Tag Archive for videopalooza

Morning Links: Women fight thieves for their bikes, medical insurance fail, and what a punishment pass looks like

January 17, 2020 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Women fight thieves for their bikes, medical insurance fail, and what a punishment pass looks like

Don’t mess with women.

Or their bikes.

A Toronto woman ran out of a store and beat up the thief who tried to make off with her unlocked bike, even kicking him when he was down. Unfortunately, the video is posted to a private account, and I haven’t managed to find a copy.

And a 72-year old British great-grandmother wrestled a stolen mountain bike away from a thief after reading about the theft on Facebook; the man had tried to sell her the $1,500 bike for the equivalent of just $200.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvfHTDhx3uU

Photo by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay.

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Retired pro Phil Gaimon somehow manages to maintain his sense of humor, even after a recent crash left him with $250,000 in medical bills.

And yes, that’s with insurance.

Just another example of how broken America’s medical and insurance system is.

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A Dublin Bus driver is under fire — and under investigation — after a frighteningly close punishment pass.

Seriously, keep watching after the first one.

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Take a break for few minutes with a video of mountain biking in Israel.

Work can wait, right?

Unless you’d prefer a ride through Madeira, Portugal.

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Pink Bike offers some clever ideas on how to stash your tools on your bike when you don’t want to use a pack.

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Local

Who knew? A Reddit post points out that LA County has a page devoted to reporting problems with bike paths, promising a pretty remarkable two-day response time.

 

State

Things are looking up for the San Diego-area man with Parkinson’s disease whose new ebike was stolen before he could even ride it; a crowdfunding campaign raised enough to buy a new bike in just four hours, while local company Juiced Bikes gave one to his wife so they can ride together. Meanwhile, police have arrested two suspects for the theft.

Clearly, drivers aren’t the only risk people on bikes face these days. A Riverside man joined the rising toll of bike riders across the US who’ve been shot in recent weeks; the victim was discovered lying in the street after several people reported hearing shots and died after being taken to a hospital.

Ventura County’s Ojai Valley Bike Trail reopens today, after construction work to repair storm damage forced it to close five months ago.

 

National

The fat bike craze is getting skinnier, with just half of the fat bike makers from 2015 still here five years later.

A Tucson letter writer says bicyclists should be required to use lights at “dusk, night and dawn,” just like the law already requires. And says those “handlebar ringydingy bells” would be nice, too.

Other cities continue to make progress while Los Angeles just keeps falling back, as the already bike-friendly Mile High City commits to building another 125 miles of bike lanes over the next three years. Unfortunately, the Denver Streetsblog won’t be around to cover it, at least not in its current form.

A Chicago bike lane remains faded, months after the city promised to repaint it following the death of a woman on her bike.

A New York community board says the lack of crosstown bike paths through Central Park are a ticking time bomb; they claim one rider has already lost his life as a result.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where a woman was fined just $1,000 for the distracted driving crash that killed two people on a club ride — which works out to just $500 for a human life. And she’ll get her license back in a lousy six months. Shameful.

Kindhearted Florida cops buy a new bike and helmet for a nine-year old boy after his was stolen, even making him an honorary junior officer.

 

International

Bike Radar continues their look at the year’s best bikes, with a ranking of the top steel framed bicycles.

Victoria, BC swears it’s not clearing snow off bike lanes before the rest of the street.

The rumored future Bond, James Bond is one of us, as James Norton rides his bike through the streets of London. But why does the press always seem to assume someone had to “settle” for riding a bicycle?

Britain’s biggest bike retailer said scooter and ebike sales nearly doubled compared to the last quarter of the previous year.

The Wall Street Journal reports bike riders are driving up real estate prices in Girona, Spain, which has seen prices go up 15% in the last year. Unfortunately, the usual WSJ paywall problems apply. Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

India’s Hero Cycles develops plans to rule the bike world. Or 5% of it, anyway.

US Customs says ebikes are motorcycles, but that’s a good thing. The misclassification allows them to avoid Trump’s onerous 25% tariff.

 

Competitive Cycling

Fayetteville, Arkansas has been selected as the site of this year’s Pan-American Cyclocross Championships.

Dutch champ Anna van der Breggen looks forward to defending her Olympic road race gold metal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

 

Finally…

Indoor climbing walls are nothing new, but indoor bike park, not so much. Unless maybe you’d rather ride your bike on water.

And someone has finally developed an all-weather corgi carrier for your cargo bike.

What.

