Bells - Better Get One!

It's official - If you ever ride your bicycle on the sidewalk, you need a bell!

Where this law can be found is still beyond me, as I have yet to locate it myself. Thanks to an anonymous comment we now know that any bicycle ridden on the sidewalk is required to have a bell or other signal device.

LBMC 10.48.080 Signaling device required.

No person shall operate a bicycle upon a sidewalk unless it is equipped with a bell, horn or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with, nor shall any person use upon a bicycle, any siren or whistle. (Ord. C-6322 § 2, 1986)

Other Long Beach laws you should be aware of:
~Cars are the only items allowed in a garage.
~It is illegal to curse on a mini-golf course.

LA Bicycle Licenses

From a recent edition of LAWeekly:

Until recently, Los Angeles Municipal Code 26.01 was little known. But then in August, the police department began to enforce its central tenet: All cyclists shall ride licensed bicycles; those who do not will be cited and fined. Upon learning of the LAPD’s acceleratedenforcement, the city’s cyclists flooded bike blogs with outrage, saying that the code was “ridiculous,” designed “ultimately to prevent bikes in our car-obsessed city ... for harassing cyclists.”

Read the full article

What are your thoughts on bicycle licenses?
Did you even know they were required in Long Beach?

City Wants Your Ideas

A new website in town where you can send your ideas right to the office of Mayor Bob Foster.
State of LB

Important Recall

This is an important safety-minded recall notice that I just became aware of: Recall Notice

So what should we do for the January ride???

Does anyone have any great ideas? Alien vs. Predator- or is that more of a summer event - I don't know?? How about a conditioning ride to HB and back on Jan 10th and nice cruiser ride on the 11th.
Any great ideas??

Economic Stimulus Legislation

Support funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects

Congress is currently putting together an economic stimulus package to have ready when the new Congress returns in early January.  While public details of the forthcoming stimulus bill is not available, we are hearing that there is a chance that funds for transportation and infrastructure projects in the stimulus package may go overwhelmingly to road projects—the same unbalanced strategy that has created our existing transportation problems.

Bicycle Bells and The Law

At least once a week I have somebody telling me that they got a ticket for not having a bell on their bike.

Why?

I cannot find any law or municipal code that even mentions bicycle bells.
(If you know of one, please let us know!)

Municipal code 10.48.070 (B) Any person riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian, and when overtaking and passing a pedestrian, shall give an audible signal and shall pass to the left of the pedestrian only under conditions permitting such movement in safety.

An audible signal could be a bell, it could be a shout, it could be flicking your brake levers, it could be a fog horn, it could be wailing on some bagpipes... it could be anything that makes noise really. It does not specify using a bell, or even having a bell.

Not to mention that these folks getting cited are mostly homeless or low income - but that's a whole different post.

Have you had an bicycle related citations you thought were bogus?

Holiday Ride Re-Cap

Thanks to everyone that braved the wind and joined us for our Holiday Ride on Saturday.
We had a pretty good turn-out, ending the ride with 24 people (one couple came from Costa Mesa).

I had a lot of fun, and I hope you did too.


The ride began with some warm drinks at It's A Grind on Pine

Up Daisy to PCH

Watching the "Christmas Tree Lane Parade" on Daisy

Even Santa himself came on the ride with us!

Back downtown to pick up the beach path

Full bike racks at the BBC!

Stroll around Naples

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Lights Parade - Saturday Dec 13th

Bring your bike and a friend!
(and your kids and mom and sister, and the guy across the street...)

Here's the nitty-gritty:
Who: Everyone with a bike
What: Tour of great Long Beach Light displays
When: Saturday, December 13th, 4:30pm
Where: It's A Grind, 247 Pine Ave., Long Beach, CA‎
Distance: Less than 10 miles
Speed: Mosey 10-12 mph


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We'll be going up Daisy to Hill St., then loop around and come back downtown. Take the Beach Path all the way to Naples. We should find a good place to lock up, as Naples is really meant for walking. We will have to see when we get down there.

Once the parade is over, it would be nice to meet at It's A Grind on 2nd, for some more socializing and to arrange groups back to (where ever).

Hint: You can pick up a string of battery-powered lights at Rite-Aid for $4

Questions?
lbcyclists (at) gmail (dot) com

Ladies Night - Tonight 7pm

Sorry for the late posting, I was having trouble getting all the info:

Ladies Night - 7pm
Jax Bicycle Center
3000 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90808
(562) 421-4646

The first 100 women through the door will get Trek drawstring nylon backpacks with bike industry goodies in them. The bags will contain:
• Jax socks
• Shimano socks
• Trek rear lights
• Gu packets
• Powerbars
• Raffle Ticket

Topics include: maintenance, riding tips, Bike Yoga, Bike Fit, Women's Rides, Racing and more.

Beer will be provided by New Belgium Brewery.
Bottled water will also be provided.
Snacks will be on hand.

The raffle tickets are for our door prizes, which include a Trek road bike and a Shimano product.

Looking For Lights

Do you know of some great holiday light displays?

CSULBCyclists and LBCyclists are looking to have a Holiday Light Parade (on bike of course) and need your help to make it happen.

Does your neighborhood go wild with the lighting displays?
Do you know of one that does?

We'd love to hear about it to include it on our route.

Please email suggested neighborhoods to lbcyclists@gmail.com

General Meeting this Wed @ Pollys 7:17pm

We're meeting this week at Polly's Gourmet Coffee on 2nd Street. We'll be sitting outside so bring a coat!

Where: 4606 E. 2nd Street
When:December 3rd, Wednesday, 7:17pm


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