There’s a crisis in the other Beverly Hills shopping area these days, with merchants gnashing their teeth and civic leaders stymied by an apparently insoluble conundrum….

South Beverly Drive, aka “SoBev,” is an almost charming three-block strip of shops and restaurants just south of Wilshire. It has some of the ambience of LA’s Larchmont Village, though the street is wider, the light bleaker, and the goods pricier. But people walk along there, hang out at sidewalk tables, greet each other, and seem more at ease and less on display than in the gilded catwalks of Rodeo Drive north of the big boulevard.

It’s even supposed to become a “pedestrian zone” someday–whatever that may mean in Beverly Hills. (Perhaps a leashed toy poodle will be a legal requirement?)

But the Big Problem is that SoBev is all parked out. They’ve put in angle parking. There’s a pay surface lot. There’s a giant parking structure, with the first hour free. Larger buildings have their own underground parking.

Yet cars take up so damn much space per passenger that it still isn’t near enough!

Beverly Drive South is all parked out…oh, my, what to do?

You and I know the answer, don’t we?

Yeah, you guessed it. There’s not a single bike rack in SoBev. In fact, there are only about twenty bike racks in the entire city! Despite this, there are always bikes parked in SoBev. Not just delivery bikes either–customers’ bikes.

And there could be more.

Fortunately, Better Bike, the city’s nascent advocacy group, is on it. I myself have been nagging BB’s Mark Elliott to devise a little plan for SoBev, just to get Beverly Hills a taste of what bikes can do for a city.

Imagine: for almost nothing, you could easily double the parking available in those three blocks–car parking spots on the street cost seven grand or more to install, and ten times that in parking structures; bike racks, a couple hundred bucks each is all. Less if your city’s rules allow you to retrofit parking meters with something like the Cyclehoop.

Then put sharrows on Charleville and Gregory at least from Robertson to the high school (both streets intersect SoBev), start up a little publicity campaign, throw a street party on the strip…yeah! Get the residents of BH riding their bikes to SoBev without worrying about a parking spot, instead of firing up the Volvo or Range Rover and heading to the Grove.

Only two of SoBev’s businesses sell anything you’d need a car to carry. The rest comprise:

• 23 restaurants or delis
  
• 14 clothing shops
  
• 3 spas or salons
  
• 2 gift shops:
  
• 1 jewelry store
  
• 1 medical complex

It would work! After all, the Beautiful People are already swerving giddily through the tony districts of Manhattan and Paris on bikes….

Will Beverly Hills get it too? Stay tuned….

 

Kieron from Ride the Black Line wrote a pretty cool article about our race at the Encino Velodrome last Wedbesday Night.

“RECAP – ORANGE 20 TRACK CUP
What a night! The Orange 20 Track Cup was a total success. Lots of racers came out and the Encino Velodrome bleachers were full of spectators having a good time. While we still have a couple little kinks to iron out in the program, everything went smoothly and each race was just as exciting as the next.

The prizes were awesome thanks to Orange 20 Bikes and our other sponsors who are very generous to support the Summer Race Series. The top three racers in each field took away some very bling prizes — but they certainly earned it for some great racing.

The C-Class Omnium was won by Angel Dubon [Coco’s Variety] who has been taking the Intro To Track Racing class at Encino Velodrome all year. He is becoming a very sneaky racer, always waiting for the last minute to make his move. Watch out for this kid! Robert Pacheco [The Juice] and Matt Locascio [Chain Gang] came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. C-Class podium winners went home with medals and some Orange 20 tees.

Fabian Vasquez [Sho Air] outpowered the competition in the B-Class Omnium. Fabian is kinda new to the velodrome but he’s no stranger to riding fast and that’s just what he did to earn this victory. Hernan Montenegro [The Juice] came in 2nd place and Aaron Palmer [Chain Gang] took 3rd. They all went home with medals and Izumi chains.

It was a clean sweep in the A-Class omnium for Daniel Kosykh [Encino Velo] who won all three events on his new slime-green Serenity bike. Chris Reed [PAA Remax] took 2nd place on the podium and Tim McGee [Predator Cycling] came in 3rd. They all left with medals some fancy cogs from Euro-Asia Imports.

But that’s not all that Tim McGee took home. He also won a set of brand spanking new Phil Wood hubs for winning 1st place in the Sprint Tournament. Richard Kim [Herbalife La Grange] lost to Tim in the final round but he still came out of it with a nice Blackburn pump and some Phil Wood products. Finally, an Adidas sweatshirt went to CJ Williams [Predator Cycling] who took 3rd in the Sprint Tournament.

Congratulations to the winners and to all the racers who rode their arses off. Thanks to the spectators who came to watch and cheer everyone on. And a huge special thanks goes out to Jack, Kenny, Geobbe, Hern, Omar, Aram and Ty who all made this night possible. Now we’re super excited for the next night in the Summer Race Series…

See the FULL RACE RESULTS.

Some PHOTOS BY ACE BOOGIE.”

ridetheblackline:

SUMMER RACE SERIES – PHIL WOOD PRIZES

I just received a verrry nice prize package for the Summer Race Series courtesy of our friends at Phil Wood & Co.

This is the cream of the crop right here. The Tenacious Oil and Water Proof Grease are must-haves for any kind of bicycle maintenance and don’t even get me started on Phil Wood hubs. The only wheelset I ever regret selling was based on Phil hubs. I miss ‘em! So buttery, so smooth and so sexy but you better dip into that Hand Cleaner before getting your grubby hands all over ‘em!

