Tag Archive for Phil Gaimon

Protected bike lanes around Silver Lake, feedback needed for Redondo Beach Blvd, and Gaimon switches to Sierra Club

It’s Day 12 of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive

Let’s all give a sincere thanks to Elizabeth T, Andrew F, Gold Leaf Films, Terence H, Thuan V and Steve F for their generous support to keep all the best bike news coming your way today, and every day. 

So don’t wait. Just take a moment right now to donate via PayPal or Zelle.

It’s okay. We’ll wait.

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Interesting idea.

Streets For All says we could have protected bike lanes all around Silver Lake Reservoir.

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If you live or ride in the South Bay, take a few minutes to share your thoughts on remaking this key corridor.

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We’re not the only ones raising funds during the holidays, if you have any extra cash lying around.

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Wait, you can do that?

Has anyone told officials here in LA?

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After raising over half a million dollars for Chefs Cycle/No Kid Hungry, LA-based former pro Phil Gaimon switches his attention to raising funds for the Sierra Club, even as he deals with his own crushing medical debt stemming from a semi-insured bike crash.

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

No bias here. A far right DC publication complains about the US being  eliminated from the World Cup by a “second-rate bicycle country,” describing it as a “meaningless soccer tournament,” while terming the sport “a fundamentally evil and anti-American enterprise.” Well, okay then.

A British driver decides she’d rather run a red light than have an unpleasant conversation with the bike rider she nearly hit.

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

A Florida man faces a well-deserved ten years to life after riding his bike three hours to have sex with what he thought was a 14-year old girl, but was actually an undercover cop.

Tragic news from the UK, where an elderly British woman died two weeks after she struck by a bike rider while walking on a pathway in Oxford. Yet another reminder to always slow down and ride carefully around pedestrians, who can be unpredictable, and are the only people more vulnerable than we are out there. 

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Local 

Streetsblog offers photos from Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia as part of an open thread.

Metro is working with LADOT to build bus priority lanes throughout the city, which can also be used by people on bicycles.

 

State 

A pair of 12 and 13-year old boys suffered life-threatening injuries when they were struck by a driver in San Diego’s Nestor neighborhood Sunday evening; no word on their current condition.

Temecula bike riders are invited to light up their bikes to tour the holiday lights at the city’s lakefront Harveston neighborhood.

A San Francisco professor explains why the city’s Safe Streets program is a critical link in revitalizing tourism, as the city considers whether to continue it.

San Francisco-based Strava has joined the current round of tech industry layoffs, letting go of around 40 employees, or 15% of its staff.

Longtime Bike East Bay advocacy director Dave Campbell is stepping down after 24-years of fighting for safer streets.

Sacramento votes to extend a trio of protected bike lanes, while adding others to the city’s protected bike lane network.

 

National

A Utah advocacy group makes the case for why Salt Lake City needs to adopt Vision Zero.

An Arizona man is on trial for killing two women back in the ’90s, including a 22-year old woman who was found beheaded a day after leaving for a bike ride.

Colorado is looking to extend its ebike program into low-income communities, and offering organizations nearly a million dollars in grants for plans to provide ebikes to income-qualified workers.

Massachusetts Streetsblog offers advice on how to bike through a Boston winter. Which is just a tad different from our SoCal winters.

Vox tells the story of a mother who refuses to let the world forget her four-year old daughter, who was killed by a van driver as she rode her bike with her father in a DC crosswalk. And through her, the story behind the rising rate of traffic violence. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

A Maryland county is undertaking 27 separate bike projects under its Vision Zero program, as deaths continue to rise.

A Florida bike rider was arrested hiding in a tree with a meth pipe after fleeing from a traffic stop.

 

International

Your next backpack could hide an inflatable airbag designed to protect your head, spine and chest in the event of a crash — as long as you don’t mind wearing something the size of a parachute.

Life is cheap in Toronto, where an inattentive cement truck driver walked without a day behind bars for fatally right-hooking an experienced bike rider.

A British bicyclist has introduced a fully functional water bottle that doubles as a glowing light to illuminate your legs as you pedal after dark; it’s currently available on Kickstarter for the equivalent of around $32, although it’s not clear if it will ship to the US.

After getting clipped by a trailer when a driver pulled back too soon after a passing, a Dutch writer considers what it took to overcome his anxiety and feel comfortable on a bike again.

Streetsblog says the fact that driver’s licenses are so hard to get is just one reason roads are safer in the Netherlands.

A woman in New Zealand was the victim of a strong arm robbery when a bike thief grabbed her around the neck and threw her violently to the ground before riding off on her bike, then abandoning it when the chain came off. Note to self: Loosen your bike chain to help prevent theft.

 

Finally…

Seriously, who doesn’t need a $2,000 24-karat gold-plated Campy corkscrew? That feeling when you ride your ebike on the notorious Wall of Death.

And when regular bikes just aren’t weird enough.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

CHP gets bike law wrong after 13-year old right hooked, Phil Gaimon gets it, and gravel bull buffoonery in Bakersfield

Once again, the CHP gets basic bike law completely wrong.

After a 13-year old Temecula boy was right hooked by a driver while riding his bike on the sidewalk on his way to school, a CHP officer blamed the victim, stressing that he was riding against traffic.

Except there is no right or wrong way on a sidewalk.

As any pedestrian can tell you, sidewalks are bidirectional, with no requirement to walk one way or the other.

The same holds true for riding a bike — assuming sidewalk riding is legal there. The requirement to ride with traffic only applies if you’re riding in the street.

If the CHP can’t manage to teach their officers that, maybe they shouldn’t be investigating bike crashes.

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Phil Gaimon gets it.

His latest video calls for everyone who rides a bike in LA to sign the Healthy Streets LA ballot petition, which would require the city to build out the mobility plan whenever a street on it is repaved.

And it doesn’t hurt that he features a recent story from this site, even if it was bad news.

Although you may have to suffer through an ad or two first.

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Gravel Bikes California offers what they describe as bulls, bees and buffoonery, and the madness that’s the pure joy of gravel.

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Proof that a separated bike lane is no guarantee against being the victim of a hit-and-run.

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Now that’s a close pass.

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

A Florida driver will apparently get away with killing a man riding his bike on the shoulder of a highway, despite veering all the way off the roadway to strike the victim, who police say did nothing wrong. And despite the driver’s long record of traffic violations and license suspensions. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.

A 71-year old Welsh driver was convicted of backing into a group of bicyclists following a punishment pass, while calling them “English bastards.” The joke’s on him though, since one of the riders was Dutch.

Someone is stealing the protective iron barriers from the world’s longest continuous bike lane in Turkey.

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Local

A Metro board motion once again reaffirms that funding for the now cancelled 710 Freeway extension will go for multi-modal and safety enhancement projects, rather than the auto-centric projects the head of Metro’s Highways Program keeps insisting on.

 

State 

A San Diego woman beats the odds by taking to her bike after nearly dying from an infected heart valve, with her husband of 40 years riding by her side.

San Mateo proves that it is possible to build out a bike plan while overcoming objections from residents over a loss of street parking; the city approved a plan to install bike lanes on three streets, as well as building three separate bike boulevards, while removing 170 parking spaces to make room for the project.

Berkeley approves plans to install a bus lane on Telegraph Ave, while building protected bike lanes on three nearby streets.

A Berkeley bike advocate reflects on her brush with death when she was struck by a driver while riding bikes with her son last year.

 

National

Bicycling recommends the best bike tubes for all types of bicyclists, including one that’s pretty in pink. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

A couple in their 60s shares what they learned riding a tandem 3,800 miles across the US. Although the first lesson should be how to get past the Wall Street Journal’s draconian paywall.

VeloNews examines how Black style is transforming cycling culture.

A Portland website tells the tale of the city’s 1890s bike factory, which was originally opened to build an ether-powered bicycle, which was dropped when they couldn’t keep up with demand for pedal-powered bikes.

