Tag Archive for ‘Tis the season

Morning Links: The tragic story of a ghost bike, and pre-holiday coffee and carb loading in the South Bay

December 23, 2016 / / 3 comments

It’s the final day of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give now to keep Southern California’s best source for bike news coming your way every morning!

One quick note before we start.

Unless there’s breaking news, this will be the last new post until after the New Year, as we take the next week off for a little well-deserved rest and the opportunity to make some behind-the-scenes improvements.

So please accept my best wishes for joyful holiday, whatever and however you celebrate. And for a very healthful, happy and prosperous year to come.

May we all have peace, if not on the Earth, at least in our hearts.

Ride safely, and we’ll see you back here bright and early on January 3rd.

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In a truly heartbreaking story, Hollywood Reporter editor — and former Bicycling editor-in-chief — Peter Flax follows a ghost bike from being stripped down and painted, to installation as a memorial to fallen bike rider Deborah Gresham.

As you may recall, Gresham was the victim of a drunken hit-and-run just seconds from her Stanton home this past October; she’s recalled as the giving, generous and caring founder of a popular Walking Dead fan site.

Flax traces the history of the ghost bike movement from its beginnings in San Francisco and St. Louis, and talks with local ghost bike organizer Danny Gamboa.

It’s a moving long read that reminds us of the horrible, needless waste on our streets, and the unbearable loss suffered over and over throughout the country on a daily basis.

And one that brought tears to my eyes before he was done.

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Delia Park forwards news of a good excuse to load up on coffee and sweets tomorrow for a Christmas Eve and pre-Chanukah celebration.

Join for some post Donut Ride carb loading!

WHERE: St. Honore Bakery in Lunada Bay, Palos Verdes Estates.

WHEN: This Saturday, December 24th from 10am to 12pm. Come anytime- we will be there!

WHY: Seth Davidson Bike Injury Lawyer and Cyclists For PV and So Cal Bike Safety will be picking up the tab for coffee and sugary bakery items in order to support local businesses.

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‘Tis the season.

Kindhearted employees of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office pitch in to buy a tandem bike for an El Rio man after thieves stole the money he’d been saving for two years so his medically challenged son could ride with him. Bad enough if thieves steal your bike; worse if they take your money before you can even buy it.

Food Network celebrity chef Guy Fieri rounded up bikes, helmets and other fun gifts for distribution to various NorCal children’s organizations.

Sacramento police give out bikes, helmets and toys to children. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office donated over 100 refurbished bicycles as part of its 17th annual Christmas Bike Giveaway.

An Ohio non-profit donates eleven new bicycles for children with a history of abuse, neglect and abandonment; since 2008, they’ve given new bicycles to nearly 6,500 children in foster care.

British cycling legend Brian Robinson dresses like Santa to give away 50 refurbished bikes for a UK charity.

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Local

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with Bike SGV advocates David Diaz and Wes Reutimann, as well as South Pasadena Mayor Mike Cacciotti and Transit Coalition executive director Bart Reed about the years biggest stories, and what we can look forward to in 2017. Meanwhile, Joe Linton calls on readers to support the non-profit news organization.

West Hollywood’s Community Development Department says the lamely named WeHo Pedals bikeshare is off to a strong start, with 545 people completing 3,919 trips since it was launched at the end of August.

One Santa Monica paper says it’s been a great year for bikeshare in the city, while another looks at Santa Monica’s new bike counter.

Long Beach bike and pedestrian deaths are increasing, which reflects the larger national trend.

 

State

The family of fallen San Luis Obispo triathlete Bridget Dawson files a lawsuit alleging that the driver was on the phone with her employer at the time of the crash. Meanwhile, a pair of SLO bike advocates says it’s possible to halt the increase in bicycling fatalities in the county.

Richmond votes to conduct a road diet to create a four-mile Complete Street, including bike lanes.

A Marin County writer says the world isn’t going to come to an end when an existing trail is opened to mountain bikers, and that concerns over safety are just an excuse to try blocking bike access.

After an accused drunken, underage hit-and-run driver killed a bike rider in a Fairfield collision, he came back to ask a bystander what happened.

Redding police recover a 7-year old girl’s stolen lime green BMX after a month-long investigation.

 

National

Finally, a use for your hi-viz. Other that trying to not get run over, that is.

Streetsblog looks at how states are standing in the way of cities’ efforts to lower speed limits. California’s deadly and outdated 85th Percentile Law is to blame for our state’s constant increase in speed limits and the inability to reign them in.

No, seriously. As much as some of us would like to bring back hanging for bike rustling, it’s really not worth having a shootout with Tucson AZ police to escape after stealing a child’s bicycle.

An Austin TX bike rider settles with the city for $3,000, two years after he was hit by a police detective in an unmarked car who was unfamiliar with the rider’s right to the road.

The hit-and-run epidemic is really getting bad when even the cops are doing it. A Massachusetts police officer was charged with leaving the scene of an off-duty collision with a bike rider, as well as negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

An Alexandria VA writer discusses what his bicycle has taught him about local politics, noting “it remains socially acceptable to stereotype people riding bicycles as ‘scofflaws’, while people driving cars are given a pass on speeding.”

 

International

After a Calgary man tried to sell his bicycle to raise money for Christmas presents, he ended up in the back of a patrol car suspected of bike theft — even though he still had the original receipt.

Things are looking up for people-powered transportation in Winnipeg.

New Delhi drivers may soon have to prove they have a place to park it before they’re allowed to register a motor vehicle.

A letter writer says Rwanda must leverage its success in cycling, like other African nations have in marathons and soccer. And apparently, domestique translates to house-helper.

A 26-year old Eritrean man has been named African Cyclist of the Year.

Fifty Malaysian civil servants have been given foldies and instructions to bike to work.

A Singapore writer asks if tougher sentencing would reduce collisions — not accidents, please — before concluding that dangerous drivers need to be stopped before they kill.

 

Finally…

Now you can stick Peter Sagan on your next envelope. It’s one thing to take the lane on a busy highway, another to ride with no hands so you can give a cop the double bird.

And if you’re riding after dark with four grams of coke on your bike, put a damn light on it and stay off the sidewalk.

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Thanks to Samuel Kurutz for his generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. And to everyone who contributed their hard-earned money to keep this site coming your way every day.

I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to me.

And if you have given yet, there’s still time.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Last minute gift ideas, one last(?) bike giveaway, and mountain bike dog shredding

December 22, 2016 / / 4 comments

Just two days left in the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Give today to keep Southern California’s best source for bike news coming your way today, and every day.

My apologies for whatever mistakes you may have found in yesterday’s post. And I’m sure there were many.

A sudden wave of illness meant publishing yesterday’s post without proof reading, for the first time since starting this site over eight years ago.

Hopefully we’ll do a little better today.

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CiclaValley offers gift suggestions for the bike rider in your life. And yes, it is perfectly acceptable to put yourself on your holiday gift list.

H&S Bicycles offers their own list of must have accessories for your new bike.

Cycling Weekly offers five of the year’s most weird and wonderful products, which may or may not be suitable for giving.