 

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

Morning Links: A deep dive into fake bikes, Ford says share the Euro roads, and kid beaten by cops for no helmet

May 29, 2018 / / One comment

Before we get started, I hope you’ll join me in wishing a safe and happy journey to my oldest brother, who switched from Iditarod sled dog racing to dreaming of riding RAAM. And who is setting out today for a month-long bike tour through the Colorado and Wyoming high country.

No, really.

I’m only a lot jealous.

Photo by Eric Rogers, before he left the wilds of Alaska for the slightly more civilized confines of Colorado’s West Slope.

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Bike Biz takes a deep dive into the world of fake bike gear, with a 20-part series on the wide world of bicycle counterfeiting.

Here’s just a few of the highlights.

Knockoffs are nearly as old as the first bicycle.

People buy Foakleys — aka fake Oakleys — because they feel like they’re being ripped off. And not by the fakes.

Specialized’s fake fighter in chief has been running down counterfeit Specialized parts for the past 10 years, earning the Mandarin nickname “Tiger watching the Tigers.” Meanwhile, lawyers fighting Chinese fakes are just playing whack-a-mole.

How to tell which fakes are safe to use, and which will give out on you.

Your new Pinarello could be spelled a little differently.

You don’t want to count on a counterfeit when your skull is at risk.

And you really don’t want to take on the organized crime triads behind the fakes. But bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid did anyway.

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Ford says it’s time to share the roads, and see them from someone else’s perspective. At least in Europe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xic8W48LxUc

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You’ve got to be kidding.

New Zealand police tackle and punch a 13-year old boy for the crime of riding a bicycle in a park without a helmet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yApMwz2rAew

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.

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A painful read from women’s pro Molly Weaver, who confronts the depression brought on by a series of collisions with drivers, resulting in numerous broken bones and concussions, as she decides to take her leave from the sport.

At the end of the day, the reality is that the majority of us as female cyclists are riding on passion and love for the sport alone. We don’t earn anywhere near a minimum wage, and so once the joy is lost there’s not much else to carry on for.

It’s not an easy read. But it’s worth it for a rare view into the struggles of women’s cyclists.

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Let’s catch up on a few post-holiday events.

BikinginLA title sponsor Jim Pocrass will join with members of the Santa Monica Police Department to answer your questions about road safety, equity and the rights of bicyclists tomorrow night.

Multicultural Communities for Mobility and Metro’s Bicycle Education Safety Training (BEST) Program are hosting a ride this Saturday to mark Pride Month and remember the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting this Saturday.

Bike SGV and Women on Wheels are holding a Dam(sel) Ride along the San Gabriel River to the Cogswell Dam on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, LA’s most popular fund raising ride rolls with the LACBC’s 18th annual River Ride along the LA River Bike Path; all the proceeds go to supporting their efforts to bring you a more bikeable LA.

Whatever you do, get out and celebrate World Bicycle Day this Sunday.

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Local

The Western Avenue Great Streets Project could be expanding in scope based on public feedback, including powder-coated bike racks. But still no safe way to get to them.

The area surrounding UCLA and Westwood Village voted to split off into a separate neighborhood council, which should provide more support for bicycling and other long-stymied activities in the area.

Metro votes to cut prices for the Metro Bike bikeshare and expand the system into Silver Lake, Koreatown and Expo Park, as well as Culver City, Playa Vista and Marina del Rey. But again, without providing safe streets to ride them on.

Streetsblog looks at the new one-block long sort-of protected bike lane on 7th Street in DTLA, which has already proven popular with Uber drivers.

Now that’s impressive. A group of cyclists somehow managed to raise $100,000 by riding 1,000 miles from Watts to Oxnard and back. Especially since the two communities are a little more than 50 miles apart.

 

State

San Francisco walking advocates call for installing a raised intersection to slow traffic and improve safety.

A San Francisco writer says the new litmus test for when you’re too old isn’t how loud the music is, but your tolerance for dockless bikeshare bikes leaned up against trees.

The Oakland bike community is in mourning over the death of the man known to most as Tall Paul, who spent decades building custom bikes and giving them away to kids with good report cards. A crowdfunding campaign has raised a little more than $1,800 of the $8,500 goal to pay for his funeral.

Where to ride on your next trip up to Sacramento and Stockton.

 

National

A new documentary tells the story of a 22-year old American who rode his bike around the world — including a 10,000 mile journey across the Arctic.

Nothing to worry about here. The self-driving Uber car that killed Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona, spotted her before the crash but didn’t hit the brakes because the company disconnected the car’s automatic braking system.

An Arizona writer considers why some drivers hate us for no apparent reason. Thanks to Frank Lehnerz for the heads-up.

Here’s your chance to ride Colorado’s famed Tour of the Moon course, made famous in the movie American Flyers and the legendary Coors Classic stage race.