Clearly, a sidewalk is no protection from a drunk driver, as Tucson AZ bike rider was killed when a reckless DUI driver veered onto the sidewalk he was riding on; in an unusual development, the driver was also hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

The body of a Colorado man was just recently discovered and identified, after he went missing on a. bike ride last September.

Houston moves forward with plans for a road diet and bike lanes, despite last minute opposition to the project after three years of public meetings.

A New York op-ed says the city must commit public funding to expand the Citi Bike bikeshare system, noting it’s the city’s only transit network that doesn’t receive financial support.

DC considers adopting the full Idaho Stop Law, allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and red lights like stop signs, while also banning right turns on red.

Bighearted residents of Biloxi, Mississippi pitched in to crowdfund a new bike for a 76-year old man who relies on a bike for transportation, after his was stolen.

Kindhearted Florida cops bought a new bike for a young girl after hers was stolen, and they couldn’t recover it.

Another bike rider was caught dangling from a Florida draw bridge, but fortunately, this one survived.

 

International

No surprise here. A new review of 170 studies from around the world confirms that cities where where walking and bicycling are safe and convenient have a lower rate of diabetes and obesity. Although you’ll have to sacrifice your privacy and sign up to view the story.

Despite adopting a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to safe mobility, Mexico’s car-centric infrastructure continues to put bike riders and pedestrians at risk.

Road.cc offers advice on how to stop the dreaded speed wobbles, which can be scary as hell when they come for you.

A British man was finally able to overcome his fears and get back on his bike, three years after he was injured by a driver in a 2018 terrorist attack.

The war in Ukraine hits home for the bicycling community, as video posted to social media appears to show a bike rider hit by a missile strike. Although there are a lot of fakes circulating now, so take anything you see, read or hear with a big grain of salt.

 

Competitive Cycling

Despite drawing over 300,000 spectators, hosting the Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour de France in Yorkshire, England has shown no lasting financial benefit.

 

Finally…

Your next bike lock could be your bike. That feeling when your cat becomes a star for riding around town with you.

And why you’ll never beat Peter Sagan if you have periods.

No, really.

https://twitter.com/amylaurenjones/status/1496863263858073614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1496863263858073614%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-24-february-2022-290577

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

Man injured in Show Low vehicular attack dies, and Phil Gaimon and fiancé threatened by road raging LA driver

Heartbreaking news from Arizona, where one of the victims of last month’s vehicular assault on a senior’s bike race has died.

Fifty-eight-year old Jeremy Barrett took a turn for the worse after initially showing improvement following the crash, and passed away on Saturday.

Barrett had been flown to a hospital in Flagstaff suffering from internal injuries, and was due to be transferred to a hospital in Tucson before suffering a stroke and deteriorating in the days that followed.

He was described by friends as someone who went out of his way to help others, and frequently hosted touring bicyclists in his home.

A police spokesperson says that additional charges are likely to be filed in the wake of Barrett’s death, on top of the 20 felony counts already faced by 36-year old driver Shawn Michael Chock for the alleged intentional attack.

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You really hate to see this.

Everyone’s favorite retired pro cyclist and his fiancé had an ugly run-in with a road raging driver, who apparently couldn’t be bothered to slow his Porsche down on his way to the golf course.

While Phil Gaimon and Emily may not be able to make a case for assault with a deadly weapon, the driver could and should be charged with battery after allegedly shoving the petite woman confronting him.

It’s also a textbook case for LA’s bicyclist anti-harassment ordinance, which allows for a civil case with an award of three times the actual monetary damages or $1,000, whichever is higher.

And the driver could be required to pay any attorney’s fees they may incur while preparing the case.

Thanks to Zachary Rynew for the heads-up.

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West Hollywood offers advice on how bike riders and pedestrians can avoid getting run over by motorists.

But sadly, not one word for drivers on how to avoid running over anyone.

Overall, though, their tips for people on bikes aren’t bad.

Although someone should remind them that signaling while stopping isn’t a great idea for people with hand brakes. And you should stop signaling before starting a turn so you can have both hands on the handlebars.

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UCLA’s Chris Giza talks with KNX-1070 radio about the benefits of turning a fake pandemic commute into the real thing.

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After failing to be named to this year’s Tour de France roster, Aussie Lachlan Morton took it on himself to ride the entire race route, alone and unsupported, and try to beat the peloton into Paris.

Yesterday he got there, beating the riders competing in the race by nearly a full week.

And still got the traditional champagne at the finish.

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

A Las Vegas man faces a murder charge for intentionally running over a homeless man riding a bicycle, after exchanging words in a parking lot. However, this wasn’t a random incident; the two men knew one another, and had once been roommates.

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Local

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with California Streets Initiative board member and CD5 city council candidate Jonathan Weiss.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the hit-and-run driver who ran down and killed a 72-year old Diamond Bar man as he was walking in a crosswalk; his niece says Bruce Bodel preferred to walk or bike rather than driving.

Streets For All is hosting a Zoom happy hour from 5 to 6 pm this evening with UCLA parking maestro and professor emeritus Don Shoup.

The Eastside Bike Club and Stan’s Bike Shop bring you the return of the popular Tour De Taco ride this Saturday. Say hi to my friend Carlos Morales if you go.

 

State

Bay Area firefighters are preparing to ride across the country to Brooklyn for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

 

National

Maybe they finally get it. The new federal infrastructure plan includes a focus on smart infrastructure and Vision Zero to maybe actually build and fix roads so they don’t kill people, along with $20 billion specifically earmarked to improving safety for bike riders and pedestrians. Now let’s hope it can somehow get through our hopelessly divided and dysfunctional Congress.

The Wall Street Journal examines the cycling fans who hoard hundreds of team jerseys. Although, as usual, half their story is hidden behind a paywall.

Tech Radar rates the year’s best bike locks, ranking Kryptonite one, two and three.

Mountain bike legend Tinker Juarez offers advice the Singletracks podcast on how to get and stay fast on the mountain.

This one’s going on the top of my bike bucket list. A Navajo-owned Dzil Ta’ah Adventures is offering overnight bikepacking and half-day tours of the spectacular Southwestern US Navajo Nation, combining unspoiled wilderness with tribal creation stories.

Hundreds of retired and active duty police officers will ride nearly 1,000 miles around Indiana, visiting twelve cities across the state to honor fallen officers and law enforcement survivors.

 

International

Germany’s version of the Auto Club is now offering roadside assistance to bike riders in Berlin and Brandenburg, with plans to expand the service throughout the country. AAA offers similar services in someparts of the US, but not in Southern California, where the group prefers to pretend that its members don’t ride bicycles.

Researchers at Australia’s Monash University will work with experts in machine learning to develop new technologies to capture data on dangerous interactions between bike riders and motorists, in order to map where bicyclists are most at risk.

 

Competitive Cycling

After a record-setting run of stage wins in this year’s Tour de France, Britain’s Mark Cavendish has no plans to retire anytime soon.

With the yellow jersey seemingly wrapped up already, Bicycling considers what else there is to look forward to in the final week of the Tour. Cavendish, anyone? As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Rouleur considers the youngest and oldest riders in this year’s Tour, and how they rank in the race’s history; at 41, Alejandro Valverde would be the oldest stage winner ever if he claims one this year, while 22-year old Brit cyclist Fred Wright is the youngest rider in the peloton.

Cyclist goes straight to the top, talking with the French woman who runs the company that owns the Tour de France.

Bicycling asks how high Colorado’s Sepp Kuss can climb after winning his first stage in the Tour, suggesting he could win a Grand Tour one day — if he really wants it. Although the Yahoo version of the story has a much better headline, in case Bicycling blocks you. Thanks to our friend Richard Duquette for the link. 

