Today is a good day to ride.

Photo by carltonreid

Sent to me by a friend this morning. More info about the artist at Quickrelease.tv.

Earlier this week Mayor Villaraigosa unveiled this “Give Me 3″ poster design, making good on his promise to push for a 3-foot passing law. I saw my first one of these yesterday at the Metro station on Santa Monica and Vermont. Done in partnership with the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, and Midnight Ridazz, this is a welcome effort and I hope just the beginning.

Of course, the campaign is not without its critics in the bike community. One complaint I’ve heard is that these are posters to be displayed in bus shelters, despite the intended target being motorists, not public transportation users. While motorists can still see these posters (well, for the most part at least), the poster’s being put in a traditional advertising position may lead to some folks consciously ignoring them as they do other commerical posters and billboards.

By TheTruthAbout...

Earlier this year, an advocacy group known as the “Department of DIY” put up these posters on utility boxes. While a much simpler design, these DIY posters have a direct message, and unconventional placement making them, I think, far more effective. Furthermore, they served to familiarize motorists with the sharrow traffic symbol before L.A.’s sharrow pilot program was enacted months later.

While I can’t criticize the “Give Me 3″ posters’ placement – a city-sanctioned campaign obviously wouldn’t be able to partake of the same guerrilla tactics – I do fear the “3 feet to pass safely” message is harder to read and may be missed. Still, I think it’s a pretty good poster and am happy to have any attention given to the needs of cyclists. Thanks, Mayor Villaraigosa. Keep up the educating (but please don’t waste your time and our resources on the helmet issue).

There was a recent article in the L.A. Times about California City, which is the little-known third-largest “city” in California by land area. Located in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles north of Los Angeles and 65 miles southwest of Death Valley, it was conceived in 1958 by a sociology professor as a master-planned urban utopia to rival L.A. With a population of around 14,000 that dream was never met, but the scars of failed development remain, covering the desert in geometric patterns of crumbling pavement that resemble alien crop circles.

I’ve been on something of a post-apocalyptic kick recently and I find the case of California City particularly fascinating. I want to ride there, or if not ride the entire way take the Metrolink up to Lancaster and ride the remaining 40 miles and explore the city’s empty outskirts. The flat desert and empty lots should provide ample camping opportunities. It’d make for an interesting S24O.

More on California City at:
CurbedLA
BLDG BLOG
Vigorous North

• Twitter Tools isn't working, so I've got to manually mention that there are two new blog posts on http://www.bicycledistrict.com. #
• Morning rides are starting to heat up. There's that summer I've been waiting for. #
• Don't miss "Moving Beyond Cars" tonight in downtown. http://bit.ly/af543M #
• "Mr. Mayor, let's work towards friendlier, safer streets so that there is no need for protective armor." (www.midnightridazz.com) #

2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the Bicycle Film Festival. Touring cities throughout the world, the BFF is coming to Los Angeles September 1-5. Check out the schedule. This’ll be my fourth year in a row attending the festival (2007, 2009 in L.A., and 2008 in Tokyo) and my second as a volunteer. The timing coinciding with Labor Day weekend is unfortunate, but if you don’t have plans otherwise you should join the fun.

This just in, Mayor Villaraigosa comments on the Bike Summit on the Huffington Post. This excerpt is encouraging and at least shows that he’s at least looking in the right direction.

It’s clear we haven’t done enough to incorporate bicycles into our transportation planning. But with so much community engagement, and so many good ideas, we can and we will do a better job.

For starters, we need to build more bicycle infrastructure, enforce existing laws, and change drivers’ attitudes towards cyclists. Our reputation as the car capital of the world does not excuse our drivers from common courtesy on the road or from obeying the law.

He mentions the CicLAvia event planned for October 10 this year (10/10/10). I’m really looking forward to this. So much of what keeps people from trying to ride in this city is fear based largely on the unknown. By easing folks onto bikes by fun, friendly events like CicLAvia we might be able to convince some that bikes are a lot less scary than they think, and indeed a very viable and convenient way to get around the city. I firmly believe that much of the explosive bike growth in L.A. over the last few years can be attributed to social rides like Midnight Ridazz. Though the larger rides can often be chaotic, they create a sense of community, safety, and support that makes it easier to win over bike converts.

Villaraigosa also states the the city “will be launching a PSA campaign to increase bike safety awareness among drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists” that will focus on two things: Watch and share the road (specifically, giving three feet when passing), and Protect your brain, wear a helmet. Regarding the helmets, he writes, “I know not every cyclist supports this, just like not every motorcyclist supported their helmet law. But the motorcycle helmet law worked – it has saved lives and a bike helmet law will too.”

I have to join the dissenters here regarding helmets. I think helmets are great, but mandating their use discourages ridership and there is strong evidence that cycling becomes safer as ridership increases.

Motorcycle helmet laws are a bad comparison. I have a motorcycle license and am perfectly content wearing a helmet for that activity. I won’t mince words – it’s dangerous. The speeds and forces involved with motorcycles are on a completely different scale than those involved with bicycles. It’s simple physics. Force = Mass x Velocity². Motorcycles can have 20 times as much mass a bicycle, and can reach speeds two, three, four, five times as much as the average cyclist. Moreover, speed increases increase force exponentially. Do the math. A rider on a 500-pound motorcycle travelling 60 mph has 320 times the force as the same rider on a 25-pound bicycle travelling 15 mph, and those are conservative numbers. Many motorcycles weigh a lot more and go a lot faster.  Bikes and motorcycles both have two wheels, but the stakes are very, very different.