Here’s a list of eleven books for the budding urban planner, two and a half of which I’ve read. I can strongly recommend Gabe Klein’s Start-Up City and Samuel Schwartz’ Street Smart, which has the best explanation of why density matters I’ve yet seen; I’m currently working on Janette Sadik-Khan’s Streetfight.

………

‘Tis the season.

The New Orleans Saints team up with Toys for Tots and the US Marines to give children bicycles and other toys.

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Great nighttime video of mountain bike tom Wragg shredding the trails with his dog Ruby.

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Today marks three years since Australian tourist James Rapley was tragically killed early on a Sunday morning as he made his way home for the holidays. He was run down by a stoned driver on Temescal Canyon Road as he took advantage of an extended layover at LAX to get out for a bike ride along the beach.

Plans are in the works for a parking protected bike lane on the uphill side of the dangerous roadway, where speeding drivers often drift into the bike lane, in hopes of keeping something like this from happening again.

Yet those plans are languishing, in part due to insufficient staffing at LADOT, and partly due to the usual local opposition to any changes they fear might inconvenience them or add a few minutes to their commute, even if it does save lives.

Lets hope the city can finally work it out before another anniversary passes.

Or before someone else gets killed.

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A memorial to British cyclist Tommy Simpson has been restored to mark 50 years after he collapsed and died climbing Mt. Ventoux after taking amphetamines during the 1967 Tour de France. A sportswriter asks if his death was in vain, as suspicions of doping and drug use continue to taint professional cycling.

A former coach accuses Britain’s governing body for cycling of having a culture of lies, bullying and harassment.

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Local

LA Magazine’s Neal Broverman says the planned South LA Rail-to-River bike and pedestrian pathway will be a great amenity in a park-poor area, but a lost opportunity to build an actual rail line through the community.

If you’re looking for a fun pre-Christmas ride, you could do a lot worse than Saturday’s Street Librarian’s Last Ride of the Year to restock those little street lending library boxes in Silver Lake.

 

State

San Clemente hires a contactor for a complete makeover of deadly PCH, including a road diet and curb extensions, bike lanes in both directions, and a separate two-way cycle track along the southbound side, with an additional pedestrian walkway running alongside. Let’s hope other OC cities follow their example.

Next year should be a good one for San Diego bike riders, with four new bike projects opening and several others on the way.

Lake Elsinore is beginning to develop a citywide bicycle path and trails master plan.

A Templeton man faces a felony manslaughter charge in the death of a bicyclist earlier this month; the driver was attempting to pass another vehicle by illegally crossing the double yellow lines when he hit the rider head-on.

San Francisco’s 9th and Division is the latest Bay Area intersection to get the protected treatment.

 

National

The war on bicyclists continues, as someone has once again sabotaged a popular Seattle bike trail.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a customized bike belonging to a 15-year old Washington quadriplegic; fortunately, police recovered the bike and expect to make an arrest.

A scathing city audit calls Kansas City’s bike plan nothing more than lines on a map that don’t connect with popular destinations, and have gone largely unbuilt. If we ask nice, do you think they’d be willing to audit Los Angeles next? They could probably just change a few locations and repurpose the same report.

The rich get richer. Missouri, which is already home to the 240-mile Katy Trail paralleling the Missouri River, gets ownership of a 144-mile abandoned rail line that will be converted into a bike trail along the northern edge of the Ozarks.

Friends remember a Minnesota cyclist for his fondness for AIDS rides and red high heels after he passed away from cancer; he reportedly wore those heels on his final days as a mail carrier. As the son of a mailman, I can’t help but smile at that.

Kalamazoo approves a new plan to keep bicyclists safe in response to last summer’s massacre. While it’s good news, it shouldn’t take a tragedy like that to do the right thing.

New York commits to improving bike safety around the city’s many bridges and parks in the year to come. Meanwhile, the city opens a new two-way protected bike lane through Chinatown.

 

International

Ontario police are trying to identify a homeless man who was traveling nearly 1,900 miles across Canada by bike and canoe after his body washed up, just 60 miles from his stated destination.

A British bicycling group calls for a retraction after a columnist for London’s Sunday Times calls the dooring of a bike rider by the country’s transport minister a “beautifully timed maneuver,” and suggests he should keep it up to make “London a safer place for normal humans.” The original story is hidden behind a paywall where no one can see it. And should stay that way.

The head of a London university says the dangers bicyclists face on the city’s streets discourage foreign students from attending.

London will host a Ride with Bowie bike ride next month on the first anniversary of his death.

A bighearted 89-year old English woman has taken it upon herself to pass out free hi-viz vests to bike riders to make them more visible to drivers and pedestrians. Although it would be nice if someone could make drivers actually pay attention instead of making everyone else dress up like clowns.

Police in the UK are looking for a bike thief caught on security cameras struggling to carry one bicycle while riding another.

A Brit driver faces six years behind bars for careening into a bike rider while speeding and “driving like an idiot” with his daughter in the car.

Unbelievable. A driver in the UK walks after allegedly killing a 15-year old bike rider, despite a) not having a license, b) driving 80 yards with his victim stuck in the windshield, and c) getting out of the car and running away from the scene; the judge cites a lack of evidence in dismissing the case.

Bollywood star Ali Fazal is one of us, after he took up riding to the set while filming in London.

Horrific story from Melbourne, Australia as a woman bike rider was robbed, stabbed and slashed in an apparent random attack; she’s in stable condition after seven hours of surgery.

Life is cheap in West Australia, where a driver walks with a measly $500 fine — the equivalent of just $360 in US dollars — for killing a bike rider; a British cyclist was fined more than that for riding in a pedestrian plaza.

 

Finally…

Caught on video: Now that’s what I call a close call.

And you can stop holding your breath waiting for that combination smart watch and bike computer you’ve always wanted.

No, really.

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Thanks to Theodore Faber, Fred Davis Design and David Drexler for their generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

It’s hard to ask for money for this site, because there are so many other more deserving causes, and so many other obligations this time of year. So I deeply appreciate everyone who has opened their hearts and wallets to support this site, now and throughout the year.

Thank you.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: The bike giveaway beat goes on, SaMo PD joins Bike Index, and standing up to a bully driver

December 21, 2016 / / 2 comments

It’s the last three days of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give today to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news coming your way every day!

‘Tis the season.

A Santa Clarita landfill company donates 70 bicycles to local non-profits for distribution to children.

A SoCal-based charity gives 80 San Jose elementary school students new bikes; the Bikes For Kids Foundation has given away 40,000 bicycles over the last 14 years.

Firefighters team with members of a Mill Valley church to distribute 100 bicycles and 1,000 toys to local children.

Teachers in the appropriately named Hollidaysbugh PA use a $2,000 grant to buy a specially adapted bicycle for a girl with cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy.

An anonymous Shreveport LA donor provided 100 bicycles to be distributed to underprivileged students.

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Local

The LA Times mentions Josef Bray-Ali’s record of bike advocacy in Northeast LA as he takes on incumbent Councilmember Gil Cedillo in CD1.

CiclaValley takes his bike in to have the carbon frame repaired.

The LACBC offers advice on choosing a bike so your family can ride together.