Bicycling questions the legitimacy of the obscure crypto currency company that’s now the new co-sponsor of the Africa-based Qhubeka cycling team, which will be Qhubeka-NextHash starting next year. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

A writer for Bicycling says the racers turned out for an outstanding Giro Donne stage race won by Anna van der Breggen, even if women cyclists deserve “far more than pathetic payouts and embarrassingly bad livestream coverage.” Here’s the Yahoo link if…well, you know.

Three-time world road champ Peter Sagan is in danger of missing the Tokyo Olympics following surgery to treat an infection caused when he gashed his knee on the chainring in a crash during the Tour.

 

Finally…

So that’s where Luca got his rusty, old bike. Tom Hanks is one of us, thanks in part to wife Rita Wilson.

And that feeling when you’re riding your bike on a haunted highway, and find a head dumped by a mafia hitman.

Good times.

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

 

Gaimon gamely tries to regain Everest title, riding 1,000 miles across Yukon in 1900, and bike cops in 1904 DTLA

Phil gave it his best shot.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.

After briefly holding the world Everesting record — climbing the equivalent of the height of Mt. Everest in a single ride — former pro Phil Gaimon bided his time making another attempt, before finding the perfect hill in Malibu.

Unfortunately, he was done in by an unexpected heat wave, abandoning the attempt after more than four hours as the heat climbed into the 80s.

Although something tells me he may give it another shot before the pandemic is over.

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva from Pexels.

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LA may be wet and cold right now, but it could be worse.

An adventure website tells the tale of a shop owner who sold everything he owned at the turn of the last century, and bought a 45 pound, single speed safety bicycle.

Then gave himself one week to learn how to ride before tackling a nearly 1,000-mile journey across the Yukon to Nome, Alaska, hoping to get there before all the gold was gone.

In the middle of winter, with temperatures down to -45.

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One more week to get a discount when you sign up for this year’s virtual Bike Summit.

Evidently, bike cops are nothing new in Downtown LA.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Here’s your chance to chuck it all, and live the mountain bike dream.

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Bicycles seldom fly off highways and burst into flames. Just saying.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the forward.

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

No bias here. A conservative candidate for London mayor pledges to rip out all the Low Traffic Neighborhoods — the equivalent of this country’s Slow Streets — if he’s elected, and get rid of congestion pricing to enter the city center.

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

Modesto streets were swarmed by people on bicycles, as hundreds of riders responded to local bike club’s call by flouting traffic laws, leading to five arrests and police impounding 19 bikes.

Police in England are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who forced a mother riding with her four-year old son on her bike face-first into a wall; she needed 20 stitches to her upper lip and the equivalent of nearly $500 in dental work.

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Local

About damn time. Nearly 75 advocacy and safety groups, including LADOT and the LACBC, sent a letter to newly inaugurated President Biden calling for a nationwide commitment to Vision Zero to traffic deaths in 29 years.

Burbank is gearing up to open another .75 mile segment of the Burbank Wash Bikeway next month.

The bike boom isn’t just limited to riding outside, as subscriptions for Long Beach’s Zwift have doubled over the past year.

 

State

La Jolla approves plans for protected bike lanes on Gilman Drive as part of San Diego’s Coastal Rail Trail project.

San Diego letter writers epitomize what passes for debate over bike lanes, with one calling for safety, while the other would rather have parking and arguing that some bicyclists don’t want them, anyway.

A 12-year old Bakersfield boy is back on a bike despite losing his vision, riding a tandem with his nine-year old brother up front, thanks to an Idaho man who hit up his friends to raise five grand for a child-sized bike.

A homeopathic medicine company featured Santa Barbara’s famed Gibraltar Road in their series of Great Ride videos.

Sad news from the central coast, where a 57-year old Soquel man was killed when his motorized bike crashed into a roadway median at 30 mph. Although it would be interesting to know how the CHP determined his speed, since it’s almost impossible to calculate the speed of a bicycle following a crash.

A San Mateo man is cleaning up by riding his bike, after starting a group to help clean the roads they ride in the county.

 

National

Streetsblog offers highlights from last week’s confirmation hearing for Transportation Secretary-designate Pete Buttigieg, including a call for Complete Streets and long overdue recognition that it’s time for America to end its auto-centric ways. Yes, he actually used one of my favorite terms.

They get it. Time says ebikes are taking off, but America’s cities aren’t ready for them.

After 136 years, Oregon finally concludes that bicycles are for humans.

Unbelievable. A Seattle bike cop is likely to walk without charges for slowly rolling his police bike over the head of a prone protester, after the victim declines to press charges.

Las Vegas remembered the five bike riders killed by an alleged meth-using truck driver by installing a five-seat ghost bike.

A 12-year old Arizona cancer survivor won a new ebike by winning a national dance competition, despite having just one leg.

Utah’s Arches National Park is seeking public input on a proposal that would allow bike riders to safely access the park by allowing them to use an existing trail that connects to the Moab Canyon Parkway.

Nice piece from Outside, as they profile the mobile bike repair shop working to keep the Navajo Nation on their bikes.

Turning bicycling into recycling, an 82-year old former pension fund manager in Wisconsin is using his retirement to collect and recycle aluminum cans; he recently gathered his two millionth can on his bike, using the profits to benefit environmental groups.

Pittsburgh is calming streets to slow traffic, in a city where ten percent of people still walk to work, and more are riding bikes every year.

No surprise here, as over half of the bicycling deaths in New York were low income or essential workers.

 

International

Singer, reality show judge and former Dancing With the Stars champ Nicole Scherzinger is one of us, taking a maskless ride with her boyfriend while vacationing in Turks and Caicos in the middle of a pandemic.

Toronto bike riders continue to die while the city backpedals on a $100 million commitment to build bikeways.

A Toronto woman rode her bike to get through a rough year. And used the lessons she learned to keep going through marital problems and a lost job.

Road.cc says why settle for riding the length of the UK when you can ride from London to Barcelona, instead.

Britain’s Busby safety app has seen a whopping 870% increase during the pandemic, as the resulting bike boom has encouraged riders worldwide to download the app that detects unusual movement — like a fall — and calls for help if it’s not deactivated in time.

Bike Radar considers why bike prices are spiking in the UK, concluding it’s not all due to Brexit, and takes a look at the best e-roadies.

Traffic deaths are down in Germany. Except for people on bicycles, which are climbing due to a lack of quality infrastructure.

Even in winter, 12% of all trips in Oulu, Finland are made by bicycle. But no one will ride in usually sunny Los Angeles winter weather, right?

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Giro champ Tom Dumoulin is taking a gap year, in a sense; the Dutch rider walked away from his Jumbo-Visma team to reconsider his future, questioning whether he still wants to race bikes.

An aspiring pro describes life in the lower rungs of pro cycling. And it ain’t pretty.

On a related note, Explica examines the impatience of tech-oriented Spanish Gen Z cyclists to turn pro in a world where 23-year old amateurs are over the hill.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the sound of gunshots turns out to be a tree falling on your back while you ride. Who needs ice skates when you’ve got an ice bike?

And seriously, who hasn’t played the bagpipes while shoveling snow on a unicycle dressed as Darth Vader?

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

Caltrans wants input on replacing Encino ped bridge, best ad ever for LA bicycling, and maybe we should just move to Dubai

Caltrans is looking for feedback on a proposal to replace the pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in Encino.

Or maybe not, since one of the options doesn’t involve a replacement.

Artwork from Caltrans rendering. Thanks to S. Martinez for the heads-up.

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Phil Gaimon does a little lane splitting on PCH through the ‘Bu, passing cars like they were standing still.

Which, from the looks of it, they mostly were, as usual.

He calls this the best ad ever for cycling in Los Angeles. And he’s got a point.

Although I’m not sure I’d split lanes like that on SoCal’s killer highway, even though it’s perfectly legal.

But I confess, there’s a real satisfaction in passing long lines of stalled traffic on your bike.

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Maybe we should all just give up on LA and move to newly bike-friendly Dubai.

