Cyclists

Los Angeles has long been synonymous with traffic jams and exhaust fumes, but a vocal cycling subculture is rising fast, creating a handful of increasingly important bike-related events aimed at getting Angelenos to embrace their streets as public cultural spaces. From the city's annual Bike Week, a community event-filled celebration of pedal power, to CicLAvia, an event that shuts down 71/2 miles of streets stretching from East Hollywood to Highland Park to give free reign to as many as 100,000 cyclists, L.A.'s bike scene continues to step out of its peripheral existence and fuse with local culture.

People can't stop tinkering with the bike. This year, dreamers out to reinvent one of history's most basic mechanical contrivances give us groundbreaking innovations such as the hammock seat, the asymmetrical frame and one-handle brakes, plus the most expensive, sophisticated e-bike of all time. And they all did a pretty good job of it. The happy hammock BananaHama: This seven-speed recumbent bike with mountain bike tires has a groundbreaking seat: a hammock. It was invented by metalworker Brent Ingrim, who was tired of the sore butt he got from regular bikes.

Re “ A new spokesman for the thrill sport of biking in L.A. ,” Column, Feb. 19 As a longtime cyclist, both for commuting and recreation, I enjoyed reading Ben Poston's article about his experiences cycling in L.A. But he left out the best part: Cycling in Los Angeles is exciting; it's like doing the running of the bulls everyday. Stan Schwarz Pasadena More letters to the editor ...  

SANTA ROSA - Tejay van Garderen rode his bicycle into a hotel meeting room Sunday as if he were corralling a bucking bronco. He reared the cycle up on its back wheel and slammed it down during a well-earned and well-deserved celebration. Van Garderen, a 24-year-old from Bozeman, Mont., took hold of the eighth Amgen Tour of California on Friday by winning the time trial in San Jose; kept his grip Saturday by not faltering on the climb up Mt. Diablo; and by Sunday he might as well have stopped and sampled some of the products at the wineries that dotted the countryside along the 80.7-mile final stage from San Francisco to Santa Rosa.

General Motors Co. is killing an advertisement aimed at college students after receiving complaints that it makes fun of people who use bicycles for transportation. That ad has a headline stating, "reality sucks" and depicts a nerdy-looking guy wearing a helmet and riding a bicycle being passed by a cute young woman in the passenger seat of a car. It then goes on to say, "Stop pedaling … start driving" and provides information about discount pricing for GM products such as the new 2012 Chevrolet Sonic subcompact sedan and the giant GMC Sierra 1500 truck.

Everything bicycle, from components to frames to accessories, was on display at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas this week. Assistant business editor David Colker gives an inside look at the show, which featured the products of 750 companies from around the world. Among the trends he reports on as the show wrapped up Friday: electric bicycles and electronic shifting.   ALSO Handmade bicycle industry is on a roll Renegade bike race in L.A. tunnel goes mainstream In L.A., slow and steady is the pace for Flying Pigeon bicycle

Bicyclists who love to pedal along a stretch of scenic Highway 1 between Cambria and the San Luis Obispo/Monterey county line have encountered a very bumpy -- and dangerous -- ride ever since a resurfacing project left behind chunky aggregate on the road's shoulder. It's a popular cycling route that runs along the Central Coast past San Simeon and Hearst Castle to points north. Now relief might be on the way. Caltrans on Monday will begin working on a test section of the shoulder with heavy equipment to try and smooth out the roadway for cyclists.

To the cyclists among us: Happy Bike Week. Monday marks the start of Bike Week L.A., an annual slate of events that celebrates bicycle culture and encourages Angelenos to use their pedals more.  This week's activities , put on by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other regional transit organizations, include: - Monday: Fix Your Bike Day. More than a dozen locations across the county are offering workshops...

A doctor charged with assault for allegedly slamming on his car brakes in front of two cyclists in Brentwood testified Wednesday that he never intended to hurt anyone but stopped his vehicle to photograph riders who were cycling dangerously. Christopher Thompson, a veteran emergency room physician, said a group of cyclists flipped him off and yelled profanities when he overtook them last year as they rode three abreast down Mandeville Canyon Road, a narrow residential street that is popular with bike riders.

Cycling on the streets of Los Angeles has never been for the faint of heart. The roads are crowded. Drivers are distracted. Potholes can be perilous. So can car doors, suddenly swung open. Even the mayor is not immune. Two years ago, when a taxi pulled out in front of him on Venice Boulevard, he flew off his bike and broke his elbow. It's no wonder some cyclists seek out whatever help they can get — be it designated bike lanes, bike paths or even bike blessings. On Tuesday, as part of Bike Week L.A., dozens of cyclists rode to Good Samaritan Hospital for the ninth annual Blessing of the Bicycles.

