We’re finally back after missing the last two Mondays due to technical issues.
So if it only seems like we’ve been offline for a year, why am I a year older than I was when this all started?
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More proof that while the alleged war on cars in a myth, the war on bikes is all too real.
Colorado sheriff’s deputies were investigating reports of a man threatening mountain bikers with a hatchet on the same trail where a rider was found shot to death last week.
A report on Twitter says a British century ride was sabotaged when someone poured oil over the roadway. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
And a mountain biker in the UK was lucky to avoid serious injury when someone left barbed wire piled on a trail.
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Spoiler alert: If you still have the worlds in your viewing cue, skip to the next section.
Peter Sagan won by mere inches to make it a three-peat in the world championships, while Dutch rider Chantal Blaak won the women’s road race over Australian Katrin Garfoot.
Another race, another cyclist injured in a collision with race vehicles.
Cycling Tips offers a photo essay of the men’s world championship races.
The Giro d’Italia is accused of “sports-washing of Israel’s occupation and apartheid” with their Jerusalem start in next year’s race. Race organizers hope politics will stay out of the race. Good luck with that.
UCI’s new boss makes a much needed call for organizers and TV to boost women’s bike racing, and plans to crack down on motor doping and other forms of technological fraud.
Nice article on 13 cycling legends every road cyclist should know. Although someone should tell them it is actually possible to ride a road bike without any interest in bike racing, or need for it.
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Local
LA County’s bike riding public health director announces he will be leaving his position and heading back to New York at the end of the year.
Letter writers in the Times discuss a recent editorial accusing entitled drivers of getting in the way of the state’s climate goals; the first writer makes the paper’s point for them with absolutely no sense of the irony.
A man was shot to death while riding his bicycle through a Norwalk parking lot Thursday night.
Santa Monica’s COAST Festival returns for a second year this Sunday, offering a ciclovía to help get you ready for CicLAvia the following week; the city offers tips on what not to miss.
A new garden and bench were dedicated to fallen 13-year old bike rider Ciara Smith, who was killed in a collision with a Metro bus in Redondo Beach last May.
State
A San Diego woman gets her stolen bike back when a total stranger spots a man riding it, after seeing her post on Facebook.
An eight-year old Palm Springs boy was given a custom-made lowrider bicycle by the Make-A-Wish Foundation after battling kidney cancer for the last five years.
The Bay Area’s East Contra Costa County is working towards solving the first mile/last mile problem by improving bike routes leading to and from a new BART station.
San Francisco’s Curbed offers a short course in sidewalk etiquette, including the admonition to get off and walk your bike. Which is good advice on any crowded walkway, whether or not it’s legal to ride on it.
National
CleanTechnica explains everything you always wanted to know about ebikes but were afraid to ask. Or maybe not.
Outside offers advice on the seven essential items you need to start mountain biking for the low, low price of just $2,000. Or you could just buy a helmet and a used bike for a couple hundred, slap on some gloves and start riding.
A off-duty Navajo Nation cop faces DUI and manslaughter charges after sideswiping an SUV and running down an bike rider on the sidewalk, then blowing through a red light before crashing into Glendale AZ police cruiser.
Thousands of bicycles abandoned at Burning Man will be shipped to Houston and the Caribbean to aid hurricane victims.
Texas cops use their bikes to sneak up on drug dealers and other criminals who might be spooked by a police cruiser.
More people are skipping the traffic and commuting to St. Louis by bicycle.
A Minneapolis writer offers seven things to know about what he terms the city’s asinine fight over bike lanes on the south side. Most of which translates to the similarly asinine battle over bike lanes and road diets on LA’s Westside.
WNBA star Sylvia Fowles donated her entire $15,000 league MVP bonus to a Minnesota organization that helps low-income girls get access to bicycles.
Nothing like the British press’ breathless hysteria over a New York actor sharing a bike with his kids. Seriously, am I the only one who wants to slap their editors and say get over it already?
A second Boston-area bicyclist has been arrested for refusing to stop for a bike cop after blowing a stop sign on a bike trail. Seriously, just stop, take the ticket and fight it in court. Beats the hell out of spending a night behind bars.
The Washington Post reviews DC’s four new dockless bikeshare systems.
International
A Cycling Weekly Op-Ed says a kneejerk law prohibiting dangerous cycling won’t solve the problems on the country’s roads. On the other hand, overly careless or aggressive bicyclists should face consequences for their actions, just like drivers should but too often don’t.
Caught on video: An English driver just barely avoids hitting a bicycle with a child on the back as the rider blows through a red light; however, the driver starts going before the light changes, too.
The BBC asks, ala Rodney King, if cyclists and other road users can get along. Short answer, of course. If — and only if — everyone involved actually wants to, however.
A Brit radio program is shocked! shocked! to find brakeless fixies for sale in London, despite a ban on bike without brakes.
Dublin’s bikeshare system has helped double the number of daily bicyclists in the city to 96,000 in just six years.
Amsterdam turns off the traffic signals, and chaos does not result. Good luck achieving the same results with LA’s overly entitled drivers, however.
A new German study explains how bicycling effects the brains of Parkinson’s patients, after previous studies have shown noted improvement in symptoms while riding.
A bike advocacy group in Malta calls for bicyclists to be allowed to use highway tunnels.
Phuket, Thailand joined nearly 850 cities in 25 countries in going carfree on Sunday. No surprise that Los Angeles was not one of them.
Japanese bicyclists are rushing to buy liability insurance after courts have given huge damage awards in cases involving bike riders. Here in the US, your automotive insurance and/or homeowner’s or renter’s insurance should cover you, but check with your agent to be sure.
Finally…
Your next bike could be a wood sandwich. Get a weight weenie’s dream for just $12,000.
And it’s one thing to relieve yourself on the side of a bike trail, another to dump 50 gallons of number one next to one.