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Once again, an English police department shows their American counterparts how it’s done when it comes to enforcing safe passing laws.

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Local

A Pasadena website looks at the new bike lanes in Arcadia and San Gabriel.

 

State

San Jacinto approves plans to implement critically needed bike and pedestrian safety projects.

Santa Maria police will step up bike and pedestrian safety enforcement from the 18th through the 25th of August. Standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you get out of their jurisdiction.

Santa Cruz has chosen eleven streets for the city’s Slow Streets program.

San Francisco proposes a protected bike lane and other steps to fix a dangerous section of Folsom Street.

A Sacramento TV station wants to see your first bike.

 

National

A new Amazon Prime show from the producer of Survivor promises to pit the world’s toughest cyclists against the world’s most challenging bike race. If you can’t access the Bicycling site, you can read it on Yahoo.

Road Bike Action Magazine is offering free online access with registration. And entertain yourself for hours swatting their many popup windows.

Your next bike tires may never need air or a patch kit.

A columnist for a Salt Lake City paper says biking in the age of coronavirus is the least we can do. Which is all most people do, anyway.

The Green Bay Packers’ website goes all the way back to 1958 to uncover the source of the team’s annual tradition of borrowing kid’s bikes to ride to the first day of training camp.

Sadly, there will be no more bicycle taco deliveries in Milwaukee.

A Minnesota public radio station looks at the local chapter of Red Bike and Green, a Black riding collective founded in Oakland 13 years ago to bring more diversity to bicycling.

Heartbreaking news from Detroit, where a mother was killed, along with her one-year old son, when a driver plowed into the bike trailer she was pulling with her bicycle. Crashes involving bike trailers may be rare, but sadly, they do happen, despite what many drivers will tell you.

More proof that ebikes are real bicycles, as a Tennessee man lost 105 pounds and beat diabetes by riding one. Once again, if you can’t access the Bicycling site, you can read it on Yahoo. And before you ask, no, that won’t work for me; if I lost 105 pounds, there wouldn’t be much left. And I’d still have diabetes.

A Boston website takes understandable pride in Bicycling’s promotion of the hometown East Coast Greenway. Although hometown is a bit of a stretch for something that runs over 3,000 miles through 15 states.

A Hoboken NJ bike thief folded under interrogation about the theft of a folding bike, appropriately enough.

Apparently, Virginia state police plan to put a pickup truck behind bars for fleeing the scene after running down a teenage boy who was walking his bike, since they don’t even mention that it might have had a driver.

 

International

Bloomberg examines the problem planners face balancing expanded space for bike riders with the needs of disabled people. Although it’s worth noting that expanding space for bikes allows some disabled people to ride bikes, which many use as mobility devices.

CBC says cutting speed limits could slow climate change. Not to mention save lives.

That’s more like it. After 12 criminal convictions in the past 15 months — including four for bike theft — a prolific British thief has been banned from even handling or sitting on a bicycle for the next two years.

Surprisingly, bike theft in down dramatically in the UK, with 19,000 fewer bikes stolen compared to the previous year.

The Guardian’s Laura Laker says UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will never see the golden age of bicycling he anticipates as long as the roads continue to feel unsafe.

In what may be the best story of the day, a four-year old British girl rode three miles on her little pink bike — complete with a doll in the toy rear child seat — raising the equivalent of $522 to fight cancer, after her grandfather died of the disease.

Helsinki, Finland is converting a boulevard into a shared bike boulevard, creating an express bikeway where drivers have to slow to the speed of bike riders.

A play that premiered in Germany’s Terezín Ghetto during the Holocaust will be performed live in New York and Israel; The Last Cyclist is described as a comic allegory that “pits innocent bicycle riders (Jews) against escaped lunatics (Nazis) who seek to destroy them,”

Residents of India Goa state are turning to bicycles and running to stay fit and get away from the pandemic for awhile. They also have the country’s best cuisine, which is annoyingly hard to find in Los Angeles. 

A former Philippine volleyball star turned TV host is giving away 50 bicycles to deserving people to help them get to work during the pandemic.

 

Competitive Cycling

A writer for the New York Times examines the coronavirus lockdown phenomenon of Everesting and the rapidly falling world records.

Colorado’s high school mountain bike season is going virtual in response to Covid-19. Now if they can just figure out how to make that work with high school football.

Cycling News wants to know if anyone can beat Remco Evanepoel at the rescheduled Il Lombardia monument race.

You may never win a stage in the Tour de France or the Critérium du Dauphiné, but you can own the bike that did. Or might have, anyway.

Speaking of which, Stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné featured an unexpected hazard — hailstones.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to revise your story because people don’t know what a stroad is. Your next bike helmet could squish down, so hopefully your head won’t.

And if you’re going to ride 621 miles on a stolen bicycle to see Tokyo for the first time, try not to get busted for bike theft just short of the city.

But at least the purloined bike the adventurous thief took was only worth $93.

Thanks to Robert Leone for that last one.

……

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

Lime supports local bike advocacy, Bicycling calls for racial diversity on bikes, and dogs (and a monkey) on bikes

E-scooter riders have come to appreciate the value of bike lanes as much as anyone.

Now Lime is trying to channel that energy into safer streets for all of us.

The company is launching their new Lime Action program in partnership with a number of advocacy groups across the US, including the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

“As people around the world are taking action to support racial justice, safer streets and cleaner air, we are excited to provide a platform for our millions of riders to turn their passion into action,” said Katie Stevens, Head of Global Policy at Lime. “Lime Action connects our riders with local grassroots organizations making meaningful change in their communities. We’re proud to help riders strengthen their hometowns by getting involved in efforts to create safer, calmer streets, reduce congestion and harmful emissions from car traffic, and fight systemic racism and injustice.”

Lime will provide their partner organizations with access to a number of advocacy tools, as well as directing their users to get involved with local organizations like the LACBC.

However, it light of today’s issues, safer streets in the traditional sense are just part of the fight.

The Lime Action partnerships and organizations will enable our riders to engage on issues that range from those directly impacting their rides, such as safer streets, to making transportation and our cities as a whole more equitable, and to helping make our world more sustainable:

  • Safer Streets: Lime riders are often encountering bike lanes for the first time on a scooter– and quickly discover how street space issues between cars and other modes of transportation can affect their safety. Lime Action will provide a way to translate this awareness into action to support campaigns for safer street infrastructure, including bike lanes, greenways, and cycle tracks.
  • Social Justice: Lime believes in strengthening our cities, and that goes beyond safe infrastructure. That’s why Lime Action partners with local organizations supporting re-entry for formerly incarcerated people, addressing institutional racism, providing career training and meaningful employment, and increasing opportunities for underprivileged youth.
  • Sustainability: The COVID-19 crisis has driven home the impact car travel has on our local air quality, with major improvements to clean air in cities when car use is minimized — but these reductions are already being erased as cities begin to recover. Lime riders already help to contribute to reductions in car use, with a quarter of all rides replacing a car trip, and all trips being powered by 100% renewable energy. Lime Action provides additional ways to support cleaner air by getting involved in local environmental and sustainability campaigns.

Lime also has a program that allows users to donate a small additional percentage to the LACBC and other organizations at the end of their rides.

Although it would be nice to see the company put its money where its mouth is, by committing to donate a few cents from every ride to the advocacy groups they partner with, which could provide a steady revenue stream for groups that desperately need it.

But this is a great start. Because scooter users need safe and fair streets as much as we do.

And we can definitely use their help to demand change from our elected leaders.

Meanwhile, a writer for Medium says the coronavirus may mark the turning point to profitability for scooter companies, by providing a safer alternative to transit.

………

An editorial from Bicycling calls for support for national and local bicycling organizations working for more racial diversity.

Here in Los Angeles, they mention the Bahati Foundation, Legion of Los Angeles, and Alterra Home Loans Cycling Team in Houston and LA.

All of which are worthy of your time, money and efforts.

