Peter Flax

@pflax1.bsky.social

Into riding, writing and complex carbohydrates. Every opinion stated here is mine—and mine alone.

Almost always, politicians and public figures who obsessively hate bike lanes turn out to have horrible opinions about 30 other things. Although there are exceptions, most people just aren't irrationally and vocally hateful about one thing.

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Many of you know I wrote a book on bike culture that was published a couple years ago but very few people know I worked on a different book before that—about a close HS friend of mine who worked at Morgan Stanley on 9/11 who survived but suffered from PTSD and ultimately committed suicide.

I went on a big hike in the San Gabriel Mountains and wound up driving the full length of the Angeles Crest Hwy. I was fully expecting to get tailgated and passed by a hundred Porsche enthusiasts but I was surprised that there were almost as many dudes in sporty Mazdas going hard in the mountains.

For the first time in my life, I had an editor give me a very detailed revision letter and a proposed story structure that appears to have been created with AI. I suppose this will become a common practice but it is not a welcome experience for me.

I am loving this new tactic. I think disrespecting intrenched alliances in the LGBTQ+ community and trying to make a mockery of the WNBA and playing victim after intentional efforts to stir shit up get shut down is a winning strategy.

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I had 30 minutes I guess I didn't need and read all the Peter Gleik replies and discourse I could find. I personally feel like engaging directly is pointless. But I came to a few conclusions along the way.

On Saturday I convinced some riding buddies to join me for a ride to Long Beach and up to Downey, then take a train home. But then there was track construction and we had to get off near Watts Towers and ride home. Not a huge deal but it underscored to my friends that Metro trains are undependable.

I am glad I didn't take part in piling on this guy—I've decided that this is not why I'm on social media—but honestly it's pretty depressing that someone who identifies as a climate scientist would post this. For many people, driving a motor vehicle is like a religion.

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If protecting women from lying, predatory men was my #1 issue, I'd think a vast and illegal conspiracy to suppress disclosures about the largest pedophilia scandal in US history would be of more interest than mocking and undermining the most successful women's pro league, but what do I know??

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"Drivers on residential roads in Japan have been forced to take their foot off the accelerator, after the speed limit [on 870,000km of roads] was slashed from 60km/h (37mph) to 30km/h to reduce deaths and injuries among pedestrians on narrow urban streets." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets

Speed limit dropped from 60km/h for around 70% of general roads in the hope of making narrow streets of crowded cities safer

theguardian.com

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The men now that are like ‘Oh, we need to protect the WNBA,’ y’all were the same ones saying we shouldn’t be paid…saying we’re a joke, the same ones that don’t respect Black women. So, if you’re going to protect women, that means all women…Black women, trans women and the list goes on.”

Natasha Cloud calls Enes Kanter Freedom ‘irrelevant,’ urges WNBA to ban him league-wide (Gift Article)

“I will talk about real issues that face women, and it’s not our trans human beings,” Cloud said.

nytimes.com