Tag Archive for pretext stops

LA moves to ban pretext stops — again, ghost tires installed at 99 Ranch Market, and pickup a weapon of mass destruction in Florida

May 11, 2026 / / No comments

Los Angeles is banning pretext stops.

Again.

Several years after a fight with the police commission led to actions that would supposedly prevent cops from stopping drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians on some flimsy pretext to conduct what would otherwise be an illegal search, the city is doing it again.

Sort of.

The City Council voted unanimously to ask the Police Commission to pretty please take action to stop LAPD officers from doing what they already weren’t supposed to be doing.

Here’s how the Los Angeles Times put it.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted in favor of new restrictions on so-called “pretextual” traffic stops, signaling a growing impatience with the Police Commission’s failure to rein in a controversial LAPD tactic that critics say enables racial discrimination.

The vote requests that the department’s all-civilian watchdog adopt new guidelines similar to San Francisco, which bars police officers from pulling people over for broken taillights and other minor equipment violations unless there is a safety threat.

It has long been a problem with bicyclists, particularly bike riders who were the wrong color or in the wrong neighborhood.

Call it biking while Black or brown.

Roll a stop after almost coming to a complete halt, or fail to signal a lane change, and a flashing roof rack could light up behind you. And next thing you know, you’re standing on the side of the road in handcuffs as a cop rifles through your clothes and belongings.

That’s what led the city to eliminate the bike licensing requirement all the way back in 2009, because officers would too often pull people of color over on the pretext of checking for a bike license. If they didn’t find one — which was usually the case, since most people didn’t even know they were supposed to have one — and you could be humiliated at best, arrested at worst.

It was biased policing at its most heinous, particularly in the Rampart district.

The city council cancelled the requirement as a result. But advocates found themselves before the Police Commission a few years later, fighting for a promised reduction in pretext stops by making officers justify and record the stops on their body cams.

You can tell how successful that was, since the city council had to come hat in hand to ask the commission to do for real this time.

The problem is, in a bizarre quirk of the city charter, neither the council nor mayor has direct authority over the police. The Police Commission makes the rules on an independent basis, sort of like the Federal Reserve and other federal commissions in the pre-Trump era.

So the City Council is asking them, once again, to please ban the practice once and for all.

We’ll see how well that works out.

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As long as we’re rolling video, KCBS-2 covered Saturday’s ghost tire installation at the 99 Ranch Market in Westwood.

Three people were killed inside the store when a 92-year old woman hit a bike rider while apparently turning left onto Westwood, then continued on the wrong side of the road until plowing into and through the market.

Yet amid all the other questions over how to prevent something like this from happening again, no one seems to be asking whether a 92-year old woman belonged behind the wheel in the first place.

Until we start asking ourselves the hard questions and taking the difficult steps to address them, it’s not a question of whether this will happen again.

But when. And where.

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Once again, a motor vehicle has become a weapon of mass destruction, after a truck driver plowed head-on into a Deland, Florida group ride.

The immediate aftermath of the crash was visible on a home security cam, showing the swerving pickup driver nearly collide with another vehicle moments after slamming into the riders.

Eight riders were struck, with three transported to a hospital in serious condition, while a fourth was taken with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the West Volusia Beacon,

The cycling group was estimated at 14 riders. FHP said the bicyclists struck were a 38-year-old male from DeLand, a 37-year-old male from DeLand, a 41-year-old male from Lake Mary, a 29-year-old male from DeLand, a 42-year-old male from DeLand, a 49-year-old male from DeLand, and a 33-year-old male from DeBary. No names were provided.

No word on the condition of the other four victims, or any information about the eighth victim. One rider described getting three staples in the back of his head, as well as suffering pain and bruising in his lower back and hip.

Most of the riders were customers of a Deland bike and surf shop, while one of the most seriously injured was reported to be the store manager.

The driver of the 11-year old pickup remained at the scene, and faces a fine of $65 to $300, and a whole 3 points on his driver’s license for failing to remain in his lane.

Chances are, he’s going to be drastically uninsured for the damages and injuries he caused.

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Analysis from a law group concludes, as you’d expect, that male bicyclists are more likely to be killed than female riders in most states.

But surprisingly, that statistic is reversed in 13 states, where more victims are women than men.

According to Cycling West,

In Idaho, women were 60 percent more likely to die in cycling crashes. Montana showed a gap of about 47 percent, and Utah 18 percent. The contrast with neighboring states is striking: in Colorado and Nevada, men were 170 percent and 160 percent more likely to be killed, respectively. In smaller states, however, limited data may make firm conclusions difficult.

States with higher female fatality rates span both rural and urban areas. Only Florida and California reported more female cycling deaths than Arizona, which ranked second nationally in per-capita deaths among women. Arizona also ranked third for male cyclist fatalities.

I don’t know what you can conclude from that, except maybe more women ride in those states. Otherwise, I don’t have a clue.

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A new report from Streets For All says Los Angeles faces a dire future if we continue to underinvest in city streets, opting for smaller-scale treatments and delaying compliance with long-standing federal accessibility laws

Twitter post

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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 West Hollywood property owner suing the city over the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, alleging the city failed to conduct an environmental impact assessment — even though state law exempts bike lanes from CEQA review.

No bias here, either. New York’s most consistently anti-bike columnist complains that plans to redesign iconic Park Avenue are a “convoluted mess,” arguing that a proposed lane reduction would add to Midtown gridlock, and that “like most recent traffic-pattern disruptions, the Park Avenue scheme is a Trojan horse for bike lanes.”

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

Um, okay. British actor Benedict Cumberbatch was accused of a road-raging meltdown when he confronted a bicyclist who had chased him for blocks, accusing him of repeatedly breaking the law on his cargo bike, with Cumberbatch arguing that the other man sas “verbally abusing” him, before calmly charming bystanders and posing for selfies. Yeah, sounds like he was really out of control, all right. 