Thieves are cutting locks and stealing bicycles in downtown Denver. Which makes it pretty much like every other downtown in the US. And why you need to register your bike now. 

A sports columnist discovers the camaraderie inherent with any bike club, but specifically a Tulsa OK riding club where women turn to deal with health problems and other issues.

Horrible reminder that hit-and-run isn’t just an LA problem, as bike rider was found dead along a Texas highway, the apparent victim of a heartless coward behind the wheel. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the link.

A new exhibit at a Wisconsin art museum considers the art of designing Trek bicycles. Maybe they have a special section in the exhibit on the art of intimidating anyone who — correctly, as it turns out — accused Lance of doping.

Speaking of Wisconsin, if you want to get drunk and ride your bike, move there or one of the other 28 states that don’t have a BUI law on the books. One of which is not California.

Tragic news from Indianapolis, where a man on a bicycle was killed in a crash with a trio of motorcyclists, one of whom also died as a result; witnesses said the motorcycle riders were speeding and popping wheelies before crashing into the bicycle rider.

New York officials knew a bike path was easily accessible to drivers before last year’s Halloween terrorist attack, but did nothing to stop it until it was too late; it’s unclear what permanent changes will be made to protect riders.

Smart. Instead of ticketing kids for performing stunts on their bikes, the Patterson NJ police department hosted a Wheelie Race and Stunts competition.

I know you are but what am I? Someone hacked road signs along a North Carolina triathlon route to call bicyclists idiots and assholes on bikes.

 

International

A writer for Digital Trends says e-mountain bikes straddle the line between extravagance and necessity, while allowing riders to hit the trails without the skill to do it successfully.

The Weather Channel offers advice on how to ride in the Canadian heat. All of which applies here where it gets a lot hotter.

Another reminder to always ride carefully in a group, as an Ontario, Canada cyclist suffered life-threatening injuries in a collision with two other riders in a newly formed bike club.

You don’t need insurance to ride a bicycle in Europe, but you will to ride an ebike if it can go over 15 mph.

London’s walking and bicycling chief says the city’s cyclists are too white, too middle class and too male, with people who don’t match that description making up just 15% of London bike riders. On the other hand, at least they have a walking and bicycling chief, unlike some SoCal metropolises I could name.

Madrid will ban cars from the city center this fall, with the exception of people who actually live there and zero-emission cabs and trucks.

Rihanna is teaming with Chinese dockless bikeshare provider Ofo to give bikes to girls in Malawi to help make education more accessible.

A South African driver gets ten years for killing two bike riders in a 5am crash as he was leaving a nightclub; the wreck reportedly scared several riders off their bikes.

New stickers applied directly to the pavement tell Seoul, Korea cyclists to get off their bikes when using crosswalks.

Great idea. Public bikeshare riders in Taipei, Taiwan will now be automatically insured whenever they rent a bike.

Beijing is about to begin work on a four-mile bicycle highway.

 

Competitive Cycling

By now, it’s no spoiler to say Chris Froome won the Giro with a spectacular solo breakaway on Thursday, becoming one of a handful of cyclists to win all three grand tours.

However, Peter Flax complains that Froome should never have competed under the cloud of a failed drug test, and stirs controversy in the comments by questioning what fueled that ride.

Now Froome turns his attention to winning a record-tying fifth Tour de France, unless that doping cloud turns into a storm. And yes, Lance won seven, but we’re all pretending that never happened.

 

Finally…

Park in a bike path, get a yellow card. Your old bike tires could end up under Canadian horse hooves.

And forget a helmet; be sure to wear your app-controlled brain stimulator.

 

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

Morning Links: It’s bike video day, with bad LA drivers, Burbank PD safety, and an oldie but badie from SaMo PD

March 15, 2018 / / One comment

It’s been awhile since we’ve gotten a video from topomodesto.

The good news is he’s still riding; the bad news is he and his dog still have to deal with LA drivers.

https://twitter.com/topomodesto/status/974032838277279745

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Burbank police offer tips on how to stay safe when walking or biking.

Although they seem to have missed the memo that says it’s now legal to cross the street during the numerical countdown.

But really, the best part of the video is where they tell drivers not to speed, to turn off their cell phones when they get behind the wheel, signal turns and lane changes, come to a full stop for stop signs and red lights, and always watch for vulnerable road users.

They did say that, right?

Meanwhile, velocipedes reminds us of the horrible bike safety video put out by the tone-deaf Santa Monica Police Department a few years back.

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Actor and director Taylor Nichols is one of us.

The president of American Farmland Trust is one of us, too, as he writes about his apparent significant other falling in love with riding a bike in DC.

