Bicycling

About forty cyclists took part in the rally and bike ride to city hall in support of Ed Magos, the cyclist maimed in a hit and run Downtown by a Porsche Cayene last month. After a brief rally, the group headed down to City Hall to take part in the City Council Transportation Committee featuring a "Town Hall" format with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

Long Beach's ambitious campaign to become the Most Bicycle Friendly City in America is well underway. The Second St. sharrows debuted to much fanfare last summer, followed by bike boxes nearby on Second st. and Marina ave. Recently, the city has selected contractors for its Vista Bike Boulevard and Broadway/Third St. bike lane projects, with completion to come in four to five months. In the meantime, a new numbered bikeway project has been quietly debuting across the city.

(Update: Tuesday, 2/23/10 at 8:02 A.M. - I had a chance to talk with Magos' lawyer over email last night and he confirmed that the LAPD sent the case to both the District Attorney and City Attorney; so in this case the LAPD isn't to blame.  I'm going to leave the text below unchanged so that the anyone reading through won't be confused by the comments section.)

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, serious dollars from the Johnson & Johnson (baby shampoo etc) empire, is a public health foundation which funds research into healthy eating and active living. Their Annual Conference on Active Living took place in San Diego last week.

From the Livable Streets front lines, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson goes for a bike ride with the bike-commuting Mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn.  There's a lot of different lessons that can be drawn from this Streetfilm, but one of the major ones that local politicians can take to heart is the man power provided by a group of passionate cyclists is worth its weight in gold.  McGinn was outspent four to one, but road to victory on the strength of his loyal, empowered volunteers.  Looks like a little bike-friendliness can go a long way politically.  Paging Eric Garcetti...

As cycling grows more and more popular, both in Los Angeles and across the country, the problem with bike thieves also grows.  All of a sudden, those bicycles that were safe chained to a poll with a U-Lock are easy targets for thieves instead of safe.  In response to growing theft, many cyclists end up resorting to vigilante tactics in response.  There's been a strong debate in the bicycling community on this issue, I was part of a debate on Bike Talk back in December, and it's been a hot topic on blogs and message boards for a long-time before that.

Unfortunately, it's something I've seen even the most experienced cyclist do: wipe out while crossing a set of train tracks.  As many of you know, you need to maneuver your bike's angle of approach so that you hit the rails as perpendicular as possible. But even knowing that, some demon riders don't slow enough to sashay properly, and heck: poor newbies have no idea how the road's mathematics work until it's too late!

Last Thursday, KPCC's Patt Morrison aired a piece showcasing the Backbone Bikeway Network as presented by guests Alex Thompson and Mihai Petieu. I chuckled when I saw Alex Thompson’s tweet announcing that he was appearing “opposite” guest Michelle Mowery the LADOT Sr. Bike Coordinator because I knew the exchange would get fiery and rightfully so.  Mowery has come under a lot of fire from the cycling community for not being an outright bulldog for cyclists. One gets the feeling she is afraid for her job should she get too rowdy over there at the LADOT. After eight to ten minutes of show debilitating glitches with the KPCC call in system things were finally on their way.