COOL RIDES: Peter Reyes’ vision has just...

COOL RIDES: Peter Reyes’ vision has just begun taking shape. “I just had a dream,” the 13-year-old Simi Valley youth said. “I’m gonna build a bike, and it’s gonna be bad.” . . . Across Ventura County, teen-agers like Peter are transforming their bicycles into sleek, shiny lowriding machines (B1). . . . From Oxnard to Simi Valley, kids are mimicking the cool of Southern California’s lowrider car culture, sinking hundreds, even thousands, of dollars into chrome wheels, metal-flake paint jobs and velvet tuck-and-roll upholstery.

REACHING OUT: Worried that your old clunker might break down along the scenic but desolate stretch of Pacific Coast Highway between Mugu Rock and the Ventura County line? . . . Fear not. Transportation workers have overcome early signal-transmission problems and have completed installation of 28 emergency call boxes along the highway. . . . Officials will celebrate their good work tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Box 1-77, south of Mugu Rock.

ROAD WORK: What’s the payoff for a life dedicated to better bike paths and revamped roadways? For Ventura traffic engineer Nazir Lalani, it’s being named Engineer of the Year. . . . Lalani, 44, has been cited as the region’s outstanding engineer and is to be honored at a banquet this week. . . . “I was totally shocked,” he said after being told of the award. “Generally, all you hear from are the people who are unhappy with something.”

PEST CONTROL: Dr. Marion Moses is no fan of Phosdrin, a powerful pesticide recently approved for continued use after federal regulators had agreed to take it off the market by the end of this month (B1). . . . Moses, president of the San Francisco-based Pesticide Education Center, has held pesticide workshops for Ventura County physicians. . . . “There used to be much more serious problems with this pesticide,” she said. “But I think there are some pesticides that are so toxic they can’t be used safely under any circumstances. If something goes wrong with this product, it goes badly wrong.”