayman Islands, according to a local website.

Irish Customs seized more than 4,000 ebikes worth more than $5.1 million alleged to have been illegally smuggled into the country to avoid European Union duty charges.

An Indian website says bicycling in the coastal state of Goa could be riskier than you think, due to reckless drivers and stray animals.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from the Tour of Iran, where 21-year old Mustafa Ayyorkun, a two-time Türkiye — formerly Turkey — junior road race champion died four days after suffering a broken neck when he collided with a teammate.

 

Finally…

When you’re carrying a dollar bill and a lottery ticket with a white powdery substance on your bike, don’t ride salmon.

And who wouldn’t want a dart board on your bike?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

It was World Bicycle Day — but not in LA, OC Bike Coalition says no to Class IV bike lanes, and Metro rides Rail-To-Rail

Day 155 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Happy International Corgi Day to all who celebrate.

And seriously, why wouldn’t you?

Photo from 6th Street Bridge during 2023 Heart of LA CicLAvia.

………

Yesterday was World Bicycle Day.

Or as it was known here in Los Angeles, Tuesday.

Just one more example of the city not treating us as second-class citizens, because they don’t even give us a passing thought.

Case in point, last month’s Bike to Work Day, which Los Angeles officials observed by ignoring it. And us.

Meanwhile, Zag Daily says it’s a pivotal time for bicycling, which is why World Bicycle Day matters.

Think Global Health says regular bicycling is good for physical, mental and yes, planetary health, but more sustainable urban planning is needed.

An Indian writer penned an ode to the humble bicycle.

In a purely performative move, New York renamed a bicycle tunnel as the “World Bicycle Day Bike Underpass” for one whole day. But at least that was better than LA did. 

The Coachella Valley marked World Bicycle Day by reminding drivers to use caution around people on bicycles.

Then there was this —

………

The Orange County Bike Coalition has come out against Class IV protected bike lanes, calling out the “known hazards (they) cause to the riders that use them.”

Like other bicyclists we’ve heard from in San Diego, the OCBC expressed concerns about riders risking injuries by colliding with the raised barriers separating them from traffic.

Although it’s hard to reconcile anecdotal reports of hazards with studies showing they dramatically increase ridership and improve safety for everyone using the roadway.

Let’s hope that’s something researchers will take a look at.

And find a way to both protect riders from drivers, and from the bike lanes themselves.

………

Metro is hosting a relaxed, family friendly ride to explore the newly opened segment of the Rail to Rail Active Transportation Corridor in South LA this Sunday.

The three-mile round-trip ride even includes a scheduled snack stop at Granny’s Kitchen Southern Style Soul Food along the way.

Although maybe someone should tell KTLA-5 that it helps to mention what day the ride is in their news reports

………

Who needs new tires when you’ve got duct tape?

Duct tape fixes everything
byu/Visible-Grass-8805 inJustridingalong

………

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

Streetsblog takes a look at that off-the-rails Kern County Grand Jury report that criticized spending on Bakersfield bike lanes, concluding, in effect, that it’s too hot and smoggy to ride a bicycle in the summer, so everyone should just stay in their cars.

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

When you’re carrying meth and magic mushrooms, and trying to hide an $1,100 bike behind a bush outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, make sure it’s yours — and doesn’t have an AirTag on it.

Police in Northern Ireland are investigating after a viral video captured an adult riding a bicycle with a child draped over their back, and narrowly avoiding a collision.

………

Local 

Los Angeles is narrowing the sidewalk on a 500-foot stretch of Balboa Blvd to make room for more cars — specifically left turn lanes — in a process Streetsblog’s Joe Linton describes as “harmful to city budgets, pedestrians, cyclists, climate, air quality, historic preservation, etc.” After all, who needs sidewalks anyway, right?

Metro’s Adopt-A-bike program is bringing mobility to families impacted by the January firestorms by providing them with free donated bicycles.

Culver City Crossroads offers more information on the CC city council’s unanimous support for extending the Ballona Creek Bike Path.

Santa Monica continues to improve the former quick-build MANGo greenway, and plans to build another on Washington Ave.

 

State

MSN reposted the San Diego Union-Tribune article we linked to yesterday about the California Ebike Incentive Program’s apparently successful third attempt at managing the 128,000 people who attempted to apply for a voucher last week, for everyone who couldn’t see it, like me. And I was even quoted in it.

The AIDS/LifeCycle ride passes through Monterey County on its way to the Central Coast for the last time, with 2,500 people taking part in the final tour.

Palo Alto councilmembers are pushing back against the city’s new bike plan, which calls for bike lanes on major traffic corridors.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Sad news from Stanford, where the president of the campus Democrats was killed when he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike on campus — raising the question of why a university campus even allows drivers to go fast enough to kill someone.

