CiclaValley’s Best of for 2016

Isn’t it funny how most best of the Year articles come out before the year is even through?

It is even gotten to the point where everyone tries to out do each other and start posting things in November.

That’s just something I don’t do or you could call me super lazy.

I’m pretty proud of my work for 2016.

CiclaValley is not blessed with a large amount of time, resources and general intelligence, but I love the being of the cycling and mobility community so there’s always motivation to write.

Here’s what I would call the “best of” articles of 2016, the ones that definitely stood out from the year:

 

VIDEO: Cyclists Assaulted on Chevy Chase

 

This one caused probably the biggest stir out of 2016. The day I posted it, I got phone calls from every television station in Los Angeles. Well, not PBS.

It wasn’t just this one article that was part of this melee, but the subsequent KNBC interview and later, the release of the longer footage that showed he was lying through his teeth.

The one year anniversary of this incident is coming up next month, so I’ll have an update soon.

 

Most Essential Climbs in Los Angeles: The Top Three

 

Baldy010

This was a fun article to write that still has a lot of debate today.

As snow covers some of these roads, it’s a little hard to look back on this list now with the same lens, but I think I’m sticking to it.

Maybe I’ll add Crystal Lake someday….

 

VIDEO: Magnolia Off Ramp – The Danger of Bad Design

 

DangerOfBadDesign

Looking back, this video took a hell of a lot of work to prove how dangerous the intersection of Magnolia and the southbound 170 exit is.

A disappointing update is that the school that the girls attended, Oakwood, is doing the finishing touches on a bridge that spans Magnolia only making the street more dangerous.

And of course, this does nothing to slow down the number of their students that still use this crossing to access the park.

 

What Strava Heat Maps tells us about Cycling in Los Angeles

 

StravaMap02Dot

Stat nerds unite!

Isn’t it cool that Strava lets us access this data to tell us where their riders travel?

Sure, it’s not a perfect system because Strava may be geared towards the more serious cyclists, but I’m looking forward to 2017 to see if any of these patterns have changed.

 

Cyclists Paradise Lost: Sand Fire Photo Gallery

 

SandFireTitle

It was tough to ride this road so soon after the Tour of California rolled through Sand Canyon to see the amount of devastation done over the course of many days.

Even now, the road is closed to through traffic and people are still figuring out how to rebuild their lives.

The good news is that the area is starting to regrow and hopefully we’ll see a return to the area’s full reopening soon.

 

Cyclist Killed in Studio City: CiclaValley Struggles for Answers

 

GhostBike01

2016 was not a great year for traffic deaths in the Valley.

At the start of December, fatalities were up almost 50% over 2015 and that’s with a month’s time left.

CiclaValley helped place three ghost bikes in 2016, but the work that Ghost Bikes did extended beyond those numbers. Let’s home we can restore some calm in 2017.

 

Ask the Pros: Could the Tour of California be a Grand Tour?

 

Gaimon

Thank you pro cyclists for being so cool.

This was so much fun to put together, all I had to do was to get the talent involved.

I would love to do something similar for 2017, but can I come up with new questions?