The Santa Monica Police Department has joined the LAPD in recommending free bicycle registration with Bike Index, and checking the database to recover stolen bikes. You can register your bike with Bike Index right here, as well as report a stolen bike to add it to the database and automatically tweet a BOLO alert.

Next time you’re in SaMo, swing by city hall on Main Street so you can be counted on their new real-time bike counter.

 

State

A Victorville bike rider complained of back and leg pain after he was rear-ended by a driver who had just made a right turn; the woman behind the wheel played the universal Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming she just didn’t see him.

A San Luis Obispo letter writer suggests imposing a 2% surcharge on all bicycles, parts, accessories and service to fund more and better bikeways. Evidently, because bike riders don’t already pay sales, income, property and or any other assorted taxes, like normal people do.

Berkeley saves money and improves safety by improving existing infrastructure to create a protected intersection.

More sad news from Northern California, as yet another bike rider has been killed in a hit-and-run in Sacramento County.

 

National

Adventure cyclists now have a voice on the US Travel and Tourism Committee, which will try to get Mr. Trump’s ear on travel matters — if the incoming administration doesn’t disband it.

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske examines what happens when bike riders and drivers are blinded by the sun, saying if you can’t see or have the sun to your back, drivers probably can’t see you.

People for Bikes offers a Best Of recap of their 2016 tales.

Red Kite Prayer is giving away three “dream” road bikes to help raise funds for World Bicycle Relief.

Apropos the time of year, Bicycling offers a primer on how to gift wrap a bicycle.

Seattle will pay an injured bike rider $1.6 million after his lawyer successfully argues that a truck driver’s vision was blocked by bridge support columns

A St. Louis bike rider was stabbed by a homeless man who claimed he thought he was going to be attacked.

A writer in New York’s Newsday calls for a “draconian” prohibition on using mobile devices while driving. However, he tosses out the stat that about 54% of bike riders killed in crashed in 2015 weren’t wearing helmets, without considering how many of those suffered head injuries or if their injuries were survivable, with or without one.

 

International

Volvo’s reflective spray-on LifePaint is back, and available online for the first time. Because you just can’t expect drivers to actually see you if you only have lights, reflectors, and hi-viz.

Bike Radar offers five reasons roadies should get adventurous and get offroad.

Calgary votes to make a downtown network of protected bike lanes permanent, even winning over two councilors who voted against the original pilot project; the network’s unlikely success could offer lessons for other cities.

Caught on video: A Montreal snow-clearing driver faces a fine for crushing a bicycle that had been locked to a parking sign on the sidewalk.

London’s mayor taps a Nike executive as the city’s first walking and cycling commissioner.

Caught on video too: Manchester, England bike thieves ram through a steel bike shop gate to steal $21,000 worth of bicycles.

British ministers order mobile phone makers to develop and install software to keep drivers from using their phones behind the wheel. The question is how to keep drivers from using their phones without blocking their passengers, as well.

A Glasgow nonprofit has taught 7,000 children how to ride a bicycle before they start school.

A New Zealand cyclist hopes to set a new record by riding across the country in four days to raise money for charity. Meanwhile, three women riding across New Zealand to raise funds for a three-year old boy suffering from cerebral palsy meet him for the first time.

Australian police are still trying to identify a man who was found dead next to a pink bicycle in a Melbourne park 55 years ago. If there’s even been a better argument for always carrying ID when you ride, I don’t know what it would be.

Caught on video: A road raging Aussie driver threatens to run over a bicyclist, then grabs his bike cam and throws it across the road — bravely running away when the rider stands up to him, and offering to pay for any damages on the spot. Note to Daily Mail: It’s not a dashcam without a dashboard.

 

Finally…

Have a Clif Bar while you ride, Clif wine when you’re done. Making bike thieves do the walk of shame.

And no, widening the 405 wasn’t worth it.

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Thanks to David Rindlaub for his generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to help bring the area’s best bike news your way every morning.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: More bike giveaways, running a cyclist over for $15, and virtually ride your way to the pros

December 20, 2016 / / One comment

It’s the last four days of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give today to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news coming your way every day!

Unlike yesterday, there’s no shortage of local news today.

Or anywhere else, for that matter.

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‘Tis the season.

Kindhearted neighbors of a 90-year old retired doctor in Ocean Beach team up to buy him a new bike after the three-wheeler he’d ridden every day for the past ten years was stolen from his yard.

Fontana police donate a total of 100 bicycles to local kids.

A Petaluma bike mechanic is refurbishing 50 adult and children’s bicycles to donate to a local homeless charity for their private bikeshare program.

A Pennsylvania auto dealer invites 60 kids for milk and cookies and a new bicycle.

Bighearted North Carolina kids pitch in to buy a new adult tricycle for an 82-year old woman after getting to know her during last fall’s Hurricane Matthew.

A New Zealand program to help get people on bicycles who couldn’t otherwise afford them has refurbished 75 out of 200 donated bikes, with 48 ready to give away.

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After weeks of speculation about a mysterious package delivered to Bradley Wiggins’ Team Sky in 2011, they tell Parliament that it was an innocent shipment of flu medication. Which seems like a perfectly reasonably explanation now that it’s five years too late to verify.

Good news from the UK, as track cyclist Victoria Williamson is back to training after suffering a broken neck while racing in Rotterdam.

Former pro cyclist Chris Stockburger, now an orthopedic surgeon, is conducting a research study of injuries and safety problems common to competitive cyclists.

Two thousand Kiwi cyclists turn out to ride with Lance Armstrong, yet the first word of the story is still “Disgraced.” On the other hand, a former New Zealand cycling great says don’t scapegoat Lance for making the best of a rotten system and era.

Two competitors in the Tour of Costa Rica get the boot after one gave the other a boot following a high-speed crash.

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Local

Metro wants to know where you’d put bikeshare docks in Venice and Pasadena.

NELA’s Fletcher Drive gets new pavement, a road diet and nearly one mile of bike lanes. Funny how much progress is being made building bike lanes just outside, but not in, Gil Cedillo’s 1st Council District.

LA Curbed takes a look at the new protected bike lane on one side of Van Nuys Blvd in Pacoima, part of the mayor’s Great Streets program.

Three Santa Monica elementary schools are among the most dangerous in the state for kids getting to and from school, whether by car, bike or on foot.

Good piece from SoCal Bicyclist reporting on last week’s die-in in Palos Verdes Estates, and the less-than-friendly reception the protesters got from city hall.

 

State

BikeSD asks if San Diego is ready to make the switch from auto-centric Level of Service to the multi-modal Vehicle Miles Traveled. And answers probably not.

Santa Barbara teens form a bike co-op at the local high school.

Hollister receives a $1 million grant to improve bike and pedestrian access. The city was made famous by the 1947 motorcycle riot depicted by Marlon Brando in The Wild One.

Uber admits its self-driving cars have a nasty habit of right-hooking bicyclists riding in San Francisco bike lanes, and promise to fix it.

 

National

People for Bikes reports on the nation’s best new bike lanes. Exactly none of which are in Los Angeles. Or anywhere else in Southern California, for that matter.

Bicycling suggests rad-itizing your bike with custom paint.

The Seattle Times asks if the city’s mandatory bike helmet law will kill its $5 million attempt to reboot its bikeshare program. Short answer, probably.