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Local 

This is who we share the road with. The suspect who plowed through a group of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department trainees, killing one man and injuring more than two dozen people, will go to trail after backing out of a plea deal.

This is who we share the road with, part two. The LAPD is looking for the hit-and-run driver who killed a 65-year old man near Figueroa Street and 75th Street in South Los Angeles, after the Chicago Cubs fan had come to the city to see the Dodger’s-Cubs series with family members last month; as always, there’s a standing $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the city of Los Angeles.

Streetsblog examines the new three-mile continuous bike lane on Colima Road, providing what will eventually be a five-mile scenic route from the edge of Whittier to Fullerton Rd.

Santa Monica began warning drivers caught blocking bike lanes by automated cams mounted on parking enforcement vehicles on May 1st, and will begin ticketing for real in July.

 

State

Submitted without comment. Streets For All has endorsed billionaire Tom Steyer for California governor.

Amazon has finally done the right thing, sort of, by removing “ebikes” with advertised speeds over 40 mph from their website in California. Never mind that anything that can go over 28 mph is already in violation of California law, and they likely only did it to reduce their legal liability. So bikes that only violate the law by 12 mph or less, carry on. 

This is who we share the road with, part three. A 13-year old Santa Ana boy was killed in Garden Grove when the electric motorcycle he was riding hit the center divider, sending him flying; he was on the bike even though you have to be at least 16 year old and have a motorcycle license to legally ride one. But at least the police and press made clear he was on an e-motorcycle, rather than an ebike, this time.

Santa Barbara closes the final eight-mile gap connecting a network of separate bike trails to make a continuous pathway from Goleta to Santa Barbara.

A San Francisco teenager has dethroned reigning British National Hill Climb Championship titleholder Harry MacFarlane as King of the Hill, taking the KOM on San Francisco’s steepest climb two week’s after MacFarlane.

The executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition says everyone benefits when more people ride a bike.

 

National

Guardian readers share what it’s like to live in the US without a car. Speaking strictly for myself, it’s a huge effing relief, even if it is inconvenient sometimes. 

A commenter on Pink Bike wants to know what dogs are doing on bike parks, after a pooch nearly took him out on a jump. Damn good question, actually, though it’s not clear if the dog is a stray or someone’s pet. 

A Xavier University history professor has published a new book devoted to riding through the history of Dayton, Ohio, titled Bicycling Through Dayton — Twenty-One Historical Tours.

She gets it. A New York writer says once you notice a dangerous ebike rider zooming by, you see them everywhere — but “What fades into the background are the dozens of completely unremarkable, friendly cyclists in between.” Well said. 

A New York State website recounts the journey of two friends, who biked nearly 450 miles through the Adirondacks from Montreal down to Brooklyn last September.

 

International

A 27-year old woman pled guilty to the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle in London’s Hackney neighborhood, who was riding while on a hands-free call with his parents at the time of the crash; the woman, who was high on “hippy crack,” aka nitrous oxide, and doing 50 in a 20 mph zone, will be sentenced to something below the 12 years she would have faced had she gone to trial.

Road.cc offers an excerpt from British adventure cyclist and former world bicycle speed record holder Guy Martin’s new book, All The Medals Have Been Handed Out, recounting a near-death experience in Turkey’s road-tunnel system as he attempted to ride from Istanbul, Turkey to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bicycle business groups blasted the UK government’s proposal to limit ebike motors to 500 watts and cap speeds at 15.5 mph, calling the regulations “unnecessary,” “risky,” and “the wrong approach.”

Porsche is getting out of the performance ebike business, just four years after jumping in head first.

Tour talks with a “passionate” German collector of vintage racing bikes, jerseys and memorabilia.

A Philippine study argues that the national standard of 8-foot wide bike lanes is insufficient, concluding that physically separate bikeways must be at least 8.7 feet to be safe and comfortable for bike riders, while bike lanes on roadways should be at least 8.9 feet wide. Although you may need to read Tagalog to get the most out of the report. 

China hasn’t just taken the lead in innovative electric cars; now they’re coming for established Western bike brands with bikes that “are ahead of the curve when it comes to cutting-edge tech.”

A New Zealand coroner reminds truck drivers of their obligation to check their blind spot for bike riders before making a left turn, after a 59-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in the Down Under equivalent of a right hook.

 

Competitive Cycling

Aussie cyclist Jay Vine crashed out of the second stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, suffering a broken elbow and a concussion, with several riders going down when one rider lost traction on a slippery descent, and Vine crashed into a barrier with a sickening thud; Adam Yates and Derek Gee-West were also caught up in the major crash that caused the race to be briefly neutralized.

Spain’s Paula Blasi won the women’s La Vuelta Femenina on the final climb of the final stage, dropping previous leader Anna van der Breggen to finish second on the stage and take the overall GC win.

Former WorldTour pro Michael Woods embraces the “organized chaos of Spanish gravel racing.”

There’s a special place in hell for whoever decapitated a bronze statue of legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx in the Brussels, Belgium neighborhood where he grew up.

Thirty-eight-year old Italian amateur cyclist Felice Giangregorio was provisionally suspended after testing positive for for EPO for the second time, derailing his comeback after a previous four-year suspension, and casting doubt on the European gran fondo scene. But the doping era is over, right? And it’s a virtual guarantee that if European amateurs are doping, Americans are, too. 

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could have a semi-solid state battery. Presenting the most crazy-ass bike of the week not made by LEGO.

And what mother wouldn’t love to spend Mother’s Day fixing bikes with their kids?

Aside from most moms, I mean.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Los Altos bike rider busted in apparent pretext stop, and San Francisco marks a full decade of Vision Zero failure

April 1, 2024 / / One comment
Just 274 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re now up to 1,030 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

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It’s now 103 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 34 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, Calbike offers an update on the virtually moribund program based on a recent virtual public work group, saying the program’s soft launch really is underway — and they believe the statewide launch will happen “soon.”

No, really.

