Happy César Ch…uh, Farmworkers Day, to all who celebrate.
And Erev Tov!
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The next CicLAvia will roll just three miles from Westwood to West Los Angeles, along Westwood and Santa Monica Blvds on Sunday, April 26th.
The ride will offer an opportunity to consider long-gestating plans to build protected bike lanes on Westwood between Westwood Village and the E Line; an earlier proposal for painted bike lanes was killed by former CD 5 Councilmember Paul Koretz because he felt like it to satisfy wealthy homeowners.
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Los Angeles is finally getting around to installing the speed cams authorized by a 2023 law.
The legislature, in a typical compromise to avoid passing any major traffic safety legislation, approved a pilot program allowing speed cams in six cities, three in Northern California and three in Southern California.
Streetsblog reports San Francisco and Oakland already have their speed camera programs up and running, while Long Beach and Glendale have finalized locations and approved vendor contracts; San Jose is the other NorCal city included in the program.
The law was later amended to allow a handful of desperately needed speed cams on PCH in Malibu, as well.
The six-city pilot program was a compromise to get a bill that would have legalized them statewide out of committee.
According to Streetsblog, Los Angeles was the last city to move forward with its program, as usual for the notoriously risk-averse and driver-shy city. But the city finally finalized the speed cam locations last week, and will send the contract out to bid with a goal of getting them installed and working by the end of the year.
Yay, us.
In other long overdue news, Streetsblog adds that Los Angeles is trying to work out the details on a program to use cameras to ticket drivers parked in bike lanes.
Here’s a thought.
Let the people who actually use the bike lanes enforce the law by submitting their own photos and videos of drivers blocking bike lanes, and just send the owners a ticket, already.
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The new Si road bike helmet from Vancouver, BC’s PIKIO LABS has been rated as the safest bike helmet ever tested by the Virginia Tech Testing Lab.
The helmet scored a 4.61, more than two points better than the next highest rated helmet.
It’s based on the company’s proprietary OBLIK impact management system, designed to reduce both linear and rotational forces; the nearly 20-year old MIPS system only reduces rotational forces.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Someone may or may not have tried to sabotage an Iowa bike path, after the bomb squad destroyed a suspicious device packed with nails and explosive materials left in a backpack along the trail.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
This is what it looks like when a hundred or so kids on bicycles and ebikes attempt to enter a San Francisco freeway the wrong way, even if the CHP can’t seem to hold the damn camera steady or even make a decent edit.
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Local
A new pocket park and recreation center called the Slauson Connect project will rise on a narrow strip of land along the north side of Slauson Ave between Budlong and Normandie Avenues next to the new Rail to Rail shared use path.
State
Two separate HIV/AIDS fundraising rides will replace the late, great AIDS/Lifecycle ride, with a three-day ride from San Francisco to Guerneville and back benefitting a Bay Area nonprofit, while the three-day Center Ride Out will take bicyclists from Los Angeles to San Diego, to benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Santee is the latest California city to crackdown on ebikes, without apparently distinguishing between e-motos and non-street legal dirt bikes, and Class 1, 2 & 3 ped-assist ebikes.
A recent University of Arizona grad from Humboldt is setting off with his dad on a 9,600-mile ride to visit all 30 major league ballparks. Although if they really wanted a challenge, they should try riding to all 120 minor league parks in the US alone.
National
A new bi-partisan bill in Congress would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to define and regulate ebikes and other electric micromobility devices at the national, rather than state, level. Although whether there’s anything left of the CPSC after Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts remains to be seen.
Outside recommends the year’s best mountain bikes as chosen by the pros at Pinkbike. And they might actually be this time, for a change.
There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for the co-founder of the Bellingham, Washington edition of the World Naked Bike Ride after he was busted on kiddie porn charges; he claimed he was doing research for a children’s book about a child who runs around naked — even though his book was published six years ago.
Alaska’s Lael Wilcox will attempt to beat her own 108-day women’s world record for riding around said planet, attempting to shave 30 days off her previous time for the 18,000 mile ride to beat the outright record of 78 days, 14 hours; she’ll set off from Chicago on June 7th.
Now drivers aren’t even waiting for bicycles to leave the shop before running them down, as a Colorado driver somehow plows in and through an Aurora bike shop.
International
An Oxford, England traffic cam installed to catch drivers making illegal left turns — the equivalent of a right over here — has generated the equivalent of nearly $800,000 at one of the most dangerous sites for bicyclists in the UK, which see around 12,000 daily bike trips per day when Oxford University is in session.
Bicyclists in the London borough of Havering have launched a safety campaign asking candidates for the local council to commit to building bike infrastructure where the city’s department of transportation has identified the need.
Former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo looks back on her dozen years leading the French capital — which included a massive bike and pedestrian friendly makeover of the city streets — saying “Changing a city is complicated.” Which is probably why no one has succeeded here in the City of Angels, and few have even bothered to try.
Authorities in The Netherlands are considering introducing a quality mark to show ebikes meet legal EU standards. Which would be a pretty good idea over here, too.
A Delhi-based white-collar worker swaps his car for a bicycle to commute to work for four months to see if biking every day can help improve the city’s air quality crisis, and finds he can get to work on a bicycle as fast as in a car. A few years back, I spoke with a Delhi-based bike accessory maker, who was comfortable riding that city’s seemingly chaotic streets, but just couldn’t imagine how we manage riding the mean streets of Los Angeles.
The London Times asks if Tokyo can manage to rein in its sidewalk surfing bicyclists, especially all those darn moms on their mamacharis.
Competitive Cycling
Swiss prosecutors have closed their investigation into the death of 18-year old Swiss cyclist Murier Furrer without charges, concluding there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing even though it took 85 minutes before anyone even noticed she was missing following a crash in the 2024 Road World Championships in Zurich.
Somehow we missed this one last week, as a pro-Palestinian and environmental protestor caused a major smashup in the Tour of Bruges by sitting in the middle of the road as the peloton approached; the same man disrupted the finale of the 2022 Tour of Flanders by running across the roadway, splashed paint on Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, tied himself to a goal post during the Belgian FA Cup final, and sprayed the British Embassy in Brussels with red paint. Yet somehow, he was still allowed within 50 miles of a bike race without adult supervision.
A 21-year old Philippine food delivery rider set a new national track cycling record riding the same bike he uses for his delivery work, with the frame and wheels worth the equivalent of less than $250.
Finally…
Seriously, when you’re carrying a concealed gun, meth, and illegal prescription pills on your bike, and riding with an active arrest warrant, stop for the damn stop sign. Or if you nearly hit a police car while riding your bike drunk, put a damn light on it, already (the bike, not the cop car).
And your next ebike could be the world’s skinniest car.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.