It’s the 13th day of the 4th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.
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Don’t plan on riding PCH anytime soon.
Caltrans will be closing sections of the right lane and shoulder on a 20-mile stretch of the westbound PCH in Malibu between Coastline Drive and Decker Canyon Road to repair damage caused by the Woolsey Fire.
The work will take place between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm, Monday through Saturday; no word on when they expect to be finished.
The state will also close one lane in each direction on PCH between Puerco Canyon and Corral Canyon roads to work on a median project.
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CiclaValley has a notable ride to work for the second day in a row — and not in a good way — after yesterday’s high-speed buzz by a motorcyclist.
Avoiding a right hook in the bike lane on Sunset by (shocker) a driver on his cell phone. LP 8Y47108@bikinginla @MitchOFarrell pic.twitter.com/upPoFgVtPY
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) December 4, 2018
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A second Dutch bike rider barely avoided getting run down by a train after riding around crossing barriers, just days after video surfaced of a similar incident.
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‘Tis the season.
One hundred kids from a Gardena youth and family services program got new bicycles courtesy of Chargers running back Melvin Gordon and Rally Health.
London’s Telegraph offers a holiday gift guide for roadies.
An English news site is attempting to raise the equivalent of nearly $160,000 for the country’s MS Society this holiday season; woman with MS who bought an ebike with a grant from the group calls it a game changer.
And in less happy news, a Cape Town, South Africa bike shop was vandalized and looted in the wake of a festival kicking off the holiday season; authorities were able to get four of the stolen bikes back.
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Local
An environmental justice advocate is recruiting bicyclists to monitor air quality in Southeast and East LA.
Pasadena public radio station KPCC examines why California’s three foot passing law is so seldom enforced in the LA area, and how that contributes to the city’s well-earned status as America’s worst bike city; you can find the same report on LAist if you’d rather read than listen. Both versions have the extreme good taste to quote yours truly.
State
San Diego will spend $2.3 million to connect two existing bike paths in Carmel Valley, closing a missing link in the regional bike network.
A Palo Alto bike rider was the victim of a hit-and-run when he was run down from behind by the driver of a Porsche SUV, while riding in a green bike lane.
San Francisco voted to become the first major city in the US to eliminate minimum parking restrictions.
The City by the Bay will add parking protection to an existing bike lane to keep parents out of it when they drop off and pick up their kids from a nearby school.
On the other side of the Bay, Oakland approved plans for a purple and green parking protected bike lane.
National
Streetsblog offers suggestions of what a Green New Deal could look like.
The former head of the Chicago and DC departments of transportation says the solution to quickly and easily accommodating e-scooters and other forms of micromobility is restriping streets to create narrow “slow lanes.”
An 1896 Portland map shows the city’s bike culture goes back at least 122 years.
Oregon police use a bait bike to bust four bike thieves. That’s something that the LAPD still doesn’t use, despite the city’s soaring bike theft problem, due to the City Attorney’s office fears of entrapment.
A Washington man rode 4,233 miles through 13 Mid-American states in the shape of a heart to unite Americans in love and political balance. Although it doesn’t seem to have worked just yet.
The LA Times recommends a seven-day bike tour through the Arizona desert, beginning and ending in Tucson, for the low, low price of just $2,995. Or you could just, you know, go to Tucson, get on your bike, and start riding.
Now that’s more like it. A DC-area county has approved a new bike plan calling for an additional 750 miles of paths, trails and separated bike lanes, to go with 250 miles already on the ground; as usual, they just need the money to pay for it.
Florida bicyclists want to know why the distracted driver who killed two bike riders wasn’t charged; police say the sun was in her eyes, yet somehow it didn’t blind the group of riders she slammed into.
International
National Geographic offers their take on the world’s best bike cities. San Francisco made the list; oddly, Tucson got the only honorable mention, despite ranking just 24th in the US according to Bicycling. Needless to say, Los Angeles didn’t.
An Irish writer politely notes that some bicyclists are “bending the rules,” perhaps because the explosive growth in bicycling is outpacing bike infrastructure. Or it could be that some people are just jerks, whether on two wheels or four.
Dutch bike writer David Hembrow says overuse of motorized transport is destroying everything.
He gets it. The mayor of Tehran has joined the country’s Car-Free Tuesdays movement to help reduce the effects of air pollution, riding his bike to work this week, while taking a subway last week.
Apropos of today’s weather in Los Angeles, Bicycle Times offers tips from an Aussie rider on how to stay safe while biking in the rain.
Competitive Cycling
The Daily Breeze posted, then removed, a story reporting next year’s Amgen Tour of California would end with a stage from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. So maybe you now have advanced word if they took it down because they jumped a news embargo. Or not.
VeloNews explains why elite women’s ‘cross is must-see TV.
Phil Liggett say the death of close friend and broadcast partner Paul Sherwen is hard to believe, and hints that it may cause him to rethink his role as the voice of professional cycling.
American pro cyclist Ian Boswell explains what happens when a bike racer turns race promoter.
Finally…
The bicycling model of financial management. Evidently, wearing a mask on your bike in the cold can get you arrested for frightening children.
And London’s bike shop to rock royalty.
Somehow, it’s hard to imagine Keith Richards riding a bicycle. Fortunately, you don’t have to.