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

An English bike rider underwent extensive surgery to repair a broken elbow after someone sabotaged a bike trail by placing a large tree branch across it; a group of youths were seen “fleeing the scene,” though no one seems to have actually seen them move the branch.

A disabled British man suffering from Parkinson’s disease won his battle to have barriers removed that blocked his recumbent bike from a section of the National Cycle Network, reaching an out-of-court settlement to move the barriers, which were designed to keep motorbikes off the bikeway.

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

A self-professed Boulder, Colorado bike rider accuses his fellow bicyclists of brazenly breaking the law, alleging that Boulder bike riders “want all the rights of both cars and pedestrians without any of the responsibilities.” Actually, bicyclists already have the same rights, as well as the responsibilities, regardless of whether they may or may not want them. And it’s not like drivers or pedestrians behave any better. 

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Local 

Streetsblog offers more details on Metro’s cancellation of a plan to have ride hailing provider Lyft operate the Metro Bike bikeshare system, saying the contract will stay with Philadelphia-based Bicycle Transit Systems (BTS) — and its unionized local workers — for the foreseeable future.

A retired Santa Clarita motorcycle cop says yes, you can get busted for biking under the influence.

 

State

A city planner on TikTok explains why bicycling rates are sometimes higher in cities with less favorable climates, comparing California’s traffic-challenged painted bike lanes with safer off-road bike paths in the Yukon and British Columbia.

Work is beginning on repairs to the landslide plagued Beacon’s Beach bike path in Encinitas, which could reopen in time for Memorial Day.

A new musical making its US debut at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater tells the tale of the first woman to ride a bike around the world in the 1890s — even though it barely shows an actual bike.

San Francisco opened a new quick-build bike lane leading to the city’s Oracle Park baseball field, linking to a new bikeshare station and the Giant’s bike valet. Meanwhile, anyone wanting to ride to LA’s Dodger Stadium continues to be on your own.

A Marin paper complains about a compromise plan to remove the “costly” bike lane on the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge four days a week, citing the “underwhelming” use by bicyclists while arguing that it doesn’t go far enough. Even though officials say the bike lane isn’t to blame for the massive traffic tie-ups on the bridge.

 

National

Dozens of people turned out for a Portland bike ride and ghost bike installation in honor of a homeless man who was killed by a driver while riding a bike, observing that he always stepped up to help others.

The Seattle suburb of Bellevue tossed the city’s commitment to Vision Zero out the window, exposing city staff members to needless personal and professional attacks.

An Indiana man was the victim of a bizarre attack while riding his bike when he was pepper sprayed and stabbed in the neck with a box cutter, in an apparent case of mistaken identity; as the victim lay on the ground, his attacker asked his name, then responded “Wrong guy” before running off, later telling police he was “Done with people.

‘An Indiana nonprofit gave out more than 750 refurbished bikes to kids in need to mark the Easter weekend.

A Virginia man managed to morph his ice cream bicycle business into a bike-and-mortar hot dog stand.

Raleigh, North Carolina will use a $150,000 federal grant to pay ebike riders up to $1,500 in exchange for usage data on where and how they ride.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Florida man celebrated his 90th birthday with a 90-mile bike,

 

International

Momentum writes in praise of the humble beater bike for urban commuting.

Next City considers how chilly Montreal became a year-round bicycling success story. Meanwhile, sunny Los Angeles continues to be a hot mess for bike riding. 

Huge masses of people turned out for an Edinburgh bike ride to protest plans to halt the city’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods.

Shop owners in Manchester, England accuse a new bike lane of killing their businesses by preventing customers from parking in front of their shops. Although as we’ve seen other places, anecdotal claims of sales declines are often contradicted by sale tax receipts, or more easily explained by other reasons.

No bias here. London’s Daily Mail complains about the “menace” of ebikes, noting that the 260 illegally modified ebikes seized by police last year was double the number in 2022. Even though that works out to less than one a day — and the vast number of ebikes on the streets weren’t modified, legally or otherwise.

Bike riders in Macedonia argue you can’t have a smart airport in a smart city without first building smart streets.

Dubai will now use AI-powered robots with facial recognition to identify scofflaw bike riders and e-scooterists, and automatically send tickets for traffic and helmet violations,

 

Competitive Cycling

World champ Mathieu van der Poel won Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, making his move on a brutal cobbled climb with 26 miles to go, staying in the saddle when other riders jumped off to run their bikes up the hill; Elisa Longo Borghini sprinted for the win on the women’s side.

The five-day Redlands Bicycle Classic will return for its 38th annual edition on April 10, featuring a number of new twists — including a record number of women in the peloton.

Cycling Weekly says forget Giro’s weird and wacky time trial helmet, because everything bicyclists have put on our heads since bikes were invented are mystifying and ridiculous.

Smile and the world smiles with you — but put on a grumpy face if you want to mess with the competiton at your next race.

 

Finally…

Who needs a warehouse, when you can mount a DJ set and a set of speakers on a bicycle, and conduct your own rolling rave? Seriously, who wouldn’t want shag carpet pedals?

And that feeling when your ebike goes up in flames outside Buckingham Palace.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Metro Bike union beats back Lyft contract, $2.45 million in San Diego pothole case, and helmet law targets indigenous riders

March 28, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 278 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re slowly gaining signatures, up to 1,027 now, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us! 

………

It was a light bike news day yesterday. So if no news is good news, this may be one of my best pieces ever. 

The better news is, that means you can get out on your bike that much sooner today. 

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It’s now 99 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

Drivers in Manchester, England are accused of making a mockery of a controversial green bike lane by parking their vehicles in the bikeway.

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Local 

Public radio station KCRW’s Press Play discusses long overdue plans to reduce traffic lanes, widen sidewalks, and add bike and bus lanes along the Hollywood Blvd Walk of Fame.

Santa Clarita approved an extension of the Bouquet Canyon Trail, providing a connection between Bouquet Canyon Road and the city’s Central Park.