But I’d also include local standouts like East Side Riders Bike Club, which is feeding hundreds of people who might otherwise go hungry this summer, and South LA’s Black Kids on Bikes, just to name a few.

………

He gets it.

After celebrating the newly carfree State Street pedestrian plaza, and calling for everyone to wear masks when they go there, a Santa Barbara columnist had this to say.

In all this forced solitude and isolation, people are rediscovering the simple joys of one of mankind’s greatest inventions: the bicycle. Not to state the obvious, but there are few better ways to get out and about while maintaining a safe social distance. Hazards and Bicycle Bob’s report their bike repair waiting lists longer than Trump’s Tulsa rally reservation list — only there are no K-Pop agitators and saboteurs involved. Bikes that sell for $500 flew out the door a month ago. Electric bikes are everywhere.

With so few cars on the road, the streets are safer. For a while, every day felt just like Sunday morning.

He goes on to criticize plans to ban bikes from the plaza, as we noted a few days ago.

And ends with this line.

There’s hope. Humans, after all, remain the only species that can ride a bike or snap their fingers.

So someone should tell him about this.

And this.

And this.

And yes, this.

………

You’re invited to Ride Against Racism this Sunday to support Black Lives Matter and protest police brutality.

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Former basketball great Bill Walton is teaming with marathon champ Meb Keflezighi to host another BikeForHumanity virtual bike ride this July to benefit several charities, including No Kid Hungry.

………

This is what it looks like to get run down from behind when a close pass isn’t.

https://twitter.com/getacarhippie/status/1276384959205240833

………

Rapper and producer DJ Mustard’s son is one of us now.

Although someone should tell him to be careful around walls.

………

Unfortunately, there are far too many bikeways like this in the US, too.

………

Former pro Phil Gaimon is back with another video, explaining five common bike collisions and how to avoid them, no matter how man wheels you travel on.

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Local

Somehow we missed this ranking of America’s best and worst cities for your heart. And for a change, Los Angeles scores well on a national list, checking in at a relatively healthy 20.

The LA Times recommends nine Los Angeles trails to ride your bike. Although they take a very expansive view of LA, including anything north of San Diego and Imperial Counties. 

Speaking of The LA Times, they join a long list of news outlets asking if the pandemic-fueled bike boom will continue. Short answer: At least as long as the pandemic does.

Downey’s mayor now has a 26-year old, bike-riding, YIMBY challenger for her city council seat.

This is who we share the road with. A woman walking her dog on a Palmdale bike path was killed by a driver who lost control while fleeing from sheriff’s deputies.

 

State

The California Transportation Commission, not to be confused with Caltrans, approved $100 million in Complete Streets funding, and began a discussion of equity in transportation.

San Luis Obispo bike riders rode 8.46 miles on Wednesday to honor George Floyd and show solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

 

National

FloBikes offers advice on how to avoid common bicycling injuries. The ones that happen without falling off.

WTF. Police in Maine report a pickup truck creepily followed an eleven-year old girl as she rode her bike. But never mention that the truck may have had a driver.

Six urban rides to explore Boston for the next time you find yourself in Beantown.

A Rhode Island bike shop is celebrating its 100th anniversary; the shop was founded two years after the last pandemic, and its anniversary comes just in time for the next one.

Life is cheap in upstate New York, where even killing an off-duty cop riding a bike with his son merits nothing more than a traffic ticket.

New York advocates are making progress in efforts to remove the NYPD from traffic enforcement and return responsibility for enforcement to the city’s Department of Transportation.

After years of ticketing and confiscating bicycles from immigrant delivery workers, New York City has finally gotten around to legalizing ebikes. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they’ll be giving all those bikes back and refunding their money.

New York continues to lap Los Angeles, as it opens up normally congested streets so people can dine al fresco, unlike their Left Coast counterpart.

A Delaware letter writer says the problem isn’t people parking their bikes illegally, it’s that the city didn’t put bike racks where people need them.

Superstar Columbian singer Maluma is one of us too, going for a Miami bike ride with a friend.

 

International

Road.cc offers advice on whether you should buy a tandem, and how. Hint: Only if you like to ride with someone else.

Gear Patrol says one of the best bike saddles is from a company you’ve never heard of.

Take a virtual bike ride along a London DIY pop-up bike lane.

A London paper offers advice on basic bike maintenance for new riders.

An Indian woman who couldn’t even ride a bike four years ago is now a virtual RAAM champ. And she’s not a small woman, which should give hope to people everywhere.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pope Francis has joined people around the world in expressing his support for Alex Zanardi, as the Paralympic champ fights to recover from a horrifying handcycling crash; doctors are worried that Zanardi, who already lost his legs in a car racing crash, may lose his eyesight or suffer brain damage.

The Dutch cycling federation considers how to move forward this summer after the country lifted its ban on competitive sports.

 

Finally…

Not many people can claim they sold bikes to Bruce Springsteen and Richard Nixon. Who needs a clown car when you’ve got bikes?

And Tour de France champ Egan Bernal has clearly mastered the most important bike skills.

………

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

Rahsaan Bahati talks race and cycling, Gaimon’s tips for new and experienced riders, and DC bike jerk attacks young girl

Just in time for the social justice protest movement roiling the county, VeloNews offers a challenging conversation with LA’s own 10-time national road champ Rahsaan Bahati about race and cycling.

Here’s a small piece of what he has to say.

I’ve been on training rides where I’ve had older adults who didn’t like me because, one, the color of my skin, and two, I was better than them. This is as a kid, having a white guy in his 40s tell me to get off a ride.

You go to Europe and it’s the same level of ignorance and racism. When I was a year out of college, I was fortunate to get a job with Jonathan Vaughters, went over to Europe, my teammates were Danny Pate, Mike Friedman, Tyler Farrar, all those guys. They’d never taken a break to go to school and I had. I remember I had another month left to be there and I remember being in car, overhearing the director or someone saying, ‘he’s no good.’ It’s like, ‘dude, I just spent the last five years at Indiana University.’

Seriously, take a few minutes to read it.

Because Bahati’s not saying anything he hasn’t said for years. The only difference is, people are finally paying attention.

And if you want to make a difference in today’s LA, you could do a lot worse than supporting his work with the nonprofit Bahati Foundation.

Photo from Bahati Foundation website.

………

Former pro Phil Gaimon is back with tips for new bike riders, while telling experienced riders not to screw this up with their obnoxious rules.

And yes, Gaimon’s typically tongue-in-cheek delivery will probably make this the funniest thing you watch today, despite his perfectly serious message.

Gaimon may have never reached the dope-fueled heights Lance Armstrong did.

But he’s become the bike advocate Lance has never been, but should be.

Especially since Lance owes a lot to all of us who bought his lies for so long.

………

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

Someone in a white van has been egging several bike riders in Yorkshire, England in recent weeks.

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

Talk about a jerk. This is about the worst behavior by a bike rider we’ve seen in some time, as a spandex-clad man assaulted a little girl on a DC-area trail, ripping flyers out of her hands demanding justice for killer cops, then ramming his bike into the man who was filming him.

https://twitter.com/VicStoddard/status/1268620623489560576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1268620623489560576&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.towleroad.com%2F2020%2F06%2Fviral-video-shows-white-bicyclist-assaulting-young-women-over-black-lives-matter-fliers-watch%2F

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Local

Long Beach’s Bixby Knolls neighborhood virtually celebrated eight years of Kidical Mass.

TMZLive host Harvey Levin is one of us. Although he may not be for awhile, after a “pretty bad” knocked him off his bike and off the air.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

The new transportation bill proposed by House Democrats contains $6.3 billion for biking and walking infrastructure.

A senior Sam Schwartz transportation planner says now is the time to rethink the right of way as the right to social movement.

US bike sales are up 30% over pre-pandemic shutdown levels. But if you can’t get a new bike, you can always fix up an old one.

