A route of Los Angeles streets will be closed to motorized traffic Sunday, April 10th, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The Los Angeles CicLAvia means free, family-friendly cycling, jogging, and strolling through downtown L.A. (This will be L.A.’s second one!) CicLAvia is not a race. It’s a fun opportunity to enjoy L.A. on your bicycle! The route takes you past L.A. City Hall, heading west to the Bicycle Kitchen (northwest of MacArthur Park)… or east to Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. You can start anywhere along the route. You can head in either direction. You can stop anywhere you like. You’re sure to come across friends or discover a new, favorite café.
Many folks from the Long Beach area will head up to L.A. on the Metro Blue Line, timing themselves to arrive in L.A. by about 10:00 am. Click on the map to see route specifics.
For more information, go to www.cicLAvia.org, or contact info@cicLAvia.org.
MichaelB, April 7th 2011 |
Tags: annual event, cicLAvia, ciclovÃa, cycling, fun, ride, routes
Posted in event, ride
Participate in an important interactive group dialogue about bicycle-friendly “Living Streets” in Long Beach.
The event is free, but you’ll need to RSVP by Wednesday evening, April 6th.
For details, click on the postage stamp to the right. To RSVP, contact Allan Crawford at allancrawford@bikeablecommunities.org.
MichaelB, April 1st 2011 |
Tags: advocacy, bike lane, bike to work, commuting, fun, goals, meeting, roads, routes, safety, traffic, women
Posted in advocacy, meeting
See you at Bixby Park for an easy, family-oriented neighborhood bike ride on Saturday, March 19th, departing at 10:00 am.
Then, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, also at Bixby Park, join the community workshop to update the Long Beach Bicycle Master Plan. Your suggestions and observations will be noted by staff of the Department of Public Works.
Bixby Park is located between Cherry and Junipero, and between Ocean Blvd. and Broadway.
If the opportunity to participate in a fun bike ride and to provide City planners with your input about cycling infrastructure isn’t incentive enough… here’s one more goodie to sweeten the pot: There will be free Mc’Coffee.
It occurs to us that this Saturday you could enjoy a particularly Buzzy Day in a coffee-tasting way. We suggest that you buy various cups of coffee at several of our favorite local cafés (including coffee from Hot Java and from the Park Pantry—both across the street from Bixby Park—and from Portfolio Coffeehouse on Fourth at Junipero)… and then enjoy some free McCoffee as part of the community workshop. After the workshop, you could then cycle over to Sipology #2 on Broadway at Temple… and then cycle around the rest of the day to a dozen other great, locally-owned cafés. No… wait… you should NOT sip that much coffee in one day. Better to do your coffee tasting little by little. So… scratch the Buzzy Day idea. This Saturday, would you care for some McCoffee?
The final Bicycle Master Plan Update community meeting will take place at the Mark Twain Library (1401 E. Anaheim), Wednesday, March 23rd, 6:00-8:00 pm.
MichaelB, March 16th 2011 |
Tags: advocacy, commuting, cycling, fun, goals, meeting, ride, roads, routes, safety, traffic, women
Posted in advocacy, ride
First off, this ride is a bad idea. You probably shouldn’t go on it. It will be the middle of the night, and you’ll be useless the next day. There are no buses or trains to save you, and only 7-11s and donut shops to feed on. Only nine riders survived last year. With that being said…
November 21st, meeting at Eleven-Forty Five, just before midnight, is Long Beach Cyclists’ Second Annual (and maybe last) Full Moon Ride. This ride will take us up the San Gabriel River to El Monte, along the Rio Hondo until it meets up with the LA River, and finally back home on Long Beach’s own Beach Path.
It’s 50 miles cycling under a full moon. It’s November. It could be cold and could be rainy. And there are coyotes and vicious owls. If you’re going to ignore my advice and come along on the ride, we recommend having a well-working bicycle. One that doesn’t creak and ache. One that you know how to fix, or one that won’t break. You are responsible for yourself (hey, just like in real life!)
Lights are a must. No lights, no ride. We’ll send you home. Seriously. Helmets are strongly encouraged.
We’ll probably stop at Denny’s when we’re done — if we finish…
Sunday, November 21st @ 11:45PM… until Monday, November 22nd before sunrise
Meet at Belmont Pier
Ride leaves at Midnight
Get there at 12:01 to see our tail lights in the distance.
View Bad Idea in a larger map
Thank you D Dougherty for organizing this great ride!
MichaelB, November 15th 2010 |
Tags: annual event, bicycle, cycling, fun, ride
Posted in event, ride
Bill Freed and his friend Jim Park recently cycled the Pacific Coast. We know Bill as an urban cyclist and member of Long Beach Cyclists. Yet Bill’s photos and report tell us that the recumbent tricycle is a great way to travel long distances comfortably and in style. Click on each image to enlarge it.
Bill Freed writes:Â This is a short summary of our trike ride from Canada to almost the Mexican border. Our great adventure began for myself and my good friend Jim Park on June 28th when we met in Seal Beach and rode to San Diego to complete the first part of our trip. We had intended to go to the Mexican border… but got lost in San Diego, falling short of our goal by a few miles.