Actor Robert Downey Jr. is one of us, going ebiking in the ‘Bu with his son, while demonstrating that TMZ doesn’t know what the hell a BMX is.

 

State

A San Diego bike commuter and long-distance runner says that complaints over the curb-protected bike lane where an Encinitas father apparently fell to his death suggest that critics just don’t want to share the road with slower bicyclists.

A San Francisco website says it’s not Vision Zero that has failed in the city, but San Francisco’s piecemeal, reactive approach to fixing the problem.

Sad news from Napa, where a 45-year old man was killed in an apparent hit-and-run, after he was found lying in the street near his bicycle, suffering from serious injuries.

 

National

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run semi driver who left a bike-riding 81-year old Queens, New York man to die in the street.

New York has authorized the use of e-cargo bikes to replace delivery vans in the city, many in the form of cute little pedal-powered mini box trucks.

 

International

Life is cheap in Scotland, where a man convicted of careless driving in a crash that left a bike rider with life-changing injuries walked without a day behind bars, after getting a lousy $1,900 fine and a 15-month driving ban; meanwhile, his victim may never be able to ride a bike again.

Irish pro cyclist Imogen Cotter is urging drivers not to make like a bunny, and slow the hell down over the Easter weekend.

The Netherlands is proposing banning performance modification kits designed to boost ebike speeds beyond the strict limits set by the European Union.

 

Competitive Cycling

American Matteo Jorgenson became the first American to win the one-day Dwars door Vlaanderen classic on Wednesday by attacking with a little over four miles to go, after favorites Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven and Biniam Girmay crashed out in a spill that took out more than a half-dozen riders; Jorgenson also won the prestigious Paris-Nice earlier this month.

The crash could jeopardize Olympic favorite and defending silver medalist van Aert chances of competing in the Paris Games after breaking his collarbone and several ribs, as well as knocking him out of the upcoming Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Belgian cyclist Tiesj Benoot blames himself for the crash that injured van Aert.

On the women’s side, Dutch great Marianne Vos took her first Dwars door Vlaanderen win, outsprinting Shirin van Anrooij at the finish.

Twenty-eight cyclists competing in the Isle of Man road race won lifetime bragging rights, after Manx-native Mark Cavendish finished 29th.

 

Finally…

It’s time for the annual donning of the tweed. Your next e-cargo bike could take its tech from F1.

And that feeling when an illegal bike jump could be a real blast.

No, literally.

……... 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Aussie cyclist Melissa Hoskins killed in crash by former world time trial champ Rohan Dennis, and Calbike recaps 2023

January 2, 2024 / / Comments Off on Aussie cyclist Melissa Hoskins killed in crash by former world time trial champ Rohan Dennis, and Calbike recaps 2023

Nothing lasts forever.

We had another successful BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. But for the first time iever, we failed to top the previous year’s total, falling about $600 short.

I can’t begin to express my gratitude to all those who gave from their hearts this year, along all with the kind comments that accompanied so many donations.

So thanks to Cleaveran L, Liam W, David D, Joel F, Mark J, Todd R, Glen S, Penny S, John M, Mark G, Gregory C, Greg M and Carol K for their generous donations after we last spoke to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.  

It’s the kindness and generosity of all those who donate to this site, along with our sponsors over there on the right, who enable me to do this work full-time. 

And thank you for coming here for another year. Because without you, none of this means a thing. 

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13 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch in the fall, as promised; 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law.

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Say it ain’t so, Rohan.

News broke yesterday that Australian Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins was killed in a traffic collision in Adelaide Saturday night.

And her husband, former pro cyclist and world road time trial champ Rohan Dennis, was arrested for killing her.

Multiple sources report Dennis was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, endangering life and driving without due care.

Initial reports indicated Hoskins was riding her bike at the time of the collision, but later news stories suggested she had jumped onto the hood of the couple’s Volkswagen pickup and grabbed for the door handle as Dennis attempted to drive away.

She fell to the ground and was reportedly dragged for some distance along the street.

The 32-year old mother of two competed for the country in both the London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and was a member of the 2015 world champion team pursuit squad. She also rode for several years with Australia’s GreenEDGE women’s cycling team.

Former teammate Annette Edmondson described Hoskins as a “Fun, loving, hilarious person…A force to be reckoned with, she took the track and road cycling world by storm, before pursuing her next dream, starting a family and becoming the ultimate Mum.”

Dennis, 33, was released on bail after he was booked.

Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.

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Calbike offers a recap of legislative wins and losses for active transportation in last year’s state legislature session, as well as a recap of the best and worst of 2023.

The latter piece fittingly sums up the state’s worst response to the climate emergency as “Every. Single. Thing. We. Do.”

However, while Calbike mentioned the $18 million the state added to the ebike incentive program, they forgot to list the seemingly moribund program’s continued failure to launch under their recap of the year’s worsts.

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Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette calls our attention to a new law requiring cops to tell you why they stopped you.

AB 2773 requires police officers to state the purpose of a traffic or pedestrian stop before asking any other questions. Officers can only skip stating the reason for the stop if they deem it necessary to protect life or property from an imminent threat. The new law is intended to prevent pretextual stops, in which an officer stops a vehicle or pedestrian for something minor, with the intent of searching to determine if a larger crime is evident.

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The new fully separated bike lanes on Arbor Vitae connecting to the upcoming LAX/Metro station get an early vote of approval.

Twitter post

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Bike Talk offers another great program, with LA bicycling writer Peter Flax, Redwood City urbanist Bella Chu, and UCLA parking meister Donald Shoup, among others.

Twitter post

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If you haven’t already, sign the petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we all face just walking and biking on the streets of LA, as well as the city’s ongoing failure to actually care enough to do anything about it.

Then please share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

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

A San Diego man riding a bicycle was killed in a shooting witnessed by a couple cops, who said the murder followed an apparent argument between the victim and the occupants of an SUV. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean it was road rage; the victim could have known his killer, or there could have been some other reason for the argument and shooting. Thanks to Phillip Young for the tip. 