A Wisconsin town is allowing fat bikes on skate trails on a trial basis.

An Ohio man faces charges for knocking a man off his bike, then getting back in his car and deliberately running over him in a dispute over a lousy $15. Imagine what he would have done for $20.

The debate over Philadelphia bike lanes is targeted by fake news, as NIMBY opponents create excuses with no bearing in fact. Which sounds like every public bike lane meeting I’ve ever attended.

A Baltimore bike advocate discusses how bike infrastructure can address inequality in the city, where most of the existing bike lanes have gone into wealthy, white neighborhoods.

This is why you always carry identification. North Carolina authorities are trying to identify a man who died after falling off his bicycle. If you or someone you know rides without ID, do something about it now.

 

International

An Alberta, Canada writer says he’s riding for hope after losing his wife to cancer.

Police in the UK are looking for the bike-riding jerk who responded to a crash with a 72-year man on a shared pathway by pushing him up against a fence and spitting in the man’s face. I always try to see the other side of the story. But in this case, let’s hope the stocks are still legal over there.

The war on cars may be mythical, but the war on bikes is real. A Brit cyclist was lucky to avoid a tripwire strung across a promenade by a group of kids.

An Edinburgh columnist concedes that drivers who kill deserve punishment, but those darn cyclists need to need to obey the law, too. So why doesn’t anyone ever complain about all those scofflaw drivers who put far more people at risk?

Celebrate the 200th birthday of the bicycle with a special German 20 Euro coin.

A bike advocacy group in The Netherlands calls a proposed ban on smartphone use while riding senseless and unenforceable.

A pair of Indian cyclists are riding across the subcontinent to call attention to organ donation.

This is the cost of traffic violence, as a promising young doctor was killed riding her bike before she could start her new job with an Australian hospital.

 

Finally…

Keep sweating in that virtual cycling class, and maybe you too can win a spot on a pro team. Run a red light on your bike in Switzerland, and lose your driver’s license, which you may or may not have.

And something is seriously wrong when a five-year old girl isn’t safe riding in the cul-de-sac in front of her house.

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Thanks to Bryan Jones and Todd Munson for their generous support of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to help bring the area’s best bike news your way every morning.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: A light local news day, a busy weekend for bike giveaways, and stupid bike burglar tricks

December 19, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: A light local news day, a busy weekend for bike giveaways, and stupid bike burglar tricks

It’s the last week of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Give today to keep Southern CAlifornia’s leading source for bike news coming your way every day!

The holiday season made for a light news weekend in the bike world.

With the exception of over a dozen bike giveaways totaling over 7,400 bicycles, that is. Including two from a generous cop, and a bighearted boy giving away his own bike to someone who needs it more.

Oddly though, not a single non-giveaway story made the radar on the local front.

But that’s good, right?

And if you missed it, you’ll find a lot more news, local and otherwise, on Saturday’s Weekend Links.

………

‘Tis the season.

The charity foundation started by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner donated 2,000 bicycles, which were given away through an LA church.

Santa Barbara County inmates refurbished 25 bicycles collected by the sheriff’s department to distribute through local charities.

Forty-eight Adelanto elementary school students get new bikes, along with an adult bike for the mother of two of the children, whose husband died earlier this year.

A program founded by a Redding man 13 years ago gave away 275 bicycles last year; this year they have 125 bikes to donate, but are hoping for more.

Two Oregon boys will have bicycles this Christmas thanks to a bighearted cop who bought them new bikes after theirs were stolen.

Over 300 people pitched in to build 1,400 bicycles, which will be given as surprise gifts to residents of an unsuspecting Michigan neighborhood.

A New Jersey bike shop has repaired over 250 bicycles and donated them to local organizations.

Fayetteville NC’s Bicycle Man gave 1,500 bikes and helmets to local children, along with clothes and school supplies; the charity program has continued under his wife’s leadership after Bicycle Man Moses Mathis passed away in 2013.

The Charleston SC transportation authority gives away 16 unclaimed bikes that had been left on buses.

More than 1,000 Columbus GA children got new bicycles thanks to a program started by a local man.

A Georgia church gives away 26 bikes and 40 coats to struggling families.

Florida’s Jack the Bike Man gave away over 900 refurbished bikes on Sunday.

A bighearted Aussie six-year old boy offers to give his own bike to another child who needs it.

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Former pro Marijn de Vries has raised allegations of sexual abuse and harassment in the Dutch cycling program.

A Bloomington IL ultra-distance cyclist is preparing to compete in next year’s 5,700 mile Red Bull Trans-Siberian Extreme race across Russia.

A 12-time Kiwi triathlon champ ignores Lance Armstrong’s past, and screaming headlines about drug cheating, to go for bike ride with the ex-Tour de France champ who’s in the country to film a commercial. Meanwhile, one writer calls him a sociopath and says no one should care if he’s in the country.

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Local

No news is good news. Right?

 

State

A Santa Ana bike rider was the victim of a suspected gang shooting; he was hospitalized in critical condition.

Golden State Warriors Guard Shaun Livingston is a fan of Oakland’s Original Scraper Bike Team.

A Marin County town is putting bike lanes on a nearby connector road to ease congestion on a multi-use pathway, which has been the scene of a number of collisions between bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

National

After an Everett WA cyclist is hit by a car, several Good Samaritans help a police officer lift the car off him; thanks in part to their swift action, he’s expected to survive.

A Seattle bike columnist points out the need to be seen at night.

A Colorado man donates 40 acres of his own property to the public through a conservation easement that will protect the singletrack bike and hiking park he built.

The Omaha NE bikeshare program is set to double in size by 2019.

The Charleston SC newspaper says it’s time to stop stalling and build a bike lane on a key bridge over the Ashley River.

 

International

A 22-year old Irish man completes a 3,000 mile journey across the southern US from California to Florida.

British truckers fight for their right to continue cutting off bike riders.

In search of adventure, a British cyclist rides the entire 6,000 mile Iron Curtain Trail on a vintage East German shopping bike, deliberately unprepared to trace the route marking the former border between capitalist west and communist east.

Two advocacy groups merge to avoid working at cross purposes and holding back progress in a Pakistani state.

Twenty-three Indian bicyclists are riding over 900 miles from Delhi to Mumbai to call attention to human trafficking and child labor.

China’s app-based bikeshare systems are facing a problem with theft and sabotage.

The 82-year old founder of the world’s largest bike maker is stepping down after 44 years, passing the reigns of Taiwan’s Giant Manufacturing to his son and niece.

 

Finally…

It’s not a bike, it’s a born again billboard hogging the bike rack.

And if you’re going to break into a bike shop, don’t get run over by your own getaway van. And don’t drive on the damn bike path.

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Special thanks to Mark Ganzer, Tai Wan Kim, and Michael Young for their generous donations to support this site and help bring the area’s best bike news your way every morning.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Morning Links: SaMo bicyclist injured in hit-and-run, more holiday bike giveaways, and stupid criminal tricks

December 16, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: SaMo bicyclist injured in hit-and-run, more holiday bike giveaways, and stupid criminal tricks

Support the best site for bike news from around the corner, and around the world. Give to the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today!

