Welcome to the week. Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…
Power of presence: Brooke Goudy tells Singletracks.com how difficult it is to be the only Black woman in mountain biking groups and how representation is crucial if the bike industry wants to see more Black women take up the sport.
Kids and cops: A program in Santa Barbara gets police officers and kids on bikes together to help build relationships and understanding.
Air quality politics: Five automakers have now joined a lawsuit in California that binds them to emissions rules that are stricter than what the Trump Admin requires.
The theft barrier: A major barrier to biking in American cities is lack of quality and secure bike storage — a problem illustrated in this NY Times piece about how theft fears coupled with the bike boom have left many needing a better place to park.
Motor vehicle menace: An excellent deep dive from the Boston Globe on “America’s blind spot” details the myriad ways our failure to regulate car and truck drivers makes our streets so much more dangerous.
Cars are the new guns: “In the same way as the National Rifle Association has mandated the right to own and carry weaponry, vehicle manufacturers have stressed autonomy and focused responsibility on the driver, not the manufacturer,” says Sandy James Planner for Pricetags.
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Make them permanent: Research from Germany reported by Forbes estimates that the quick-build cycleways that have popped up throughout Europe in response to coronavirus could lead to $3 billion in public health benefits.
Big trucks suck: This Onion headline is tremendously dark because it’s based on an absolutely tragic and preventable phenomenon. Author Angie Schmitt says 50 kids a week are backed over in their own driveways.
Not satire: Leaders of a town in Wales have rejected plans for a cafe built along a path because it’s too far from…. car parking.
Keep hope alive: After a planned freeway project in Los Angeles County was defeated, there’s a possibility the funds could instead be routed to a high speed rail line.
Ride to the race: The self-sufficient, anti-corporate and carbon-sensitive ethos of this GB Duro ultracycling event is absolutely beautiful on multiple levels — especially given how much professional cycling is the complete opposite.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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