Tag Archive for protected bike lanes

Morning Links: Upcoming bike events, and LA tries out a cute little street sweeper for protected bike lanes

Just a couple quick upcoming events.

Celebrate the Race Across America tomorrow in Oceanside with the RAAMapalooza festival to see off the team racers. Although they can probably expect a nasty letter from the lawyers for a certain copyright-conscious music festival.

Bike SGV will team with Metro’s BEST program to host a free slow roll to the drive-in for movie night on the 23rd.

Also on the 23rd, Glendora will hold ribbon cutting ceremony for the San Gabriel Valley’s newest greenway trail. See flyer on the left.

And the following day, CicLAvia returns to the northern San Fernando Valley, with a route connecting Pacoima, Arleta and Panorama City.

………

LA Street Services may be having a midlife crisis.

The city bureau is trying out a cute little Italian number to keep the city’s protected bike lanes clean.

https://twitter.com/Spottnik/status/1007311358608564224

………

Local

Former E! News personality Marc Malkin reveals he’s HIV positive after completing last week’s AIDS/LifeCycle Ride; the Malibu Times features photos from the ride as it passed through on PCH.

The Easy Reader News remembers long-time South Bay bike advocate Julian Katz, who passed away last week at age 88 after a long, full life.

 

State

A San Jose columnist agrees that too many drivers pass bike riders on blind, curvy roads when they can’t see what’s coming; a bike rider says signs saying “Do Not Pass Bicycles on Blind Corners” seems as obvious as “Do Not Hit Yourself in the Head with a Hammer.”

A Palo Alto columnist says she’s not opposed to roundabouts, as long as they’re somewhere else. Funny how so many people with no knowledge of traffic planning become experts when it’s on their street; the facts are that roundabouts actually reduce injury crashes by 75%.

Pink Bike visits Marin, where mountain biking was born and mountain bikes are banned from most trails.

 

National

You can make your next Rapha purchase at the Apple Store.

Moving piece from Bicycling, as a writer remembers her father, and how bicycling brought him back to himself as he slipped away due to Alzheimers.

Pedestrian and bicycle deaths have doubled in Washington state in just the last five years. A Seattle radio host responds by doing the math herself, concluding that you’re much safer driving a car than walking or riding a bike, and that encouraging more people to ride is just driving up death rates. She seems to be forgetting that its those people in cars who make it dangerous for everyone.

Wired says Seattle is ground zero in the bikeshare wars, as several dockless bikeshare firms have moved into the void created when the city’s traditional docked bikeshare went belly up.

A Philly magazine takes a test ride on the city’s new parking-protected bike lanes, and offers advice to drivers on how to not park in them.

Streetsblog says no, a bike lane didn’t do in a New York deli, despite what the owner says.

No bias here. A Charlotte NC TV station somehow conflates LimeBikes and e-scooters with wheelie popping kids weaving through traffic.

 

International

Bike ridership in Edmonton has doubled since the city opened a nearly five-mile grid of protected bike lanes in the urban core.

The Globe and Mail offers five changes Toronto can make to improve street safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. I particularly like the last one — change the decision makers.

An op-ed in the same paper says bicycling is not a contact sport and Toronto has to do better for bicyclists’ safety, while the paper concludes that the city’s Vision Zero is a failure.

A writer for the Guardian says Canadian cities are designed for cars, not people — and people are paying the price.

An Ontario writer says sharrows are a failed experiment and have to go.

The question is, will you answer when your new GPS-equipped handlebars calls to say your London bike is being stolen?

No bias here, either. An English letter-writer says 70% of bicyclists are just uncontrolled yobs who ride through red lights and on the sidewalk.

A UK paper discovers a “hilarious” mishap captured by Google Maps. Although I doubt many people find a little kid falling off a bike funny, let alone hilarious.

Bicycling contributes over $7 billion to the British economy each year, making it more important to the economy than the British steel industry. So you can expect Trump to impose tariffs on bikes and bike parts any day now.

A young Irish girl made the equivalent of $13 washing bicycles. And got a nearly $200 littering ticket for the hand drawn sign she made to promote it.

An Irish writer says no, really, bike riders would prefer to not share road space with trucks, buses and cars.

Survivors of the Kindertransport and their descendants will ride 600 miles across Europe to trace the route taken by 10,000 Jewish children to escape Nazi Germany 80 years ago at the dawn of WWII.

A member of Kenya’s parliament takes to her bike to encourage more people to ride in an effort to reduce Nairobi’s world-class traffic congestion.

A Botswana bikepacking club is teaching 30 young school kids life skills and how to mountain bike.

In LA, we deal with rude drivers; Aussie cyclists just deal with ‘roos.

 

Competitive Cycling

SoCal’s Coryn Rivera edged the great Marianne Vos by the width of a tire to take the second stage of the UK’s Women’s Tour; Rivera holds the leader’s jersey heading into today’s third stage. No need to worry about spoilers, since video of the race — or even the finish — doesn’t appear to exist.

Outside looks at the rapid rise of Ayesha McGowan, the first African American Cat 2 cyclist, who intends to become the first black woman on the pro tour.

You’re invited to put your money where Phil Gaimon’s mouth is, and donate to support his grudge match race against fellow former pro Fabian Cancellara on July 1st.

 

Finally…

How to do a few speed drills on your Penny Farthing. That feeling when you film your son riding his bike, and later find a ghost watching out the window.

And to everyone who dreamed of seeing Peter Sagan naked in the shower, today is your lucky day.

………

Eid Mubarak to all observing Eid al-Fitr today!

 

Morning Links: Not so fast for Vision Zero funding, Union Street protected bike lane, and Blumenfield bike ride

So much for the $91 million we were promised for Vision Zero.

Just days after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced he was proposing that amount for Vision Zero in next year’s budget, it turns to be yet another disappointment.

Instead, the newly released budget contains $90 million for all street safety improvements, which includes Vision Zero and any other street improvements. And while it’s a significant increase, that’s up from $78 million for street improvements in last years budget, not the $27 million that was budgeted for Vision Zero, as we were led to believe.

As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Meanwhile, the budget does call for $71 million to repave LA’s broken streets, and another $41 million for sidewalk repairs.

………

The bruising battle for safer streets goes on in Pasadena, with a public workshop schedule for May 9th to consider plans for a protect bike lane on Union Street.

Greg Gunther of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has put together this practically perfect primer for the project:

Protected bike lanes (PBL) are a simple concept with powerful benefits.

  • In essence, they’re like sidewalks for bikes
  • They put a protective buffer between drivers and bike riders
  • They make it pleasant for anyone to bike – just as sidewalks make it pleasant for anyone to walk
What are the benefits?
  • Increase safety 
    • 89% fewer bicyclist injuries 
    • Reduce driving stress by bringing predictability to the street 
    • Less sidewalk riding reduces pedestrian injuries
  • Promote economic vitality
    • Business revenue increases along PBL routes (NYC DOT, Measuring the Street, New Metrics for 21st Century Streets)
    • Bicycle lanes increase the value of nearby property

Why do PBLs Matter?

