BikinginLA

As I mentioned yesterday, I plan to take tomorrow off to observe the legal holiday, and maybe even get a little sleep to make up for this past week. 

If SoCal’s semi-feral drivers let me, anyway. 

So get out there and enjoy the holiday. If you plan to attend the fireworks in person, a bike is the best way to get there and get back home without spending hours stuck in traffic. 

Personally, I plan to observe my usual 4th of July tradition, and spend the next few nights in the closet trying to comfort a cowering corgi as bombs burst in midair and everywhere else when Hollywood creates its own version of shock & awe. 

Just remember that a lot of people will be drinking and/or imbibing in various mind-altering substances before getting behind the wheel. And the World Cup viewing parties won’t help. 

Assume that every driver you encounter on the road this weekend is under the influence of something. And chances are, you won’t be far off. 

So ride carefully and defensively. I expect to see you back here bright and early Monday morning. 

And I don’t want to write about you or anyone else this weekend.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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I promised you an update on some outstanding court cases from our anonymous courthouse correspondent.

Make that outstanding, in the sense of yet to be concluded, as well as some of SoCal’s most unwanted. And yes, even I had to look some of these up to refresh my memory.

Fortunately, you have a three-day weekend to get through it all.

It seems updates on court cases are rather past due, so here’s a few. You might note that an inordinate number involve severe mental illness. If you’ve ever yelled, “Are you fucking insane?” at a driver, well, its highly likely they meet the DSM-5 (Ed. note: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) criteria.

Buckle up, buckaroo! Gonna be a long ride email.

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Since February 2023, when he ran down and then stabbed Dr. Michael Mammone to death on PCH in broad daylight, Vanroy Evan Smith has spent a lengthy, medicated stretch in a psychiatric hospital. This past January, he was ruled mentally competent to stand trial. Before you rage against his racist comments at the scene, remember that he is also Jesus, or at least he’s reiterated this claim several times while unmedicated. His next hearing is July 24th.

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Six years ago, speeding in a stolen vehicle, Moises Iscaya ran down father Jorge Guerra & his young daughters as they rode their bikes; the injured kids survived. Naturally he fled the scene. Since his apprehension three months later, he has been held as a patient at the Metropolitan State Hospital, undergoing mental health evaluations on a regular basis, and showing little improvement.

On May 28th, all charges were dismissed due to lack of a speedy trial in violation of Isacya’s Constitutional rights.

The DA immediately refiled, and the case remains active.

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Speeding down Arrow Highway a stolen vehicle on July 9th, 2024, Jonathan del Carmen Calixto killed Raul Casteñeda in the crosswalk at the intersection of the San Gabriel River Bike Path, just in front of the Sante Fe Dam. He, too, is being evaluated, at Paxton State Hospital, pending yet another six-month mental health report; the next one is due in November.

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At Neil Storm Stephany‘s victim impact hearing, Shaun Eagleson’s mom told him that she will be present at every parole hearing he ever has. On Thursday, February 13th, 2025, he was denied parole, and Eagleson’s mama can rest until 2030.

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Unrepentant Becki Lee James is now going by the name Rebecca Gadberry. Rebecca Gadberry, formerly known as Becki Lee James,https://bikinginla.com/2012/07/28/breaking-news-cyclist-killed-by-suspected-drunk-driver-in-sunset-beach/ killed Kenneth Deryl Prevatte on PCH in Sunset Beach. Rebecca Gadberry somehow managed to hit Prevatte, who was riding in the door zone of a 23-foot wide lane on PCH. Although Rebecca Gadberry had at least 12 feet of available lane space to his left that she could’ve utilized to pass safely, she instead hit Prevatte with her car. Rebecca Gadberry stayed next to her car as others ran to her bloody victim to offer help. Rebecca Gadberry was arrested at the scene for impaired driving; this charge was dropped, and I question whether a large amount of money was dropped to make this charge go away, perhaps as much as Rebecca Gadberry has spent to scrub her previous alias Becki Lee James off the internet. Rebecca Gadberry killed an innocent human being whose son is growing up without a father. Rebecca Gadberry created a widow. Rebecca Gadberry, formerly known as Becki Lee James, is a killer.

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L’il Dylan Rand-Luby is also living a very private life. (Ed. note: Rand-Luby got a lousy one year behind bars for killing 55-year old John Greg Colvin in Laguna Beach in 2014.)

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Tommi Jo Meyer has another arraignment this morning. I expect she’ll double down on the ignorance defense (which has already been blown out of the water by bodycam video, showing the extremely humorless officer specifically informing her of the pertinent laws.) (Ed. Note: Meyer is the OC mom charged after her 14-year old son killed 81-year-old Vietnam vet Ed Ashman while riding an illegal ebike earlier this year.)

