Hi friends. Welcome to the week. Lots of great stories to share this week. See you if you can spot the ’80s hip hop song reference in my titles.
Below are the most notable stories we came across in the past seven days…
Wait! Before we get to it, this week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Nomad Cycles PDX. They’ve launched two locally-made e-bikes and you can order one and support them via their Kickstarter campaign.
Cycling in Portland is pretty great, actually: Lots of local advocates are sharing this story from a travel writer who says the secret weapon for the ultimate Portland vacation is a bike because it’s a wonderful way to experience our city. (Business Insider)
No bike lanes? No clothes! This is pretty good opening line: “As Houston peels away bike lanes, a group of cyclists plans to peel away its clothes and pedal through the city in protest.” (Houston Chronicle)
Transgender ban: Cycling’s governing body, USA Cycling, has taken a stronger stance against transgender women with a new policy that prohibits them from competition at all levels. Note this won’t apply to local races organized under the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association banner, because OBRA is an independent organization. (Cycling Weekly)
Protestors at the Vuelta: One of pro cycling’s highest profile events is reeling over disruptions from pro-Palestinian protestors, who are seeking awareness for the cause of human rights and do not appreciate a team funded by an Israel-based company, while organizers say the protests create major safety problems for riders. (Associated Press)
Keep your bike: A good lock is one of your best defenses against bike thieves, so check out this review of the best ones on the market before you buy your next one. (Guardian US)
It’s nobody else’s fault, so don’t do it: Please send this story to everyone you’ve ever known that has texted while driving. (How to Geek)
Meme come to life: Whoever gave e-car company Rivian a permit to shoot a commercial during an open streets event was either woefully ignorant or just woefully inconsiderate. Either way, I hope a serious inquiry comes out of this. (Seattle Bike Blog)
He made the switch: A Republican Oregon House member who represents the northern coast, and who I’ve singled out for his support of the transportation bill, was so disgusted by his party’s position on the legislation that he became a Democrat. (OPB)
Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.
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Regarding the protests that shut down the Vuelta, it’s interesting that a large number of pro cycling teams are vehicles for corporate sports washing of authoritarian governments. The particular protest was about the Israel premiere tech team, which has a connection to the Israeli government, which is actively committing genocide, and which is headed by netanyahu, who has only escaped prosecution on corruption charges by staying on as prime minister. In addition to Israel, major human rights violator UAE is the main sponsor of one of the best funded and most successful pro teams. Bahrain and Kazakhstan are also prominent team sponsors, each with their own human rights issues.
Perhaps even more troubling, two pro tour teams are sponsored by United States based corporations. The United States is rapidly becoming one of the most authoritarian countries with an alarmingly awful record on human rights.
How direct is that connection though? Do we just get upset over a name?
It is my understanding that the decision to put Israel in the name of the team was a deliberate attempt to burnish Israel’s image. It’s not an accidental or incidental association. Sylvan Adams, team co-owner, has been extremely outspoken in his boosterism for the Israeli war in Gaza.
Ok,assuming that’s accurate it’s still just a private individual doing it. There’s no state action here.
FWIW, the name has been on the jersey for several years.
He has publicly referred to himself in writing on prominent websites that bear his name as the “self-appointed Ambassador-at-Large for the State of Israel.”
That’s one way of saying “not an official role”.
He has close ties to Netanyahu. He attended Trump’s second inauguration. He goes out of his way to tie his public image to morally objectionable people and causes. Of late, in both the United States and Israel, moneyed interests and corrupt influences have greater sway over public policy than do elected officials.
Both Pro cycling teams in the Vuelta from Authoritarian USA are sponsored by Cycling companies, Israel Premier Tech is sponsored by an American/Canadian Business person who has emotional connection to Israel but is not government related at all.
There are teams sponsored by Arab countries, no doubt, I assume you boycott Professional Golf and Pro soccer also?
The NBA does a ton of business with China, so don’t watch basketball either….
This protest at the Vuelta makes as much sense as the Protest of Bikeportland for having Wilson as a guest speaker.
It’s complete performative bullshit.
Netanyahu can stop the war, no one else and disrupting a bunch of stuff is just Egos on parade.
You can’t use logic or reason with these protesters. I guarantee you they’ll still protest despite the kit change.
Sylvan Adams is not just any Canadian business person (who now lives full time in Israel). He is a self described and unrelenting Zionist. He is an unqualified cheerleader for Israel’s war in Gaza. He publicly discredits any criticism of Israel by blaming the spectre if an international smear campaign that is bought and paid for by a cabal of shadowy, unnamed Arab organizations. He has hitched his public image to the right wing populist factions of Israeli politics.