  • With increased safety, comes increased ridership (Do you think that biking in Pasadena feels unsafe?  You’re not alone… )
    • Most surveyed expressed an interest in riding a bike more often, but resist because it feels unsafe (2012 – Jennifer Dill)
    • Safe places to ride increase ridership – protected bike lanes have shown to create a proven spike in bicycle traffic (2014 – Monsere, et al)
  • With increased ridership, comes universal benefits
Why on Union Street?
  • Union Street is a major east-west corridor in Pasadena’s Central District – when combined with the proposed Bike Boulevard on Holliston Avenue we will have a network that connects Caltech, Pasadena City College with the Playhouse District, the Civic Center, Old Pasadena and the Gold Line
    • Current traffic volumes are far below the street’s capacity
    • Current plans for the street also include multiple pedestrian enhancements to make the entire street segment safer for everyone 
  • In the future, there are also plans under discussion that would create a “link” restoring historic connections between the Central District and the Arroyo – after that, watch out!
    • The Arroyo Seco Bike Path already provides more than 2 miles of protected bikeway from South Pasadena through Highland Park to Mt. Washington
    • Future improvements are slated to connect downstream to the Los Angeles River – bringing Downtown L.A. within biking reach across comfortable and safe protected lanes
What can I do to help make sure this happens?
  • Make sure you weigh in to voice your preferences
    1.  At minimum, Visit the project website and share your thoughts http://bit.ly/UnionStProtectedBikeLanes
    2.  Even more help:  Send an e-mail that registers your support to Rich Dilluvio [ RDilluvio@cityofpasadena.net ]
    3.  First Prize:  Attend the City’s Community Workshop
      • Wednesday, May 9th – 6:30 to 8:30pm 
      • Pasadena Presbyterian Church – 585 Colorado Blvd (@ Madison) – Gamble Lounge

“The best thing about a bike-friendly city isn’t the bikes – it’s the city!”

………

David Drexler took part in the rescheduled Blumenfield Bike Ride through Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s 3rd Council District in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday.

According to Drexler,

It was a great ride with all streets closed by LADP for us so we did not have to stop. I highly recommend it — lots of bike advocates were there and it was very well run.

He also reports the councilman’s wife and two kids were along for the ride, and Blumenfield told him they regularly ride as a family.

There may be hope for this city yet.

Councilman Blumenfield addresses the crowd

A good sized group gathers as Blumanfield prepares to lead the ride

It always helps to have a police escort

………

Richard Fox sends word of a new Facebook group for casual SoCal bicyclists.

A new Facebook group has been created for casual cyclists to share favorite rides, announce events, and develop ideas to improve cycling facilities throughout SoCal. Casual cyclists are those who prefer to ride at slow to moderate speeds on trails and low-traffic roads with bike lanes, or even sidewalks when roads seem dangerous to ride on. Most public cycling organizations and bike clubs are composed of road cyclists, racers, and commuters that lobby for safer roadways. We also want safer roadways, but we prefer riding on bike trails away from traffic altogether. This group joins together all the SoCal regions so that we can share experiences beyond our boundaries and help each other in our lobbying efforts. Follow or join at: www.facebook.com/groups/430036694076594/.

………

Local

Great piece from LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who spends a day at a South LA bike shop to get a feel for the city’s spandex-free bike culture. Thanks to Alan Ginsberg for the heads-up.

A fundraiser organized by an LAPD officer raised over $5,000 for the family of fallen teenage cyclist Sebastian Montero; police are looking for his bike that was stolen two months before his death so they can return it to his mother.

The AP offers a brief report on Sunday’s CicLAvia.

Somehow we missed this one last week, as Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward and Bikes Belong founder and former Long Beach Bicycle Czar Charlie Gandy talk bike politics and environmentalism on Bike Talk.

 

State

It’s a well-deserved seven years behind bars for the 18-year old driver who killed a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student as he rode his bike to class in a drunken hit-and-run. Cases like this are doubly tragic; not only is one life needlessly ended and another ruined; but two families shattered.

 

National

c|net provides your guide to dockless e-scooters.

A new documentary about the faith and determination required to compete in the Race Across America will screen in theaters across the US on May 22nd.

Arizona’s Pima County offers a $2.1 million settlement to a bicyclist who was seriously injured on a bike lane described as a death trap.

The Illinois legislature is considering bills that would require drivers to learn the Dutch Reach, add bike questions to the driver’s test, and teach bike safety to school children.

A Massachusetts paper says the best way to celebrate spring is from behind the handlebars. Something we can probably all agree on.

A Brooklyn letter writer gets it, saying you don’t have to ride a bike to know that carving two blocks of police parking out of a protected bike lane is a mistake.

The same day the LA area celebrated its latest CicLAvia, New York opened up 30 blocks of the Great White Way to bikes and pedestrians for a two-mile carfree open streets event.

If they can do it there, we can do it anywhere. New York finally gives the boot to cars in Central Park. Raising hopes that maybe one day we can see cars banished from Los Angeles city parks, including Griffith Park. Because parks are for people, not cars.

 

International

A 60-year old Canadian woman is riding solo through 5,000 miles of the US and Canada.

No irony here. A British bus driver spent the day training to share the road with bicyclists, then got hit by a bus while riding his bike back home; police say the cell phone in his back pocket may have saved him from paralysis.

Nice video from the UK, where a man surprised his 88-year old father, a former cycling champ, with an ebike and swiftly got him back to racing form.

A 77-year old Scottish man spent three weeks shoveling dirt and debris from three miles of roadway to make it safe for bike riders, after being told the local government wouldn’t get around to it until summer.

Who says politicians are useless? A member of the Scottish parliament rescued an 81-year old bike rider who accidentally rode into a canal.

A Bollywood actress complains that five-star hotels don’t accept bicycles. But rides her single speed bike to them anyway.

Police in New Zealand are taking to their bikes after recognizing what the rest of us already knew — that bikes give you a better view of what motorists are really doing in their cars.

Tragic story from New Zealand, where a mountain biker has spent the last two months in a hospital paralyzed from the neck down except for a little movement in her arms after she was struck by careless trail rider, and calls for better bike rider behavior.

The killer hit-and-run epidemic has spread to law-abiding Japan.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spoiler alert: Skip this section if you’re still planning to watch yesterday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Cycling Weekly provides five talking points from Liège-Bastogne-Liège to impress everyone around the water cooler, who probably never heard of it.

Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels won the men’s race, while Michael Woods became the first Canadian to podium in Liège-Bastogne-Liège; Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen won the women’s race for the second year in a row.

Italy’s Alberto Bettiol will miss the Giro after breaking his left clavicle and a rib in the race, while women’s great Marianne Vos suffered a broken collarbone in a collision with another cyclist.

A semi-pro New Zealand cyclist is showing signs of improvement after being roused from a drug-induced coma following a collision that shattered his upper body.

Everything you always wanted to know about Lance Armstrong but probably didn’t care enough to ask.

 

Finally…

Be vewy, vewy quiet, we’re hunting KOMs. Why buy an ebike when you can just build one yourself?

And if you’re going to ride a bike naked in the middle of a thunderstorm, fasten balloons securely to protect your modesty.

Although if you actually had any, you probably wouldn’t be doing it to begin with.

 

Morning Links: Upcoming bike events, curbside protected parking lane, and bikeshare demands infrastructure

Let’s catch up with a few upcoming bike events we haven’t mentioned yet.