More effective than a helmet law at saving lives is educating and enforcing road users. Drivers need to be responsible for their actions and understand the rights of others. Cyclists need to be taught both their legal responsibilities, and how to assert themselves on the road – how to pick an optimal lane position, to not ride in the opposite direction of traffic, to proceed cautiously on sidewalks if they so choose to ride there, to signal, to know how to make a left turn safely, to be aware of one’s surroundings. Basically, how to ride a bike. We can do this through PSAs, or outreach programs, bike shop or co-op organized classes. We can even do this in schools. Educate children on how to ride responsibly, encourage them to ride their bikes to school, and not only are we fighting childhood obesity but we are also fostering a new generation of better road users – drivers and cyclists alike.

Photo by @ronmilan

Last month, L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, who claimed he hadn’t ridden a bike in years, hopped on two wheels and headed down the bike lanes of Venice Boulevard towards the beach when, after just 30 minutes of riding, a taxi pulled out in front of him causing him to crash and shatter his elbow. Thankfully he appears to be recovering well and in response to the incident, he called a Bike Summit, held yesterday. Upon announcement of the summit, the L.A. bike community was grateful for the mayor’s attention, but critical of the event’s scheduling – held during working hours – and lack of coordination with the already existing advisory committees and Street Summit organizers.

I wasn’t able to attend due to work, but followed commentary via Twitter. The Biking In L.A. blog has a good write-up of the event. Despite the time, the summit was well attended with a packed room of 300 or so, though, as @LosAngelesCM tweeted “If this LA Bicycle Summit were held at 7pm there would be over 1000 cyclists here. They’d need a bigger room.”

Reactions to the mayor’s summit were mixed. Cyclists were generally happy to have the administration’s ear but skeptical that any substantial change would be enacted. He stated there would be an expansion of bike lanes, though many wanted it to occur faster than the schedule he described, wanting the same kind of aggressive growth found in the mayor’s 30/10 plan. The mayor was met with cheers when he stated he would support a 3-foot passing law, but widely booed when he said he would push for mandatory helmet laws in the state legislature (currently helmets are only mandatory for minors). Helmets are always a contentious subject, one I find as tiresome as listening to atheists and Christians duking it out, but I will say that the helmet debate distracts from the real issue which is improving driver and cyclist behavior. If the taxi had been attentive and not cut the mayor off, there would have been no incident. Education and enforcement of traffic laws, and training of both responsible driving and riding will do more to save lives than a mandatory helmet law.

Indeed, the mayor seemed to be making excuses for the taxi driver, stating in an earlier article, “[The driver] was very concerned when he realized it was me … He was careless, but that’s not illegal. He certainly didn’t do this on purpose.” Well, first of all, one wonders how concerned the driver would have been if the victim was not the mayor but an average citizen. Secondly, careless driving is illegal. VC Section 23103 defines reckless driving as the “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.” Of course the driver didn’t do it on purpose. Few people purposefully want to cause harm to another, but the lack of intent doesn’t absolve one from responsibility. Furthermore shouldn’t a professional driver be held to higher standards of traffic safety? Stephen Box jokingly tweets, “Rumors of Mayor’s Taxi Summit remain unconfirmed.”

Speaking of Stephen Box, who is running for City Council in District 4 in 2011, I’m eagerly awaiting his full response to the summit on his blog. His Twitter feed from yesterday was rather critical (tagging his summit tweets with #MayoralBS), and echoed much of the doubt cyclists felt about any immediate action happening, or any adoption of things like the Cyclists Bill of Rights or the Backbone Bikeway Network. I support Box (and happen to live in Dist. 4). He combines passion, vision, and an extensive knowledge of the workings of the city and if Villaraigosa is serious about improving the cycling situation in Los Angeles I think Villaraigosa would do well to listen to Box.

• RT @laist Brush Fire Breaks Out in Griffith Park – LAist http://bit.ly/b6JYDK #
• Sherman Oaks Woman Appointed to L.A.'s Bicycle Committee http://laist.com/2010/08/09/sherman_oaks_woman_appoints_to_city.php #

Photo by BikePortland.org

I’ve done a decent amount of air travel this last year, and this weekend I’m heading off again for Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA. Each time I wished I had a bike with me. It’s the freedom of mobility I miss – taking in new surroundings at one’s own pace, not beholden to transit routes and schedules, or depending on rental cars and taxis.

Bringing a full-sized bicycle along for short trips is prohibitively expensive because of airline fees. When I lived in Japan for a year, I brought along my Rivendell and Northwest Airlines charged me something in the range of $200 each way from LAX. While there are airlines that charge less, it’s easy to see how quickly these fees add up. Additionally, for a short trip I don’t want to deal with the bulk and hassle of getting a full-sized bike out of the airport to wherever it is I’m going, reassembling the bike once there (about 45 minutes of work on a good day), figuring out what to do with the shipping container, and then doing the same thing in reverse when I leave.

A folding bike is a great solution to these problems. Sure, they’re undeniably dorky looking, but I’m not one to shy away from dorkiness and their usefulness makes them pretty awesome. [Read more →]

Yesterday, one of my favorite online bike shops, Velo Orange, announced the arrival of their line of cranks. Among them are two very nice 110/74 bcd cranks, one set up as a 46/36/26 triple and another as a wide-range double 46/30 with the outer position taken by a chainguard (one of these is already on order for my wife’s upcoming Betty Foy build). More exciting is their top-of-the-line classic Grand Cru 50.4 bcd crankset (pictured above) similar to the much-revered TA Pro Vis-5. [Read more →]