Santa Monica Spoke’s Cynthia Rose forwards a report that a bike rider was injured in a hit-and-run at 20th and California around 6:30 pm Wednesday evening.

The 30-something victim was taken to UCLA with head injuries and bleeding, but was reportedly conscious following the crash.

No word yet on a description of the suspect vehicle.

Anyone with information should contact the Santa Monica Police Department.

………

‘Tis the season.

The Pasadena Rotary bought and donated 200 bicycles for underprivileged kids.

Dozens of children of service members at Edwards Air Force Base will receive bicycles after it was determined their families could use a little extra help for the holidays.

The San Luis Obispo sheriff’s department gave 600 bikes to underprivileged kids after they were refurbished by inmates at the SLO Honor Farm.

Tennessee’s Bike Elf is working to provide bicycles for 109 children who asked for them on a Wishing Tree.

………

Local

The LA Times reviews a documentary about a man suffering from Friedreich’s ataxia, who put a team together to compete in the Race Across America on a tricycle along with another sufferer of the neuromuscular disease.

A man slashed another Expo Line passenger on the neck and face with a knife following an argument yesterday afternoon, then made his escape on a dark-colored cruiser bike.

CiclaValley offers tips for riding in the rain. Oddly, given the weather as I write this, build an ark does not seem to be one of them.

The wife of fallen cyclist and teacher Rod Bennett has established a college scholarship in his name for Santa Clarita students who want to study music or music education. It takes a big heart to try to find some good in a tragedy like this by helping others.

 

State

San Clemente is ready to open a half-mile extension of Camino del Rio, including buffered bike lanes. Then again, given the usual high OC speed limits, a retaining wall might be more appropriate.

San Diego residents call for a kids’ bicycle park in discussions over a largely undeveloped park in the Tijuana River Valley.

Santa Barbara receives a $7.1 million grant to create two bike lanes that will provide a continuous east-west route across the city. Meanwhile, Los Angeles can’t even manage to create a continuous route from Downtown to the coast.

Police in Morgan Hill are looking for the public’s help identifying a suspect in a burglary at the headquarters of Specialized.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition expressed concern about driverless cars sharing the road with bicycles after witnessing Uber’s autonomous cars make unsafe right turns that could have right hooked a rider. Then again, bikes could be self-driving soon, too.

 

National

NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth is one of us, as he talks cycling with Bicycle Magazine.

A Seattle jury awards a bike rider a whopping $38 million after he was severely injured by a driver for a valet company taking an illegal short cut across two lanes of traffic.

The Tacoma Wheelmen bike club decides it’s time to change their historic, but outdated, name.

Smart move. Colorado’s economic development office is inviting prospective business leaders and venture capitalists to come out for a bike ride to promote the state’s business interests.

A Gulfport MS man will spent his life behind bars after shooting his uncle over an argument about a kid riding a bicycle in the street.

Fort Lauderdale FL officials are concerned about how to protect bike riders when a new streetcar line opens in 2021.

Once again, the most important detail is buried in the last sentence, as Chicago DOT officials agree to review a DePaul University study calling for adoption of the Idaho Stop Law.

Fed up with seeing his friends hit by cars, a Philadelphia bike rider used traffic cones to build his own DIY protected bike lane, which has remained in place for two years.

A Florida bicyclist is suing for multiple broken bones after he was attacked, but not bitten, by a vicious dog. Although the real story is, before he was attacked, the 83-year old rider was training to be a competitive cyclist.

 

International

Vancouver reveals how the city intends to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2040 under its Vision Zero plan.

What do you call an unprotected protected bike lane in Halifax, Canada?

London approves a plan to ban cars and trucks from an intersection near the Bank of England during daylight hours.

A $4,100 ebike stolen from a DJ outside the BBC’s studios turns up nine months later in Lithuania.

Caught on video: Britain’s Transportation Secretary doors a bike rider, but leaves without providing the contact info required by law — then turns around and criticizes cyclists a few weeks later. Thanks to Danny Gamboa for the heads-up.

A Brit driver screams in fright as a multiple GoPro-equipped bicycle vigilante catches her taking a selfie behind the wheel. Then again, if I saw that outfit coming my way, I might scream, too.

A new study on how to achieve Vision Zero has won a prestigious international road safety award in the UK; the study concludes the goal of zero deaths is demonstrably realistic, rather than utopian.

October’s world championships in Qatar is credited with boosting interest in bicycling in the Middle East.

Ambitious plans to double the number of bike riders in an Australian state by 2020 are going the wrong way, as the total drops by 20,000 over the last five years.

Bangkok’s metropolitan government makes plans to scrap some of the city’s bike lanes to make life easier for all those poor, put-upon people in cars.

 

Finally…

No, seriously. If you finally manage to escape after getting locked in the building you’re trying to burglarize, don’t come back to get your bike. If you’re going to conduct a bird-themed graffiti spree, don’t ride your bike with can of freshly used spray paint in your hand.

And LA riders may have to deal with bored drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about wild boars.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, Hit-and-Run, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Still more bike giving to celebrate the season, and PVE cyclists die in protest so others won’t

December 15, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Still more bike giving to celebrate the season, and PVE cyclists die in protest so others won’t

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‘Tis the season.

CicLAvia is giving back to the community, donating 15 scooters, 50 sneakers and 53 bikes so far.

San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System surprises 160 elementary school kids with new bicycles.

The Tulare County sheriff’s department gives 20 new bikes to kids who have excelled in school.

One hundred twenty Madera CA third grade students are surprised with free bicycles after thinking they were just getting a lesson in bike safety from the CHP.

A Colorado Whole Foods teams with a craft brewery’s charitable foundation to give 113 new bikes to disadvantaged elementary school kids at the opening of the new store.

A Chicago-area housing authority gave away 50 bicycles to children whose families might be having financial difficulties.

………

World road champ Peter Sagan says clean cyclists could bring back sponsors to pro cycling, comparing the current testing regimen to being in jail with no chance to cheat without getting caught.

A Belorussian pro turns to the power of Twitter to save his cycling career after he was dropped by the Lampre-Merida team. After all, it worked for a certain president elect we could name.

American cyclist Joe Dombrowski wants to create an uphill hour record.

The Big Bear paper offers results of last Saturday’s California State Fat Bike Championships.

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports on the Palos Verdes Estates die-in on Tuesday to call for better bike safety in the exclusive community. Note the half-dozen cops standing watch in the background of the accompanying photos.

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson observes that the die-in seemed to get a lot of support from passing motorists and pedestrians, but not so much with the city council. But as he points out, they’ll get the message the next time someone is killed, injured or harassed and decides to hold the city accountable.

CiclaValley is trying to scrape together parts to build and donate a Frankenbike to help get a young rider into road racing.

 

State

Three hundred chefs will ride 300 miles in three days next May, starting in Santa Rosa, to raise $2 million for the No Kid Hungry campaign.

Castroville gets a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. And no, the town isn’t named after the Cuban revolutionary.

Uber’s driverless cars briefly take to the road in San Francisco before state regulators run them off. Although video of one of the cars running a red light proves they really do drive as well as humans.

