Bike Girl Gets Stood Up

Councilman LaBonge is the one in the tie. Image from Metro

Bike Girl loves bike commuting. But she does not love that the only route between the Universal City/Burbank/Toluca Lake area and Hollywood is via the Cahuenga Pass. At night, the only other road over the mountain that goes through Griffith Park is closed. During the Griffith Park Light Festival, that road is completely closed to cyclists. Metro service stops around 1 a.m. This leaves the Pass as the only option.

Bike Girl has blogged several times about the dangers of this particular road. It's poorly paved, cars routinely exceed the speed limit as they use it as an alternative to the adjacent 101 freeway, and now, Bike Girl counts 34 dead streetlights, creating a black abyss between Barham and the Hollywood Bowl.

Ever the optimist, Bike Girl invited her city councilman to join her on a ride over this pass to see the urgent need for repair of the existing infrastructure. Her councilman, Tom LaBonge, even responded to her request saying he'd be down. He said she only had to name the date.
Bike Girl excitedly named a date, but received no further response from Councilman LaBonge. Just in case, she stood, bicycle leaning against her hip, at the appointed place at the appointed time. But Councilman LaBonge has effectively stood her up.

Thinking her email may have just been buried in his inbox, Bike Girl followed up. But alas, she has received no further correspondence from her councilman.

This was very discouraging to Bike Girl. She truly believed that on some level, Councilman LaBonge really did care about cycling issues. She understands if he feels too unsafe to travel that road. Bike Girl herself is intimidated by it. But since he said he would ride, she feels lied to.

While it should be no surprise to Bike Girl that politicians make promises they do not keep, she genuinely thought in this case, with this supposedly bike-friendly councilman, she could get through. Councilman LaBonge has routinely positioned himself as the Bicycle Councilman. He has even thrown rides with LAPD escorts through his district and purchased ice cream for all who attended.

Councilman LaBonge, if you read this, please note that the invitation is still open. If you still don't want to ride, please at least push repairs and speed enforcement on this stretch of road higher on the priority list. The safety of cyclists in your district depends on it.

Readers, please call and report the street light outages on the stretch of Southbound Cahuenga Boulevard between Barham and the Hollywood Bowl by calling 3-1-1 in the city of L.A., or 1-866-4LACITY outside city limits.

The articles of the Cyclists Bill of Rights that apply to this stretch of road are numbers 1, 5, and 7.

Bike Girl Locks Up Tight

While sipping her morning tea and reading the morning paper through the very stylish glasses perched on her nose, Bike Girl encountered some unfortunate news.

The Daily News reports with the increase in the number of cyclists using their bikes to connect with public transit, has come a spike in bike theft. The Daily News says 15 bikes have been stolen from Orange Line stations this year. That’s up from 10 last year. That includes 5 from the Balboa station and three from north Hollywood.

Bike Girl applauds the Angelenos who, like her, have eschewed their cars in favor of mass transit. But she worries that these commuters will become frustrated if their trusty steeds are stolen. For tips on the best way to lock a bicycle, click here. Bike Girl recommends Kryptonite and Anti-Jack locks.

In the meantime, while the LAPD seems determined to create barriers to prevent new cyclists from riding, the L.A. County Sheriff’s department is doing something to help the increasing numbers of bike commuters.

Sheriffs Deputy Dan Finkelstein told the Daily news that security cameras are not pointed towards Metro’s bike racks. He says the Department is asking Metro to change that. In the meantime, undercover deputies planted a bait bike at the North Hollywood station and arrested three people last week for stealing it.

Metro has suggested cyclists use the bike lockers provided at some stations to store their ‘cycles during their mixed-transit travels. However, Bike Girl has been told that some commuters have had difficulty obtaining a bike locker. She was informed by a Midnight Rida’ that he had been on a waiting list for a locker for months. Metro has also suggested commuters use folding bikes. Bike Girl thinks that for some commuters, folding bikes are an interesting idea. But she also points out that these bicycles are not common on the streets of L.A. and that many cyclists, herself included, are somewhat skeptical of them.

Bike Girl would like to encourage those commuters who’ve had their bicycles stolen to buy a cheap bike, an expensive lock, and get back on the horse. For more advice on how best to lock your bicycle, check out this video.

Bike Girl Goes Car Free - Day 3

Day 3 of Bike Girl's Car-Free month was a pretty typical commute. She got on her Carbon Fibre Dream Machine and cruised to work. There, she changed into the clothes she had brought the day before and ate the food also brought the day before.