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Hit-and-runner Edjan Edit Rocha has been arrested for killing UCI Professor Dr. Francois Primeau in Santa Ana on June 19th. He’ll be arraigned on July 9th for vehicular manslaughter, hit and run, and destruction of evidence.

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Last October, Ahkeyajanique Owens was arrested and charged with reckless driving for slamming in to bicyclist Raul Augustin Gallopa on Fourth St. in Long Beach. He died two weeks later, and she was charged with manslaughter. In early January, her speeding ass slammed into two vehicles, killing two innocent people and and hospitalizing three. She fled on foot, turning herself in later. For this, the DA added two counts of murder one, reckless driving, and hit & run. And at least she’s stayin’ locked up this time.

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Like Mr. Rogers’ mama said, “Look for the helpers.”

(Ed. note: My mom never said that.)

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September 11th, 2022. A gorgeous California morning. Randon Cintron was riding in the bike lane on Jamboree Rd in Newport Beach when impaired driver Adriana Bernal launched him quite a distance into bushes on the far side of the sidewalk. His bike was snapped in half.

As Bernal’s tire struck the curb, she might’ve been recalling the Watson advisement issued to her by the Monterey County DA years ago. The tire disintegrated as she continued, sparks shooting off the exposed rim. Eventually she made a right turn and clunked to a stop. She & her passenger abandoned the dented car (and its new decoration of what the investigator described as “biological matter”) to make their way to the bleachers at Corona Del Mar High School, where they were detained shortly thereafter. They told the first officer to make contact that they’d walked to the location, but officers took a set of keys they spotted mere yards from the couple back to the damaged car, where the keys fit the locks & ignition.

A witness had attempted to follow a vehicle with suspicious damage and a “panicked” female driver, but lost sight. When the witness saw a black-and-white responding with lights & sirens, he pulled alongside and alerted the officer. Just seconds later, the officer saw several Good Samaritans performing CPR on the victim’s lifeless body. (One Good Sam is a former trauma center nurse, currently a PA at Mission Hospital. The same hospital where Shaun Eagleson died. The same hospital where Dr. Michael Mammone practiced, and perished.)

Interviewed by the Newport Beach investigators, Bernal’s detained-but-never-charged accomplice/passenger sang like a canary, with unprompted rapid-fire rambling, telling the investigator that he once had a friend who’d died in a DUI crash. He & Bernal had discussed the friend, and acknowledged to each other that driving drugged is dangerous.

In her interrogation, Bernal said she’d smoked heroin about 3am that morning, but had given up IV use several months earlier— a statement contradicted by fresh tracks sprinkled among years of scarring.

The preliminary hearing had such delightful questions as, “How far from the bicycle was the location of the blood?” (A hundred feet south, by the investigator’s measurements.)

The speed limit along this stretch of Jamboree Road is 55mph. At this location, the Google StreetView bicycle is riding on the sidewalk.

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Amber Kristine Calderon slaughtered Pastor Eric Williams on PCH in Huntington Beach last October. His friends Michael & Steve were hospitalized for weeks. Calderon pulled off PCH and blew past a Huntington State Beach parking kiosk before she was pinned in by a horrified Good Samaritan who’d followed her. The parking attendant radioed the state park rangers, but HBPD was already on the way.

That stretch of PCH has a 55mph speed limit and a bike lane frequently halved in width by the constant encroachment of sand.

Calderon bonded out, but in December the OCDA amended charges to reflect her lack of sobriety, which has more than doubled her potential prison sentence.

At his memorial service, with hundreds in attendance and his bike stage right, his daughter Alice read from a class assignment she’d written the previous year. The topic was “Best Relative Award,” and she was required to name three specific reasons for the award and describe how to emulate that relative. She chose her dad for the award: “To honor my dad being athletic, I’m going to be more into riding.”

Naturally, his widow also spoke: ”He discipled to people around him, both on and off the bike. He never feared death.  Whatever Eric was to you — comfort, strength, laughter, or simply a steady presence — go and offer that to someone else. Walk, or ride, alongside of them, through their joy and pain, and do it without judgement.”

(The lack of any mention of forgiveness makes me wonder whether the victim impact statements will be as gut-wrenching as the ones presented by Fire Captain Mike Kreza’s little daughters, whose angelic faces spewed anger and resentment.) (Ed. note: Kreza’s killer Stephen Taylor Scarpa received 15-to-life behind bars.)