Talk about burying the lead (or lede, if you prefer). A San Francisco website reports on Sunday’s distracted-driving hit-and-run death of a bike rider in Watsonville. But fails to mention the driver was booked for being the influence until the very last sentence, never mind that her license was already suspended for DUI.

 

National

Elly Blue writes there may be more common ground between sport and transportation bicyclists than it would seem. In my case, they’re one and the same, depending on where I’m going and why.

Trek could be recalling your Bontrager lights.

A Portland website takes a look at the new UPS ebike delivery trikes.

Dirt Rag strives to understand Floyd Landis, who briefly held the Tour de France title before it was stripped away for doping, and who now markets marijuana-infused products under the Colorado-based Floyds of Leadville banner.

An Idaho bike mechanic warns you get what you pay for when you buy a bicycle online. And not in a good way.

A Louisville KY bike rider describes what it’s like to be a victim of a hit-and-run after being left for dead by a heartless driver; he has no memory of the wreck or anything that happened before being found three hours later.

Chicagoist says tip your bicycle delivery person more when the weather sucks. Which should be tonight in LA if the forecast holds.

Pittsburgh business owners warn that a planned bike lane would ruin street parking and crush their businesses. Never mind that businesses usually thrive after bikeways are installed, despite any loss of parking spaces.

A Pennsylvania hit-and-run driver gets probation after his big-hearted, bike-riding victim forgives him.

A Vermont man faces charges after using a stun gun on a 14-year old boy to recover a bicycle he thought had been stolen from his friend a few weeks earlier; however, the boy had a good alibi, since he’d purchased the bike three months ago.

Cambridge, Mass gets two new separated bike lanes, the first of what will hopefully become a citywide network.

Someone has posted fliers urging drivers to call the city to complain about the loss of five parking spaces for a New York City bike lane. Even though it was only four. And even though people are parking in it anyway.

A Florida paper asks if the shade of some new green bike lanes is too jarring. Only if Hollywood producers get a look at it.

 

International

Toronto is lowering speed limits on 14 streets in an effort to save lives.

An English woman was left with multiple wounds after an apparently random attack by someone who rode his bike up behind her and hit her over the head with an unknown object.

An Edinburg website asks if a new line of high-end bikewear designed by cyclists could be the next Rapha.

A Northern Ireland website offers 16 gift ideas for the cyclist in your life. Or yourself.

A UK man saves himself from depression by taking up bicycling following a bankruptcy and divorce.

Madrid gives itself a pre-holiday gift by banning cars from the city center for nine days. The restrictions will end this Sunday, so hurry up and grab your passport.

Australian police are looking for a road raging cyclist who smacked a car, striking the hand of a 74-year old woman passenger, after the driver honked at him for being in the way. Once again, there’s never any excuse for violence, no matter how justified your anger may seem at the time.

A New Zealand cop won’t face charges for knocking a teenage boy off his bike when the boy swore at him, but will have to offer an apology to the boy and his family.

A blind Australian woman falls in love with bicycling after taking to the back of a tandem bike, finding it easier than she expected.

 

Finally…

Road rage is one thing; a driver armed with a machete is another. Even back then, Barack Obama was one of us.

And there are worse ways to spend three and a half minutes than watching some of the most bizarre bike ads ever.

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

Morning Links: Dying for safety in PVE, ‘tis the season for bike giveaways, and construction starts on MyFigueroa

December 13, 2016 / / 3 comments

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Don’t miss yesterday’s guest post by Delia Park and Kristie Fox about the die-in planned for today in Palos Verdes Estates, calling for Bikes May Use Full Lane signs to be installed in the exclusive, and extremely insular, city.

Meanwhile, Cycling in the South Bay points out there’s another vital item on the PVE council agenda to improve safety for kids walking to school. And offers a graphic example of what bikers really want.

………

‘Tis the season.

San Gabriel Valley Rotary Clubs buy 200 bicycles to distribute to children ranging from toddlers to ten year olds.

Ninety Tustin 3rd grade kids are surprised with new bicycles courtesy of a San Diego bike non-profit; if watching video of the event doesn’t put a smile on your face, something is seriously wrong. Thanks to Melissa Pamer for the heads-up.

Members of a Del Mar high school water polo team refurbished 21 bicycles for needy kids with the help of a local cycling club.

A Palm Springs charity gives over 400 bicycles to deserving 4th graders nominated by their teachers.

One hundred volunteers with the Simi Valley Rotary assemble 250 bicycles to give to low-income families.

Trusties at a Louisiana sheriff’s department spend all year refurbishing bicycles for the department’s Christmas giveaway; in 23 years, they’ve donated over 3,800 bikes to area children.

Kindhearted Tampa Bay cops help an eight-year old boy finish a seven-mile fundraising ride just three months after learning to ride a bike; the ride raised money to purchase of bicycles for at-risk and foster kids, to go along with 750 bikes donated by the local NHL team.

………

Bicycling’s Bill Strickland comes up empty handed in life-long search for the legendary Eddy Merckx Alphabet, only to learn it doesn’t exist. So he sits down with Merckx and Peter Flax to write one.

A new movie follows an Alaskan woman as she competes against her own father and other cyclists on the Anchorage winter bike racing circuit.

A report says a new indoor velodrome could make Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley the epicenter of cycling in the United States.

The California state cyclocross championship will be held in Bakersfield this coming weekend.

CiclaValley proves you can hit the dirt riding ‘cross and still make the podium.

………

Local

The driver wanted for causing the crash that killed a five-year old boy as he was sleeping in his own apartment has turned himself into police; investigators found the boy’s letter to Santa asking for a new bicycle in the debris after the crash.

Construction has officially started on the long-delayed MyFigueroa Complete Streets project.

Adopting a Vision Zero plan to end traffic deaths in Pasadena by 2027 would require a significant shift in funding priorities.

The LACBC talks with Walk Bike Glendale’s Steven Nancarrow about riding in Glendale and this Sunday’s Holiday Bike Ride.

 

State

A 30-year old Vista bike rider suffered severe head injuries in a collision with a motorist Monday morning; police report the victim was not wearing a helmet. However, there’s no word on how fast the driver was going or whether it might have made a difference.

More bad news from Central California, as a 34-year old man was killed when his bike was rear-ended by a suspected drunk and admittedly distracted driver who fled the scene; she was stopped nearby, and faces multiple felony counts including hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Once again, the failure to maintain surface streets proves costly in more ways than one, as Morgan Hill settles with a bike rider who was seriously injured after hitting a pothole.

Bay Area bike riders gather for a holiday lights tour in Alameda.

 

National

The Department of DIY strikes again, as Portland bicyclists use bales of hay to conduct their own road diet to show it would not significantly impact traffic.

A Portland man with special needs will get his stolen bike back after a six-year old spots it and leads police to the suspect.

A study from DePaul University shows that bicycles are usually the fastest way to travel between two points, and recommends adopting the Idaho Stop Law, including allowing cyclists to proceed through red lights after stopping when there’s no cross traffic.

A new 240-foot bike bridge connects two disparate parts of an Ohio town.

After getting a slap on the wrist for killing a Michigan bike rider, a convicted drunk driver is back in court asking for his license back so he get a job. Evidently, it’s not possible to walk or ride a bicycle to work in the Great Lake State, so everyone should just trust that he won’t do it again. Right?

