And in happier news, I beg, L.A. cyclists crash the marathon and bike activists crash Capitol Hill

Let me start with a personal note.

My nephew will be in town this weekend to visit film schools — I know, I know, but he’s actually pretty good — and would like to visit a production set while he’s here to see how it’s really done.

If anyone can get him and his parents backstage at a TV or film shoot between this Saturday and next Wednesday morning, I’d consider it a personal favor.

You can find my email address on the About page.

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The Atlantic Cities looks at last weekend’s Wolfpack Hustle Marathon Crash race, while Ride San Francisco offers a good play by play. Great photos and video from Predator Cycling. Or maybe you’d prefer a helmet cam perspective. Oh, and it was evidently followed by some sort of foot race, too.

Meanwhile, the Claremont Cyclist looks at a more official race that also took place over the weekend, the Men’s and Women’s San Dimas Stage Race. The 28th annual Redlands Bicycle Classic kicks off tomorrow, including the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series; not everyone is happy about it.

And pro cyclist Tom Boonen says modern sprinters are getting out of control.

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The first ever National Women’s Cycling Forum discusses how to get more women on bikes, as riders head to Capitol Hill for the annual National Bike Summit. Professional cyclists and CEOs ride from to the event from Boston to raise funds for the Bikes Belong Foundation.

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We now have a date for this year’s Blessing of the Bicycles, hosted by Good Samaritan Hospital on Tuesday, May 15th. The non-denominational event features blessings from representatives of virtually every faith found in L.A., as well as food and bike swag.

And now that I think about it, I don’t remember getting a flat since I got my bike blessed last year.

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LADOT commits to nearly 16 miles of new bike lanes. Streetsblog looks at the women of East L.A.’s Ovarian-Psychos Bicycle Brigade. If you’re looking for a good cause, the Bicycle Kitchen is raising funds to buy a new permanent home. Letter writers to the Times support the green Spring Street bike lane. Next month’s CicLAvia will coincide with Chinatown’s inaugural Springfest; you’ve got just two weeks left to support CicLAvia on Kickstarter. The biking black hole of Beverly Hills considers the city’s Western Gateway — excluding cyclists, of course; evidently, they don’t want any input from us, either. And Beverly Hills misses a chance to improve a dangerous street. Culver City already has wayfinding signage; L.A. is working on it. Walk Eagle Rock offers thoughts on outdated bikeway designs. KCET Departures picks the LACBC’s JJ Hoffman as one of their 31 Days of Extraordinary Women; couldn’t agree more. One of my favorite reporters picks up the story of the Woodland Hills bike shop that will work with the car dealer across the street to take your car in trade this week. School teachers stop a bike thief in Valinda; and no, I never heard of it either. The New York Times experiences 36 hours in bike-friendly Long Beach. The popular San Gabriel River bike path is undergoing resurfacing this week; if the weather cooperates, the work should be done next Monday.

The cdm Cyclist joins with Enrique Penalosa to rethink the automobile. The OC Weekly takes up the story of hand-sanitizer drinking former Long Beach fire captain and hit-and-run driver John David Hines. The Cal State Fullerton bike team hopes to be competitive this year. A San Diego cyclist is seriously injured after reportedly running a red light; and yes, that looks like blood on a sharrow. A San Francisco CEO bikes 525 miles to L.A., and offers a highly compressed bike video to prove it. A 67-year old San Francisco cyclist is found dead after going missing in Death Valley.

Bicycling offers advice on how to knock out knee pain. An Aspen thief returns the bike he stole with a note of apology, saying he was drunk. New York’s Central Park is going on a road diet. New York Senator Chuck Schumer is caught riding in the Prospect Park West bike lane his wife has been leading the fight against; can she make a sitting Senator sleep on the couch? A Boston writer suggests that all cyclists are jerks, or maybe just 99%. Drive drunk, kill a cyclist, get 6 months probation; evidently, life is cheap in PA. A Fairfax VA rider offers a first-person example of why the DC area needs a cyclist anti-harassment ordinance; then again, so does every other city. A Tennessee study says wider bike and walking paths can lead to skinnier kids. A former Atlanta cop gets a lousy $5,000 fine for beating the crap out of a cyclist in an off-duty road rage incident. An Alabama driver faces a misdemeanor homicide charge in the death of a cyclist touring the country for Habitat for Humanity last year. Still no justice for the cyclist killed by Miami pop singer and accused hit-and-run driver Carlos Bertonatti, as his trial is delayed for the ninth time.