Bike mechanics are in short supply, too.

A new service founded by a British expat living in Portland delivers tea, roses and handwritten notes or poems by bicycle.

Bike shop owners in Portland are hunting for dozens of bicycles that were stolen by looters during weekend protests. Just like bike shops pretty much everywhere else in the US.

There’s a special place in hell for the bike thieves who targeted a blind bike shop owner in Medford, Oregon, who’s crowdfunding money to stay in business after his shop was hit by thieves multiple times in recent weeks; the campaign has raised over $5,600 in just three days., more than making up for losing $5,000 worth of bicycles.

Ann Arbor, Michigan could soon be home to more protected bike lanes and fewer car lanes, along with more space for pedestrians, as the city responds to the coronavirus crisis. Which is a lot more than a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name is doing right now.

Bicycling profiles a 54-year old Detroit man who lost nearly 200 pounds after getting on his bike and discovering triathlons. And likely saved his own life in the process.

Not even bikes are safe from the NYPD’s aggressive policing, as charging officers indiscriminately confiscated bicycles belonging protesters and reporters alike.

Miami’s elite bike cops formed the front lines of the city’s response to recent protests.

 

International

FloBikes recommends the best bicycling books on the market right now.

Bike Radar offers advice on how to finance a new bike.

British pedicab company PedalMe has dropped their rates in an effort to get more cars off the streets during the pandemic, saying they’re now cheaper than Uber

Thousands of Brits are reaching out to local leaders to demand pop-up bike lanes, as a new survey shows 36% of UK residents would dump their cars if they felt safer biking and walking.

A horrifying X-ray shows a knife embedded in the skull of a 60-year old Spanish man, who was stabbed in the head when he tried to intervene in an argument over a bicycle. Be sure you really want to see that before you click on the link, because that image will stick with you.

A pair of bike advocates in Bengaluru — formerly known as Bangalore, India — are encouraging more people to get out and ride in the post-Covid-19 era. Which hasn’t come yet, and probably won’t for a very long time.

A Kenyan news anchor urged drivers to be more careful after he was hit by one while riding his bike; calling Nairobi one of the world’s most dangerous cities for bicyclists.

Bicycles are helping raise Zambia’s female farmers out of poverty, shaving hours off their journey to get fresh milk to market.

Korean carmaker Kia used to be one of us, beginning as a bike parts maker, and producing the country’s first full-size bicycle in 1951.

Bikes are booming Down Under, too, with a 200% jump in Adelaide alone.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could run on rails. Your next ebike may not stop someone from stealing it, but at least it will tell you if someone does.

And now we know what that weird Turkmenistan World Bicycle Day globe was.

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

Tomorrow is World Bicycle Day, white bicyclists have to do better, and Gaimon loses Everest with tongue in cheek

Tomorrow is World Bicycle Day.

Or as it’s known in Los Angeles, Wednesday.

So how do you plan to celebrate?

You could start with the First Ever Virtual Bicycle Video, released by an Indian bicycle organization.

Or just get out and go for a ride.

Photo by Josh Kur from Pexels.

………

A writer for Canadian Cycling Magazine says as white cyclists, we have to do better.

This may not be your conversation topic of choice but it’s something that we must address. As white cyclists, we have a social responsibility to take direct action toward tangible change within the cycling community and the community at large. It’s not enough to simply not be racist. As Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at the American University, said during a recent edition of CBC’s The Current, “To say you are not racist is to deny your racism. We’re either being racist or anti-racist at all times.”

With the turmoil roiling the country in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, this is a good time to remember that bicycling is often a different experience for black and brown riders than for white riders.

We don’t have to worry about what could happen if we get stopped by the police. Or feel worried eyes upon us riding through a predominantly white neighborhood.

Or worse.

When the simple act of going for a run can get you killed. And the threat may not come from the drivers the rest of us worry about. At least not in the same way.

And if you’re white, you don’t automatically become a suspect simply by riding through the wrong community, or at the wrong time.

I’ve long wanted to believe that biking while black or brown wasn’t a problem. Not here, not now.

But based on what people have told me, that’s simply not true.

It’s up to all of us to ensure a level playing field for everyone on the streets.

And in life.

………

Phil Gaimon sticks his tongue firmly in cheek, and says thanks, but he already knows he lost his Everesting record before he could even finish drinking the champagne to celebrate it.

And he wants your help to find a better hill to take it back.

Seriously, this will probably be the funniest thing you see all day.

………

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

A Detroit man faces charges for deliberately trying to run down a pair of bike cops, then leading police on a chase as he fled the scene.

A 63-year old English man was injured when he was knocked off the ebike he uses as a mobility aide after someone threw something at him from a passing car.

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

British police are looking for a bike-riding man who squirted a baby in the face with water. Don’t do that. No, really.

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Local

DTLA Bikes lucked out on Saturday’s night of looting in Downtown Los Angeles, when thieves cut the gate, but left after realizing all the bikes inside were locked; owner Yehuda Masjedi chased away a trio of thieves armed with bolt cutters as he was waiting for police to arrive Sunday morning.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

Tech Radar looks into ebikes that could genuinely replace your car. Unless you don’t own a car, in which case maybe they could replace your TAP card.

Surprisingly, AOL suggests four bikes you can still get from Amazon. No, it isn’t surprising that you can get bikes from Amazon. It’s surprising that AOL is still out there.

Today recommends the best kids bikes to get them riding this summer.

Road Bike Action details the “travails and treasure” of building your dream bike, one component at a time. Yes, they really phrased it that way.

An engineering website recommends 17 accessories every bicyclist should buy. Much of which you probably shouldn’t.

A Utah bicyclist will probably frame the ticket and display it prominently on his wall after police clocked him doing 55 mph in a 40 mph zone on a descent.

The Denver Post blames thriving ridership and an Asian supply chain disrupted by Covid-19 for the nationwide bicycle shortage.

Yale considers whether the current coronavirus-light traffic will last post-pandemic. Short answer, no. Longer answer, not without major structural changes to our streets, and policy changes at city hall.

 

International

Pro cyclists deal with the same roads as the rest of us. And they report things are getting worse around the world as countries reawaken from the coronavirus lockdown.

Cycling Tips says yes, you can be sued for causing a crash and injuring another rider on a group ride.

Costa Rica is on its way to becoming the world’s first zero-carbon country, if they can just do something about all those cars.

This is what a would-be bike thief looks like, as a Vancouver BC man films a stranger attempting to cut a U-lock from a bike in front of his building; despite the dubious ownership claims of the thief, police are looking for the bike’s real owner.

Bighearted workers at a Calgary, Alberta bike shop are raising funds to benefit the wife of a coworker and bring his family up from California for his funeral, after the elite rider was killed in a collision last week; they hope to raise $10,000 by donating all profits from Wednesday’s rentals and sales.

London’s Evening Standard picks the year’s best bike locks. Although “best” is a relative term when they include a cable lock, which is just an open invitation to steal your bike.

A new British study shows bike commuting or taking the train can cut your risk of cancer, as well as death from heart disease and mortality from all causes. In fact, bicycling is so good for you, we’d all probably live forever if it wasn’t for cars.

BBC host James May calls on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to bomb the country with bicycles, noting that he could give every adult in Britain a carbon frame bike for the price of a high speed rail line.

Another BBC presenter says she’s now terrified of riding a bicycle after her bike-riding husband was hit by a driver.

Riding a bike drunk in the UK could cost you the equivalent of over $3,100. Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.

A Turkish man rode his bicycle over 430 miles in two days to see his 14-year old daughter, who lives with her mother.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yes, Lance still hates fellow ex-Tour de France champ Floyd Landis.

Speaking of dopers, say hi to banned former German pro Jan Ullrich.

 

Finally…

This is why you don’t ride under railroad crossing arms. Why pedal when you can just walk and ride at the same time?

And finally, a how-to video tailor-made for me.