The Agoura Hills/Westlake Village Century Bike Ride rolls tomorrow to benefit wounded vets and the fight against diabetes.

The weekend’s can’t miss event takes place when CicLAvia rolls, walks, runs, skates and scoots through the Heart of LA this Sunday; Bike Walk Glendale will hold a feeder ride, while the Militant Angeleno has updated his epic guide to reflect the updated route. Once again, other obligations will keep me from attending, so feel free to send us any photos or information from the event.

Helen’s Cycles will hold a no-drop women’s mountain bike ride on the 15th.

West Covina will host an open house to discuss the city’s draft pedestrian/bike plan on the 25th.

………

Sunicycler sends this reminder from Venice Blvd that protected bike lanes are an IQ test, which too many drivers fail.

………

Once again, today’s common theme is bikeshare.

As LA considers legalizing dockless bikeshare, DC is quickly discovering that people leave dockless bikes in all the wrong places.

Singapore’s experience is no different, deciding that bikes will now have to be left at designated parking zones scattered throughout the city.

Melbourne, Australia is crushing dockless bikeshare bikes that are dumped in the wrong places, much to the surprise of the company responsible for them.

And the LACBC’s new executive director writes that bikeshare needs infrastructure to go with it.

………

A Scottish paper says fair or not, the pay raise recently given to male cyclists sends a message that women’s cycling is not valued. That’s because it’s not, unfortunately.

Business Insider talks with the great Katie Compton about cyclocross, naps and the challenges of being a woman athlete.

Recently retired cyclist Andrew Talansky is going to try tri.

Tragic news from Canada, where an 18-year old bike racer was killed while training when a driver made an illegal U-turn.

And more bad news, as an Iranian master’s racer was killed in a collision while training for the Master’s Track Cycling World Championships, to be held here in LA next week.

………

Local

The Community Director for the Mar Vista Community Council takes a deep dive into SWITRS data, and concludes that five traffic deaths and 16 serious injuries is no big deal.

By the time you read this, the Ballona Creek bike path should be reopened through Culver City.

Burbank students take part in the national Walk and Bike to School Day.

 

State

An Orcutt father is looking for the jerk driver who fled the scene after crashing into the back of his 14-year old daughter’s bike as she rode to school.

Will Farrell is one of us, as he takes a five-day bicycling tour of San Luis Obispo County. Sadly, Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Garner, who are also visiting the Central Coast county, apparently aren’t.

Hanford says lock your bike to a rack, or it will be impounded.

Sad news from San Jose, where a 15-year old boy died after crashing his bike into a tree last week.

Three Lodi cyclists were injured, one critically, when they were run down from behind by a driver who fled the scene.

An Oroville man faces charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, fleeing a pursuing officer’s vehicle while driving recklessly, and fleeing the scene of a vehicular manslaughter after running down a bicyclist on Wednesday.

 

National

A new AAA study says yes, those in-dash infortainment systems lead to distracted driving, just like we suspected.

Studies show that any form of exercise that raises your heart rate and keeps you moving — like bicycling — is the closest thing we have to a miracle drug.

Now you can have your very own $150 nanotube-lubed bike chain.

Bicycling looks at the sad state of distracted driving laws across the US, including California’s exceptionally low $20 fine. You can thank Governor Brown’s veto pen for that; he blocked a bill that would have increased the fine, saying the current penalty was high enough. Which is clearly wrong, since it doesn’t seem to stop anyone.

A Salt Lake City cop has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of a black bike rider, who was initially stopped for not having a rear taillight; the victim allegedly pulled a knife on officers as they tried to arrest him on outstanding warrants.

A 16-year old Minnesota driver faces charges for swerving off the road and killing a bike rider while she was Snapchatting behind the wheel.

Despite repeated complaints and negative press coverage, New York cops continue to park in bike lanes, because they can.

The Orlando FL paper offers tips on how to ride in the rain. Because sooner or later, it will. Even here.

 

International

Mexico City’s new bike mayor says bicycles are the key to reducing gridlock.

The UK’s Cycling Minister says they only want to make the roads safe for everyone, after a writer for the Guardian accused him of “headline-grabbing hypocrisy” in calling for cyclists to behave. But at least British politicians only grab headlines.

A London church is trying to pray the bikeway away.

Caught on video: An Aussie driver rear-ends a bike rider, throwing him through the air, yet gets off without even a ticket because police say no offense was committed. Evidently, slamming into people and things from behind is perfectly legal Down Under. The video shows the actual impact, so be sure you really want to see it before you click the link.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to steal an unused bike, at least brush the cobwebs off yourself before you ride away. People have been trying to bike on water since the ‘60s. No, the 1860s.

And try to get in as much riding as possible this next week on the off chance the world really does come to an end.

 

Morning Links: New Mar Vista website, LADOT debuts micro-sweeper, and Caffe Luxxe hosts vintage bike exhibit

LADOT has put up a website to keep track of updates on the Venice Great Streets project in Mar Vista.

Which should come in handy both to explain what’s going on and why, and to keep up with what promises to be an endless series of public meetings defending the project.

………

Speaking of LADOT, they unveiled their new micro-sweeper to remove debris from protected bike lanes, demonstrating it in the protected bike lane next to City Hall on Los Angeles Street.

Let’s just hope it’s powerful enough to suck up all the police cars that are usually parked in it.

………

Just in time for the finale of the Tour de France, Santa Monica’s Caffe Luxxe is teaming with Helen’s Cycles to host an exhibition of rare vintage bikes starting today — July 20th, not January — through the end of September.

………

LA County will host a safety training workshop for people walking and riding their bikes in the dangerous Florence-Firestone area this Wednesday.

………

A writer for a Jewish magazine questions whether the legendary Italian racer Gino Bartali really saved Jews during WWII, despite his recognition as Righteous Among the Nations by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center’s Yad Vashem.

Michelle Sarfatti bases his refutation on Bartali’s famed reluctance to discuss his work during the war, and a problematic book written in the 1970s which was the first to claim Bartali had hidden forged identity papers in the frame of his bicycle to smuggle them past the Nazi’s.

Yet the Yad Vashem page cites Holocaust survivors whose identity papers were delivered by Bartali, and notes that he told his story to the daughter of the rabbi who founded the resistance network.

And the BBC reports that he told his story to his son in bits and pieces over the years, but made him promise not to tell anyone. A promise he kept until his father’s death.

………

From ski jumper to Tour de France stage winner in just five years.

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner says Warren Barguil will be the next French Tour winner — once Chris Froome gets tired of winning it, that is. Although Rigoberto Uran has shown himself to be Froome’s most dangerous challenger this year.

Bicycling looks at the science behind those WTF areo tucks.

If you haven’t seen it yet, this is what racing 100-plus miles every day for three weeks does to your legs.

It’s a start. Spain’s Vuelta has eliminated the obligatory kisses from podium girls, and will have podium boys — aka hosts and hostesses — as well.

………

Local

Marketplace talks with the founder of LA-based Thousand, asking if a better looking helmet will keep people safer on their bikes. Short answer, probably not. Longer answer, only if it gets people who wouldn’t otherwise wear one to strap it on.

A professor at LA-based Concord Law School offer five steps to follow if you’re involved in a bicycle crash.