The whole family’s in their front yard on Google StreetView, on a sunny January Wednesday morning. Having noticed the Googly-mobile, Eric is standing with his arms raised in a strongman pose. Kids in helmets. Bikes everywhere. Great big smiles behind the Google corporation’s privacy blurs.

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Also, the asshat who drove through that morning’s very clearly demarcated investigation scene was FTA (Ed note: Failure to Appear) for his arraignment.

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Douglas Morton Adams left Blake Ackerman’s bloody body lying on Fountain Ave in WeHo, and he clearly remains completely unperturbed by his single count of hit-and-run, which is must be a profound relief to him, since an accurate charge would be manslaughter. He was in the courtroom for a couple of boring hours on May 12th, chatting with a pal about Hitchcock’s delightful body of work. Clearly, expounding upon the aesthetic mastery of North By Northwest is of more importance than the opportunity to reflect on the somber reason for his presence in the courtroom, and a much better use of his time than contrition. His lawyer is disturbingly confident. (Ed. note: We’re just eight days from the first anniversary of Blake’s July 10th, 2025 death.)

(Also appearing before the same judge that very morning: Alex Kristopher Earl Kirksey)

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Road rager Christian Diaz, who’d had to get his (now impounded) sexy red muscle car co-signed by his abuelita, remains charged with attempted murder, despite the defense’s attempt last month to have the charge reduced to assault with a deadly weapon. Porque no los dos, Mr. Spitzer?

One day last July, Mr. Diaz was engaged in something of a lover’s spat with his girlfriend/passenger, who disembarked at a red light. He was still yelling at her when the light turned green, so the bicyclist behind him smacked his trunk and bellowed, “Get the fuck out of the way!” Since Diaz did not, in fact, get the fuck out of the way, the bicyclist yelled again as he went around the vehicle. At this point, Diaz chose to focus his rage on the cyclist instead of his girlfriend.

When the cyclist realized he was being followed by an angry man operating two tons of deadly weapon, he attempted to evade, but Diaz maneuvered  across the roadway to hit him head-on. The defense argued that this was not possibly an attempt to murder, but the unconvinced judge allowed the charge to stand. The case continues.

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Road rager Samir Weiss attempted to kill professional racers Luke Fetzer and Ben Byra on PCH in Corona del Mar last March, yelling during the assault that he was going to kill them. After his failure to do so, he stalked Fetzer on social media to challenge him to a fight. He also bragged about his expensive weapon sports car, which has since been impounded as evidence.

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Last February, Christopher Bryant blasted his rental car through a stop sign in a sleepy residential neighborhood, and slaughtered pediatric occupational therapist Lori Ann Carreon as she rode her bike home from work. The next morning, his first call was to the rental car company; they towed the evidence away from his dtla apartment. Later that day, he called the police to make arrangements to turn himself in with an attorney present.

A few days later, I took flowers for the ghost bike, and rolled into a small crowd awaiting the media’s arrival. Under an overcast sky, emotional neighbors and friends spoke at length — but so little of it made the news at all. Less than snippets, frankly. But there were multiple speakers, and uncontained grief, and tears, and impassioned pleas to the powers that be for better infrastructure, for more accountability, for consequences. For change.

So now that intersection has fresh, bright crosswalks, which magically prevent speeding, unlike that useless stop sign right there. Lori Ann’s ghost bike is almost invisible under dozens of bouquets. Velodoras still burn nightly.

At the scene, after shooting b-roll from catercorner, KTLA’s cameraman survived his walk back to the ghost bike, even though he was nearly mowed down by not one but two impatient southbound drivers. Yes, right in front of a goddamn ghost bike, other media members & a dozen witnesses.

The eastern terminus of this month’s Beach Streets is a short block away from Lori Ann’s ghost bike.

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On November 22, 2024, rager Jonathan Antonio Rodriguez slaughtered 16-year-old Jonathan “Junior” Flores, who was left to die in the middle of MLK Jr Blvd. The cops located and impounded the murder weapon, but Rodriguez remains on the lam.

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Speaking of fugitives, Juli Ann Brown (now Juli Ann Britton) is currently fugitive for a 2020 DUI. In 2013, after her impaired hit-and-run against Long Beach’s Lightning Velo, she’d been sentenced to 15 years in state prison, which of course she did not serve in full.

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Repeat drunk driver 68-year-old Elias Madriz Gutierrez ran down Kristin Bellovich on Beach Bl. in Huntington Beach. It was just after midnight, and she had no helmet, no hi viz, no lights. No memorial went up for her in the days that followed, so I assume perhaps she was unhoused. I put up a little cross which disappeared quickly. Gutierrez was arrested in Fountain Valley, and he was driving after only having “a couple of beers,” which would’ve had to have been a couple of kegs, given his BAC. He’s facing charges of second degree murder and hit & run.

