Tag Archive for Roy Wallack

Five years for hit-and-run death of OC bike rider, more on death of bike writer Roy Wallack, and the first HBCU cycling team

December 22, 2020 / / 2 comments

Just three days left in the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Samer S, Terence H, Michael S, Matthew H and Georgia M for their generous donations to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

And help keep it free for everyone, while keeping you informed — and hopefully, entertained a little.

So don’t wait. Drop what you’re doing and give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive now!

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An Orange County man got a well-deserved five years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of 51-year old Michael David Tomlinson in Aliso Viejo last year.

And should have gotten a lot more.

Thirty-two-year old Lake Forest resident Rogelio Martinez-Cuin was sentenced after pleading guilty to felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury, as well as driving with a suspended license.

Martinez-Cuin was reportedly speeding and ran a red light before slamming into Tomlinson’s bike.

He was arrested after abandoning his car about a mile away.

In a heart-rending coda to the tragedy, Tomlinson’s wife learned about the crash when she drove up on the scene in his final moments.

Hit-and-run carries a maximum penalty of four years in California, while vehicular manslaughter is punishable by a max of six years in state prison.

That suggests that Martinez-Cuin may have accepted a plea, or else lucked out with a lenient judge.

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More on the death of bike and fitness writer Roy Wallack following Saturday’s mountain biking crash in the Santa Monica Mountains

Bicycling reports on Wallack’s tragic death on a rugged trail in Pt. Magu State Park . Read it on Yahoo if you can’t access the Bicycling site.

Road Bike Action remembers the man they call the “ever irrepressible,” “wild, crazy and loved” Roy Wallack. Thanks to Mike Bike for the link.

Wallack is survived by his wife and adult son, as well as his father, brother and two sisters.

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A new video series follows the creation and first year of competition for the new cycling team at North Carolina’s St. Augustine’s University.

The first episode of the Chasing History series was released this week, as they become the first cycling team from a Historically Black College or University, aka HBCU, to take to the streets.

Like Justin Williams’ L39ION of Los Angeles, and Rahsaan Bahati’s Bahati Foundation before that, it’s a big step forward in the long-overdue efforts to diversify the sport.

And it matters.

As usual, you can read the story on Yahoo if the Bicycling site blocks you out.

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Another day, another Amazon driver blocking the bike lane.

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You may finally be able to rent a scooter or dockless ebike in WeHo, leaving Beverly Hills as the Westside’s lone e-scooter desert.

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‘Tis the season, indeed, with still more bike giveaways to help ensure as many kids as possible have a bike in their stocking for the holidays.

The Ventura Bike HUB teamed with Mucho Gusto Barber Shop and other local businesses to provide bikes and toys for kids in need.

Sixty-three Denver 2nd graders got new bicycles, courtesy of carbon belt-drive maker Gates Corp.’s fourth annual bicycle giveaway. And yes, they all got belt-drive bikes.

A local group worked with Toys for Tots to give 237 bicycles to kids in a North Carolina trailer park.

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Now you can finally predict how likely a driver is to be drunk based solely on what they drive.

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No bias here.

A British lord calls for six months behind bars for riding a bike on the sidewalk, or bad ebike parking jobs.

Seriously, has he ever seen how motorists park?

Or drive, for that matter.

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

An Oxford, England city councilor says he was assaulted by a truck driver who then ran over his bicycle, but one letter writer bizarrely accuses him of being easily intimidated.

Extremely petty London drivers are blamed for digging up planters protecting one of the city’s Low Traffic Neighborhood streets, as a protest against making streets safer for people who aren’t in cars.

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Local

Streetsblog talks with newly elected Burbank Councilmember Konstantine Anthony, who was endorsed by Streets For All for his advocacy for complete streets, protected bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes, as well as his work on climate change and homelessness.

 

State

This is who we share the road with. A San Diego car thief is accused of intentionally running down a pedestrian while fleeing from police, leaving the victim with life threatening injuries.

Bad news from Indio, where a bike rider was hospitalized with major injuries following a collision yesterday afternoon.

A Santa Barbara letter writer calls for three-foot passing signs to prevent more ghost bikes.

Speaking of Santa Barbara, the city’s iconic State Street will be home to 17  docking stations for the new ebike-based bikeshare system starting next month.

 

National

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss questions how to maintain our own love of riding in the wake of the Nevada bike massacre that left five experienced riders dead, let alone raise awareness of the dangers bike riders face without scaring people off.

The newest non-folding e-cargo bike from Tern is rated at a whopping 28 mph, which puts it in Class 3 under California’s ebike rating system, requiring a bike helmet regardless of age and prohibiting its use on most bike paths.