Cal Poly Pomona is finally fixing deadly Kellogg Drive to make it safer for people walking or riding bicycles, four years after student Ivan Aguillar was killed while riding his bike to campus, and 13 years after another student died walking in a crosswalk. Although the reason for fixing it has nothing to do with safety, of course.

The Montbello Bicycle Coalition is hosting a Thursday Night Ice Cream Ride tonight.

 

State

The Orange County Register’s David Whiting rides the Santa Ana River Trail, saying OC hikers and bike riders are giving up on it now that it’s become a linear homeless encampment.

La Palma is putting its cops back on bicycles, a decade after cutting the bike cop program due to budget cuts. Meanwhile, a police website explains why bike cops matter.

San Diego police are stepping up efforts to bust bike thieves using GPS-equipped bait bikes, making 109 arrests in three years — with 107 convictions. Yet the LAPD is still reluctant to give it a try, fearing accusations of entrapment.

An Escondido bike rider was injured, apparently seriously, when he was hit by a truck Wednesday morning.

In an effort to encourage bike tourism, Ventura has declared itself a Bicycle Friendly City, just two months after getting a bronze-level recognition from the Bike League.

A Bakersfield artist is holding an exhibition of artwork from a cyclist’s perspective.

Sad news from Oakland, where a 60-year old man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike, and his companion injured; a third Bay Area bike rider was injured in another hit-and-run.

 

National

Bicycle Times considers the etiquette of passing on a busy bike path.

A Seattle writer insists smoking dope makes him a better cyclist, and wonders if it will help with swimming. Probably not. On both counts.

That didn’t take long. Just days after Oregon passed the first country’s first bicycle tax, an anti-tax Colorado state senator proposes a similar bill. Because nothing encourages a healthy, non-polluting, non-destructive form of alternative transportation like taxing it.

A new Utah study says invest in bicycling and walking to improve the state’s economic and physical health.

A Missoula newspaper provides an obituary of Dennis Bernard Sparrow, a noted 1980’s frame builder and member of the 1960s proto-punk band The Missing Lynx.

Bad enough that thieves in a passing car mugged a Lincoln NE man and stole his BMX bike, along with his cellphone and cash; they also stole his puppy.

A Chicago writer questions whether the city’s Vision Zero plan has enough teeth to achieve its ambitious goals. Which is the same question many of us are asking about LA’s plan.

Minneapolis police are looking for a bike rider who may have witnessed officers attempting to resuscitate the unarmed Australian woman the cops shot after she had called 911 to report a sexual assault.

A Kentucky pickup driver is a hero after rescuing a man who wrecked his bicycle and taking him to the ER.

A Philadelphia man was sentenced to 29 to 62 years behind bars for gunning down a 16-year old kid as he rode his bike, following a dispute three months earlier. If he’d used a car instead of a gun, he might be looking at 62 weeks, instead. Or maybe days.

Talk about going the wrong way. Atlanta is the latest city to rip out an apparently success bike lane — in this case one built with the support of REI and People For Bikes — and replaced it with parking.

A Florida woman testifies that her boyfriend convinced her to take the blame after he ran down a bike rider while driving on a suspended license.

 

International

Bike Radar lists five cycling debates that just won’t die, from headphone and helmets to doing the wave.

Canadian bicyclists are calling for a change in the law in Nova Scotia, where dooring a bike rider remains perfectly legal.

A UK letter writer says enforcing the equivalent of a five-foot passing distance will cause gridlock on the streets. Which is pretty much the opposite effect of what it’s had anywhere else.

South African cyclists are planning a ride calling for enforcement of a safe passing distance, and the prosecution of drivers who crash into bike riders. Proving that bicyclists face the same problem exist everywhere.

Cyclists in Sydney, Australia are complaining about cars parked in a bike lane, putting children at risk from oncoming cars when they have to ride into traffic to get around them. Proving once again that the same problems exist everywhere.

Caught on video: An Aussie cyclist is lucky to escape when a driver zooms across his path at the last second.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to steal a bicycle, try not to take it from the local DA. Two drivers collided on a Minnesota bridge, so it’s the drunk bike rider’s fault.

And this pretty well sums up the absurdity of the great LA road diet debate.

Morning Links: Valley newspaper invents disapproval of Van Nuys bike lanes, and early congrats to CiclaValley

It never fails.

Less than a month after the newly redesigned Van Nuys Blvd was officially opened, a local paper is already insisting residents are unhappy with the makeover.

And actually found one to back it up.

According to the San Fernando Valley Sun, the chief complaint is the parking-protected bike lane on the southbound side — even though it was developed with public input at a series of workshops, something they fail to mention.

And even though, of the three people they quote, only one didn’t like the project. Although one bike rider, who liked the protected lane, was concerned that it was too narrow to be able to pass the hopefully nonexistent salmon cyclists who might ride in it the wrong way.

But according to one woman, no one wants to go there anymore because of conflicts with cyclists as they cross the bike lane to get to their cars.

Because it’s just so hard to look for someone riding a bicycle before you step off the curb.

To be fair, though, the same story could be written in any city, anywhere, after a street has undergone any kind of makeover. And probably has.

It’s human nature to resist change. Even change for the better.

So initially, it’s easy to find people who will complain, for whatever reason. Then within a few months, the complaints go away as most people grow accustomed to the changes.

And often grow to like it.

That is inevitably what will happen here, if they’d bothered to give it more than a few weeks.

But that doesn’t make for good headlines.

Especially when you can extrapolate the complaints of one woman into an entire angry community that probably isn’t there.

………

Congratulations to our friend Zachary Rynew, author of the frequently cited CiclaValley, on his apparent selection as Streetsblog’s 2016 Journalist/Writer of the Year.

While results won’t be announced until today, Rynew was in the lead with an overwhelming 77% of the vote.

………

Make plans to spend Saturday glued to the electronic device of your choice, when VeloNews will live stream the national cyclocross championships, beginning at 6 am Pacific time.

………

Local

DTLA’s free Night on Broadway celebration enters its third year, with festivities scheduled for the end of this month, on January 28th. Let’s hope they remember to set up a bike valet this time around.

LAist lists Saturday’s Resolution Ride as one of their 20 coolest things happening in LA this weekend.

Multicultural Communities for Mobility is looking for focus group volunteers willing to try out DTLA’s Metro Bike bikeshare system for a full month at no charge.

Culver City is hosting a public workshop tomorrow to discuss a planned protected bike lane through the downtown area.

Pasadena considers adopting Vision Zero, but fears it would mean defunding some existing traffic projects to pay for new safety work.

Police blame the driver for broadsiding a bike rider in Stevenson Ranch; the woman on the bike was hospitalized with moderate injuries.

Once again, a bike rider has been injured in a collision with an LA County sheriff’s deputy, as a 16-year old Palmdale boy was seriously injured when he allegedly ran a red light in front of the patrol car; the victim reportedly didn’t have lights on his bike and wasn’t wearing a helmet, as required under California law for anyone under 18. As always, the question is whether anyone other than the officers involved saw him run the red light. Thanks to dammannjohnnj for the heads-up.

 

State

Seriously? A new Palm Springs safety campaign places responsibility firmly on potential traffic victims by promoting a new custom-made reflective vest for bike riders and pedestrians, and another for their dogs. Because there’s evidently no point in asking drivers to slow down and actually look for people and animals on the road with them, without making them dress like glow-in-the-dark clowns.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole several high-end bicycles from non-profit in San Francisco’s South Bay that helps people who can’t afford a bike. Although I’d hardly call least five bikes valued at a total of $3,000 high-end.