An Oklahoma man faces life behind bars after he was charged with murder for allegedly waiting for a man riding a bicycle at an intersection, then intentionally running him down before fleeing the scene; he told police he “snapped out of it” after driving into a ditch while high on fentanyl.

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

A self-identified recreational bicyclist wants to know why so many Chicago bike riders are “totally derelict when it comes to norms regarding safety measures,” like the one he yelled at for riding without a helmet while using a cellphone — five years ago. I’ll let you decide which one was actually behaving badly.

There’s a special place in hell for the London, England man who was caught on security cam video riding his bike down the sidewalk in a Hassidic Jewish neighborhood, knocking men’s hats off, injuring a child and punching Jews in the face.

https://twitter.com/Shomrim/status/1740006475710247388

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Local 

A lawyer referral site reports someone was killed riding a bicycle in South LA the day after Christmas. However, I have been unable to find any confirmation of the crash. 

The Los Angeles Times says speed cams are expected to go up throughout Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach later this year, after a pilot program was approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor.

A writer for RealClearInvestigations calls a disputed Los Angeles bike path their “Waste of the Day,” after dog owners complain the $58 million pathway would cut into a San Fernando Valley dog park. Thanks to Phillip Young for the link. 

A man who calls himself “La Comadreja jajaja,” or “The Weasel hahaha” in English, juggles and dances for tips from drivers as he stands next to his bicycle at a Pacoima intersection; he worked as a clown in his native El Salvador before emigrating to the US.

WaPo says the bankruptcy of Santa Monica-based Bird means dockless bikeshare ebikes and e-scooters will be harder to find in cities across the US.

 

State

Twenty-year old Encinitas bikemaker Electra Bicycle Company is becoming an ebike success story, after building their brand with the popular Townie beach cruiser.

SANDAG continues work on San Diego’s new Border to Bayshore Bikeway, with construction along Beyer Boulevard between Dairy Mart Road and Del Sur Boulevard. Thanks to Robert Leone for the tip.

A Ventura County man feels lucky to have escaped with minor scrapes after a rogue wave knocked him down as he stood along the beach with his bicycle, while other people ran for their lives.

To the surprise of no one, San Francisco failed to meet their Vision Zero deadline to eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2024. Los Angeles has one more year to meet its deadline, but won’t.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a 38-year old man faces gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI charges for killing a 24-year old man riding a bicycle early Christmas morning.

 

National

NPR considers the latest revisions to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, which offer improvements for bike riders and pedestrians, although some say it doesn’t go far enough. Thanks again to Phillip Young. 

The Guardian says the US is finally seeing an ebike boom after years of false starts. No thanks to the moribund California Ebike Incentive Program. 

Someone broke into a Michigan warehouse and stole 35 new and antique bicycles worth “over $3,500.”

I want to be like him when I grow up. The Guinness Book of World Records has confirmed that a 78-year old Michigan man is officially the oldest person to ride a bike across the US.

An Indianapolis boy on the autism spectrum received multiple bikes thanks to kindhearted strangers, who responded after the bike his mother had planned to buy him for Christmas was stolen from the seller’s yard.

An Ohio county judge faces charges for crashing head-on into a bike rider while recklessly passing other vehicles, yet inexplicably isn’t facing hit-and-run charges despite fleeing the scene. The story also doesn’t mention whether the person on the bike was injured.

Heartbreaking story from North Carolina, where a father of five was killed in a hit-and-run while riding the bike his family gave him for Christmas, after a medical condition prevented him from driving.

I want to be like him when I grow up, too. An 85-year old Florida man has topped 60,000 miles on his bike in the 20 years since his wife and kids gave it to him.

 

International

Momentum explains why bicycles are the perfect form of transportation for the 15-minute city.

Momentum also recommends three beneficial ways to use bike cams, and the ten best bicycle movies to watch over the holidays, which are already over. Unless you observe the Julian calendar, in which case, carry on.

Men’s Journal asks if Mexico City will become the next cycling destination, as bike riding booms south of the border.

Toronto residents are parking their cars in favor of bikes, thanks to the proliferation of ebikes and bike lanes.

A trauma expert is calling on Halifax, Nova Scotia civic leaders to do more to address bicycle safety, as the number of bicycling injuries has doubled every year since 2019. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

I want to be like him when I grow up, as well. An 81-year old British man is known as the Bike Whisperer after 65 years of fixing bicycles.

The UK’s Liberal Democrats accuse the country of decriminalizing bike theft, after more than 365,000 cases went unsolved over the past five years.

More than one hundred years of tradition came to an end in Westport, Ireland as the city’s mail carriers traded their postal bicycles for new electric vans.

Eight people were killed riding bicycles in all of Ireland in 2023. That compares with at least 23 bicycling deaths in Los Angeles last year, which has over 1.3 million fewer people than the Emerald Isle. 

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is one of us, sharing a bike with his daughter on vacation in the Maldives.

China’s staid, utilitarian and once-ubiquitous Flying Pigeon is reinventing itself to stay relevant and competitive as the country’s consumer tastes change.

 

Competitive Cycling

NPR profiles Colombian cyclist Rigoberto Urán, arguing that winning isn’t the point for the country’s most beloved cyclist, who has built a career on almost winning.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be a woodie. Choosing the right ebike for the collapse of modern society.

And if you’re riding your bike with meth, fentanyl and weed in your backpack, put a damn light on it.

The bike, that is, not the backpack.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

No Chatsworth COLT ride this year, a mea culpa on Friday’s SB 50 post, and Los Angeles Times goes gravel grinding

June 5, 2023 / / Comments Off on No Chatsworth COLT ride this year, a mea culpa on Friday’s SB 50 post, and Los Angeles Times goes gravel grinding

Let’s start with something that’s not happening.

For the last several years, the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council has held a community ride celebrating the Orange Line Bike Path, called Ride the COLT — aka Chatsworth Orange Line Tour.

