Happy Holidays, faithful readers.

Each year I try to track bicycle news of note for the year. You might notice a regional focus.

How many of these items do you remember? What have I missed?

January

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announces his resignation from the Obama administration

League of American Bicyclists begins to focus on diversifying their membership base.



Lance Armstrong appears on Oprah and confesses to doping.

February

NAHBS in Denver.

Colorado Supreme Court orders the city of Black Hawk to take your bike ban and shove it.

Former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner goes rambo and takes on the entire southern California law enforcement community. In his rambling manifesto to clear his name, he admonishes cyclists to get off the road.

March

Goals for national bicycle and pedestrian safety proposed in Congress.

Boulder County judge rejects plea deal with road raging driver who was caught harassing a group of cyclists on video.

Former California Senator Nicholas Petris passes at age 90. The Oakland Democrat introduced bills in the 1960s to limit car ownership and to ban sale of the internal combustion engine.

Sonoma County becomes first county in the nation to pass a vulnerable user / anti-harassment law for cyclists and pedestrians.

Google announces the end of Reader. If you haven’t found a good RSS reader yet, I recommend Feedspot.

April

Fat bikes at Walmart.

Jenny Hatfield begins the Bay Area stolen bike posse, which directly leads to the recovery of several stolen bikes and enhanced policing in San Francisco and other cities.

Fabrian Cancellara wins Paris-Roubaix.

May

BEGRIMED: CitiBike – America’s largest bike share system – debuts in New York City. Dorothy Rabinowitz’s epic bike share rant goes viral.

Al Fritz, designer of the iconic Schwinn Sting Ray bicycle, passes at age 88.

22 year old Emma Way convicted of failing to stop for an accident after she tweets about hitting a “bloody biker.”

Levi Leipheimer announces retirement from pro cycling.

Anthony Foxx selected as U.S. Transportation Secretary. He assumed office July 2, 2013.





Tejay van Garderen wins the 2013 Amgen Tour of California.

Austin Police Department begins active enforcement of city three foot passing law with plain clothes officers riding bikes. Says Austin police chief Art Acevedo, “The time for excuses is over, and the time for not knowing what the law is over.”

June

The Motor City now built for bikes.

100th Edition of the Tour de France begins on the island of Corsica.

July

A fan was just driving along on her way to a Dave Matthews concert when she Dave Matthews with a flat tire on the side of the road.

Chris Froome, riding for Team Sky, wins the 100th Tour de France in Paris.

August

SF Bay Area Bike Share launches.

Who can forget Jens Voigt’s fabulous solo breakaway during State 4 of the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado?

September

Governor Jerry Brown finally signs a California 3 foot law, which takes effect September 16, 2014.

41-year-old Chris Horner becomes the oldest winner of a Grand Tour when he takes the 2013 Vuelta a España.

Amgen renews its title sponsorship of the Tour of California.

October

San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) approves $200M for bicycle projects.

Pittsburg drive with care campaign launches.

California exempts bike plans from environmental review.

Squirrel vandalizes college professor’s bicycle.

After an experimental trial periood, BART lifts the ban on bikes for commute time travel on Transbay and San Francisco BART trains. East Bay commuters rejoice.

November

California bike summit in Oakland.

Tesla vs cyclist in Santa Cruz County. The Santa Cruz attorneys office is actively investigating the death of cyclist Joshua Alper. Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee says Alper’s death is a “high priority” for his office.

Bike commuter helps driver in distress.

Cluster of cyclist fatalities in London leads to calls for better road safety, especially by operators of heavy goods vehicles (trucks).

December

Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission divvies out the initial $5.3 million to begin work on the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail.

Specailized sends cease & desist letter to a tiny shop in Alberta over the Roubaix name. Within 72 hours of the story going viral on social media, Specialized CEO Mike Sinyard flies to Canada to apologize to shop owner Dan Richter in person for the snafu and offers to work out a deal beneficial to both companies.

A week of product recalls: Fox Evolution forks, Trek Madone, and SRAM hydraulic brakes.

Happy trails and safe travels for you all!