A Canadian cyclist finds a baby left in a pile of leaves; that’s not something anyone would have noticed from a car. A writer with a severe case of windshield perspective says it’s up to pedestrians and cyclists to make themselves more visible, not drivers to notice them; funny how the solution to any problem always seems to require someone else to do something. Thunder Bay residents just can’t seem to get the hang of a recent road diet. Manitoba considers a mandatory helmet law, even as a pair of British physicians argue that bicycle helmets may not do any good. A Vancouver cyclist who wasn’t wearing one dies after colliding with a jogger. Great Britain considers privatizing the roads, at the possible expense of cyclists. A very good question, as a leading UK blog asks why can’t Londoners be given the option of not driving. Ten more arrests in Spain’s ongoing Vuelta scandal. The Cannibal rode his entire career with a potentially fatal heart condition. An opposition attack on the $40 million Aussie bike path program stalls when a member is shown opening one of the new paths. Oops.

Finally, in case you missed it, 25 pickup lines for cyclists. And the son of the world’s 7th richest man kills a cyclist while behind the wheel of his $450,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren outside Rio; father and son defend his actions on Twitter. Anyone want to give odds on whether he gets away with it? But at least he paid his victim’s funeral expenses, though the value of his car keep rising.

Great links to Wolfpack Hustle’s victory in the great bike vs plane race

Haven’t had a chance to write about yesterday’s amazing Twitter-inspired race featuring a Jet Blue flight vs cyclists from Wolfpack Hustle competing to see who could get from Burbank to Long Beach first — with a little competition from Metro and even an inline skater thrown in for good measure.

And looking at my schedule and other pressing items on the blogging agenda, it looks like I’ll have to let others tell the story this time. But I have been able to collect some great links, presented here in no particular order.

So settle back and click away.

Salt Lake Tribune

MSNBC

L.A. Times One Two

Streetsblog

Carlton Reid on Bike Biz

Storyful

Road.cc

Tom Vandbilt on Slate

North Hollywood Patch

KTLA

Brief mention in the Wall Street Journal

KABC

Christian Post

KTVN in Reno (AP)

Great photos of the Wolfpack in action

The story of how it all came together on Bike Commute News

If anyone has other links, let me know and I’ll add them to the list later.

Update: Great links keep coming in —

London Daily Mail

UPI

Treehugger

Reuters (brief mention)

New Zealand Herald (brief mention)

Stuff New Zealand

San Francisco Chronicle

Gary Kavanagh presents a participant’s perspective from the Metro side

Bike Commute News sums up finish times

Update 2:

Jet Blue offers their own perspective (though I’d think they’re mistaken about who had the most fun)

CNN had a race of their own

Grist suggests pogo sticks next time

Brief mention from Yo Venice 

KCBS’ story has been repeated by CBS outlets around the country

Streetsblog Network explains why it matters

The Reno Rambler offers a thoughtful look

Update 3:

Intellichick ponders its appeal

KPCC’s Molly Peterson says the real winner may not be who you think.

 

 

 

A little this, a little that: Wolfpack Hustle crashes the Marathon, County bike news, a tragic death in New Zealand

Some of the cyclists in the "bikeless" L.A. Marathon; Wolfpack Hustle crashed the course hours earlier.

A reader sent the following email about crashing Marathon last Sunday by racing the course at 4:30 in the morning with the Wolfpack Hustle. And in the process, getting a reminder of why he rides.

I saw your post about the “bikeless” marathon. I was disappointed to find out there wasn’t going to be a pre-race bike ride this year, but then I saw this:

http://www.wolfpackhustle.com/viewStory.php?storyId=593

I dragged myself out of bed to go race with these hardcore L.A. riders, not really sure what to expect, and behold – just under 400 riders showed up for a 4:00am race/ride!  I have to say it was an amazing time.  I also have to say, I have never ridden so hard in my life; these ”kids” can ride!  I was really impressed by the fixie riders and the pace they were able to maintain over the entire distance…(here’s to being young).  In addition to the huge fixie/single speed contingent, there were a handful of lycra clad roadies as well (myself included).