Lodi residents want to know why a promised bike path disappeared from plans for a proposed subdivision.

 

National

Gucci Mane is one of us, as the rap star quit weed and sizzurp, got out of prison and into spandex. Now the only question is whether 36 is too young to be a MAMIL.

The Wall Street Journal looks at Zagster’s strategy of pursuing bikeshare contracts in smaller cities.

Forbes recognizes the bike industry, honoring the founders of Seattle-based ebike maker Rad Power Bikes in its 2017 30 under 30 listing.

A Washington bicyclist is foiled by ice, snow, driving rain and logging trucks in his attempt to complete a week-long, 400-mile cycling challenge in a single 40-hour ride.

A Texas mother has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to hand out free bike lights in memory of her son, who was killed while riding last year; so far it’s raised less than $450 of the $5,000 goal.

An Illinois cyclist is training to ride through the wilds of Siberia in next year’s 5,700 mile Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme race.

A Detroit coalition envisions a radically remade street system incorporating bicycle throughways, to make the city the greenway capital of the world by 2067. Meanwhile, a bike ride through the city will commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 Walk for Freedom, though rail construction prevents them from following his actual path in the civil rights march.

A new survey shows Tennessee residents overwhelmingly support increased funding for biking and walking infrastructure, as well as multimodal transportation projects.

The Massachusetts DOT is shifting its focus from promoting bicycling by building bike trails to making everyday streets more accommodating to cyclists.

In a bold ruling that could mark a big advance for traffic safety, New York’s highest court ruled that cities can be held liable for failing to redesign streets with a history of traffic injuries and reckless driving.

A first-ever Georgia bike drive brought in 800 bicycles to be repaired and donated to kids in need.

Florida residents worry that a new bike path along a canal will hurt property values by giving access to bad guys, ATVs and motorbikes, leaving path users at the mercy of thugs. Maybe someone should tell them about these things called streets that bad people can also use to get places.

 

International

Bike Radar says drivers owe a big thanks to bicycles for everything from ball bearings to good roads.

A Canadian man has abandoned his effort to ride a fat bike 700 miles across Antarctica, saying the frozen continent kicked his ass.

The head of Canada’s Mothers Against Drunk Drivers says seven years behind bars is not enough for a killer repeat drunk driver who joked about it on social media.

A Brit bicycle rider will spend the next three years and four months behind bars for pushing a 69-year old pedestrian, who died after hitting his head on the curb; considering this was his 18th conviction for various crimes, including violent assaults, 40 months hardly seems sufficient.

A British woman rode 50 miles to raise the equivalent of nearly $20,000 for the children’s hospital that cared for her nephew.

Caught on video: The BBC’s Jeremy Vine catches a passive aggressive cyclist on dash cam video, who rides slowly in front of a driver after getting cut off.

Caught on video too: A UK driver brake checks a cyclist on a wide open roadway, for the crime of failing to signal when the rider went around a parked car.

A Pakistani CEO beats traffic and religious protests in Lahore by riding his bike and following Google maps on his smartphone.

No overreach here. The parents of a Chinese motorcycle rider who was killed in a collision are suing 20 people, including the bike rider she was trying to pass, the bus driver who hit her, and the owners of the cars parked alongside the street.

 

Finally…

Apparently, even French presidents ride salmon. Who needs ear buds when you have a helmet?

And throwing your bike at someone on a horse is not a recommended use of it. Especially not when accompanied by a poodle-type dog.

 

Morning Links: Early signs of bike life in Hollywood, and protected bike lanes could be coming to Lankershim in 2017

Maybe things are finally starting to happen around here.

A walk down Sunset Boulevard over the weekend confirmed that Hollywood is the city’s second district where bicyclists are allowed to lock their bikes to specific parking meters where racks have been attached; Westwood Village was the first.

SAMSUNG

Racks are spaced one per block

Hopefully it will soon spread to other parts of the city, where it is still illegal to lock a bike to a parking meter, though the law is seldom enforced.

And work is ongoing to open the long promised Bike Hub in the W Hotel at Hollywood and Vine, just around the corner from the Red Line Metro Station. Although with just 72 secure bike parking spaces, demand could quickly outstrip supply.

SAMSUNG

Now if they could just do something about providing people with safe places to ride their bikes, as called for in the hard-fought 2010 bike plan, now part of the LA Mobility Plan 2035. Virtually none of which exist today.

screen-shot-2016-12-06-at-12-40-33-am

And which will be desperately needed when bikeshare comes to Hollywood in a few years, as promised.

Unless maybe those are just pretty lines on a map, and more of the empty promises we’ve long been used to.

……….

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports North Hollywood’s Lankershim Blvd could finally be getting protected bike lanes next year, after they had previously been blocked by former councilmember Tom LaBonge.

He also says plans are underway for a protected bike lane on Chandler Blvd, which could result in the city’s first protected intersection where they meet.

Welcome to Day 7 of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Donate today, and help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

Donate to the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today to keep Southern California’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way bright and early every morning.

………

Nothing suspicious here. An Italian Strava king is looking to turn pro at 38, an age at which most pros have long since retired; his father is a notorious dope doctor associated with a number of banned cyclists.

USA Cycling wants you to buy a license to participate in Gran Fondos and gravel rides. But at least they’ll come fix your flats if you do.

………

Local

The LA County Sheriff’s Department gets a $1.9 million grant to reduce traffic fatalities, including a six-year rise in bike and pedestrian fatalities in the state.

Los Cerritos News proclaims itself LA’s best investigative newspaper, but apparently can’t be bothered to investigate which streets recently received $89,900 in bikeway improvements.

CiclaValley posts his favorite video of the year, as he catches up to a father and his young daughter bombing down Nichols Canyon at 30 mph on an ebike.

Ryan Seacrest is one of us, going for a ride on the beachfront bike path through Venice Beach with his apparent past and future girlfriend.

Former Criminal Minds star Shemar Moore is one of us too, as he describes what he calls the worst day of his life, when he suffered a broken leg after he was hit by a car while riding his bike in LA seven years ago.

 

State

Orange Coast College bike groups are distributing coupons on campus for free U-locks, after raising $1,000 for 42 locks.

San Diego police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who fled after striking a bicyclist near Mission Bay Park.

Community members in San Francisco discuss whether to ban cars from Golden Gate Park.

Marin hikers and pedestrians worry that approving access for mountain bikers on a short connecting trail will make it unsafe for everyone else.

A Sacramento man loses 75 pounds after buying an $800 dollar bike.

Great idea. The Davis Bike Club fights bike theft by giving out free Tile GPS-tracking anti-theft devices.

 

National

Bicycling interviews the founder of Portland’s first transgender cycling club.

An Iowa mountain bike group is building a 2.3 mile “roller coaster” off-road trail through 20 acres of wooded hills.

A Texas driver walks after playing the universal Get Out of Jail Free card when police determine the sun was in her eyes when she killed a state cyclocross champion.

A 68-year old Wisconsin man rides 1,900 miles across the US to his winter home in Texas, raising $6,000 for a local school along the way.