And yes, I have great disdain for European soccer clubs that are owned by Petro States, oligarchs, and other corrupt organizations. I also don’t support Liv golf, Uber, or any other organization that is owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. And the NBA embracing China is highly problematic.
But as i said, America has been leading the race to the bottom when it comes to civil liberties, democratic governance, and human rights over there last eight months.
I was not voicing support for the confrontational tactics that shut down a stage of the Vuelta. I was just pointing out that the protestors had good reason to be upset with sponsors of a third of the teams that are competing in the race. Blocking the road was not the right thing to do, but I can see why they did it. No way those protestors would have gotten covered by this blog (or countless global news organizations) if they simply held up signs on the side of the road while the race passed by.
He is a self described and unrelenting Zionist.
Dictionary
Data from Oxford Languages
Zi·on·ism
[ˈzīəˌnizəm]
noun
Are you surprised that people can support a Jewish nation existing? Someplace where Jews are safe because they can defend themselves? Do you really know the definitions of any of these words you hear?
Surely you’re aware that most modern Israelis that use Zionist as a self described moniker are pro expansion of the state of Israel to occupy Gaza, the west bank, Golan heights, and other disputed territories. In modern parlance, it is equivalent to “manifest destiny”in the United States. Zionism has become loaded with a century of use by right wing Israeli factions who sought to expand Israel’s territorial dominance. The oed definition is almost completely divorced from modern usage and context.
Is it really, or is it just portrayed as such by propaganda sites to give them an excuse to hate “Zionists”, but not any religious group?
Also, those territories were won in war after Israel had been attacked by multiple countries each time. I’m not really shocked they didn’t want to give the areas back to their attackers only to be attacked yet again.
I think the background material we are drawing our biases from are very out of whack. How to fix that without going on a tour of the middle east together I do not know how to do.
As predicted, IPT removes the name from their kit and protesters still disrupted today’s stage (16).
the way the race organizers responded guaranteed the protestors would continue. It’s basic comms strategy to not poke a bear. They should have had a better response.
What’s so weird (I fail to find another term) about the pro-Palestinian protesters is actually how little they know about the region or its history. It’s also weird that they are so animated about this injustice (and sorry folks, what Israel is doing is an injustice) while equal or larger injustices in the region (and the world) are ignored.
I’ve come to the conclusion it’s about WHO is doing the oppression (i.e. “Jews”) vs. who is being oppressed.
A few examples of what I mean by other injustices that seem to get ignored by these protestors:
My point here isn’t that this should be a numbers game or a totem pole of oppression. Nor is this “whataboutism”. Opression is wrong, no matter who is the oppressor and who is being oppressed.
If you are opposed to Israel’s actions in Gaza (and you should be), great! But then you should be even more incensed by other injustices that are being forgotten or swept under the rug. If you are going to protest a team with name “Israel” in the title, then why aren’t you protesting UAE’s team or PGA golf or any number of sport washing by bad actors? Because if you don’t or “yeah, but…” other sports washing, then its 100% about your double secret antisemitism and not about the absolute horrors being visited on the Palestinian people.
just toss out an offhanded accusation of antisemitism, claim your opponent is ignorant, sandwich it in some whataboutism, and voila, we forgot all about the genocide.
The “you can’t care about this thing unless you care equally about these other things” is lazy and unrealistic.
I think this genocide is getting more attention in the west because the west (USA and Europe) has meddled in the affairs of the people who live in the Levant for more than 100 years. The British Balfour declaration kicked off the conflict we are seeing today. Not only has the West played a huge hand in creating and maintaining this conflict, but we are currently supplying Israel with the tools to continue its genocide. These are western protestors, protesting against their governments continued support of the genocide.
All the other atrocities you mentioned are done by nation-states that the US/Europe have far less influence with. I don’t know if you remember this, but the west fought a whole-ass 20 year war to hypothetically get rid of the Taliban. Myanmar isn’t sponsoring cycling teams that I’m aware of and calling Turkey a western ally is a bit much.
I get the tone through your post that you don’t like muslims, but I think this sentiment is particularly gross. I’m personally anti-theist so I’m not going to defend their behavior or ideals, but you don’t get to commit genocide against people because they suck. If that was the case, we should start fire-bombing the south.
Your entire post is whataboutism my dude, including a numbers game and totem pole of oppression.
“I get the tone through your post that you don’t like muslims,”
You’ve perfectly summed up the genocide denial position right here. That, and the implied “if Israel does it, it’s not a genocide”.