The next part of our ride began on July 9th after a friend dropped us and our trikes off at Anacordes, Washington State. From there we took ferries to the Orcas and San Juan Islands, and then cycles on to Victoria, B.C., Canada. We rode in each of these locations, then took a ferry to Port Angeles, from where we began our southbound journey down the Olympic Peninsula. Eventually we returned to the coast near Long Beach, Washington.
We crossed the Columbia River into Astoria, Oregon. From there on we remained on the coast (mostly along 101 or Hwy 1) the rest of the way to our homes in Southern California.
Here are a few statistics about the trip. Miles covered by region: Canada 20, Washington 318, Oregon 365, California 704. Total cycling distance: 1407 miles. We were on the road for about a month and a half. We averaged between 40 to 45 miles per day. All things considered, it was a great trip, and believe it or not we had no flat tires, we had no rain, and we only had to deal with a couple of minor mechanical problems.
MichaelB, November 11th 2010 |
Tags: bike tours, Bill Freed, fun, recumbent, ride, routes, tricycle recumbent, trike
Posted in Featured
The 10th of October… 10-10-10, is a GREAT day for a bike ride! CicLAvia means the City of Los Angeles closes more than seven miles of roads to motorized traffic. It lasts from 10 am to 3 pm.—five hours of easy, urban cycling! This isn’t a race. There’s no fee to participate. Just show up on your bike and enjoy!
Head up to Los Angeles—perhaps take the Blue Line Metro to get to the downtown area—then join the fun. (A number of Long Beach Cyclists will depart from Long Beach Transit Mall aboard the Blue Line at 8:30 am, aiming to meet up with friends in L.A. from the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition so that a larger group of us can ride together. Accompany us or meet us there!) You can cycle CicLAvia in either direction. The route runs through downtown L.A. To the west, the route reaches to the Bicycle Kitchen in East Hollywood. To the east, the route reaches to Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. Just think: No cars to deal with except at a relatively small number of intersections. See CicLAvia.wordpress.com for more information. Click on the map on the right to have a look at route specifics.
The ciclovÃa (see-clo-VEE-uh) concept is popular in numerous Latin American countries and in Europe. For example, Ecuadorian cyclists enjoy a fantastic circuit across Quito, the capital city… ONCE A WEEK throughout the year! Let’s be glad this ciclovÃa is L.A.’s first one, and hope it’s not L.A.’s last one!
MichaelB, October 9th 2010 |
Tags: bike lane, cicLAvia, ciclovÃa, cycling, fun, ride, routes
Posted in event, ride
Our Travis is super friendly, a cyclist, a great bike mechanic, and a handsome guy with a lonnnnnnng beard. Saturday morning, 8 am, October 2nd, you can cycle with Travis to the Port Fest. The staging area for all interested people to cycle to the port is the downtown Promenade (Ocean Blvd. near Pine Avenue). Folks on bikes can enjoy a special cycling tour of interesting areas of the Port of Long Beach not usually seen by outsiders—that ride takes place at 8:00 am. People on bicycle who arrive at the Promenade later can nonetheless participate in escorted cycle rides to the Port Fest itself. Long Beach Cyclists will run a table at the Promenade Saturday morning, and will provide free bike valet at Port Fest (south of Queensway Bridge) all day long.
MichaelB, October 1st 2010 |
Tags: annual event, bike tours, bike valet, fun, Green Port Festival, Port of Long Beach, ride, routes
Posted in ride
You will want to cycle to the Port of Long Beach for this one! Participate in a guided cycling tour of portions of our port. Enjoy the many educational and fun activities that take place during Green Port Fest.
Long Beach Cyclists will help lead a cycling tour around parts of the port not normally open to the public. Also, we will offer free bike valet. Contact us (lbcyclists@gmail.com) about helping LBC for a small block of time so that each one of us can participate in some of the many cool activities that will take place.
Click the postage stamp on the right for details. Learn more about Green Port Fest by going to the Port of Long Beach Green Port web page.
MichaelB, September 21st 2010 |
Tags: bike valet, fun, Green Port Festival, ride
Posted in event, ride
Friends Laura and Russ departed Long Beach at the start of August of 2009 on an open-ended cycling adventure they call “Path Less Pedaled.” One year in, they are still cycling and exploring. Cheers Laura and Russ!
This week, Adventure Cycling dot org offers a clink of the wine glass, (or a ding of its bike bell, if you prefer), in honor of Laura and Russ—Pathlesspedaled dot com. They are being honored as ‘Link of the Week.’
Of course we can easily go directly to Laura and Russ’ website by typing in pathlesspedaled dot com… and of course we can easily go there by clicking on the words Path Less Pedaled in the column to the right. Well, this week—this week only—you can also link to Path Less Pedaled via Adventure Cycling dot org.
We at Long Beach Cyclists do not anticipate Adventure Cycling to feature Long Beach Cyclists dot com as an upcoming ‘link of the week’ anytime soon—even though living in Long Beach is its own kind of adventure.
We are not grumbling. They say that at this point you cannot get on the cover of the District Weekly at any price. Not even Laura and Russ can do that.
MichaelB, August 28th 2010 |
Tags: bike tours, fun, pathlesspedaled
Posted in Featured