So Bike Girl would like to take this time to share some haikus about riding her Carbon Fibre Dream Machine.

My feet are clipped in,
maximum efficiency
ev'ry pedal stroke.

My thighs look so good
in my tight padded bike shorts.
You know that it's true!

I think I'm so fast,
'till an old man passes me.
Then, humility.

UPDATE:

Follow Bike Girl's progress

DAY 9

Bike Girl Goes Car-Free - Days 1 and 2

Bike Girl was recently passed over for an interview by Green L.A. Girl on being a car-free lady. Bike Girl was initially outraged, but that outrage lasted only moments because, in fact, Bike Girl is not actually car-free.

Bike Girl has a history of driving to work Mondays with her clothes and food for the week and biking three days. She then would drive Fridays to pick up the empty Tupperware and dirty clothes. Bike Girl also has to admit that she occasionally gets lazy and just drives for no reason. For instance, last week, Bike Girl had an ear infection, which provided an excellent excuse to remain in bed until a half hour before work and drive.

This, Bike Girl realized, is not any way for someone whose Secret Identity includes the word Bike. So Bike Girl has challenged herself to be completely car-free for thirty days. The count-down began Sunday September 7th. Bike Girl will attempt to chronicle the adventure here.

Day 1 -

Bike Girl spent the morning finishing work on her new old bike which is outfitted with a rack and panniers so she can transport various Items. Satisfied that the bike was in good working order, she set out on a ride to meet fellow members of the Bike Writers Collective at an Undisclosed Location.

Just as Bike Girl and Homegrown Evolution blogger Erik rolled up to the Location, Bike Girl's rack suddenly collapsed. FAIL! A nut had disappeared during the ride and the screw was hanging precariously in its hole. Erik theorized that the nut had come loose due to vibration on the ride over. Bike Girl discovered another loose nut, but tightened it before it could fall off.

The ever-resourceful Bike Writers helped Bike Girl rig up the rack so that she could limp home.

Day 2 -

This morning was spent tightening all nuts and screws and the brake cables for a hopefully-less-eventful commute to Bike Girl's Place Of Employment. She loaded up both panniers with her clothes and food for the week and set off for her local Metro station.

Several roads were closed on the way, but since Bike Girl rides a bicycle, she was able to hop off and walk on the sidewalk with the bicycle past the construction, and hop back on without having to take a lengthy detour.

Bike Girl used the elevators on the Metro and wondered why something can't be done about the pervasive combination of smells. It seems that every elevator at every station smells like pee, disinfectant, and mildew.

Bike Girl anticipates the car free transition will be easiest during the first week, then become increasingly difficult.

UPDATE:

Bike Girl has successfully completed the challenge. Read more here.

Here are some subsequent posts updating Bike Girl's progress

Day 3

Day 9

Bike Girl Battles The Bus Redux

(continued from this post)

Bike Girl’s Metro contact came up empty on ways to increase bike access to busses. However, Bike Girl has heard a report that addresses her concerns.

History of Bike Racks: Apparently, Metro used to have bike racks INSIDE the Orange Line busses. Those racks were located in the rear of the bus. However, cyclists found it difficult to access the racks because Metro riders tend to congregate towards the rear of the bus. Metro also says it is dangerous for cyclists to try to move their bikes around while the bus is moving.

Danger: The Orange Line now has triple bike racks on the front of the bus. Metro decided to test out the system on the Orange Line because it is separated from other vehicular traffic. Metro decided that since cyclists whose bike is in the middle position often step into where traffic would be speeding around the bus in order to remove their bike, these racks are unsafe for use on regular busses.

So Now What: Metro says cyclists who want to use their bikes in conjunction with public transit should get folding bikes.

Personally, Bike Girl thinks that is a non-solution. But Metro appears enthusiastic.

In fact, according to the report Bike Girl heard, Metro is working on a program that would provide financial assistance to commuters who want to buy folding bikes. That’s according to Metro’s Bike Planning Manager Lynne Goldsmith.

Do these findings make Bike Girl’s commute across town using the bus any easier? No. In fact knowing that Metro’s best answer to the increase in cyclists is telling them to buy new bikes is discouraging to her.

Since Bike Girl seems to be able to beat the Rapid Bus across town anyway, she’s decided to stop trying to catch the bus, and just ride the 15 miles across town.