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

LA’s Gaimon sets Everesting record, Ryu flips on sustainable transportation, and BOLO alert for Downs adaptive bike

He did it.

LA-based former pro cyclist Phil Gaimon set a new world record for Everesting, riding the height of Mount Everest in less than eight hours.

Riding on LA’s steep Mountaingate Drive, Gaimon climbed a total of 29,029 feet in a time of 7:52:12, shaving 33 minutes off the previous record.

It took him over 60 laps, and nearly 100 miles of riding distance to do it.

Not to mention finishing with a little vomit in his beard. Which is a detail I’m sure none of us really needed.

Gaimon explains below he he picked the road for his record setting attempt.

Meanwhile, the LA Times reveals this isn’t the first time that road has been the scene of a hillclimb. Even if you do have to go back 35 years.

Photo by Raniery Costa Pelissari from Pexels.

………

CD4 Councilmember David Ryu must be feeling the heat as he runs for reelection in a tight race with challenger Nithya Raman.

Or else he’s had a sudden change of heart after four years of fighting road diets, bike lanes and any other kind of mobility improvements in the district.

Personally, I’d bet on the former.

But either way, it’s good to see him finally come around.

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There’s a special place in hell for the three people who stole a custom-made adaptive bike from a 15-year old Sherman Oaks boy with Down syndrome.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

Mountain biker Ben Travis takes full advantage of his one outing allowed under the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, with some pretty cool stunts on the empty streets, plazas and freight yards of his Scottish hometown.

Unless you’d rather watch Belgian mountain biker Thomas Genon prove that bikes can fly.

………

Moses Sumney goes for a relaxing bike ride on his latest video.

With no hands, even.

Usher says hold my beer, not only riding through Los Feliz with no hands, while holding his not-so-little dog.

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

A Reddit user posted video of a jerk in a pickup rolling coal, forcing them to ride through a thick fog of black exhaust; no word on where that happened, unfortunately. Thanks to Michael for the tip.

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

Or in this case, a kid, as Alabama police tracked down bike-riding boy in connection with a series of arson fires.

And a Washington man is behind bars after allegedly using a meat cleaver to rob people while riding his bike.

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Local

You still can’t ride a bike at the beach in LA County, but as of today, you can ride your bike on a closed-to-cars Rose Bowl Loop in Pasadena; social distancing required, with masks in parking lots and high density areas, and no group rides allowed.

Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson is one of us, riding through Los Angeles with his longtime girlfriend.

For fans of The Bachelor, Peter Weber and Kelley Flanagan went for a casual tandem ride through the streets of LA. For the rest of us, carry on.

 

State

There won’t be any Bike to Work Day in San Diego this Thursday, after the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, cancelled this year’s event due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Never mind that there are hardly any jobs left to bike to these days, anyway.

San Diego is taking advantage of the light traffic by repaving a three-mile section of North Harbor Drive leading to the airport, including new buffered bike lanes.

A San Raphael homeowner collared the thief who tried to steal a bike from his garage, chasing him down and holding him in a headlock until police arrived.

The Humboldt County Planning Commission approved a $1.5 million, Class 1 multi-use path paralleling State Route 255 through the tiny town of Manila, answering a decades-long call to improve safety for people on bicycles.

 

National

The New York Times says the coronavirus crisis presents a unique opportunity to reimagine our cities, creating more and better public spaces to weather this pandemic and provide greater opportunity for decades to come. Scroll slowly through the initial graphic for the full effect.

WaPo says the coronavirus isn’t the only crisis America faces right now, as speeding drivers have taken over the country’s empty roadways. Thanks to Misha Dworsky for the link.

Nice piece from Cycling Tips, as a father discovers that life rolls on even now, when his young daughter learns to ride a bike for the first time.

A new study shows distracted pedestrians aren’t the problem drivers think they are. But distracted drivers are.

Specialized has released a new transport ebike they promise is 40% lighter than traditional ebikes.

Lifehacker offers tips on how to tune your bike, while the Chicago Tribune recommends their favorite road tires.

A writer for Chicago Streetsblog says the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery illustrates the problem with calling for open streets, because they aren’t always safe for people of color, even without cars on them.

A Chicago woman pens an open letter to the hit-and-run scumbag driver who ran down her bike and left her sprawled in the street.

An Illinois town shelves plans to require helmets for bike riders, skateboarders and skaters, saying it’s not the right time because of the pandemic. It’s never the right time, because helmet laws have been repeatedly shown to depress bicycling rates, rather than improving safety.

A St. Paul MN writer maps the top gaps in the city’s bikeway network. You couldn’t do the same thing here in Los Angeles, because what passes for our nominal network is more gaps than bikeways.

Nice move from the maker of Minnesota’s Honeycomb cereal, which is donating 600 bicycles to tweens and teens in foster care.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for that new ebike from General Motors; the Detroit automaker pulled the plug after a trial European release last year.

 

International

A Mexican bikemaker is in hot water after attempting to skirt the country’s lockdown rules by hiding over 350 employees at its Mexico City factory.

The Guardian calls for more space on the roads for pedestrians and people on bicycles, saying we need room to move around safely, not a culture war.

Road.cc picks the year’s best touring bikes, starting at the equivalent of under $700.

York, England wants to become the UK’s first zero-emissions city center, with only bikes and electric vehicles allowed.

It takes a real pair of jerks to refuse to get out of the way of a little girl riding her bike on a British trail — then swear and kick her bike after she falls off.

Paris is installing 31 miles of bike lanes in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus on public transit. Meanwhile, a New York writer begs bike-friendly Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to come be his mayor instead of the current occupant of Gotham’s city hall. Maybe she could come take over for LA’s ostensible climate mayor, instead.

French bike part maker Mavic is struggling under France’s version of bankruptcy.

Germany sees a big jump in ebike sales after the country’s bike shops are allowed to reopen.

Voice of America reports on Rome’s efforts to build more bike lanes to steer residents away from transit during the pandemic.

Italy will pay 70% of the cost of a new bicycle or e-scooter during the coronavirus crisis, up to the equivalent of $540.

The former elections commissioner of the Philippines says it’s time to promote a cycling culture in the country to improve public health during the coronavirus crisis.

 

Finally…

Evidently, your bike shorts are going to be trendy for awhile.

And it’s scary as hell when I agree with LA’s conservative shock jocks for the first time.

This must be what the Upside Down feels like.

………

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

Guest commentary from the South Bay, LA and OC closed this weekend, and give a lot more distance when you walk or ride

Our anonymous South Bay correspondent has a lot on her mind today.

And all of it worth reading, which is why I’m reposting her email. There’s a lot to unpack here, so I hope you’ll give it a good read.

Including a couple reminders of the problems women face on their bikes that men don’t, especially at night.

Yesterday afternoon I rode to Carla Becerra’s ghost bike, with the intention of posting a little sign to remind the world that she was a registered nurse who we should have on the front lines right now, and also with a little P.S. (piece of smacktalk) addressed to the skunk who stole her jewelry.

There was a necklace hanging on the ghost bike. Just a piece of costume jewelry that the rain hasn’t been kind to. It was the bike’s only ornamentation.

It appears to have an olive green beveled stone pendant in a bronze setting, and several smaller, opaque chartreuse stones, clear glass beads, and pale blue gems on a tarnished silver or bronze alloy chain. I took it.

Can you contact the family and ask if it might be hers? If it is, they should have it. If not, I have to return it to the ghost bike.

………

I am cranky not knowing how court cases are proceeding, especially the Banks and Lindsley cases.

………

The speeding drivers lately are less worrisome than the speeding drivers in the rightmost lane. I swear, close calls lately have been a lot closer.

Why the f are drivers with two completely free lanes to their left still trying to share my lane, a substandard width lane that’s already occupied, at 45mph???