It usually happens right around now; last year, on June 12th.

But this year, not so much.

In response to a question from J. Barrios, I reached out to the Chatsworth NC to ask about this year’s ride, and was told there was nothing planned at this time.

I was also told that could change, so there may be hope.

But I wouldn’t hold your breathe.

Photo by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.

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Sometimes I get it wrong.

That may have been the case Friday when I wrote about SB 50, which would ban police from stopping motorists and bike riders for minor offenses, in an effort to prevent pretext stops.

But a comment from someone calling themselves An Observer suggests my understanding of the bill was off base.

Your presumption that SB 50, if enacted, would prohibit “stops for failing to register a bicycle, or rolling through a stop sign or riding salmon” isn’t correct.

The former is already prohibited; Cal. Veh. Code § 39002, as amended by last year’s AB 1909, says that cities or counties “shall not prohibit the operation of an unlicensed bicycle.”

The latter two wouldn’t be affected by SB 50, in which the definition of “low-level infraction” is limited by reference to two sections of the Vehicle Code relating to bicycle equipment and helmets; it wouldn’t cover violations related to bicycle operation in general:

“(E) A violation related to bicycle equipment or operation in Sections 21201 and 21212.”

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB50

Peace officers would still be allowed to stop bicyclists for other violations, including Cal. Veh. Code § 22450 (stop signs), § 21202 (right-hand curb or edge), or for that matter, §§ 22107–22111 (hand signals for turning and stopping).

So it may offer much less protection to bike riders, particularly people of color, than I thought.

Mea culpa.

………

The Los Angeles Times writes about gravel cycling, with 11 spots for grinding it out around the LA area.

And they talk with our old friend Zachary Rynew, the voice behind the Gravel Bike California videos we frequently share on here.

Zachary Rynew is a longtime Los Angeles cycling advocate who runs the website Gravel Bike California, which details numerous gravel rides in the region. He has been pedaling two-wheelers since he was in grade school and says riding on gravel roads takes him back to when he was a kid. It also makes navigating L.A. more efficient. “I was commuting from the San Fernando Valley to UCLA and cut my driving time in half by doing gravel and going through Fryman Canyon Park, then Franklin Canyon,” he said.

Southern California, Rynew believes, has a ton of off-road opportunities. “You can make your own adventure on gravel in the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Gabriels and in the hills above Redlands and Chino,” he said. “I love the versatility around here.”

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The East Side Riders are hosting a community meeting in Watts tonight.

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Turn out next Sunday to help make Ballona Creek more rideable.

 

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Caltrans is conducting a survey on road safety; Streets For All offers suggested responses to demand safer streets.

Meanwhile, the California state transportation agency has launched a new traffic safety campaign for the state, where someone is killed on our streets every two hours.

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More proof that plastic car-tickler bendie-posts don’t really protect anything.

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Bicycling says the trailer for the new Netflix docuseries about the Tour de France just dropped, “and it’s intense.” Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you. 

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

No bias here. Slate interviews Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer, calling him the “biggest bike dork in Congress.”

Police in Cincinnati cited a bike rider for riding salmon after he was struck by a driver, even though he was only riding in the bike lane on the wrong side of the street because the other side was blocked by a construction project.

A half dozen pro-car protestors blocked a Toronto bike lane to demand its removal, forcing riders out into rush hour traffic

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

A 29-year old man was shot by police and arrested after engaging in a running gun battle as he fled a traffic stop on his bicycle; he was booked on charges of attempted murder of a peace officer, several weapons-related charges and outstanding warrants after being released from the hospital.

A London writer complains about dockless bikeshare bikes carelessly strewn across the sidewalks by unthinking riders, calling them Lime Slime.

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Local 

Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation PAC reminds us to comment on the LA County Master Bicycle Plan.

Streetsblog says LA’s BLAST initiative to quickly build bike lanes has failed to launch. Which really shouldn’t surprise anyone, since it was started under the Garcetti administration, similar to other failed projects like Vision Zero and the mayor’s Green New Deal.

Los Angeles firefighters used a helicopter to rescue a 47-year old mountain biker who suffered a severe ankle fracture when he fell from a remote section of the Haines Canyon Motorway in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills Sunday afternoon.

 

State

A San Diego bike rider was hospitalized with a head injury after they were run down by a hit-and-run driver; fortunately, the injuries weren’t considered serious, and police located the driver shortly after the crash. No word on whether the driver was arrested, however.

CalFire used a helicopter to rescue a mountain biker who fell in a remote area while riding Chula Vista’s Sweetwater River trail.

The Fresno Dollar General worker caught on security cam video running down an alleged shoplifter as he made his getaway on a bike says she has been fired, insisting she didn’t mean to hit him with her car. Even though that’s exactly what she did. 

A Palo Alto editor says adding protected bike lanes to El Camino Real is a bad idea, questioning whether they would protect school kids from getting hit by motor vehicles, and whether removing parking spaces would hurt small businesses. Studies have repeatedly shown that protected bike lanes improve safety for everyone on the street, including pedestrians. And that bike lanes, particularly protected bike lanes, are good for businesses, large or small.

Over 2,000 bicyclists set off Sunday on the seven day, 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride from San Francisco to LA; the ride will end in Los Angeles this Saturday.

A pair of Lodi men are headed across the US on a fundraising ride, three decades after one of the men, a high school geography teacher and track coach, made the same trip on a whim with two friends.

 

National

The best Apple Watch features to try on your next bike ride. Assuming you have one, that is. 

Architectural Digest says a few simple design changes — like safe bike lanes and bicycle garages — can radically cut travel emissions in the US.

Honolulu bike riders offer suggestions to improve the city’s sketchy intersections.

A Portland bike rider commends the kindness and caring he experienced from bystanders and medical personnel when he crashed his bike riding through an intersection, dislocating his shoulder.

Flagstaff, Arizona bike advocates accuse the city of slow walking bike safety improvements.