“…then its 100% about your double secret antisemitism and not about the absolute horrors being visited on the Palestinian people.”
Simply a great point. The morality of what Israel is doing to Gazans and the morality of 7OCT (and all the other attacks) are definitely points of discussion. To claim that what is happening is a unique horror in the world is foolishness at best or as you say, antisemitic at its worst.
I hear what you are saying (it seems like Jews are held to different moral standards). However, I think we should be cautious about passing moral judgments on other peoples’ internal (and hence fundamentally externally inaccessible) motivations. Especially when attributing action to antisemitism, which is currently being speciously used in all sorts of contexts. (I’m still working on a reply to your comments in the other thread.)
I agree with you on overusing powerful terms reflexively. I would like to clarify that I am not trying to judge motivations here, the parameters I framed I feel are solid ones and I have no opinion of where someone’s thought process would place them on those parameters.
I am looking forward (dreading) to your response. Work and responsibilities are time consumers and frankly I am jealous of those societies that seem to find time for their people to have extended debates/conversations as a way to exercise the mind.
Bringing up other human rights situations around the world is important to gain perspective on a whole host of things.
Of all the dire situations that you listed, which one are actually *backed* by the US? (via political cover, arms deals, etc)
Spain is not sending arms to Israel….and either is the Premier Tech cycling team.
Disrupting a major sporting event in that country was the topic.
Someone said something about Thread jacking here?
Yes. I said something about thread jacking. And the coolest part of owning a business is that I get to make all the decisions!
Of course not. But if a party supporting one of these other atrocities was at the Vuelta, I’d imagine you’d see protesters about that cause too.
You can\’t look at 1 event protesting one atrocity and say, “why aren’t they protesting/speaking out against [this other atrocity].
They might be, just not at this moment
Spain was still selling arms to Israel until yesterday.
So your appreciation and empathy of human suffering is based on whether or how much the US is involved? Really? Your compassion centers around money?
Nice try putting words in my mouth.
A couple of people in this thread and the thread about Bike Happy Hour are saying that all of these situations are functionally equivalent and therefore they should be protested equally or that people protesting the war in Gaza are hypocrites for not speaking out against those other things.
But there’s a difference when world’s superpowers are actively supporting one of the atrocities.
America/European protesters really can’t influence Netanyahu’s decisions. There’s a much greater (albeit tiny) chance of influencing their own country’s complicity or active support the Netanyahu government’s actions.
“…or that people protesting the war in Gaza are hypocrites for not speaking out against those other things.
But there’s a difference when world’s superpowers are actively supporting one of the atrocities.”
So what about the response to Saudi Arabia devastating Yemen? Where is the drama about that? Where are all the protestors, the rides, the Yemeni flags, the floats down the river, the angst?
Who do you think supplied Saudi with the weapons and training to kill far more Yemenis than Israel could ever dream of killing Gazans.
I’ll even use of everyone’s most honest sites, Al Jazeera.
Yemen war deaths will reach 377,000 by end of the year: UNNew UNDP report projects that the number of those killed as a result of Yemen’s war could reach 1.3 million by 2030.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/23/un-yemen-recovery-possible-in-one-generation-if-war-stops-now
also…..
https://dawnmena.org/ten-years-after-saudi-arabias-intervention-in-yemen-there-is-only-irreparable-loss/
I can think of a reason why the activists don’t care about Yemen even though the US is fueling that nightmare with weapons sales and expertise, but it’s the same reason I’ve brought up before that gets everyone really defensive. But maybe I’m wrong. Why has Yemen not been a big deal as compared to Gaza? Heck, we’re actually launching missiles into Yemen and killing people. Where’s the outrage?
For your Afganistan analogy to work, the US would need to be giving the Taliban large amounts of military aid instead of, you know, fighting the longest war in our history against them.
Well, we did give them a lot of military aid in training and equipment and left it all for them. Just not in the way anyone wanted to. But you did say “giving” and not “gave” so I hear your point.
Micah’s point is exactly the same one I was trying to make (they did a better job)
He is really good with matching words to his ideas!
It was a lot of years ago, so forgive me if I’m misremembering, but – didn’t we give the Taliban material aid when they were fighting the russians?
Not exactly… We provided support to the Mujahideen, which was a coalition of tribal groups fighting the Ruskies. The Taliban was one of those groups, who later came to dominate the others through absorption, cooption, and violence, but that wasn’t done with our support.
The Taliban probably got something from us along the way, but I’m not sure it is entirely accurate to say we gave them material support.