And the late, great Stephen Hawking was once one of us, as well.

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Local

DTLA bike shop Just Ride LA has reopened after a complete remodel, and is now an official Giant dealer.

Filmmaker and photographer Brian Vernor offers a great photo essay of riding the abandoned 1915 Old Ridge Road on Super Bowl Sunday.

Pasadena threatens to pull out of the Metro Bike bikeshare, which is currently operating at a significant loss in the city.

Downey’s mayor announces new bike lanes on a rebuilt Brookshire Ave.

 

State

A new study from UC San Francisco shows that riding your bike hard could be good for your sex life, at least if you’re a woman. And female bicyclists are no more likely to experience serious sexual or urinary problems than non-riding women.

 

National

Despite the rapid spread of Vision Zero across the US, traffic deaths continue to soar. Los Angeles deaths declined just 3% in the past two years, far short of the city’s overly ambitious goal of a 20% reduction by last year.

Santa Fe, New Mexico bicyclists tell the city council they’re afraid to ride the streets after the sheriff’s department apparently fails to take a road rage assault seriously. Maybe it’s time for LA bike riders to once again let the city council know how we feel.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A Boulder CO bicyclist killed in a crash this week was described as “the epitome of a good person.”

Denver plans to turn part of a massive parking crater into a human-scaled walkable, bikeable neighborhood, including the narrow, shared streets known as woonerfs.

A panel at SXSW discusses how to fuel your body on the bike; meanwhile, the streets of Austin are visited by massive bike-based eagle, owl and snake puppets.

A Wisconsin jury rules that it’s perfectly okay to kill someone on a bicycle when you’re not paying attention to the road.

 

International

Maintaining your fitness by riding a bike could reduce your risk of dementia later in life. And it’s pretty good for your immune system and aging muscles.

Speaking of which, Cycling Weekly offers tips on how to make the jump to your first century.

About time. Montreal recognizes that bicycles and motor vehicles are fundamentally different, and proposes changing the law to allow bikes to treat stops as yields, make rights on red lights, and follow pedestrian traffic signals.

Bicycling members of the Canadian equivalent of AAA can call for assistance with the touch of an app.

This is how Vision Zero is supposed to work, sort of. Edinburgh, Scotland responds to the death of a bike rider by proposing bicycle traffic lights that give riders a head start. But does nothing to address the tram tracks that caught her wheel and caused her death.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list: A bicycle tour through Scotland’s historic and stormy Hebrides Islands.

Malta’s oldest bike shop celebrates its 130th birthday. But it doesn’t look a day over 100.

A New Zealand editorial says maybe it’s time to take another look at the country’s mandatory bike helmet law.

 

Competitive Cycling

CyclingTips previews Saturday’s 109th Milan-San Remo, the first of cycling’s five one-day Monuments.

 

Finally…

The answer to losing is as easy as putting a motor in your bike, unless you get caught. Racing across America is challenging enough if you can see.

And when protecting bicyclists is the least you can do.

Literally.

Category: Bike Cam Video, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Weekend Links: A massive list o’links and a whopping videopalooza

October 10, 2014 / / Comments Off on Weekend Links: A massive list o’links and a whopping videopalooza

It’s a veritable link and video-palooza today on BikinginLA.

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Caught on video: This is what anti-bike harassment looks like, in all it’s brutal ugliness.

Here in LA, this video would be all the evidence needed to file — and win — a suit against the driver under the city’s cyclist anti-harassment ordinance.

Instead, the Kentucky cyclist, Cherokee Schill, was charged and convicted for the crime of riding a bike in the traffic lane. And the police look the other way when she’s threatened and harassed by angry motorists.

Which is a polite way of saying they don’t give a damn because they don’t think she belongs there to begin with.

Fortunately, she’s less than $200 away from the $10,000 needed to appeal her illegal conviction.

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Caught on video: Before Governor Brown signed the current three-foot passing law, he vetoed a much better version that would have allowed drivers to briefly cross the center line to pass cyclists when it was safe to do so, fearing endless carnage and lawsuits.

Even though the state is largely immune from being sued. But still.

Evidently, it’s not that big a deal, as this video from the Austin TX police department shows.

Any chance we could get Brown to watch this?

No, I didn’t think so.

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Caught on video: An irate woman berates a Chicago cyclist for riding on the sidewalk, nearly getting herself arrested in the process. And being unclear on the concept, tells him to ride in the street before wishing he gets hit by a car, which is probably why he was on the sidewalk to begin with.

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Caught on video: I missed this one earlier this year, as three cyclists experience a viscous goathead attack on the San Gabriel River trail. Thanks to David Wolfberg for the link.