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Unlicensed Kaleah Beasley killed 12-year-old Michael Kejuan Ramaun James Smith on 83rd Street last July. Kaleah’s passenger/boyfriend-at-the-time told an officer at the scene that Immediately prior to popping a wheelie, Michael had waved her to pass him, and then swerved right in front of her Charger.

A witness (a former Metro coach operator) barbecuing in her front yard told investigators she’d heard Beasley’s Charger accelerate, and then saw Michael’s body fly up in the air. A 12-year-old witness told an officer that ”the car didn’t want to stop” after hitting Michael. Beasley didn’t hit the brakes immediately, but the distance she traveled after removing her foot from the gas pedal was most likely due to her excessive speed of approximately 45mph, which is “only” about 20mph above the speed limit according to an LAPD investigator at the preliminary hearing, not the 75mph as reported by multiple news sources.

Beasley passed a field sobriety test, which was administered because her vehicle (which had her baby in the back seat) smelled like pot. She certainly dotes on that little boy of hers, who, during her preliminary hearing, threw a tantrum out the hallway; the judge had to order her to remain in the courtroom as she attempted to dash out, protesting to His Honor, “Bro, my baby out there!”

I hurt for Michael’s mama thinking about her baby out there, bloody and face down in the street, surrounded by panicked neighbor kids.

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Since  Reddit’s r/bikeLA  had asked a few weeks ago: On May 27th, a swerving speeding asshat flew off the 5 North and into the LA River at half past 1am, taking out that protective k-rail by the shoulder & the equally protective chainlink fence, and then the bike path railing as well. Didn’t leave too much debris on the actual bike path as it flew over, so no harm, no foul, right? Unfortunately, the driver survived.

Just hours later, puffed-with-pride officials held a presser & bike ride to showcase the new bike infrastructure on Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park.

Thanks for the flimsy plastic bollards, LADOT! Surely they would’ve stopped alleged murderer Jairo Martinez, who’s still locked up awaiting trial, and has his next hearing on July 14th (Ed. note: Martinez is accused of the speeding, hit-and-run death. of 77-year old Andrew Jelmert on Crystal Springs Drive.)

No, really. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Okay, it’s me. Even my hard heart weeps after reading all of that.

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A new study published in Nature clearly shows that “context-sensitive shared space design can harmonize perceptions across diverse road users, with implications for transport policy and urban design.”

Hopefully, we can get that translated into English sometime so we have an idea what the fuck they’re talking about.

But as near as I can figure out, they’re trying to say that removing visual clutter and clearly marking shared spaces resulted in more positive responses from pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.

Or something like that.

Seriously, I used to get paid to translate scientific gibberish into English. And even I can’t make it out.

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Amidst all their World Cup viewing promotions, Metro Bike’s latest email also offers reduced fares for students, seniors and riders with a disability, among others.

Do You Qualify For Reduced Fare?

It’s easier than ever to get verified and enroll in a Reduced Fare pass for Metro Bike Share. There are 5 ways to confirm your eligibility:

1. Senior (62+)
2. Student
3. Disability
4. Golden State Advantage
5. Reduced Fare TAP card

Eligible persons can get the Metro Bike Share 30-Day Pass for $5 and the 365-Day Pass for $50. Registered TAP card holders can select a Metro Bike Share 30-Day or 365-Day pass on taptogo.net/metrobikeshare.

Apply for Reduced Fare

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Local 

Santa Monica started automated AI enforcement of drivers blocking bike lanes yesterday, with violators subject to a $93 fine.

 

State

Escondido has gone back to the drawing board, after residents complained the city’s proposed ebike ordinance was too restrictive.

A Bakersfield bike rider is in critical condition after being shot by a suspect who fled the scene Tuesday evening. Because most shooters just stick around until the cops show up. 

San Francisco-based dockless micromobility company Lime went public yesterday, with shares priced at $25. That was followed by immediate complaints about shares being left randomly blocking sidewalks.

He gets it. The ebike program manager for the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates says ebike panic is distracting California from legitimate discussions by not making a distinction between e-bicycles and electric motorbikes.

 

National

Bike Retailer’s Rick Vosper floats the idea of a Federal excise tax-funded campaign to encourage more people to ride bicycles, similar to the nearly 30-year old Take Me Fishing campaign, funded by an excise tax on fishing tackle and motorboat fuel.