 

National

Sorry not sorry. A writer for Bicycling makes a concerted effort to stop apologizing for the “otherwise self-assured” way she rides. But maybe they should be apologizing for reposting the same damn story that originally appeared in 2017

This is the cost of traffic violence, part two. An off-duty Harris County, Texas police sergeant riding a bicycle was killed by a 63-year old man driving a U-Haul truck, in an allegedly drunken hit-and-run.

A Michigan man is building prosthetic limbs from readily available bicycle parts in an effort to help the nine out of ten people worldwide who don’t have access to artificial limbs.

A new campaign ad targets Boston Mayor Michelle Wu over her support for bike lanes, even after she ripped out the protective barriers.

 

International

A European website says bicycle tourism is changing how we see and spend on the continent.

Cyclist recommends the best road bikes — as long as you have a somewhere between the equivalent of $6,700 to $17,300 to spend.

Apparently, crappy bikes aren’t allowed to have great brakes worth more than the bike itself.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says bicyclists have a right to be angry about infrastructure, but it’s not worth fueling a culture war by haranguing people online. I’ve learned through long and painful experience that it’s just not worth engaging with the haters on social media, because it’s an argument no one ever wins.

In what may be the understatement of the year, the owner of Germany’s Canyon Bikes says “it was another challenging year,” after losing the equivalent of more than $43 million last year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly says Simon Yates proved he’s one of Britain’s best-ever cyclists by winning the Giro, after riding “undercover” until the final weekend.

Mexican media continues to celebrate the success of Isaac del Toro’s second place finish in the Giro, calling it the best ever performance by a cyclist from the country. And marking the 21-year old as someone to watch going forward.

British cycling legend Sir Mark Cavendish will be honored by renaming a raceway in his honor on my ancestral home, where my great-great-great-great grandfather helped bankrupt the local bank.

LA28 announced venues for an accessible 2028 Paralympic Games, with most of the events located in Downtown LA and Exposition Park. Although it’s questionable how competitors and spectators will get to the games when the city isn’t building the bus and bike lanes they promised to make them car free.

 

Finally…

Your new wheels could pay homage to Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat guitar. It’s about damn time a bicycle was portrayed as an upscale, laidback status symbol on TV.

And that feeling when you have to bunnyhop a feline at the finish line.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

WHO promotes bike/walk safety for healthier communities, and gear up for Bike Week events starting today in WeHo

Day 133 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

She gets it.

Forbes talks with Etienne Krug, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Department for the Social Determinants of Health, who says walking and bicycling help reduce the risk of the leading causes of premature death, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer, as well as curbing air pollution, reducing traffic congestion and fighting climate change.

But before communities can enjoy the obvious benefits, we’ll have to do something about the surging rate of bicycling and walking deaths. “At least one pedestrian or cyclist is killed on the world’s roads every 2 minutes,” according to Krug.

Which is why WHO is releasing a new toolkit to help make the roads safer to promote walking and bicycling.

Maybe we can find a way to get Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom to read the damn thing.

We can dream, right?

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

Metro is offering free rides on all Metro trains and buses, as well as Metro Bike and Metro Micro for Thursday’s Bike to Work Day, as well as 30-day Metro Bike memberships for a buck, and half-off one-year memberships.

Metrolink is also offering free rides Thursday for anyone boarding with a bicycle. And the same goes for LADOT’s DASH and Commuter Express buses.

Unfortunately, Metro has given up on the Bike to Work Day pitstops we used to enjoy in those heady pre-pandemic days. But you can still find them in Culver City, Pasadena and Beverly Hills (thanks to Streetsblog for those links). 

And West Hollywood is getting the jump on everyone else by marking Bike Month with a free “pit stop” from 8 to 10 this morning — yes, today — at the northeast corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Hancock Ave, featuring safety lights, refreshments and info on local bike projects.

………

Arnold urges us to unite for a pollution-free future.

So that means he got rid of his massive Hummer and Yukon SUVs, right?

………

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

Bike riders are showing up in force to city council meetings in Hartford, Connecticut to protest a plan to roll back the city’s commitment to building bike lanes if small business owners think they will somehow negatively affect them. Even though the opposite is usually true.

A British man was sentenced to life in prison for deliberately ramming a 22-year old ebike rider not once, but twice to teach him a lesson for “showboating” and popping wheelies, then fleeing the scene and leaving the victim to die alone in the street; although in this case, life means a minimum of 22 years behind bars, which means the 21-year old driver will be at least 43 before he’s eligible to get out.