A Philly website offers advice on winter riding, which oddly doesn’t include moving to Los Angeles.

A Yonkers NY bike rider receives a $625,000 settlement after he was knocked off his bike by a speed bump.

New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare system is under pressure to expand into less affluent areas.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Virginia driver won’t spend a day in jail, despite being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a bike-riding college student — and despite a number of previous violations, including two hit-and-run charges.

 

International

London’s mayor proposes investing £770 million — the equivalent of nearly one billion dollars — in new bicycling initiatives to make cycling a “safe and obvious choice” for residents of the city; that works out to an impressive 5.5% of transportation spending.

A British coroner blames a bike rider for causing her own death by wearing headphones; never mind the big scary truck that may have frightened her into falling off her bike, even if it didn’t hit her.

A group of Brit cyclists ride the full length of Britain, covering over 1,000 miles in just six days.

The train station in a Norwegian commuter town now has a 400 space bike hotel, allowing people to securely drop off their bikes while they’re away at work.

Iraqi women defy cultural expectations by getting out on their bicycles, flooding Bagdad streets in response to a social media campaign.

A DHL delivery truck took out five Aussie cyclists over the weekend, fortunately, just two of the riders were seriously injured

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a customized bicycle and a prosthetic arm attachment from an Aussie amputee.

Caught on video: An out-of-control Chinese truck smashes through traffic at a red light, mowing down everything in its path, including people on bikes, before blowing up in a burst of flames. Warning, this one may be particularly hard to watch.

A Singapore bicyclist received a $8.65 million settlement for PTSD caused when she was struck by a bundle of cables at a construction site.

 

Finally…

A little dehydration could make you a better climber. And don’t call 911 when you can’t unlock your bike — even if they do respond with sirens blaring.

………

Special thanks to Steve Herbert for his generous contribution to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Donate today to help keep SoCal’s leading source for the freshest bike news and advocacy coming your way every morning.

 

Weekend Links: Protected bike lanes improve safety and increase ridership, and LAPD cops buy girl a new bike

Better bikeways really do improve safety.

In an editorial in the American Journal of Better Health, authors John Pucher and Ralph Buehler argue that bike lanes encourage more people to ride while improving safety, as the following chart shows.

screen-shot-2016-11-12-at-1-46-02-am

Even auto-centric Los Angeles, with its disconnected non-network of mostly door zone bike lanes, has shown a significant improvement in safety while more than doubling ridership.

However, the point of the article is that it’s the type of bikeway that matters.

The safest kind of facility, by far, were cycle tracks, which are on-street bicycle lanes that are physically separated from motor vehicles by raised curbs, bollards, or concrete barriers.

The authors note that riding in a cycle track is 89% safer than riding on a major street with parking and no bike infrastructure; regular painted bike lanes on streets without parking were 53% safer.

Note the key words “without parking.”

Thus, removing car parking and replacing it with cycle tracks is an ideal way to improve cycling safety on major streets.

They also observe that lightly trafficked residential streets with no infrastructure were 56% safer, suggesting that you’re right to seek out back ways that allow you to avoid major streets. And that traffic calming is key to improving safety on local neighborhood streets.

They conclude,

It is crucial to provide physical separation from fast-moving, high-volume motor vehicle traffic and better intersection design to avoid conflicts between cyclists and motor vehicles. More and better bicycle infrastructure and safer cycling would encourage Americans to make more of their daily trips by bicycle and, thus, help raise the currently low physical activity levels of the US population.

Which is pretty much what we’ve been saying all along.

………

Local

Bighearted LAPD officers pitch in to buy a new bicycle for a teenage girl whose bike was stolen on her birthday; oddly, while the LA press hasn’t picked up the story, a station in Atlanta did. Thanks to Sgt. Helper for the heads-up.

The Santa Monica Police Department received a $300,000 grant to help prevent traffic injuries and deaths.

 

State

A San Diego seminary student thinks it was divine intervention that saved her cell phone from thieves, although those same divine forces didn’t seem to care so much about her bikes.

A two day radiothon raised enough money to buy 400 bicycles and helmets for fourth grade kids in the Coachella Valley.

 

National

Bicycling offers the warning signs of hypothermia. Which isn’t normally something you have to worry about it Southern California, unless you ride in the mountains or get soaked by rain.

Corvallis OR and Oregon State University team up to tell bike riders and pedestrians to “Be bright, Be seen.” Because there’s no point in expecting drivers to actually pay attention, evidently.

Denver TV viewers pitch in give a college student their own pickup and mountain bike after his car and bicycle were stolen two days apart.

A San Antonio bike rider is caught in the middle of a legal dispute after her bike was mangled in a crash while on the front rack of a city bus; the bus company refused to pay for damages, blaming the other driver.

The four Kalamazoo cyclists struck by a hit-and-run driver Thursday night had lights on their bikes and reportedly were doing everything right.

At least one cyclist was seriously injured when anti-bike terrorists struck again, this time tossing tacks into the path of a Florida triathlon; over a dozen riders were treated for abrasions and impact injuries.

 

International

A pro cyclist and entrepreneur is starting a new insurance company for cyclists and other people with active lifestyles in the US and Canada.

Toronto’s Globe and Mail looks at the new Complete Streets promising to end the reign of car as king in the city, while giving unprecedented respect to pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.

Get your resume ready. British Cycling is looking for a new CEO.

Cycling Weekly says Barcelona should be your next cycling destination.

An Israeli father is on a crusade to ban ebikes from the country, calling them a menace to children.

Another day, another Aussie cyclist attacked by a magpie.

Pro cyclist Rebecca Rusch will lead an eight-day, 340 mile ride along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to raise awareness and funds to remove unexploded ordnance that remain from the Vietnam War.

 

Finally…

Nothing like getting dropped by a koala. If you really want to be seen, maybe you need a brighter bike.

Or maybe you just need to ride with a soccer ball on your head.

 

Morning Links: Hit-and-run in Harvard Heights, protected bike lane coming to 1st St, and 10-Freeway victim ID’d

Police are looking for the cowardly schmuck who took off after running down a bike rider in LA’s Harvard Heights on Wednesday.

The collision occurred around 3 pm at the corner of Venice and Hobart Blvds as the cyclist reported he was blindsided by the collision. Fortunately, he suffered just cuts and bruises, along with a head wound that required six staples.

The driver was caught on a security camera stopping several blocks away to remove the mangled bike from underneath his minivan before getting back in and driving away.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the LAPD’s West Traffic Division at 213/473-0222.

………

Good news for LA bike riders.

LADOT reports construction has begun on a protected bike lane on Los Angeles Street from First Street to Union Station in DTLA — including LA’s first bicycle-specific traffic signals.

Hopefully, this will finally stop LAPD officers from parking in the bike lane. Though I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Maybe they can have it ready for an official unveiling during next month’s Bike Week.

………

The victim in Sunday’s inexplicable bicycling fatality on the 10 Freeway in Alhambra has been identified as a 40-year old transient named Eduardo Castillo.

………

If you hurry, you may still have time to make it up to the Sea Otter Classic in time to race your Brompton this evening. Coat and tie or dresses are required, although nothing says your attire must be gender appropriate.

Meanwhile, Bicycle Retailer says ebikes abound at this year’s event. And Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious offers his always great photographs of the Classic.

