Anyone who has worked for bicycle advocacy knows how hard it is to get any legislation passed whatsoever involving freakin’ bicycles. So it was with drop-jaw wonderment that we noticed a new law expanding bicyclist rights in 2010. That’s right. In Big Bear, it is now perfectly legal to ride a bike without a bicycle seat, as long as the bicycle was designed to be ridden that way. As the article notes, the California State Highway Patrol is ready to enforce this law, starting now!
And they say progress is hard…
A common mistake we can all relate to: Guy tries to ride a bike across a frozen river, falls in, nearly drowns. “I thought I could bunny hop the soft spots,” he told rescuers. (Nah I made that last part up.) One lucky dude…
OK, I admit it: This kid can ride a bike. You take one look and you know, this kid can ride a bike!
Eliipti–quoi? Here’s a bike that enables you to run while you pedal. Why would you want to do that, you ask? Why not just run when you wanna run and bike when you wanna bike? We admit to being stumped. When we were triathloning back in the day, the whole idea was that running was good for your cycling and cycling was good for your running and swimming was good for … absolutely nothing at all. Swimming was useless. But “tri” means “three” so there had to be something.
There’s no seat on these things. And although the marketing copy says they can climb, I’d like to take one up, say, Bolinas Road before I believe it. As for passing racing bikes on the flats … well, good for a laugh anyway.
The one thing about the Elliptigo that does make sense is keeping the running muscles in shape without the pounding on pavement. I gave up running when my back and knees started feeling it … so who knows?
MTBR.com: Fruita Fat Tire Festival registration is O-P-E-N!
LAist.com: If Los Angeles is going to all the trouble to have a Bicycle Plan, why can’t it at least get copies to its libraries?
Mountain Bike Action: Eric Carter’s plea to Los Angeles to consider bikes in its park plan. “This simple machine I believe saved my life.”
Considering the guy dreamed up the Elliptigo in his garage, I think it’s pretty cool. He has a whole page on the website about a pretty insane climb. http://www.elliptigo.com/the-death-ride
“Brent crested Carson, received his 5th sticker and pin, and headed back to Turtle Rock Park where he arrived just before 5:00 PM to become the first person ever to complete the Death Ride on an elliptiGO. His total time of just under 11:30 put him in the top half of all cyclists who finished the event.”