No bias here. An “irate” British bike rider complained on Reddit about being “sick to death” of finding drivers parked in bike lanes every time he goes out for a ride. Yet the tabloids somehow turned that simple complaint around to complain about “entitled” bike riders hogging the sidewalk.

I'm sick to death of cars parking on cycle lanes. This happens each and every time I ride.
byu/d49k inukbike

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos from, and an open thread about, last weekend’s Beach Streets in Long Beach.

This Saturday, Metro is officially opening the initial phase of the long-awaited Rail-to-Rail multi-use path in South LA, a rail-to-trail conversion between the A Line Slauson Station and the Fairview Heights K Line Station; you can get more information and RSVP here.

Speaking of Metro, they will finally break ground on the long-gestating NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line next month, which, unlike the Vermont BRT line, will include protected bike lanes along Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock.

 

State

Nothing like describing the California Ebike Incentive Program’s massive failure in the second round of incentives, when the site crashed as soon as it opened, as just a “glitch.”

A Bakersfield judge postponed until July the murder trial of the man accused of the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle; 27-year old Caleb Nathaniel Rodriguez is also charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit and run causing death and driving on a license suspended for DUI.

San Francisco’s new Biking and Rolling Plan promises to connect the city’s bike lanes into a complete network putting everyone in the city within a quarter mile of a bike lane within the next 20 years. Then again, Los Angeles promised the same thing, and you know how that worked out.

 

National

Tragic news from Everett, Washington, where a 13-year old boy riding an ebike was killed when he ran into a braided cable someone had illegally strung between a fence and a post, something his parents say should have never been there in the first place.

The mayor of Spokane, Washington is inviting the public to ride with him on tomorrow’s National Bike to Work Day. Yet somehow, LA’s ostensibly bike-riding mayor isn’t inviting anyone to ride with her, and hasn’t been seen on one since she was elected in 2022. 

Over 200 bike riders have signed up for the 31st annual ride up and over Colorado’s 12,095-foot Independence Pass this Saturday, offering a whopping 2,300 feet of vertical climbing over the short ten-mile distance.

An Iowa man says he saves hundreds of dollars each month by biking to work nearly every day instead of driving. Which oddly still surprises people, even though we keep trying to tell them that.

A man was found dead after becoming separated from his riding companion on a Minnesota river trail; his body was found eight miles away from where he was last seen, and on the other side of the river.

A Minnesota man is on a mission to give 22,000 bike helmets to kids, after he suffered a brain injury when he was 18 after a friend lost control of his car and spun out after a night of partying. So wouldn’t it make more sense to give out car helmets, instead?

University professors in Michigan and Florida are researching perceptions on bicyclist comfort and safety as we “prepare for an e-bike future,” funded by a $610,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Although they might want to check on that funding, since most bike and pedestrian projects are getting DOGE’d.

A writer for New York Streetsblog is challenging candidates for mayor to ride with him; yesterday he rode with a political novice with 30 years experience riding a bicycle, and a pro-bike, pro-business and pro-police agenda. Although his best qualification may be that he didn’t have a bribery indictment dismissed by federal prosecutors like the city’s current mayor, after — allegedly — promising to cooperate with immigration raids

A Florida man was collateral damage when police discovered that a man who had crashed his car into a house had been fatally shot in the chest — then discovered a man on a bicycle had died after being trapped under the car.

 

International

Bicycling examines the case of a former Toronto cop called Canada’s most infamous and prolific bicycle thief, after police raids recovered more than 3,000 bicycles. You’ll have to subscribe to the magazine if you want to read it, though, but you can find the story on Wikipedia.

That’s more like it. A driver in the Cayman Islands was warned he could be prosecuted after he was recorded dangerously passing bicyclists participating in a memorial ride for a fallen bike rider, while driving on the right shoulder of the roadway.

Dublin, Ireland is celebrating Bike Week and Climate Week by telling bike riders to dismount on part of its longest cycle route. Which is kind of a problem for handcyclists and other people who have difficulty walking.

 

Competitive Cycling

A San Diego man will attempt to set four separate world records in a single six-hour ride on the city’s velodrome to raise awareness and funds for the local Parkinson’s community; he’ll attempt to set age group records in 70-74 age group for the farthest distance in six hours, fastest 100 kilometers, fastest 100 miles, and fastest 200 kilometers. They tell me that’s where I’m probably headed in ten to fifteen years. And no, I don’t mean San Diego. Or the velodrome.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you buy a $390 ebike directly from China, and are pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t suck. Your next cargo bike could have a steering wheel over a single tire, with a detachable modular trailer.

And nothing like describing new bikepacking campers using a line from Seinfeld about boobs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.