………

On Saturday night, on a stretch of my commute through an area between the freeway and a commercial/business park, a car slowed wayyy down as it came up from behind. It had barely passed as I hit the brakes and did a track stand at its 5 o’clock. Its driver yelled, “WANT SOME CASH?”

Are.you.fucking.kidding.me.jpeg.

I bellowed my standard response, which is a loud, stern, unambiguous, “Get away from me and stay away from me.” And then swerved behind him to flood his rearview with 1100 lumens. He took off.

For the record, since it’s pertinent information, I was wearing knee-high Dr Martens with cargo pants tucked in, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a reflective jacket, and a provocatively sexy giant lump of a 45L-capacity Chrome bag. And no make-up.

The bars are closed. The strip clubs are closed. The corners & bus stops are empty of trafficked girls.

The lonely and the predatory are still out there, though.

………

Much closer to home, I’ve taken to cutting through the empty parking lots of another commercial park in the past few weeks, mainly because there are cameras that can be accessed if I turn up missing.

Two nights ago, a couple of guys were vaping in front of a business, door open, lights on inside. One of them yelled at me, “Stay safe!” Last night, they were out there, so I stopped to say hi and ask them not to yell at me. The one guy is the business owner. He and his friend are sleeping inside the office with guns, just in case. They’re worried about their fledgling business and looters (and possibly saving on residential rent.) Anyway, I told them I’d alert them if I saw anything suspicious while passing through, and I expect they’ll continue to have their smoke break right about my commute time. This area is usually a ghost town but now I feel a little safer with my own personal armed bodyguards.

………

Some nights I would catch a northbound bus to cut a few miles off my commute (especially if, for example, it rained), but that particular transit agency has cut its service hours to 6am-9pm. Us schlubby little wage slaves who man the warehouses & run the mini-marts & stock the shelves & bake the factory bread aren’t the ones who benefit from such operating hours. And the 9-to-5ers who could commute exclusively during these hours are now working remotely. So fuck you if you’re off swing shift at 11pm, or if you work graveyards. Just stop bein’ essential, lol.

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Last Friday shortly before 11pm, a rider was hit and left for dead on El Segundo Blvd, just a half mile west of a corner where a house was hit by a drunk driver on March 29th. And Monday about 7:45pm, a driver with a previous DUI hit a cyclist in East LA. Nothing in the news. And I wonder if these drivers are simply released, despite the violent nature of their crimes.

Photo by Burst from Pexels.

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I was going to offer a list of all the park closures in LA and Orange Counties this weekend. But it’s easier to just say wherever you’re thinking of going, assume it’s closed for the holiday weekend.

However, most bike paths appear to be open, other than those along the beach.

………

No surprise here.

A study from Belgium and the Netherlands suggests that you need to give a much greater distance to stay safe from Covid-19 while biking or walking — up to 16 feet walking single file, 33 feet for a casual bike ride, and twice that for a hard ride.

So much for those pacelines and other group rides right now.

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Speaking of group rides, hopefully the coronavirus will let up in time for fall’s Phil’s Fondo.

And a tip of the cycling cap to Phil Gaimon for aiming for another $100,000 for No Kid Hungry.

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Not sure why this popped up again today, but it’s worth revisiting, as South LA’s own Justin Williams, the US crit champ, discusses the lack diversity in cycling.

And how he’s addressing it with his multicultural Legion of Los Angeles cycling team.

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

No bias here. London bike riders are facing even more abuse from drivers than usual, because several newspapers used a telephoto lens to make bicyclists riding in parks look like they’re much closer together than they really are and breaking social distancing rules.

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Local

New rules in Los Angeles don’t appear to require a mask or other face covering while you ride a bike, but they are required if you stop to shop or talk with anyone; Los Angeles Magazine lists apparel makers who’ve turned their attention to non-medical masks for the time being.

 

State

California advocacy groups are moving bicycle training courses online — including LA County’s ActiveSGV.

The executive director of the San Diego Mountain Biking Association offers tips on how to hit the trails while social distancing.

 

National

Inc. confirms what we’ve been seeing lately. The coronavirus has resulted in boom times for bike shops, as people turn to bicycles for social distancing-compliant exercise and self-care, as well as virus-free transportation. Although not everyone’s business is booming, evidently.

Build a simpler, if somewhat stranger, bike, and the world will beat a path to your website.

VeloNews wants you to gear up wisely on gravel gear.

Vice offers advice on how to get back into bicycling during the pandemic. Because apparently, riding a bike isn’t just like riding a bike.

A Kansas college student is working with her classmates to design and build a custom adaptive bike to help her father ride again, a decade after he suffered a near-fatal stroke. And crowdfunded five grand to pay for it.

This is what happens when people use bike trails illegally. A hearing impaired Nebraska man was injured when he was startled by a pair of miscreant dirt bike riders zooming down the non-motorized trail he was riding on.

A popular Syracuse NY musician was the victim of a double hit-and-run as he was riding his bike; he was struck by the second driver while he was sitting in the street waiting for an ambulance after the first driver fled.

Streetsblog says no one wants to take credit — or maybe blame — for banning ebikes on New York’s popular Hudson River Greenway, even though they’re now legal in the rest of the state.

The New York Times celebrates the rarified magic of empty streets, suggesting social distancing is giving us a rare opportunity to fix our cities.

Tennis star Serena Williams is one of us; the Florida gator she encountered while out on a ride, not so much.

No bias here. A Florida letter writer carefully explains when and why bike riders are allowed to take the lane. And then says stay to the right, anyway.

 

International

This is why people keep dying on the streets. An Alberta judge acquitted the driver who killed an off-duty Mountie as he rode his bike on the shoulder of a highway, blaming the sun and shadows for making the victim hard to see. Even though the driver shouldn’t have been driving on the shoulder in the first place. Never mind that he refused to take an alcohol test after an officer smelled it on his breath.

When their school was shut down due to Covid-19, a group of bighearted Montreal students devoted their time and their bikes to help seniors isolating in their homes.

Piers Morgan, host of Good Morning Britain, apologized to a Member of Parliament for the “complete moron” on a bike who kept riding through the background of their TV interview. He also blamed the bike rider for violating the county’s three-foot social distancing requirement, even though he doesn’t appear to come that close.

A London woman with cystic fibrosis will ride the equivalent of 62 miles in her garden this weekend to celebrate the third anniversary of the lung transplant that saved her life, after the country’s lockdown forced her off the streets. And despite the fact her new lungs are failing.

After a British boy spent six months saving up for a new bike, it was stolen the first time he rode it to school. So his kindhearted teachers crowdfunded the money to buy him a new one in just three hours.

A Welsh man is suing Bianchi for the equivalent of nearly $1.3 million after going over his handlebars when both sides of his front fork snapped at 20 mph.

A pair of competing bicycle organizations have set aside their differences and are working together to compile a list of UK bike shops still open under the country’s lockdown.

Parisian boulangeries are responding to the coronavirus lockdown by delivering baguettes by bicycle.

Uganda’s Covid-19 lockdown forces a couple to simplify their wedding, limiting them to just ten guests as they arrived on foot, while the pastor came by bicycle; all public and private transportation other than bikes are banned.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pez Cycling News looks back to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the dawn of the modern super bike.

British Cycling, the UK’s national governing body for bicycling, has cut a third of its staff, after the coronavirus leads to losing the equivalent of nearly $5 million in donations.

The Tour de France is considering a proposal to move the start of the race back nearly a full month in hopes Covid-19 will go away by then, though Spartacus is standing by with a bucket of cold water.

 

Finally…

Now that’s a fixie. Unless maybe you’re looking for an exquisite vintage men’s bike — or maybe an ex-Giro winning bike. Of course, you’ll also need some stylish shoes to go with it.

And it wouldn’t hurt to design your own helmet, too.

Personally, I’ll take the Bottecchia hands-down, in case anyone wants to get me an early birthday present. 

………

Chag Pesach samech to everyone celebrating Passover this week.

Be safe, and stay healthy.