A 62-year old e-mountain biker died after being found unresponsive on a Utah golf course, where he apparently crashed while riding through a bunker.

Nice story from St. Louis, where a 14-year old boy with sickle cell anemia was given a new ebike after he walked six miles to attend his 8th grade graduation, while his grandfather, who takes care of him and his six brothers and sisters after their mother died, was given a new $40,000 minivan by a local car dealer.

A member of a Chicago-area school board was killed when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike in Highland Park.

She gets it. A Boston University instructor says bike-friendly cities should be designed for everyone, not just wealthy white riders.

Brompton has fittingly opened a micro-bike shop in Brooklyn, at just 70 square feet. Apparently they couldn’t figure out how to make a folding one. 

An Alabama writer complains about a recent report that ranked four cities in the state near the bottom for bikeability for the nation’s 200 biggest cities, with Mobile in the penultimate worst position, just ahead of Jackson, Mississippi.

 

International

The Guardian offers advice on how to score a good deal on a new or used bike.

Wallpaper looks at the year’s best designed ebikes, ranging in price from around $1,600 to nearly $18,000.

Vancouver bike riders held a funeral procession, complete with hearse and coffin, to mourn the recently removed bike lane through the city’s Stanley Park.

British Columbia is the latest city, state or province to introduce an ebike rebate program, with income-based rebates between $300 and $1,400; over 8,000 people signed up for the waitlist in the first 24 hours.

The Havana Times offers a sepia-toned photo essay of bicycling in the city.

A London man needed multiple surgeries after he was severely beaten by a hooded gang that bikejacked his $15,000 Specialized bicycle, leaving him with a broken jaw, collarbone and scapula, and several missing teeth.

Cycling Weekly admires a 1980s British-made Allin roadie, which is absolutely gorgeous.

A bicycle played a key role in the first 24-Hours of Le Mans when a Bentley suffered a punctured gas tank; after the driver ran three miles to the pits, his co-driver borrowed a bike from a gendarme, rode salmon back to the stalled car and plugged the hole with a wooden bung, before eventually finishing fourth.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is one of us, briefly losing consciousness when he fell off his bike while riding with his son. And yes, he was wearing a helmet.

An Indian writer marks last Saturday’s World Bicycle Day with detailed advice on how to ride a bike with diabetes. You, that is, not the bike.

Don’t try this at home. An Austrian judo Olympian will attempt to scale K2 on a bicycle; she’ll be riding up the world’s second highest mountain at 28251 feet.

An Australian couple have been together for over 30 years after meeting during a long-distance bike ride.

Popular Aussie bicycling photographer David Blucher is learning to walk again, six months after a mountain biker lost control at the bottom of a run, hitting him at full speed in a crash he can’t even remember.

 

Competitive Cycling

American pro Keegan Swenson outsprinted Czech rider Petr Vakoč to win this year’s Unbound Gravel, with Lachlan Morton third; Swenson’s win made up for last year, when he was out sprinted for the win.

Carolin Schiff dropped the competition like freshman English, sweeping to a mud-soaked 60-mile solo breakaway to win the women’s Unbound Gravel by a remarkable 15-minutes over second place finisher Sofia Gomez Villafane, with Sarah Sturm in third.

France’s Arnaud Demare won the 103rd Brussels Cycling Classic in a close sprint, following a 23-man breakaway that managed to stay ahead of the remainder of the peloton.

A 70-year old man was killed when his race motorcycle collided head-on with a competitor in a German triathlon, while the bicycle rider suffered severe injuries, and a camera operator on the back of the motorcycle was treated for shock. Yet another example of why race motos should be banned from bike races.

Road.cc says pro cycling needs to ditch its obsession with “hardness.”

 

Finally…

Who needs pedals when you have solar power? Your next roadie could retail for north of fifteen grand.

And where to shop when you’re in the market for “Strappy Cycling Culottes.” Or maybe just one of the world’s most expensive bikes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Bill banning pretext police bike stops passes state Senate, Pride Rides roll this weekend, and happy National Donut Day

June 2, 2023 / / One comment

Pretext stops could soon be a thing of the past.

The California Globe is reporting that SB 50, which would prevent police from issuing tickets for low-level violations, has narrowly passed the California state Senate.

The bill would ban police stops for a number of violations, such as vehicle registration or wrongly positioned license plates.

It would also prohibit stops for bicycle equipment or operations — which presumably means no more stops for failing to register a bicycle, or rolling through a stop sign or riding salmon.

While the safety effects of that can be argued, the idea is to prevent minor violations from being used as a pretext to stop motorists or bike riders to search for evidence of more serious infractions, which have unfairly targeted Black and brown bike riders in the past.

Los Angeles revoked its bike licensing law after city officials learned it was being used by the LAPD as an excuse to stop and search people of color as they rode their bikes.

And the Los Angeles Times has reported that seven out of every ten bike riders stopped by LA County Sheriff’s deputies were Latinos, who complained of police harassment that prevented some from riding their bikes.

Then there was the killing of South LA bike rider Dijon Kizzee, who was shot 15 times by sheriff’s deputies after he dropped a gun while attempting to flee from a traffic stop for riding salmon.

………

A couple of Pride Rides will roll this weekend, with one in Culver City tomorrow, and and another heading to the WeHo Pride Parade on Sunday.

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Streets For All is hosting a fundraiser and community ride in Venice this Sunday.

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This is who we share the road with.

A 21-year old Florida woman was lucky to survive with serious injuries when she drove up the ramp of a tow truck stopped for another crash, then went airborne for over 100 feet before her car tumbled end-over-end.

But by all means, tell me again about that bike rider who rolled a stop sign.

………

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

Police in Turlock are looking for whoever is responsible for a series of drive-by paintball attacks targeting bike riders and pedestrians; the mother of one of the victims alleges the paintballs are being frozen to inflict more serious injuries.

A 39-year old Albuquerque man faces murder and hit-and-run charges, accused of intentionally running down a man riding a bicycle following an argument between the two men; he was already on pretrial release for a pair of drug charges.