To the cyclists among us: Happy Bike Week. Monday marks the start of Bike Week L.A., an annual slate of events that celebrates bicycle culture and encourages Angelenos to use their pedals more.  This week's activities , put on by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other regional transit organizations, include: - Monday: Fix Your Bike Day. More than a dozen locations across the county are offering workshops...

As warmer weather arrives in Edmonton, Canada , locals and visitors take to the city's extensive trail system , hoping to make the most of the relatively short summer season in the provincial capital. Edmonton, the capital of Alberta province, boasts more than 100 miles of trails, many of them along North Saskatchewan River, which winds through the city. Warming temperatures bring bicyclists, dog walkers, inline skaters and runners who have come out of hibernation and onto the trails.

In bike-unfriendly cities such as Los Angeles, people who love cycling speak in wistful tones about a faraway place where the bike reigns supreme. Go to Amsterdam, they say. In that mecca of the bike, you will find special roads set apart for cyclists, protected from the dangerous automobile by concrete barriers. But more than that, you will find a city where biking is part of everyday life. A city where executives, working stiffs and hand-holding lovers all pedal side by side. Pete Jordan, a native Californian, went to Amsterdam several years ago on a biking pilgrimage.

Beverly Hills police said a BMW driver intentionally hit a cyclist earlier this month and promised to arrest the person on suspicion of attempted murder if they can find him. A video shows the man steering his car into a bicyclist, crushing him against a metal trash bin. "The driver intentionally rammed the bicyclist with his vehicle, pinning him to a metal rolling trash bin," the Beverly Hills Police Department said in a statement....

California Highway Patrol officials say they are nowhere closer to finding a motorist who ran down and badly injured a bicyclist near Griffith Park than they were when the hit-and-run occurred nearly two months ago. On Feb. 17, Damian Kevitt, 36, an avid cyclist and church counselor, was hit by a minivan on Zoo Drive and dragged 600 feet under the carriage until he was dislodged on the southbound Interstate 5 onramp. Doctors were forced to amputate a portion of his right leg. Since the hit-and-run incident, investigators have exhausted all leads and there have been no new developments in the case, despite a $25,000 reward , CHP Officer Kevin Denmon said Thursday.

Bicyclists who love to pedal along a stretch of scenic Highway 1 between Cambria and the San Luis Obispo/Monterey county line have encountered a very bumpy -- and dangerous -- ride ever since a resurfacing project left behind chunky aggregate on the road's shoulder. It's a popular cycling route that runs along the Central Coast past San Simeon and Hearst Castle to points north. Now relief might be on the way. Caltrans on Monday will begin working on a test section of the shoulder with heavy equipment to try and smooth out the roadway for cyclists.

It started as a tweet from one of the world's greatest cyclists: "Hey LA -- get out of your cars and get on your bikes. Time to ride. 7:30 tomorrow am. Griffith Park, LA Zoo parking lot. See you there." The Twitter message from Lance Armstrong alerting L.A. to the pickup bike ride struck a chord with hard-core and amateur cyclists alike. Richard Ponce, 19, of Silver Lake was one of those who responded, calling friends to join. "I've been following Lance Armstrong, and he's always been a hero to me," Ponce said Thursday, perched atop his yellow bicycle in the zoo's parking lot. "He comes to L.A., brings everybody together."

A cyclist testified Friday that he was run off the road by a physician seven months before the doctor allegedly injured two other cyclists on the same Brentwood street when he slammed on the brakes of his car in front of them. Patrick Early, an advertising consultant, said he was riding up Mandeville Canyon Road when a speeding red Infiniti honked aggressively and passed inches from his bicycle, forcing him into a gutter. Early identified Dr. Christopher Thompson in court as the driver and accused him of shouting a profanity and telling him to get off the road.

On the road to a new bicycle tax in Washington state -- more on that in a second -- a legislator, by his own admission, said a rather silly thing to a Tacoma bike shop owner last week. "If I am not mistaken, a cyclists [sic] has an increased heart rate and respiration," state Rep. Ed Orcutt wrote in a Feb. 25 email to that owner, Dale Carlson, who  shared it with the Los Angeles Times. "That means the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider.

British cyclist Junior Heffernan was killed in a head-on collision with a vehicle during a road race in South Gloucestershire, England on Sunday. Heffernan, 23, was riding the second lap of the 66-mile Severn Bridge Road Race when he attempted to pass a pack of riders. He collided with a vehicle and died as a result of his injuries. "This is a tragedy which will profoundly sadden everyone associated with cycling in this country," said British Cycling President Brian Cookson. "My thoughts are with Junior's family and with his friends.