Andrew Akers

@akrs

Dad, Tinkerer, Dish Wrangler. let’s be honest, we’ve got bike posts and the occasional cat pic here.

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Andrew Akers@akrs· 3d

on the other hand, a moment of zen

Andrew Akers@akrs· 3d

Why is no one in the bike lane? Maybe because it vanishes without warning

Andrew Akers@akrs· 4d

Cupcakes by bike you say…

A longtail cargo bike, with a kid on the rear bench and 24 cupcakes strapped to the front rack using voile straps.

Andrew Akers@akrs· 12d

Here we see the rare feral rack. It’s been living in the brush for some time now, and has grown unaccustomed to the presence of its natural companion, the bicycle.

A wave style bike rack, with a BICYCLE label on it, is inexplicably stuck in a planter, with pushes in front of it. It’s on dirt, and not hardpack or path dirt, just like, the same dirt the plants around it are planted in.

Andrew Akers@akrs· 13d

Taking advantage of the EV charging at work

A pale blue cargo bike is parked at an indoor bike rack stashed under a stairwell. It’s got a charger in it’s front cargo basket plugged into the wall, charging it.

There’s another single speed bike with flat bars parked in the rack as well.

Andrew Akers@akrs· 17d

Always a good sign that the city engineering department is taking resident concerns seriously and using road design to force safe driver behavior. /s

A yellow-striped crosswalk is in the foreground, and after the ramp at its end, there’s a yellow sign that’s handwritten “STOP! LIVES MATTER”

More signs next to the same intersection, again yellow and handwritten:

“THIS IS OUR HOME NOT A SHORTCUT”
“STOP REALLY STOP”

two more signs:
“DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!”
“STOP HITTING US with your cars”

Andrew Akers@akrs· 22d

What might be one of the nicest dead end bike paths in California

A pale yellow bike rests on the railing of a bridge. The e bridge is a suspension bridge, with loads of suspension wires headed up to a single column.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 30

Los Angeles is pretty alright sometimes.

A bike path running along Manhattan beach, in LA county. The sky is blue, the water is blue, there’s not a cloud in the sky, the wide sandy beach has some distant tents, lifeguard towers, and is otherwise pretty empty. The palos verdes hill is just visible through the ocean haze.

Manhattan Pier stretches from the land to the water in the middle distance.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 18

Bikes just aren’t practical if you’ve got kids and need to go to the hardware store. /s

A longtail cargo bike, viewed from the back. There are two kids in helmets sitting on the rear bench, a fielded 18’ ladder strapped to one side, and pannier on the other side with a gallon of cleaner and various other items.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 13

Y’all ever just

A pale yellow canyon bike frame, with no wheels, is attached to a service stand. It is filthy, covered in beach sand, and if you look closely, the chain-stay protection is peeling off

The bike frame is still in a service stand, but it’s shiny and clean. There’s new a new chain-stay protecting plastic film on, only slightly marred by a bubble.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 9

sick and tired of e-bikes being advertised with dangerous stunts that are absolutely illegal on public roads. /s

A Ram TRX, which is basically a pickup truck with an oversized engine stuffed inside and more horsepower than any personal car needs, is shown in a promo shot doing a jump. All four wheels are off the ground, and the truck looks to be about 5 feet off the ground, hanging in midair.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 2

I marginally prefer it over the typical ghosting, but I wouldn’t let my kid ride it.

A bike lane, vanishing before an intersection because a traffic engineer would rather optimize car flow then keep cyclists marginally safer

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 2

North American traffic engineers continue to find new and exciting ways to avoid any hint of bike accommodations near intersections

A bike lane comes to an end in front of an intersection. This time there’s a little bit of a conflict zone marking, showing you’re supposed to merge into the center travel lane, and avoid the left and right turn lanes on either side.

The conflict zone is marked with dashed lines, and some Kermit green stripes.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jul 2

Only the key information on my bike computer for the commute home.

A set of carbon road bike bars against a tarmac backdrop. There’s a visible bike computer which shows only that the song Snake Tongue by The Beaches is playing, and there’s no cars detected by the rear radar.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jun 28

The people yearn for more bike parking

A wave style bike rack is overstuffed with bikes: my longtail cargo bike, a few adult bike, and a few kid bikes (including a fixie with a porteur rack, I wish I had complemented that guy). The wave rack is so full there’s another pair of bikes locked around a light post, and yet another group of bikes locked together in the background.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jun 27

idk man, this street looks pretty open to me

a street “closed” for a street fair. There’s a Ferris wheel, giant carnival slide, games, and lots of people milling about.

The other side of the “closed” street. People milling about, more carnival rides, and a fire engine parked.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jun 20

Little buddy heard my snacks crinkle in my bag and wandered if he could score

A picture taken while standing over a bike. A small brown ground squirrel trepidatiously approaches the front wheel of a road bike.

A pale yellow road bike frame, fork, and front wheel fills the left side of the picture, with a pebbled asphalt backdrop. The toe of a dirty white cycling shoe is visible at the bottom of the picture.

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jun 9

This is America, I guess.

A screenshot of a city council agenda, showing two items on the consent calendar:
8H — Award Consulting Services Agreement to Provide Professional Design Services for the Preliminary Design and Environmental Analysis of Multi-Use Active Transportation Trail Project and Appropriate Funds. Expenditure: Not-to-Exceed $700,000
8I — Authorize Purchase Order for 162 Rifles with Proforce Law Enforcement and Appropriate
Funds. Expenditure: $517,076.23

Full text:

8H. Community Development - Award Consulting Services Agreement to Provide Professional Design Services for the Preliminary Design and Environmental Analysis of Multi-Use Active Transportation Trail Project and Appropriate Funds. Expenditure: Not-to-Exceed $700,000 (General Fund and Non-General Fund).
Recommendation of the Community Development Director that City Council:
1. Award a consulting services agreement to RRM Design Group of San Juan Capistrano, CA (RFP No. B2025-24), for an amount not-to-exceed $700,000, to provide professional design and environmental analysis services for the Multi-Use Active Transit Trail Project (I-194), for the period beginning June 9, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027; and
2. Appropriate $50,000 from the Capital Improvement Fund to Transportation Open Space Corridor
Multi-Use Trail project (I 194-RW0001).
8I. Police - Authorize Purchase Order for 162 Rifles with Proforce Law Enforcement and Appropriate
Funds. Expenditure: $517,076.23 (Non-General Fund).
Recommendation of the Chief of Police that City Council:
1. Authorize a purchase order with Proforce Law Enforcement, in the amount of $517,076.23, for the purchase of 162 rifles; and
2. Appropriate $517,076.23 from the Citizens Options for Public Safety (COPS) project
(COPS-3559-OP0001).

Andrew Akers@akrs· Jun 2

Bike to school drop off and then to vote? With a cargo bike, it’s more likely than you’d think!

A cargo bike is parked in front of a voting station way-finding sign, which has a LA county “I voted” sticker and an arrow pointing to the polling station.

In the background, a typical Torrance suburban school scene. A older building, lawn, and some trees, along with a very long and wide drop off driveway.

Andrew Akers@akrs· May 23

Farewell, little bike rack.

A shot from the same place as the quoted skeet, but instead of the aforementioned little bike rack, there’s only 4 bolts sticking out of the asphalt showing where it once was.
It’s a grey day, with the Pacific Ocean in the background of the sad asphalt, separated from its bike rack friend.

Andrew Akers@akrs· May 12

It definitely still feels narrower. They extended the sidewalk and redid the median as a part of this work, so I think that’s eating some of the width. There are still other portions where the MUTCD required lane width feels like an afterthought still.