As slightly unorganized as it was, we were not bothered by the police at all – most people out setting up for the race (or just out for that matter) were cheering everyone on and/or just baffled by the mass of riders pouring down Hollywood Blvd. at that early morning hour.  By the time we rolled out at about 4:30am, the street closures were just starting to take effect, but the entire route was not closed yet.  Given the time of the morning though, traffic was a non-issue.

I was impressed by some of the riders sense of teamwork as well.  I ended up in a group of about 5 or 6 riders for the last 8 miles and we pushed hard as a group all the way to the finish.  I definitely felt a passion for cycling from everyone who took part and will definitely be doing it again next year.

On a final note, I took off for home from the SM pier at about 6:30am.  I was by myself and it’s about a 10mi straight shot down Pico to my house.  At one point, just as the sun was starting to make its presence felt, I looked around and for just a moment there was nothing but green lights and silence.  No cars, no pedestrians, nothing, just me rolling solo early on a Sunday morning.  In that instant, I was again reminded why I ride.

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L.A. County plans to use a $32 million public health grant to create nearly 20 Transit Oriented Districts along Metro’s Blue and Green lines, creating bike and pedestrian paths and amenities near rail stations to help fight obesity, as well as programs to combat tobacco use. Funding will also be provided to conduct environmental reviews for the county’s new Bike Master Plan.

And Metro’s Doug Failing talks bikes, rating Los Angeles C- for bike friendliness, and saying the city needs an A-list bicycle transportation system.

Thanks to County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, via Dr. Michael Cahn, for the heads-up.

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More on StreetsSummit and NYC DOT superstar Janette Sadik-Khan. Damien takes a last look at last Saturday’s event; a call to action one step and one cycle at a time; and a Times critic compares L.A.’s innovation-resistant DOT with Sadik-Khan’s Bloomberg-backed reinvention of the Big Apple.

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Congratulations to frequent commenter — and one of my daily reads — Tracy Wilkins of Springfield Cyclist, who was just nominated as Springfield, MO’s Sports or Fitness Blog of the Year.

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New Zealand correspondent the Trickster reports that an Auckland cyclist was killed in a classic right (our left) cross collision, the driver reportedly “did not see” the academic superstar she killed before she turned into his path; MSN NZ responds by asking if bikes should be banned from the roads.

Note to MSN — it wasn’t the bike that killed someone.

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The city finally repaves a troublesome intersection on the (hopefully) future bike boulevard. Metro says the right thing after nearly curbing one of the city’s leading cyclists. Actually, red light cameras do reduce accidents according to the LAPD. Attention Department of DIY: Painting your own bike lane could mean big trouble. A look at Long Beach’s new found bike friendliness. San Diego botches a patch job on a popular cycling route — one I rode frequently when I live down that way — that has already claimed two lives. A Bay Area Jewish group will be “people of the bike” this May; while a “non-kosher” NYC bike shop now offers a bike gear vending machine. A good look at contraflow lanes, and an animated look at wheel sucking and totally cool bike commuting. Now that’s what I call a cargo bike. Idaho’s proposed three-foot passing and anti-harassment laws are done for this year. A 17-year old Chicago cyclist is killed when an 86-year old driver crosses the center line to hit her and two other riders head on. Actually, “avid cyclist” is a perfectly good term if it accurately describes what you are. Time to tell the GOP’s anti-bike lawmakers what you think. The current auto-centric perspective has roots dating back to the birth of cycling; but at least they don’t horsewhip us anymore. A Canadian driver dismantles his truck to avoid arrest after killing a cyclist and fleeing the scene. Danish police prematurely seize unabandoned bikes and deliver them directly to a landfill. Aussie cycling champ James Williamson’s recent death was due to an undiagnosed heart problem. York — the old one, not the New — urges Respect On Our Roads. Amazingly, a UK pregnant driver who fled the scene after hitting and killing a cyclist at 70 mph receives the equivalent of probation so her baby won’t be born in prison; trust me, the baby would get over it. A driver who killed an Irish racing champ while rushing to catch a plane is sentenced to five years. Seventy percent of Taipei cyclists don’t wear helmets, while 70% of survey respondents think they should be forced to.

Finally, a Florida real estate agent was moonlighting as a cab driver last year when a passenger attacked him; when passing motorists ignored his please for help, a Spanish-speaking cyclist loaned him a cell phone to call 911. Now he’s returning the favor by giving away free bike lights to anyone who needs one.

That’s class.