Tag Archive for Wanky Awards

Morning Links: Camarillo hit-and-run driver, more on Governors’ bike safety study, and a bicycle bike workstand

Another day, another heartless hit-and-run coward.

Camarillo police are searching for the driver who fled the scene after rear-ending a man riding his bike on Lewis Road near Dawson Drive early Sunday morning, leaving the victim with major injuries.

Unfortunately, there’s no description of the hit-and-run driver or suspect vehicle.

Anyone with information is urged to call Senior Deputy Sam Dominguez at 805/388-5146.

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More on the new study we mentioned yesterday from the Governors Highway Safety Association.

The report called for better infrastructure, enforcement and education, along with better training for in state and local bike laws for police.

The study was also just the latest to name Florida as the most dangerous state to ride a bike.

Meanwhile, the next time someone criticizes Vision Zero without understanding what they’re talking about, you can point them to this newly updated Policy Platform from the Los Angeles Vision Zero Alliance.

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Now this is a creative solution.

A British bike mechanic adapted his bicycle into a mobile workstand to create the ultimate fully mobile bike repair shop.

 

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Mark your calendar for the 2017 South Bay Cycling Awards, aka Wanky Awards, at the Strand Brewing Company in Torrance on October 14th.

Cycling in the South Bay has a list of this year’s nominees, as well as past winners.

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Cycling Weekly offers highlights of Thursday’s stage 6 of the Vuelta, where American Tejay van Garderen remained in the GC hunt, despite suffering a pair of crashes.

An Aussie Olympic track cyclist was arrested and charged with six counts of selling ecstacy; Jack Bobridge had retired from racing last year after winning silver in team pursuit in the 2012 and 2016 games.

Russia’s anti-doping agency has banned marathon cyclist Alexei Medvedev for two years for using performance enhancing drugs. But seriously, the doping era is over, right?

And a special congratulations to eight-year old Taylor Rungaitis; the Simi Valley 3rd grader is now a world champion after winning her age group at the UCI 2017 BMX World Challenge in Rock Hill SC.

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Local

CiclaValley looks forward to those promised bicycling improvements to 7th Street in DTLA. As does pretty much anyone else who has the misfortune of riding it.

If you’re going to have a heart attack while riding your bike, do it in front of a Pasadena fire station.

Hermosa Beach approved its first comprehensive planning document in 36 years, calling for a citywide network of bike lanes and mixed-use development in the downtown area.

Sad to see Long Beach’s Seafarer chapel go; it will be torn down next week to make way for an off-ramp and bike path for the new bridge being built to replace the aging Gerald Desmond bridge.

The Downey Bicycle Coalition is hosting an Art Party Ride this Saturday.

 

State

A bicyclist and a motorcyclist were both critically injured in San Diego yesterday morning when the bike rider reportedly crossed over the path of the motorcyclist to make a left against the light.

A 38-year old San Bernardino man was arrested as the so-called “Bicycle Bandit,” accused of riding his bicycle to set eight fires in an Bernardino and Highland, including a brush fire that burned 700 acres.

Ventura County officials are drawing plans for a three-mile bike lane on a stretch of Potrero Road through Hidden Valley that’s popular with cyclists.

A recovering addict says he’ll never get the chance to thank the officer who arrested him in 2014 for changing his life by treating him like a human being, after the off-duty Modesto police sergeant was killed riding his bicycle Tuesday evening.

San Francisco bicyclists threaten to boycott businesses who demanded that a new bikeshare station be removed because the businesses weren’t consulted before it was installed.

San Francisco riders criticize plans for a protected bike lane that ignores the mixing zones at intersections.

Volunteers with the Petaluma Police Department fix up unclaimed bicycles and donate them to local nonprofit organizations.

 

National

A coming bike industry report says ebikes are the industry’s fasted growing category, older Americans account for 1/3 of all new bicyclists, Latinos ride more than any other racial group and low-income people ride more than anyone else. So much for the myth of the rich, elite cyclists.

Portland completes a 9-mile, $4.5 million bikeway through the city, although it frequently jogs to side streets to preserve street parking in commercial districts. So even in bike friendly Portland, they prefer parking spaces to customers on bicycles. Even though the former can be converted to much better uses.

Oregon police arrested the woman who fled the scene after demanding the bike rider she hit pay for the damages to her car. But not until she returned to the scene of the crime, crashed into a tree and ran over her passenger.

The kickers for the Oregon State University football team are two of us, riding the streets of Corvallis on their new tandem bicycle. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

How to explore Chicago on a bikeshare bike.

Heartwarming story from Minnesota, where a five-year old girl born with no arms rides a bicycle for the first time thanks to a custom-made prosthetic device.

Michigan police have identified the hit-and-run driver who killed a bike-riding nun, but no charges have been filed yet. The suspect was found after filing a false police report that he had hit a deer.

NIMBY Massachusetts homeowners literally say Not In My Back Yard to a proposed bike path.

An 84-year old man recalls winning a 1949 boy’s bike race in Valdosta GA after a picture of his victory unexpectedly appears in the local paper.

 

International

A Canadian bike rider has his journey across the country halted when someone stole his locked bike and all his gear in front of a Winnipeg Walmart; however, local residents have been contributing to replace it.

The husband of the London woman killed by a brakeless fixie rider calls for changes in the law to treat bike riders like motorists when someone is killed or injured by a cyclist. Someone should tell him most killer drivers walk away with just a light caress on the wrist.

A London bike courier explains why he rides brakeless. And why he’ll probably put one on his bike now.

The co-host of the Good Morning Britain TV show blew up at a bicycling advocate on yesterday’s show when he wasn’t satisfied with the answers to his questions. Meanwhile, a man on another show blasted a bicycle advocate for saying only a minority of riders break the law, while calling for all bicyclists to be registered.

An Australian driver claimed he was blinded by the sun when he plowed into a dozen cyclists while making a U-turn, injuring five riders, one critically. So why couldn’t he see the riders before he made his turn? Or if he was already blinded, why the hell would he make a U-turn when he can’t see where he was going?

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to steal a police bike minutes after being released on a shoplifting charge. Seriously, don’t stab your bike-riding former partner in crime in the butt just because he wants to go straight.

And that’s one sketchy DIY ebike.

But this one looks like a blast.

Literally.