A Scottish driver faces charges for allegedly flipping off a 60-year old man before pushing him off his bicycle, apparently for the crime of riding in the street, or maybe just being on the planet; the defense tried to claim the victim intentionally swerved his bike into the car, evidently assuming we all enjoy pain.

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

A London bike rider calls for the hit-and-run “MAMIL” — aka Middle Aged Man In Lycra — who left him unconscious following a bike-on-bike crash to be arrested, named and shamed.

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Local 

Streets For All reminds us to take the SCAG survey we mentioned recently — that’s the Southern California Association of Governments, representing the six SoCal counties north of San Diego County — to set priorities for regional governments.

Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation safety PAC urges you to tell LADOT you’re on board with extending the LA River bike path to the edge of Griffith Park, which would provide the first legal way to exit the pathway at Forrest Lawn Drive. And presumably enter it there, as well.

 

State

The Bike League is out with their latest list of 45 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities; the only California cities on the list are Coronado, Solano Beach and Chula Vista, each of which renewed their previous status.

Santa Cruz County officials approved plans to encourage more bike riding with a voucher program offering $800 off the purchase price of an ebike, and $1,200 for a cargo or adaptive e-bike; the program also includes a $300 voucher for regular bicycles.

Police in Concord are looking for the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a 39-year old man riding a bicycle Wednesday night.

Two couples were injured when they were trapped under a construction fence while riding on a Berkeley bike path, after the fence was apparently toppled by the wind.

 

National

Outside launched their new Velo website yesterday, with a focus on roadies, gravel, ebikes, urban bicycling and the catchall, news.

They get it. The Atlantic writes that President Biden is ignoring the dangers of “Mega-EVs,” adding that environmental hype is crowding out any concern for people outside the vehicle. However, you won’t be able to read more than a few paragraphs without a subscription.

German bike tire brand Schwalbe has opened a program to recycle inner tubes at select bike shops around the US.

If you miss your childhood Beatles lunchbox, you can slake your Fab Four urge with a new line of Beatles-themed State bikes and gear — including an Abbey Roadie.

In a refreshing change, an Idaho sheriff reminds bike riders they don’t have to stop for stop signs, and don’t need to wear a helmet, even if it is a good idea.

An Iowa woman facing charges for the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed two women walking on a bike path — yes, a bike path — and seriously injuring another man now faces additional charges for assaulting another woman in a jail brawl.

A Michigan court has postponed the trial of a woman accused of the drugged-driving crash that killed two people and injured three others; 43-year old Mandy Marie Benn allegedly plowed her car into a group of bicyclists participating in a charity ride last summer.

A Richmond, Kentucky woman has been hosting bikepackers riding the 4,200-mile Transamerican Bike Trail for the last nine years through the Warm Showers website.

New York apparently caved to drivers who didn’t want to be inconvenienced by a planned bike boulevard, backing off the most aggressive plan to remake the street.

A Tallahassee, Florida man who uses his bike as his only form of transportation after suffering a TBI 25 years ago has topped 405,143 other bicyclists using the Strava app by riding 5,000 miles during May’s National Bike Month.

 

International

Don’t forget that Saturday is World Bicycle Day.

Fortune cites experts warning that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ebike injuries, as riders reach speeds they wouldn’t be able to on a regular bike. Although at least some of the rise in bike injury rates can be attributed to the rapid rise in ebike use; it would be far more accurate and useful to compare ebike injury rates to injury rates on regular bikes.

Someone stole a Vancouver ghost bike, then returned it two weeks later with no explanation following a public outcry.

In an unusually intelligent move, an English active travel organization will now be consulted on any housing development consisting of more than 150 units.

He gets it. A Glasgow writer says no one owns the roads, and we all pay for them whether we walk, bike or drive.

This is who we share the road with, too. A music producer and heiress to the banking Rothschild fortune will have to find another way to get around for awhile, after being banned from driving for six months because a woman on a bicycle spotted her illegally using her phone while driving. Although she can probably afford an Uber. Or a chauffeured limo, for that matter.

Bike-friendly Amsterdam announced a winner in the city’s Tunnelvisionair competition to create ways to make the city’s “scary, drab and sinister” bike tunnels more inviting.

A Nigerian professor writes that bicycling could be a boon for densely populated Lagos, but it’s being held back by a lack of safe infrastructure, personal fears over safety, and an attitude that rich people drive and poor people ride bikes.

Australia’s Tasmania state announced a $1.2 million incentive plan to encourage people to buy ebikes, e-scooters or EVs, though they still have to determine what form it will take.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-five-year old Belgian pro Julian Mertens has been placed in an artificial coma following successful spinal surgery, after he suffered multiple injuries in a serious crash while training in Belgium Wednesday.

Bicycling says you can stream the Critérium du Dauphiné, which they term the Mini Tour de France, by subscribing to the Peacock network for $4.99 a month, or $9.99 for ad-free service. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Volunteers from a US Army base helped out with the penultimate stage of Japan’s largest international bicycle race, the Tour of Japan.

The Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame introduced its latest class of inductees, including California gravel race organizer Miguel Crawford, and former pro cyclist and TBI researcher Allison Tetrick.

Shamefully, WorldTour Team Bahrain Victorious has signed 21-year old Italian cyclist Antonio Tiberi, the former Trek-Segafredo rider who was let go after he tested his new rifle by shooting a neighbor’s cat, claiming he somehow didn’t think shooting it would kill it.

No surprise here, as fake accounts are popping up on Twitter purporting to represent bike races, attempting to scam you out of your money and personal information.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can buy your very own ebike conversion kit for the price of some ebikes. Your next bike could be painted in liquid gold — but presumably not the wood care product.

And happy National Donut Day, which should be considered a religious holiday for bicyclists.

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Thanks again to Matthew R for his generous monthly donation to support this site, and keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

Donations of any amount are always welcome and appreciated, regardless of reason. Or frequency. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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