Let’s start today with a warning from Caltrans for Camp Pendleton bike riders.
This message is a reminder to all cyclists traveling through Camp Pendleton to stay on the bike path at all times. Camp Pendleton is an active training base and it operates 24/7 conducting training. Venturing off the bike path could expose civilians to unsafe conditions.
The Camp Pendleton Community Plan Liaison informed Caltrans that cyclists were observed on the landing zone just off of the bike path (see map attached). A military helicopter that had been approaching the landing zone had to abort its landing to avoid injuring the cyclists that had trespassed military grounds. To ensure the safety of civilian cyclists and military members of Camp Pendleton, please stay on the bike path. The bike path is the only area where cyclists are allowed on Camp Pendleton. Cyclist and Caltrans are allowed on Camp Pendleton through permits approved by the military, to ensure cyclist access continues, please follow the rules set by the Camp Pendleton staff.
For everyone’s safety, please pass this message along to fellow cyclists, and if you see anyone diverging into military property, please let them know to stay on the bike path.
Seriously, that could have been a disaster.
And failure to stick to the rules could result in everyone getting banned from the base, which would also be a disaster.
Thanks to Robert Leone for forwarding the message.
Today’s photo come from David Drexler, showing a newly reopened, extra wide Marvin Bruade bike path in Santa Monica.
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Drexler also forwarded photos from last week’s unrest in Santa Monica, showing what he calls the world’s safest bikeways on Ocean and Colorado, with the streets guarded by California National Guard troops.
Although that’s not exactly what I’d call inviting.
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Let’s take another quick shredding break this morning, with mountain biking videos from Argentina…
Switzerland…
And New Zealand.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bike just keeps on going.
You’ve got to be kidding. After a Russian driver slammed into a 12-year old bike rider, leaving him with serious, long-lasting injuries, the coldhearted driver sued the kid for scratching her car — and won.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in Atlanta are looking for a bike-riding robber who fired shots inside a check cashing business.
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Local
Over 1,000 people turned out for a bike ride and march through the Crenshaw District last weekend, described as a demonstration of love by and for black men.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin is one of us, riding his mountain bike through the ‘Bu.
State
No, drivers can’t legally blare on their horns to show their displeasure, whether with other drivers or people on bicycles. But good luck getting anyone to enforce it.
Calbike examines how Californians can support endangered community bike shops.
Faux Danish city Solvang is getting in on the Slow Streets movement, temporarily closing a main street through the city’s business district to motor vehicles.
Ranchers in tiny Red Bluff — population 14,000 — are holding a Ride Against All Racism this Sunday, and inviting people to walk or bike along if you don’t have a horse.
Critical Mass continues its monthly takeover of the streets of San Francisco.
Consider it the world’s most beautiful ciclovía. Yosemite’s Tioga Road opens to bike riders this weekend, before it’s opened to cars on Monday.
National
A new study shows short sprints during your ride can help keep your muscles healthy.
Bike lawyer Bob Mionske looks at whether bike shops are essential services during the lockdown. Which should be an obvious yes, but isn’t always.
Nearly 2,000 Portland people turned out for a ride to support Black Girls Do Bike’s call for racial justice.
Once again, bike riders are heroes, after a group of Seattle riders used their bicycles and bodies to protect protesters from a driver who intentionally tried to smash into the demonstrators.
A Chicago columnist says the city’s first shared street is great, but it isn’t the long-lasting change they need.
A bighearted Michigan dentist donated $15,000 worth of free dental work to the 18-year old black man who had his front teeth knocked out by a bigoted white man using a bike chain.
A DC bike rider takes it on himself to clear broken glass from a bike lane by hand.
Marchers in Charlotte NC turned to people on bicycles to carry supplies and keep order at the ongoing protests following the death of George Floyd.
The Florida legislature passed a bill allowing ebikes on any road, path or sidewalk where regular bicycles are allowed; now it’s up to the state’s Republican governor to sign into law, or not.
International
British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor explains her recent bicycling injuries came when she swerved to avoid someone on a Thames River pathway and fell off her bike, without a helmet, smacking her head on the concrete down below. Which serves as a reminder that slow speed falls are exactly what bike helmets are designed for, not collisions with motor vehicles.
A former Welsh rugby star raised the equivalent of over $176,000 by riding his bike 1,000 miles last month, benefitting the cancer center that helped him beat testicular cancer.
Heartbreaking story from the UK, where a father went looking for his 14-year old son when he didn’t return from a bike ride, and found him being treated by paramedics as the boy lay dying in the street, the victim of a speeding driver.
A new study shows Great Britain could face a “traffic tsunami” as people turn to their cars to avoid public transit. Which is exactly what we’ve been warning about over here.
No surprise here, as over two-thirds of people in Brussels, Belgium, want more space for people walking and biking, as well as public transit, and less devoted to motor vehicles.
Only 20% of bicycling injuries on Belgian and Dutch roads involve a motor vehicle.
Slovenia invites you to discover the country by bicycle.
An Indian paper says bicycles have empowered women, revolutionized fashion, cleared the air, and led to…glowing skin? Seriously?
Tel Aviv is planning to double the amount of the city’s bikeways over the next year, hoping to avoid becoming another Los Angeles.
Competitive Cycling
Team USA announced the preliminary road, mountain biking and track cycling teams for the delayed Tokyo Olympics, assuming the pandemic is under control and they actually take place next year.
Apparently, this is Legion of Los Angeles week. Team founder Justin Williams makes the news once again, as the former US track, time trial and road cycling champ discussed Lance, and Lance’s former team manager Johan Bruyneel, on Williams new podcast. Meanwhile, the crowdfunding page for the LA-based diversity-themed cycling team has raised over $101,000 — doubling the original $50,000 goal.
Finally…
Get your kids started early with a BMW balance bike. Now you, too, can own a handcrafted Dutch supercar and matching bicycle, along with your very own airline seats — minus the plane.
And that feeling when a pair of tire blowouts save your life.
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Thanks to Dennis E for his generous donation to help support this site, and keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day.
Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