I find that most pro-palestinian people know a great deal more about the history of the region than pro-israel people do.
I wish some of those folks you know who truly understand the history would post here.
This is an incredibly small forum on a very small news source dedicated to biking. Why would they be posting here?
“Why would they be posting here?”
I agree with you on this, pro-Palestinian people with a great deal of historical knowledge of the area haven’t been posting here. Its too bad.
Just for the record, bikeportland’s reach is a lot larger than you might think, partly because I’ve never limited the editorial scope to just biking. Also, when it comes to influence, size isn’t always the most important metric. What matters isn’t how many people read, it’s who’s reading. And by that metric, given how closely and widely read bikeportland is by city councilors and city staff, bikeportland is just as – if not more – influential than any other local media outlet.
Loved the bike lock review. Of course, like everyone else, I wanted to know how my lock(s) rated (none if fact were reviewed but I can guess the results). At our community bike shop here in Greensboro NC we give out for free $9 cable locks that we know we ourselves can cut through within 10 seconds, but the 400 or so bikes we give away every year are technically worthless, so the cable locks are meant to be a deterrent rather than offer any real security. And the stories we get back from the recipients make us wonder why we give them out at all – in most cases, the stolen bike wasn’t ever locked in the first place – though to be sure we aren’t certain the bikes got stolen at all, they might have been traded, abandoned, or pawned instead.
Believe it or not, people elsewhere in the country are not roaming the streets with bolt cutters, angle grinders, or other theft tools.
The level of mayhem Portlanders are willing to accept just would not fly elsewhere.
> Believe it or not, people elsewhere in the country are not roaming the streets with bolt cutters, angle grinders, or other theft tools.
Guess you don’t get out of town much or read other media? Bike theft is fairly ubiquitous in much of the US and some of the fencing of stolen bikes is incredibly organized.
Having recently driven through several mountain-west cities, I was really encouraged to see much less garbage everywhere, as well as significantly fewer homeless camps.
The Guardian bike lock article reminds me of this angle grinder resistant specific break down of locks if anyone is interested in upgrading. If I hadn’t just replaced my kryptonite fahgettaboudit mini I would consider one of these. The price difference for some of these aren’t much different than the beefier u-locks. I suppose I might upgrade if angle grinder attacks become more common here but *fingers crossed* no one has been interested enough in my bikes to bother to even attempt cutting one of my locks.
Do you have any opinions about disc locks, locks specifically designed to lock the disc rotor?
Wheel locks are more versatile and provide relatively the same level of protection. Disc locks make more sense with motorcycles because they’re harder to pick up and walk away with.
I suppose if I lived in an area that had low bike theft I’d use one or the other but in Portland I wouldn’t keep my bike out of reach if it were only locked up with one of them.
Maybe instead of classifying athletes by gender some new way should be devised.
Maybe it’s by muscle-mass.
Maybe it’s by height and weight.
Maybe it’s by their past performance.
Maybe it’s all those and other things I can’t think of.
Continuing to allow folks with a male’s body to participate in a sport event classified as female just isn’t working and likely never will. Maybe like I stated above, a completely new way should be devised.
I think USA Cycling is on the right track here. Let people live their lives, but have factual standards when controlled competition is a factor (especially if there is monetary prize/scholarships/recognition as a result of placing). Female in one category and then anyone else in the other seems like a workable solution.
Competition is never going to be completely fair, but we can make it as fair as possible
your prejudice is not “fact”.
Neither sex nor gender is a binary.
The problem with definitions of sex based on cultural bias is that they are demonstrably incorrect:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-why-human-sex-is-not-binary/
“The bottom line is that while animal gametes can be described as binary (of two distinct kinds), the physiological systems, behaviors and individuals that produce them are not. “
This is from that article. Am I missing something? It seems to say that biology is binary while the social systems and interactions are more varied and nuanced.
From the quote, “… the physiological systems… are not.” If physiology isn’t biology I don’t know what is.
Sorry to be snarky, but did you read your own quotation? It says that animal gametes specifically can be described as binary, but everything else, including physiology (which is what actually affects sports), are decidedly *not* binary.
Physiology =/= sociology
Well, that’s embarrassing. Turns out I was missing something after all and that was reading the word correctly.
I would like to point out that I referenced two categories and one of those categories has infinite possibilities, so I hear that not everything is explicitly binary.
Thanks to you, Al Dimond and Jen Sanford for pointing that out mostly kindly 🙂
I’m waiting for a category for slightly athletic people without a freaky metabolism and only moderate skill at any particular sport, who aren’t really willing to put in the work to get better.