New Jersey proposes adding questions about bike and pedestrian safety to the state’s driver’s license exam.

One of the runners-up for CNN’s hero of the year was Craig Dodson, a former professional cyclist who founded the Richmond Cycling Corps in Richmond VA, which uses bikes as a platform to help at-risk children.

An Orlando FL TV station highlights the risks of buying a bicycle in a box from Walmart or Target.

 

International

Cycling Weekly discusses 14 things that bicyclists can never seem to agree on.

In light of the rapidly oncoming holidays, Bike Biz offers a reminder of their remarkably in-depth, 20-part report on counterfeit bikes and parts, to help avoid finding some under your tree or menorah.

Toronto bike advocates are fighting a proposal to allow drivers with accessibility permits to temporarily stop in protected bike lanes if they’re loading or unloading someone with mobility issues.

A former member of Great Britain’s cycling team says bicycling appeals to obsessive-compulsive high achievers. Of course, it also appeals to people who just enjoy riding a bike, as well.

The Dutch Transport Minister proposes prohibiting bicyclists from using their smartphones while riding.

The Netherlands improves safety for cyclists by devoting road space to bicycles, while shifting motor vehicles to highways.

One in three bike riders in one Australian state admit to distracted riding and bicycling under the influence.

An Aussie writer gets it, saying if the sight of a bike rider makes you mad enough to affect your driving, you don’t belong on the road.

Another day, another drunk driving on a bike path, this time in Australia’s New South Wales.

A Malaysian bicyclist gets more than he bargained for when he stopped to take a selfie and discovered a body.

 

Finally…

Nothing like taking a flipping flip into the dip. Your next full-suspension mountain bike could have three front forks. Yes, three.

And if you’re going to break into a home to steal a gun and a bicycle, don’t leave tracks in the snow leading directly to you when you ride off.

Writing and maintaining this site is a full-time job. Your support, and that of our sponsors, enables us to keep bringing the freshest bike news to you every day, from LA and around the world.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Court rules police can’t search your belongings on traffic stops, ‘tis the season, and sex before racing

December 7, 2016 / / 2 comments
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.

Keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day. Give to the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today!

The California Supreme Court has just affirmed your right not to be searched by police in a simple traffic stop.

In a case involving a man on a bicycle, Torrance police stopped the man after he rolled through a stop sign, and found evidence of child pornography after searching his phone.

But the court ruled that police can’t conduct a search following a traffic stop unless there’s probable cause that an actual crime had been committed.

In other words, unless there’s reason to believe you just robbed a liquor store or whacked a road raging driver with your water bottle, police don’t have the right to search you, your bike or your belongings without your permission. And especially not to rifle through all the personal data stored on your phone.

Even if it means letting a bike-riding scumbag off the hook.

………

‘Tis the season.

The San Diego Chargers pick up the tab for 150 new bicycles for elementary school kids.

And a Florida TV station collects 863 bicycles for children as part of its annual Bikes or Bust event.

………

Eighty cyclists competed in Peru’s most extreme bike race, the three day, poetically named Challenge of the Condor through the country’s desert.

Thirteen men’s and four women’s teams competed in a ten day stage race to celebrate Ethiopia’s Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Day.

Then there’s the breathtaking world of artistic cycling, described as a cross between gymnastics and fixies.

And new studies conclude that there’s no evidence having sex the night before a race will negatively impact performance, and may actually help by relieving pain, especially for women cyclists. No, they aren’t looking for volunteers.

………

Local

Metro appears to have abandoned the Westside and South LA when it comes to new bikeshare locations.

Twenty bicyclists took part in the first Elysian Valley Slow Roll on the LA River bike path over the weekend to call for better safety and consideration for pedestrians on the shared use path.

Richard Risemberg calls on everyone fighting for better safety on North Figueroa to attend Thursday’s meeting with the LACBC’s Tamika Butler to discuss bicycling issues in Northeast LA. Although he seems to have forgotten that quite a few people have been working to keep North Fig from being forgotten.

A bike rider was uninjured when a suspected DUI driver struck the back wheel of his bicycle while fleeing from police in Van Nuys Tuesday night.

Bike SGV is hosting a free City Cycling Class this Saturday to help you learn the rules of the road and get more comfortable riding on city streets.

Hawthorne police will step up bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement on Thursday. You know the drill; for one day at least, ride to the letter of the law within the city limits to ensure you’re not the one ticketed.

A 41-year old transient pled guilty to riding his bicycle up to a AAA mechanic as he changed a car battery in Pico Rivera, stabbing him for no apparent reason, then calmly riding away.

Kylie Jenner may or may not actually be one of us, but that lowrider bike is seriously cool.

 

State

The San Diego Union-Tribune looks at the start of construction on a new segment of what will eventually be the city’s 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway.

Residents of San Diego’s City Heights complain that a planned bikeway is just a conduit to funnel riders through their neighborhood, and that parking spaces must be kept because no one would actually ride a bike to the market. Unlike the experience in, say, virtually every other city.

San Diego’s 2nd annual Recovery Ride will roll next month to benefit drug and alcohol recovery and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs.

A San Francisco writer asks if he was in the wrong to walk facing traffic on a Berkeley bike path. Short answer, yes; both cyclists and pedestrians should stay to the right in the direction they’re going, except to pass.

 

National

Your new winter bike gloves could have built-in turn signals.

Now that’s more like it. An Oregon man faces charges including felony assault, DUI and reckless endangerment for severely injuring a passing bike rider when he crashed into a power pole, knocking the lines down onto the woman.

A Portland university receives a five-year, $15 million grant to find ways cities can redesign their streets to make bicycle transportation more accessible and integrate bicycle transportation into a smart city framework.

After doubling in size last year, the Des Moines, Iowa bikeshare system is looking to double again.

The Chicago Reader says it’s time to stop blaming pedestrians and cyclists, and hold drivers accountable when they kill someone.

The New Orleans paper talks with the founder of the city’s bike co-op, whose goal is to make it possible for anyone who needs a bike to have one.

 

International

Bike Radar offers tips on winter riding. All of which actually apply here in LA, for a change.

A writer in the UK describes what it’s like to not remember who he is after suffering a traumatic brain injury when someone backed a van into his bicycle without looking.

British police stop 50 bicyclists riding without lights on one road in a single night.

Brit TV presenter Guy Martin will attempt to ride 4,802 miles around the British coast in just 20 days, an average of 240 miles a day.

A Welsh track cycling champ had her $7,600 Cervelo P3 stolen from her car after she left it there overnight.

Amsterdam is trying, so far without success, to ban beer bikes in the city center.

Bicycling Magazine talks with Shannon Galpin, who tells you how to fight the good fight based on her experience working for women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Sydney, Australia bicyclists will get a new ramp leading up to the Harbour Bridge in four years, replacing the 55 steps they currently have to trudge up with their bikes.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can enjoy all the fun of the hour record on your ride to work. No, they’re not actually cycling across the sea unless the pedals somehow power the boat.

And no, valet parking a bicycle is not the most LA thing ever.