A writer for Clean Technica says yes, ebikes are everything they’re cracked up to be.

The new Topeka, Kansas-based Steve Tilford Foundation was established to honor the former world and national champ who was killed in a car crash in 2017, and help young people develop a passion for bicycling.

Nice. Waco, Texas plans a network of trails that will be within a ten minute walk of anywhere in the city.

A cartoonist for New York Streetsblog sums up the difference between protected and painted bike lanes.

 

International

He gets it. A British Columbia letter writer says it’s time to debunk the myth that people with disabilities don’t use bike lanes.

Women in Bengaluru, India are reluctant to ride due the city’s dangerous streets and heavy traffic, as well as the additional burden of simply being a woman in the conservative country.

Ghana will now criminalize dangerous bicycling or driving that leads to the death of an unborn child; presumably, that could apply to the mother, as well as other drivers and bike riders.

The overwhelming majority of Malaysian bicycling deaths were the result of collisions while riding for transportation, rather than recreational cycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new film recounts the remarkable journey back to life for Belgian cyclist Stig Broeckx, who was nearly killed in a collision with two race motos in the tour of Belgium; he spent months in a coma, as doctors feared he would never regain consciousness. Or you can watch the film for free with a membership in the website’s VeloClub.

Team vehicles for Britain’s Ineos Grenadiers were tagged by anti-chemical climate protesters in Belgium.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be carved from Welsh wood. Don’t attack security guards in a grocery store when they ask you take your bike outside.

And at least your neighborhood bike lane doesn’t require a snorkel.

https://twitter.com/simon_hawthorn/status/1340620947045363715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1340620947045363715%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-21-december-2020-279635

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

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

Writer and adventurer Roy Wallack killed in mountain bike crash in Santa Monica Mountains Saturday morning

December 20, 2020 / / One comment

Roy Wallack wrote that bicycling would help you live to be 100.

Sadly, he didn’t make it.

The Irvine resident, author of Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100, was just 64 year old when he died following a crash on the Guadalasca Trail in Pt. Magu State Park Saturday morning.

According to the Ventura County Star, Wallack was riding with friends on the difficult trail when he fell around 9:20 am, although he had not been publicly identified yet in the original story.

The crash took place on the Guadalasca Trail, he said, which cuts through steep, technical terrain near the Backbone Trail. The cyclist, a man in his 60s, had reportedly been riding with friends when he crashed his bike and lost consciousness, Worthy said. The cyclist’s city of residence was not immediately known Saturday.

The man’s friends called for emergency medical assistance and performed CPR until the sheriff’s helicopter arrived with paramedics and a flight nurse. The crew continued life-saving measures but the cyclist did not survive and was pronounced dead at the scene, Worthy said.

And yes, he was wearing a helmet.

A former columnist for the LA Times, Wallack was a prolific writer, according to the Star.

Wallack was a health and fitness journalist who had penned stories and columns for publications including The Los Angeles Times, magazines including Outside, Bicycling and Men’s Journal, and had authored a book, “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100…and Beyond,” according to his online profile on Twitter and on his Muck Rack page. His most recent tweet from Nov. 17 links to an LA Times story offering tips on buying and selling fitness gear during the coronavirus pandemic.

A Google search shows he’s the author of at least eight other fitness books.

The Times describes Wallack as a avid hiker, runner and bicyclist who took part in the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, as well as the 750-mile Paris-Brest-Paris bike tour.

Wallack’s work for The Times spanned barre classes, triathlons, kayaking, the L.A. Marathon and more. He penned a gear column for many years, keeping fitness fans in the loop about the hottest must-haves.

He began a 2016 piece: “Hiking the Grand Canyon was not on my bucket list. A marathon, yes. Bike 200 miles in a day, yes. Ironman triathlon, absolutely. But for some reason, a mere day hike, even in one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders, was never on my radar.”

Wallack ended up being won over by the 15-mile trek, describing it as “an otherworldly journey into a land before time” and “a true bucket-list adventure.”

The paper also describes his efforts to keep his 84-year old father active, despite being housebound by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The paper reports that he recently finished one last book, about Richard Long, the founder of GT Bicycles, who was killed in a collision with a truck while riding his motorcycle to a bike race in Big Bear in 1994.

Tributes were beginning to pour in as word of his death began to spread Sunday evening.

This is at least the 66th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

My deepest condolences and prayers for Roy Wallack and all his loved ones. 

Thanks to Zachary Rynew and Mike Burk for the heads-up.

Category: General / Tags: , , , ,
 
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