………

Just months after approving them for racing, pro cycling’s governing body has suspended the use of disk brakes following a couple of serious cuts caused by the sharp blades.

Russian cyclist Eduard Vorganov can unretire now that doping officials say he gets a do-over. On the other hand, Italian rider Luca Paolini got an 18 month ban for doing coke during last year’s Tour de France, apparently mistaking the French countryside for Studio 54 in the ’80s.

An Aussie writer says organized teams of weekend warrior MAMILS are ruining amateur bike racing.

A Malay cyclist says there’s more to bike racing than the prize money.

………

Local

Richard Risemberg employs his best WTF! in an attempt to comprehend why the Second Street bike lanes simply stop at Beverly Blvd, dumping riders into a complicated intersection with unforgiving traffic. Not unlike, say, most bike lanes in LA’s disconnected and discombobulated non-network.

LA considers returning a portion of parking revenue to the neighborhoods where it was collected, and where it could be used to fix sidewalks or stripe bike lanes.

CiclaValley takes a ride up upper Los Virgenes Canyon.

How does wehogo sound for the name of West Hollywood’s new bikeshare system?

Two of Bike the Vote LA’s top ranked candidates win in Culver City, with endorsee Meghan Sahli-Wells coming in first by a wide margin.

The LA Sheriff’s Department has made an arrest in the hit-and-run that injured a woman in her 70s riding her bike in Agoura Hills last month; the detective said the juvenile driver was sorry, but he screwed up. Gee, you think?

 

State

Oceanside will study a proposal for a road diet on the Coast Highway, narrowing the roadway from four lanes to two while adding buffered bike lanes.

A Sacramento woman helps recover her own stolen bike after spotting it on Craigslist.

 

National

People for Bikes explains how to raise a bike rider.

A Montana paper looks back on 133 years of bicycling in Yellowstone National Park; the first riders to visit the park were three men from Laramie whose sag wagon actually was one.

The Houston Chronicle says the city’s dangerous road design is killing people.

Caught on video: An Omaha driver claims she was the victim of bike rage, as a man on a bike goes off on her for blocking a bike path.

A Wisconsin woman faces a homicide charge with up to 10 years behind bars for running down a bike rider while texting; she allegedly deleted her texts in an attempt to cover-up her crime.

Good news from Tennessee, as the controversial bill that would have barred the use of gas taxes for parks and bike lanes has been pulled by it sponsor.

Rather than develop compatible systems, Jersey City votes to limit commercial bikes from using city bike racks for more than two hours to keep Hoboken bikeshare users from hogging them. This could offer a hint to LA’s future, as Metro’s coming system won’t compatible with Santa Monica’s or systems planned for Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Westwood.

Security video proves NY cops hit a cyclist as he rode in a bike lane, after which they accused him of riding on the sidewalk, then lied on the accident report to shift the blame to him. Thanks to Michael Byerts for the heads-up.

New York considers a bill that would allow cops to use a device to scan drivers’ cell phones after a crash, and automatically suspend their licenses if they refuse. Checking cell phone use should be standard practice after any injury collision, anywhere.

Bike trails have unexpectedly become Philadelphia’s must-have real estate amenity, as developers are opting for bike paths instead of parking lots.

President Obama uses an air horn to kick off this year’s Wounded Warrior Ride to raise awareness of military vets suffering from physical and psychological disabilities as a result of their service.

Now that’s more like it. Washington DC lowers the cost of an annual membership for their bikeshare program to just $5 for low income residents.

 

International

A Canadian paper offers advice from bike messengers on how to keep yours from being stolen; a teenage Brit bike thief says get a better lock.

The Guardian considers who’s the best bike-friendly candidate for London mayor.

British director and Madonna ex Guy Ritchie is one of us.

A deaf London bicyclist says he grew up with cycling in his veins, and prefers the tranquility of riding without sound.

A British study shows 85% of the growth in bike use over a four year period was due to improved infrastructure.

Caught on video 2: A Brit driver stops and lashes out at a cyclist for flipping him off after an apparent punishment pass.

 

Finally…

When does it stop being a step-through frame and become a step-on? Evidently, Kiwis don’t like bumps and bulges at breakfast; thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

And a motorcycle rider takes exception to the elderly man he spotted riding a Penny Farthing through a red light.

Apparently he’s never considered what happens when you stop one of those things.

 

Morning Links: Bad weekend for pro cyclists, a crib sheet on protected bike lanes, and OCR’s David Whiting nails it

It was a bad weekend for pro cyclists.

Movistar rider Adriano Malori was hospitalized in intensive care after a massive crash due to a pothole in the Tour de San Luis in Argentina; he was the second place finisher in the time trial at last year’s Worlds.

Meanwhile, six members of the Giant-Alpecin team were injured when they were hit by a wrong-way driver while training in Spain; riders Chad Haga and John Degenkolb were the most seriously injured. Thanks to Michael Eisenberg for the heads-up.

And former French pro and world track champion Robert Sassone died far too young at age 37.

………

I usually avoid linking to items sent to me by businesses, let alone embedding them, since they’re often nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at SEO marketing.

However, this infographic offers some great information about physically separated bike lanes, gathered from a number of studies. And clearly shows that protected bike lanes increase ridership while reducing crashes and injuries.

Consider it a crib sheet for your next public meeting.

……..

Local

A “crowd” of people turned out for Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s third annual Community Bike Ride on Saturday, followed by a workshop to highlight the Sherman Way Concept Plan.

Burglaries and bike thefts are up in LA’s upscale Brentwood neighborhood; the LAPD’s senior lead officer for the area urges residents to keep their bikes inside, and lock them up even if you keep yours inside a garage.

Richard Risemberg offers a noir tale involving private dicks, a nasty crack and an injured cyclist. All that’s missing is a femme fatale.

A Long Beach woman plans to raise funds and awareness by biking and walking the LA River from the coast to the tributaries in the San Gabriel Mountains.

 

State

The Orange County Register’s David Whiting nails it with a column saying too many bicyclists have died on the county’s streets, and it only takes two seconds off your life to help ensure a longer one for someone on a bike. Although we’ve got to get him back on his own bike after the loss of a friend.

The LA Times looks at the recent crackdown on mountain bikers at Miramar.

Oceanside approves a road diet, complete with wider bike lanes and buffers along the Coast Highway. Calling safety improvements a pilot study is a great way to overcome initial opposition and give it a chance to prove it works.

Nearly 7,000 bike riders took part in Sunday’s Tour de Palm Springs.

Bakersfield cyclists host a monthly full moon ride.

San Francisco police arrest one suspect and search for another following a brief pursuit when an officer saw the driver flee after hitting a bicyclist; however, the rider was gone when police went back to look for him.

A bighearted Stockton driver — yes, that’s sarcastic — checks his car for damage after rear-ending a 15-year old bike rider, asks if he’s okay, then just drives off after agreeing the bike was seriously messed up in the wreck.

The Chico newspaper calls for banning bikes from the city’s Esplanade and its frontage roads, apparently unaware that would be illegal. CA state law allows bicycles on any public roadway where motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of some limited-access highways. So if they want to ban bikes, they’d have to ban cars, too.

 

National

A Denver writer says bike lanes serve to improve safety and livability for everyone, not just bike riders.