A Missouri man is riding across the US 50 years after his father rode from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia on the Adventure Cycling Association’s coast-to-coast bicycle ride, but going in reverse, from east to west.

Aerial footage shows a bike thief fleeing from a cop on foot after being caught stealing one of those Oregon bait bikes we mentioned yesterday. Maybe that’s why the LAPD won’t use bait bikes — they don’t want to pay for new sneakers so their cops can outrun the evildoers. 

The former state treasurer of the New Mexico Republican Party is being held without bail after her arrest for the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle last month, then changing license plate on her car on hiding it at another property in an attempted coverup; naturally, the political party disavows any current connection with her. Meanwhile, the victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against her for the death of the devoted father.

Tragic news from Denver, where a 13-year old boy was killed by a driver while riding a Veo bikeshare ebike, just six days after the company launched in the city; company policy prohibits minors from renting the bikes, but they rely on the honor system for age verification.

A 500-mile bike route developed by the Adventure Cycling Association takes you through Western Wyoming, from the spectacular Teton Mountains and Teton National Park, along the National Elk Refuge, through the Wind River Reservation and Sinks Canyon State Park, to the Saratoga Hot Springs and the Colorado border. We visited every one of those when I was a kid, and frequently camped on the Wind River Reservation, home to the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho tribes.

A Madison, Wisconsin magazine traces the city’s bicycling culture all the way back to the 1970’s, when “6-year old Andy Hampsten and a friend” drove to the city for the summer, and quickly found himself on Eric Heiden’s wheel. Precocious though he may have been, I think they meant Hampsten was 16-years old. Because it’s very hard to get a driver’s license at six, even in North Dakota. 

A 13-year old Wisconsin boy was cited for crossing the center line on his non-street-legal minibike and hitting a bike rider head-on; fortunately, neither the bike rider or the kid was seriously injured.

Opponents of a Chicago bike lane appear to have given up, after counter-protesters supporting the bike lane overwhelmed them.

A Massachusetts man faces multiple charges after running down a bike rider while under the influence of multiple drugs, including stimulants and narcotic analgesics, then backing up and driving over the victim’s bicycle, before abandoning the car and fleeing on foot; fortunately, the victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

The 70-year old great-great-great-great-grandson of flag maker Betsy Ross is in the midst of a 3,600-mile bike trip through the country’s original 13 colonies, repeating a ride he took 50 years ago.

 

International

Spike Fearn is one of us, as Interview Magazine talks with the rising English actor and star of the upcoming Finding Emily, who’d rather just ride his bike.

No shit. According to his step-daughters, a former contestant on the British survival show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! has anger issues, after he admitted to once kicking over an entire row of Lime bikes outside his London home — even though he uses them himself.

Shades of California’s ebike incentive program, as an Irish plan to encourage drivers to scrap their infernal combustion engine vehicles in favor of EVs, including ebikes, closed in just two hours after all 2,000 vouchers were claimed.

Cycling Weekly says the Tour de France isn’t the toughest ride in France, it’s Paris-Brest-Paris, which has been “humbling cyclists since 1891.”

A German company has built a bike path with embedded sensors to provide city engineers with “near real-time dashboards showing where bicycling peaks at rush hour, how fast riders are moving, and where the pavement starts to vibrate more, indicating roughness or early-stage cracking.” Los Angeles expects to adopt the technology sometime after hell freezes over.

Life goes on in Ukraine, even in the midst of the ongoing Russian bombardment, as nearly 2,800 bike mentors across the country continue to teach children to travel safely and responsibly on bicycles, scooters and other micromobility devices.

This is who we share the earth with. An Indian motorcyclist was lucky to survive when an entire rain-soaked mountainside collapsed onto the roadway he was riding on; he somehow managed to leap off his bike moments before the road was engulfed.

Chinese ebike brand Luyuan Group was forced to issue an apology after releasing a series of highly sexualized promotional videos depicting women in short skirts and stockings in suggestive poses. They should also apologize for calling their e-motorscooters bicycles, despite the Vespa-style design and apparent lack of pedals.  

 

Competitive Cycling

Six Americans will be among the 184 cyclists lining up for the start of the Tour de France on Saturday, all serving as domestiques for the stars of their teams, with little or no chance of making the podium.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel admits that time is catching up to him, and suggests he might retire after the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics. So get your tickets while you can, because it may be your last chance to see one of the great riders of our time. 

 

Finally…

You don’t have to ride your unicycle alone anymore. You won’t be getting your bikes from L.L.Bean anymore.

And your next bicycle may be half off.

The back half.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.