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And one more while we’re at it.

Caught on video: Wolfpack Hustle offers video of the recent Huntington Park Gran Prix.

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Good advice, as a writer suggests three things all cyclists should do.

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Great idea. UCLA is hosting Bike (Re)cycling Day on Sunday the 19th; the university’s police and transportation departments will give out free abandoned bikes and parts to UCLA students, staff and faculty members.

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If you hurry, you may still be able to make one last training ride today before next Saturday’s first ever El Gran Fondo de Angeles Crest. And my apologies for not getting this notice up sooner.

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Local

Okay, so it’s not bike related. But in an apparent case of induced demand, travel times on the 405 freeway have increased a full minute following the $1 billion —that’s billion with a b — project to add an HOV lane through the Sepulveda pass.

Good news for Valley cyclists, as the second phase of the San Fernando Road bike path opens.

Turns out there will be three workshops to discuss the Las Virgenes Malibu Regional Bike Master Plan, in Malibu on the 21st, Westlake Village on the 22nd and Calabasas on the 23rd of this month.

The Pasadena Star-News calls out one of the San Gabriel Valley’s most bike unfriendly cities while endorsing Eric Sunada for Alhambra city council. Thanks to Wesley Reutimann for the tip.

Haven’t checked in with Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson for awhile; here he puts the great helmet debate in perspective.

 

State

Evidently, the DMV has reworked their website and made everything harder to find, including bike laws.

Around 4,000 people took part in last Sunday’s first ever Santa Ana ciclovia.

A San Diego writer says the new three-foot law will increase tensions with drivers, but gets it right in calling for more protected bike lanes. Another writer on the same site calls cyclists “scourges of the road,” while decrying that bikes aren’t required to stay three feet from drivers; seriously, I could spend all day just pointing out the fallacies in this piece of bikelash drivel.

Palm Springs gets its first bike corral.

Caltrans did the right thing for a change, building a pedestrian bridge and off-road bike path connecting Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties as part of a six-mile carpool lane project; I’m told it has dramatically improved safety for riders along the coast highway. Thanks to Alan for the heads-up.

Too typical. Santa Cruz creates up a sandwich sign to warn drivers to give cyclists three feet. Then puts it in the bike lane.

Yet another teenage driver faces charges in the hit-and-run death of a bike rider, this time in Milpitas.

A Monterrey couple ride 2,300 miles to attend their 50th reunion in Kansas.

San Francisco cyclists are the victims of violent assaults to steal the bikes they’re riding.

 

National

A blogger offers a great list of some truly badass biking women, including Elly Blue and our own Nona Varnado.

In the latest attempt to thin the herd by enabling more distracted drivers, a new app promises to let drivers use all their apps behind the wheel.

Despite that, it looks like the Feds are finally taking bike safety seriously, as the Department of Transportation releases new guidelines to make the streets safer for you and me. Maybe they could ban the use of onboard computer systems by drivers next.

A bike-friendly Portland convenience store finds sales exceed expectations, as 34% of customers arrive some way other than driving.

Unclear on the concept. An Ohio driver complains about cyclists riding in the traffic lane, then insists bike riders need to act like motorists.

Yet another caught on video, but one that can’t be embedded: A cyclist accuses a Penn university cop of using excessive force in a confrontation partially caught on camera.

After a New York driver runs down a cyclist from behind — and is found at fault by her own insurance company — she sues the victim for damaging her car. No, really.

Bike Snob introduces you to suddenly bike-friendly New York.

 

International

Here’s what’s wrong with London’s pie-in-the-sky proposals that would remove bike riders from the street.

“Old men in limos” are working behind the scenes to derail London’s plan for separated bike lanes.

The Daily Mail freaks out when Kerri Russell rides a bike sans helmet and talking on a cell phone.

A former British soldier recalls liberating a Dutch town in World War II by bicycle 70 years ago.

Sad to see Andy Schleck retire from pro racing at 29, after a career that started with such promise.

Okay, so maybe bicycling isn’t really the fastest form of transportation in Perth. Then again, the results might be a little different coming from a less biased source, no?

 

Finally…

Probably not a good idea to ask your Twitter followers to shoot another bike journalist, even if you’re not serious. Or especially if you are. If you profess to be a psychic, don’t channel a recently fallen rider, all the details of which could probably be found by picking up the local paper.

And one more benefit of bicycling — you probably won’t have a secret police file from scanning your license plates.

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Thanks to John Hall for his generous donation to help support this site.  

Category: Bike Cam Video, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, Legal Cases, Morning Links, Road Rage / Tags: , , , , , ,
 
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