Only thing is… do you have what it takes to win some of this juicy Phil Wood stuff? Find out at Encino Velodrome this Wednesday July 27th for the Orange 20 Track Cup.

Are you guys ready?!

hernian:

Mike Martin hooked me up with a pair of Vittoria EVO CL tires. Good news is that i got new tires, bad news these tires are only for wood velodromes. Good news again is that the Home Depot Center Velodrome is not far away from me. I put them to the test today and I got 1st place in the Cat 5 Omnium. Hopefully I’ll get my upgrade approved by the next race. More pics Soon!

Way to go Hern!!!

As I hope you know by now, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed the Cyclists’ Anti-Harassment Ordinance a few days ago. This is a law that makes threatening a cyclist, by word or by act, simply because he or she is a cyclist, a crime that can be addressed in civil court. Here is the heart of the ordinance, in its own words:

A person shall not do or attempt to do any of the following:

A. Physically assault or attempt to physically assault a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
B. Threaten to physically injure a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
C. Intentionally injure, attempt to injure, or threaten to physically injure, either by words, vehicle, or other object, a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
D. Intentionally distract or attempt to distract a Bicyclist because of, in whole or in part, the Bicyclist’s status as a Bicyclist.
E. Intentionally force or attempt to force a Bicyclist off a street for purposes unrelated to public safety.

Of course, when the story ran in the Los Angeles Times, it brought out the usual crew of droolers with their hate rants, fang-baring, chest-thumping, outright threats, and profound ignorance of both the law and common decency to post thier misspelled screeds in the comments section–but it also brought a large number of intelligent comments from cyclists and other supporters of this sensible protection.

Highly informative was a series of comments from Sgt. David Krumer of the LAPD, elaborating upon the nature of the anti-harassment ordinance as well as the vehicle code in general, and other aspects of the alw pertinent to sharing the road in LA.

The Ukrainian-born Sgt. Krumer is well-suited to defend us against rabid motorheads: himself a cyclist, he was LAPD bike squad supervisor in the central area, presently acts as liason to the cycling community as part of his official duties, and has a law degree from Southwestern–the well-regarded law school on Wilshire near Vermont. He’s also lived in Los Angeles since he was three.

Sgt. Krumer was kind enough to let me condense the most pertinent of his many comments into a sort of primer on sharing the road and the anti-harassment ordinance, so here ya go:
 

This appears to be an excellent opportunity to provide some education and outreach that may quell some of the misunderstandings that fuel conflicts between motorists and cyclists.

1. With the exception of a few selected areas in L.A. riding a bicycle on the sidewalk IS lawful in the CITY of LOS ANGELES so long as it is done in a manner that does not endanger pedestrians. Other cities such as Santa Monica and Culver City may prohibit sidewalk cycling.
   

   
   

2. A cyclist can take the entire (right) lane of traffic if the lane is too narrow for a cyclist and a motorist to share side by side. This is true for about 80% of the streets in L.A.
   

   
   

3. A cyclist only needs to move to the side of the road if (a) there are more than 5 cars stacked up behind them and (b) there is only one lane of traffic going in that direction. If there is more than one lane than the cyclist is not impeding traffic since a motorist can change lanes and go around them.
   

   
   

4. Cyclists are only required to wear a helmet if they are under 18.
   

   
   

5. Cyclists get cited just like everyone else if they do not stop for a stop sign or red light. They do not get a free pass.

It appears that some folks are not exactly sure what harassment means within the context of the ordinance. You can still yell at a cyclist who engaging in bad behavior. You can not however threaten a cyclist with physical harm or make comments like “I am going to run you over.” You also can not engage in conduct that is likely to put a cyclist in harms way such as:

1. Revving your engine multiple times as it is an implied threat that they may get run over if they don’t move out of the way.
   

   
   

2. Tailgating a cyclist
   

   
   

3. Passing a cyclist at too high a speed or to close a distance so as to scare or itimidate them off the road.
   

   
   

4. Riding up at a high rate of speed and honking at a cyclist (this has caused cyclists to get scared and fall off their bikes).

Hope this sheds light on what “harassment” means. In short it is an ordinance that prohibits threats (explicit and implied) as well as behavior likely to cause injury.

Most of the activity that is covered by this ordinance is already covered by the vehicle code:

Excessive honking of the horn, tailgating, unsafe passing are all infractions. If these INTENTIONAL infractions are not observed by a police officer then no action can be taken at a later time…as such these actions which present a greater danger to cyclists than they do to motorists are never addressed.

This ordinance allows a cyclist to basically call a person into court similer to if an officer observed the violation and issued a citation (which is in fact also a court summons). Instead of paying a fine to the courts though the motorist would pay the damages to the victim.

You can still yell obscenities (though I do not recommend it) just not threaten a cyclist. See my response above.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to email me at 35128@lapd.lacity.org.

Thank you, Los Angeles City Council, thank you Sgt. Krumer, and thanks also to Council Member Bill Rosendahl, who introduced the measure, and cycling lawyer Ross Hirsch and the many others who help draft this new reminder that the roads are for all of us, not just the smug and arrogant in cars and SUVs.

iggy-cortes:

DVS X Cinelli