………

A special thanks to Mike Wilkinson for his generous contribution to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. Your contributions will help fund this site for the next year.

 

Category: Bikes & the Law, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: LA bike path meeting Saturday, bike licensing is a bad idea, and ‘tis the season for giving bikes

December 5, 2016 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: LA bike path meeting Saturday, bike licensing is a bad idea, and ‘tis the season for giving bikes

If you ride the LA River bike path, make plans to be at a meeting to discuss safety on the popular shared-use pathway this Saturday.

la-river-meeting

There have been calls ban bikes or force riders to dismount from the pathway in Elysian Valley after a woman was critically injured in a collision with a bicyclist. Although it should be noted that the rider did remain at the scene and try to help.

The people opposed to bicycles will undoubtedly be out in force, so it’s vital that the other side be heard, as well.

Meanwhile, there will be meetings tomorrow and the following Tuesday to discuss extending the pathway into the San Fernando Valley.

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.

It’s Week Two of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Donate today, and keep Southern California’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

………

Returning to the bike licensing discussion we had last week, a Canadian website says licensing bikes is just a bad idea.

The article correctly points out that the purpose of licensing, whether it’s drivers or businesses, is to regulate them, not raise revenue — despite licensing proponents claims that bike riders need to pay for the lanes we use.

It also makes the point that the cost of licensing bikes, and/or riders, would outweigh any revenue it might raise.

And that it takes 810,000 people riding bicycles to do as much damage to the streets as one person driving an SUV.

So maybe it’s not the bicycles that should be regulated off the roads.

………

That image of Shaq and Amanda Sykes on a tandem bike that circulated last week came from an American Express small business ad, filmed in part at a Berkeley bike shop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMqP16nJTj4

……….

‘Tis the season of giving.

Dublin CA high school students partner with the local Rotary Club to build bicycles for needy children.

The Lodi Rotary Club donates 100 bicycles for underprivileged children.

A Chattanooga church is hosting a 36-hour holiday bike drive to get bikes for economically disadvantaged children.

Volunteers in Tampa FL build nearly 800 bicycles to donate to underprivileged kids.

………

Pro cycling’s top level WorldTour is headed back to China, courtesy of the world’s richest man. Although some people are complaining that it’s not clear what the WorldTour is anymore.

And yes, even para-cyclists dope.

But no, really, the doping era is over, right?

………

Local

A community meeting will be held this Thursday to discuss the proposed Rail-to-River shared pathway, as a route through Huntington Park and Bell emerges as the favorite.

LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler will host a meeting to discuss bike advocacy in Northeast LA on Thursday, including the status of the long-delayed road diet and bike lanes on North Figueroa.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton calls out NIMBYs for opposing reduced parking requirements for granny flats, including replacing car parking with bike parking.

A bicyclist in his 20s was critically injured in a collision with a motorcyclist near the entrance to Granada Park in Alhambra Saturday afternoon.

The Canyon News looks at this past weekend’s Electric Bike Expo in Santa Monica.

 

State

The keyboardist for the band Faith No More has written a new opera about the annual San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS ride.

San Diego begins work on a 2.25-mile stretch of what will eventually be a 24-mile loop around the San Diego Bay.

Sad news from Cayucos, as a 47-year old San Luis Obispo man was killed when a driver crossed double yellow lines to pass another vehicle, and hit his bicycle head-on; oddly, no arrest has been made despite the illegal pass.

San Franciscans are divided on plan to remove a traffic lane on two streets in the city’s panhandle to install protected bike lanes.

Police are looking for the driver who ran down a San Francisco cyclist and left her lying in the street last week; fortunately, she’s recovering from her injuries.

 

National

A long read from the former science editor for National Geographic says mountain bikers are saving the world by mapping it.

The Bureau of Land Management is looking for whoever dismantled a Colorado mountain bike trail less than two hours after it was repaired.

A New Mexico man calls his own actions reckless and irresponsible as he’s sentenced to four and a half years for killing a cyclist while driving at three times the legal alcohol limit.

The rich get richer. Missouri officials open a new 47.5-mile link in the 238-mile Katy Trail crossing the state; meanwhile, a 74-year old woman rides the full length of the trail on her $89 Walmart bike.

Famed law professor Alan Dershowitz calls on New York bike riders to stop at red lights after ten close calls while crossing the street. Meanwhile, the invariably hysterical New York Post posits a citywide conspiracy to jam up traffic and force people to leave their cars at home and take bikes or transit.

It takes a world class jerk to pretend to call the police after hitting a teenage North Carolina bike rider.

Retired boxing champ Floyd Mayweather is one of us, riding his fat bike around Miami with his friends.

After a Florida bicyclist breaks his leg in a collision with a car, he asks the driver to take him to the hospital to avoid paying for an ambulance ride.

A Florida woman gets seven years in the DUI death of a teenage bike rider.

 

International

A Calgary columnist complains that a network of downtown cycle tracks is about to be approved by the city council even though only a small majority of drivers like them. And makes it very clear that the opinion of anyone who doesn’t drive doesn’t matter.

A London bike advocacy group is crowdfunding a campaign to fight the damage done by taxi drivers, anti-bike groups and NIMBYs.

London’s Telegraph blames bike riders and people on cell phones for turning the country’s canal towpaths into crowded collision zones.

In a dramatic move to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, London plans to ban vehicular traffic from a dangerous junction during daylight hours.

Bike theft isn’t just an American problem; nearly 82,000 bicycles were stolen in England and Wales over a 12-month period.

Great Britain is getting tough on traffic crimes; dangerous drivers who kill could now face up to life in prison.

This is why people continue to die on the streets. A Brit man has been convicted of drunk driving ten times, along with 61 — yes, you read that right — convictions for driving with a suspended license. And keeps driving anyway, despite being jailed four times this year alone.

Evidently, some bike thieves actually have a heart. Thieves returned a mountain bike they’d stolen from a Northern Irish boy just before the anniversary of his father’s death, following an appeal from the boy’s mother; the bike was his father’s last gift to him before his sudden death.

A Dutch study shows it’s five times more efficient to evacuate a city by bicycle than by motor vehicle. Something that will be worth remembering when it’s time to flee Los Angeles. And it will be, sooner or later.

A new Spanish study says even a five-foot passing distance is not enough, depending on the vehicle type and speed.

A “speeding” Aussie cyclist gets all the blame for running over and killing a small dog, even though the owner admits letting her dog stray onto the wrong side of a pathway next to a blind curve. You should always ride carefully around any living thing, especially kids and animals, who can be impulsive and unpredictable. But the people responsible for those kids and dogs need to be exactly that, as well.

The parable of the Good Samaritan comes to life when a Singaporean bike rider falls hard after his chain breaks; the locals leave him lying injured in the street, while it takes a group of migrant construction workers come to his aid.

 

Finally…

Yes, you may be a big important government official, but you can’t ride your bike anymore. Organizing a bike race is more fun when you don’t end up in jail.

And yes, you can carry a refrigerator on your bicycle.

………

BikinginLA exists because of the generosity of people like you. So if you haven’t already, please take a moment to contribute to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to help keep it coming your way every day.

And a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has given to help support this site.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bike Access, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , ,
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