If you read this blog, you may know that I am not really a fan of squeezing bike lanes into traffic, forcing people to share the road with cars, or taking car lanes out of service. Adds to congestion, is dangerous, and benefits few.
But closing the road entirely on Sunday for a massive bike ride? That is a cool idea.
This Sunday, Wilshire was closed from Downtown to La Brea for the twice-per-year CicLAvia. This is when some section of LA is roped off and people are free to bike, rollerblade, or (yawn) walk where cars normally go.
I am still not really sure how to pronounce Ciclavia. The word apparently comes from "ciclovia," which means "open streets" in Spanish. The trend was begun in Bogota, Columbia in 1976, which is also the same year it began (without any name) in Cambridge, MA.
Anyway, they took Ciclovia and made it "CicLAvia." I heard people pronouncing it all different ways today - I guess it's up to the individual, sort of like pronouncing San Pedro, Los Feliz, or Los Angeles itself.
LOTS of people ride in the CicLAvia. Apparently over 100,000. It feels a bit like riding in the Tour de France, minus the steroids and frequent crashes. There are just hordes of people biking.
Perhaps a better analogy would be that it feels like a "bike freeway." There are people zooming by in two directions in a never-ending stream. In general people ride in a flow, but some go faster, some slower, some weave, there are a few slowpokes, a few speeders. Unlike on the freeway, kids are allowed, which makes it extra dangerous as they love to spontaneously turn or change lanes without looking.
However you describe it, it's definitely surreal to be biking down Wilshire Blvd. You see so many more buildings and have such a better feel for the terrain and your surroundings.
The trip began with some Oscars in front of the soon-to-be Academy Museum.
And, ironically, this cool car in front of the Peterson Automotive Museum.
I was handed a free guide, which proved to be quite informative.
There were loads of food trucks, including this one serving Maine Lobster. I hope the truck didn't have to drive from Maine.
Passed the Wiltern before too long.
Unfortunately, my bike chain began to get stuck. It became clear I couldn't pedal anymore, and would have to turn around and walk back, a distance of a few miles by that point.
Luckily, I saw a bike repair shop. They were fixing people's bikes for free! (This was true all up and down the route, I later found out.)
There were a few people in front of me, but once they had my bike, a guy fixed it in about 3 minutes flat. I think next time I will purposely bring a bike in need of a tune up and have them fix it up for free! (Kidding.)
Back on the road, here's one of the portions where you had to stop. They draped yellow tape across the road, and then pedestrians who needed to cross went by. Or, at a few places, cars going north/south went by. This was at one of the subway stations - note the hordes of people about to start riding coming towards us.
Going by the Westlake Theater.
Downtown you again had to walk your bike, just like at the La Brea endpoint.
Time to succumb to a food truck. This one got the vote because it was in an Airstream trailer. (And they were serving Curry Burritos.)
Unfortunately it took a very long time to get the curry burrito. I had forgotten my rule about food trucks, which is: Don't go to food trucks. (They take too long.) The curry burrito was good, however.
A better plan would have been to bike over just a couple blocks and go to a real restaurant.
Now it's time to turn around and ride back.
Many cool buildings you wouldn't ordinarily notice.
Check out these people who brought an air mattress to relax on mid-ride.
Bullock's Wilshire. There was more, but I was tired of taking pictures.
Great ride. The next one is in October and is just in Downtown LA.