Now that’s a bike-friendly university. My hometown college is boosting campus bike parking to 18,000 spaces, as well as offering showers for bike riders in the new chemistry and biology buildings and the soon-to-be-built on-campus stadium.

A Buffalo NY couple open a year-round cargo bike delivery service.

Plain white rapper Vanilla Ice dodges jail for burglary and bike theft by completing 100 hours of community service in Florida.

 

International

Here’s another reason to register your bike. An English rider who was unable to tell rescuers who he was following a collision was identified through the registration on his bicycle. You should always carry multiple forms of ID when you ride; unscrupulous people have been known to steal wallets from cyclists after collisions or solo falls. Personally, I never leave the house without my Road ID, whether or not I’m on my bike.

Belfast embarks on a “radical” plan to remake the city’s streets by improving existing infrastructure, building a bike-only street, and replacing car parking with cycle tracks.

In the ongoing saga of bike-riding Syrian refugees who exploited a loophole to cross the border into Norway from Russia, the latter country refuses to take them back after the former decided to boot them out. Nice to see so much human compassion for people fleeing the proxy wars in their battle-scared county.

Now that’s a bikeshare program. Hangzhou, China’s eight-year old program offers over 3,500 stations with 84,000 bikes.

 

Finally…

Sure, it was cycling commentator Phil Liggett who made Lance a star; evidently, winning all those bike races had nothing to do with it. Talk about windshield bias; even on a cycle track, it’s the cyclist’s responsibility to avoid the drivers using it.

And it’s better to have people think you’re a Trump supporter than let them know you only have one bike.

 

Weekend Links: Protected bike lanes, election recaps, send a girl to bike camp, and more on the CA helmet law

This is what happens when life interferes before a post gets finished.

It grows.

And grows.

And grows some more, as the bike news keeps coming faster than I can keep up. Until we get a massive list of links long enough to keep you entertained for the rest of the weekend.

Or at least, the part you don’t spend on your bike.

………

People for Bikes releases their new report on Race, Ethnicity, Class and Protected Bike Lanes, while Fast Company makes the case for protected lanes — including boosting ridership up to 171%.

And investing in bike infrastructure is an investment in local business.

………

CiclaValley offers a recap of Tuesday’s elections and what the results mean for LA bicyclists. Not that 90% of Angelenos seem to care.

If this sort of apathy continues into the June general election, any motivated group that cared enough to actually vote en masse could totally own this city.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Damien Newton offers his insights, including an examination of Jose Huizar’s win in CD14, which was the city’s first race that hinged on progressive urban planning.

………

One of the area’s most active and influential bike advocates, Santa Monica Spoke’s Cynthia Rose, is raising funds to attend next week’s National Bike Summit and National Forum on Women and Bicycling.

And yes, your donation is tax deductible.

………

Are we tired of the debate over mandating bike helmets yet?

A Napa Valley cyclist and attorney says we should require helmets, but do more to make our streets safer.

On the other hand, the publishers of Cycle California! says a helmet law tosses out all the benefits of bicycling for the mere illusion of safety.

The Mission Bicycle Company the proposed law sends the wrong message, while placing the burden of safety on the most vulnerable social group, rather than the one most likely to cause harm.

And KCRW traffic maven Kajon Cermak asks if bike helmets discourage cycling.

………

Local

The Westside Urban Forum holds their first bike-focused panel in 15 years to discus the potential for increased bicycling in West LA and Santa Monica.

Better Bike updates the latest news from the Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills, including the city’s lack of response to bike rack requests.

A South LA bike advocate hopes to open a bike co-op in Leimert Park; you can contribute to the project here.

Bike theft is up in Hermosa Beach, as Hermosa Cyclery lost as many as 20 of their rental bikes last year alone.

Plans proceed for a bridge connecting the Glendale Narrows with Griffith Park.

The LACBC and the LA River Revitalization Corp host a free ride through Cudahy Saturday morning.

In advance of Wednesday’s Zócalo/Metro panel discussion, Zócalo Public Square asks if cars are driving off into the sunset.

Long Beach will host its first ciclovía — CicLoBia? — on June 6th.

 

State

A 64-year old New York man is busted for stealing a bait bike in Palm Springs.

A 30-year old triathlete suffers a broken neck, back, leg and shoulder when she was rear-ended by a driver in Buellton; needless to say, the person surrounded by a couple tons of steel, seat belts and air bags was uninjured. Thanks to Jeffrey Fylling for the link.

Sometimes you just can’t win, as San Francisco police ticket bike riders failing to properly navigate a badly designed intersection.

Alameda will cut the ribbon on the Bay Area’s longest buffered bike lane on Saturday. Note to the Contra Costa Times: a buffered bikeway is not the same as a protected bike lane, which features some sort of physical barrier.

Mountain View’s proposed bike plan features 170 potential projects to improve safety.

 

National

Momentum Magazine remembers three early bike riding women who changed to course of history.

Bicycling looks at bikes built for heavier riders, while Men’s Journal discusses how to get the best deal on a road bike. Here’s a hint: develop a relationship with your local bike shop instead of your web browser.

Bike culture is thriving at Arizona State University.

A new biker bar opens in Austin TX; no, not that kind of biker. And Baltimore’s planned bicycle-themed café sounds a lot like our own Pedaler’s Fork.

The Washington Post accuses bike shop workers of joining a radical socialist union.

A North Carolina man plans to ride 15,000 miles alone on a tandem bike to visit 48 state capitals; his wife had dreamed of doing the trip with him before she died of breast cancer. Note to Cosmo: At last count, there were more than 48 state capitals.

Caught on video: A road raging Florida driver intentionally runs into a cyclist, then repeatedly punches and kicks him before driving away.

Speaking of Florida, a Fort Meyers paper offers up seven surprising things about bike crashes, including the fact that red light-running bike riders don’t cause most crashes, it’s drivers who fail to yield that do.

 

International

A Vancouver driving instructor decries the appearance of “hobby cyclists” as the weather warms up; transportation and recreational riders are okay, though.

Ottawa residents call for limiting the size and duration of public memorials such as ghost bikes.

A Montreal non-profit specializes in rebuilding vintage bikes.

British authorities have no idea if drivers who kill bike riders are being prosecuted fairly because they forgot to collect any data on the subject.

It takes a major jerk to steal a purse from an unconscious Brit bike rider. Or any other incapacitated victim, for that matter.

A UK researcher questions the fairness of doping cases, including why Lance received a lifetime ban from bike racing when Floyd Landis and all the others who confessed only got a six-month ban.

An Edinburgh driver avoids jail for seriously injuring a young bike rider; he was checking an address instead of watching the road.

The first African team in the Tour de France aims for a podium finish within the next five years.

Over 1,000 Aussie riders turn out in memory of a cyclist killed as a result of a dooring.

 

Finally…

Even an Aussie child can grasp the concept that cars are convenient, but dangerous; so why can’t most adults, here or there? An 18-year old Portland man busted for bike theft apparently dealt in purloined goats named Penelope, as well.

And cycling embrocation somehow becomes the hottest new winter fashion accessory.

………

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead on Sunday. I’m turning mine to 2045, when LA’s 2010 bike plan is finally scheduled be completed.

And thanks to Margaret for her generous donation to help support this site.