The reality is that even with years and years of effort, most ordinary people could never get good enough to perform at an elite level, so sports at a high level truly is an exclusionary expression of genetic extremes. Structuring the categories only changes who among that tiny elite have an advantage over their peers.
That’s amateur sports.
“Just isn’t working” is a an odd way to describe what should be pretty obviously a highly funded and transparent wedge issue campaign to radicalize people on a fringe topic that affects very few people – so few people that there isn’t no reason that we couldn’t be handling these situations case-by-case in ways that consider the context at hand and the actual people involved.
Perfectly said, it is so disheartening to see how easily people’s prejudices have been activated by this “issue”.
Heres the problem, more and more trans women never went through male puberty and dont have “male bodies.”
Trans women are not dominating cycling, or any other sports. They get a few wins here and there.
I would take this further and say that a trans woman who has been on HRT for years does not really have a “male body” in any meaningful sense. There are even some newer studies showing that trans women on HRT may have worse cardiovascular performance compared to cis women.
There are even some newer studies showing that trans women on HRT may have worse cardiovascular performance compared to cis women.
That is startling. Is that an effect of HRT specifically in trans women or are they showing a similar reduction in cardiovascular performance on cis women taking HRT for menopause as well?
I am just a trans woman that likes to read and not a scientist so forgive me if I use incorrect medical language to describe it, but I’ve heard a few researchers talk about an effect where trans women can end up taller than cis women on average if we did not start HRT until after puberty, but then when we do begin HRT, our musculature and cardiovascular fitness then lowers to levels typical of cis women. So the result would be a larger frame with lower strength, thus creating a sort of “big car but small engine” effect that leads to overall weaker athletic abilities compared to cisgender women. And on a completely anecdotal note, I can say very confidently that I have consistently been the weakest member of every women’s fitness group I’ve participated in, and I know a lot of trans women who’ve had that experience as well. But obviously that’s anecdotal and isn’t a substitute for quality research.
An additional non-physiological factor working against trans women that is well proven to diminish performance is the socioeconomic side, which occurs in any marginalized group of people. Due to societal discrimination, trans people on average have lower incomes, more mental and physical health challenges, and are less well connected to resources and communities for support, all of which are known barriers to athletic performance.
Personal accounts are an essential aspect of truth so thank you for sharing.
I wish someone would send the Business Insider article to PEMO, the mayor, and every member of City Council, with the message: Business Insider praises Portland’s bicycle infrastructure, which attracts visitors who then spend MORE MONEY in local restaurants and other businesses. Note that the worst thing the article says about Portland is that there is a lot of motor vehicle traffic — but hey, bicyclists can avoid getting stuck in it.
Maybe that would allow folks to trust that it’s not just a bunch of horrid upstarts who think bicycle safety is a net good.
You could do that!
Actually, the person in that group who most needs to understand this would not listen to it coming from me. Nor, I suspect, from anyone perceived as pro-bicycle rather than pro-business. It would be great if Travel Portland sent it their way.
Here’s an even better idea than sharing that texting/driving article with everyone you’ve ever known that has texted while driving: Just tell those people to put their fucking phones away while they’re driving, period, until they get to where they’re going.
Good grief, are we really this infantile?
Unfortunately we are, always have been apparently. While texting/driving is relatively new (over the past 20+ years), distracted driving is as old as, well, pretty much as long as people got bored while “driving”, be it by car, truck, bicycle, horse, etc. Remember when everyone smoked? They certainly did it in their car (some still do). Shaving in the car, turning around to yell at the kids in the back seat, cooking, sex of course, you name it, someone has done it while driving, quite a lot of people in fact. My dad would carefully and methodically disassemble his pipe, clean it, then reassemble it, pack it with tobacco, and light it up, just to stay awake while driving at night. Conversation while driving is a huge distraction.
C’mon, David – you know that operating a small super-computer (what your smart phone actually is) doesn’t compare with smoking, shaving, or even talking. The cognitive tasks that phone operation requires are vastly more burdensome than anything drivers experienced in the past.
Prediction: One day soon, drivers will need to sync up their phones with their cars. When a system in the car registers that your car is moving, your phone will not work – and there will be nothing you can do to make it work. We could have this system now, if our so-called political leaders had the cajones to make it happen. One day soon they will.
More likely, someone, maybe even an autonomous bot, will hack your phone and take your car on a drive without anyone in it. Who needs humans anyway?
I like humans for their company, but maybe (much) safer to leave the driving to machines.