Bike Week L.A.

So it's Bike Week all across the land, and if you haven't noticed boy you must have your head under a rock!  What with everyone leaving their cars at home and the transformation of our urban landscapes into a self-propelled utopia! 

OK, so the transformation is not complete, but it's a start.  And truth is maybe I'm just more aware of it, but there are shifts happening in terms of our country's evolving urban design.  But it's slow, and is completely the result of the dedicated pressure from bike advocates at the local, state and national level.  Mainly local, like the proto-movement to get the new Trader Joe's in Hollywood to include some freaking bike racks.  We just have to keep knocking at that door until people answer.

This week I was going to be downtown anyway so I went early for the Bike Week L.A. downtown ride, and while sparsely attended it was a blast for those of us that showed up.



There were a bunch of media there, and this family with their kid in the sweet little bike seat.  After a bit of milling around the 50 or so of us set off - a motley crew of office workers, bed-headed urban bike advocates, tenured bike commuters and even a couple 20-something fixers.



I gotta say, the LAPD was awesome.  Because of our meager numbers, we had about a 1:1 attendee-to-LAPD-bike-cop ratio.  It was insane.  They cleared the way, leap-frogging our group to provide complimentary corking, and generally giving us all a wonderful, if ephemeral, sense of acceptance and worth in the downtown L.A. commuter landscape. 



Getting to ride these wide-open streets is an amazing feeling.  A sense of what a transformed, "complete streets" L.A. could be like, with more riders and more places safe to ride.



I had the good fortune to ride behind a young hipster with the skinny jeans and the U-lock in the back pocket, which of course pulled down the skinny jeans giving me an early morning serving of "hipster smile".  I tried to grab a shoot-from-the-hip shot but clearly failed, so you'll just have to take my word for it.  And dude, maybe try a belt.



We got to ride past some downtown landmarks on our way back to Olvera Street, and our ride-of-joy was over, much too soon. 



Since I still had a little time to kill I walked into Olvera Street to grab some breakfast.  Another rider was headed there too so we shared a table and chatted over Huevos Rancheros and Machaca.  Some small talk between two people from totally different walks of life about the basics - home, work, etc.  Her name was Isabella, she does concrete finishing at some major L.A. landmarks all around the area, including at City of Hope, where my brother is currently being treated.  Small world, and one made smaller by being out on a bike and not sliding though our community in a car.  I love that about bikes - you're available.  Able to interact with the people that live around you.  I liked this conversation, with this person.  I liked the lack of sentimentality when I shared the difficulties my brother is facing.  Sympathy without pathos.  She seemed like a person who has lived with difficulty and knew that you press on without wallowing.  That was what I saw anyway.

It was time for me to go, heading off to City of Hope, so I offered to pick up the tab.  Times are rough in my family right now.  Not financially, but physically, emotionally, so treating a friendly stranger to breakfast is something I can do.  I figure any greasing of the wheels of karma can't hurt right now and you never know what door brings something good back to you. She handed me her card.



I paid up, and stood to go, off to the hospital, more procedures, more uncertainty.  The Concrete Diva said, "Thank you.  I'll never forget this."  It was a small thing, just a few minutes in a day, and life goes on.  But I won't forget either, about the little ways your life can change when you get out on the street, when you are part of the city we live in.

And who doesn't need a superhero on your side from time to time?

Scrapers, Excuses and Reasons for Hope

Man I have been gone a looong time.  But I still see bike stuff I love and maybe I'll pull it together and get this going again.  I started another blog recently out of, I don't know, desperation?  My brother was diagnosed with cancer, and a blog seemed a good way to communicate with friends and family about what is going on.  If you're interested you can find it here. 

There's so much in the bike world these days that's changing, showing signs of new life.  Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation is really pushing in the right directions.  Local communities making infrastructure investments.  And the seeds of real change in urban planning - seeing that the old model of bedroom communities and private car-dependent lifestyles is not sustainable.  That stuff gives me hope.

I also seem to be seeing a lot of stuff about urban kids and bikes.  Black kids getting on bikes and bringing their style and energy to it.  I think that's great, a breakdown of old boundaries.  I saw this vid tonight that is up that alley.  A beautifully produced piece done by California is a Place, it's about a kid in Oakland that rides Scrapers - tricked out bikes that provide a diversion for kids who could be drawn to less promising pass-times.  Really cool. They have other vids too that I imagine are worth a watch.

Take a look.  I'll post more of this kind of stuff...

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

Angel Face, CM & a Horse

Jared Leto has a band. If I were a gorgeous movie star, screw it, I'd have a band too...

OK, so I met Jared in passing on Fight Club and Panic Room and when he was going to do this video it came my way. Wasn't able to do it but Nicholas Wayman-Harris at our editing company Union Editorial did a great job with it - tons of footage from random sources, but pulled it all together into a whole.

While it may be accused of the usual music video transgressions (I've made them all so I know...) it has some great bike culture/Critical Mass/Mad Max-inspired fashion/nighttime streets-of-LA goodness. That alone makes it worthwhile. So if you have a few minutes, sit back, take a look, listen for Colbert's eagle and revel in some 'Why a horse?' ruminations!

Take it away Angel Face!

Thirty Seconds To Mars - Kings + Queens - HD

30 Seconds to Mars | MySpace Video

Nice work, Jared. Next time, cyclocross! No, bike commuting! No, pennyfarthings!

Nah, I guess you got it right the first time...

Ciclovia, CicLAvia & Bogota

I just read an article in the LA Times on a movement here in LA to bring Bogota's "ciclovia" to our sunny streets.

As the article says, "Ciclovia was born in the Colombian city of Bogota 30 years ago. Car-choked and polluted, Bogota's geography and sprawl very much mirrors that of Los Angeles. But every Sunday in Bogota, the city's major avenues are shut down to cars and hundreds of thousands of cyclists take to the streets. CicLAvia wants to replicate that success in Los Angeles - a city not exactly known for being bicycle-friendly."

Good for the folks working to make this happen. They rock.

I hear these stories and I think a) Look what is possible! and b) What the hell is taking us so long?! I mean New York closes down streets in the middle of Manhattan, Bogota closes down streets EVERY SUNDAY, and we have to scrape to get a freaking bike lane that doesn't even make to our downtown area.

We have a long way to go, but you look at these other examples and it's clear that it can be done, and that given LA's natural features - good weather and relative flatness - we are wasting a terrific opportunity.

If they can do it, we can do it.

Dicks, Jerks & Scofflaws

KPCC spent some time on car/bike relations yesterday in response to the conviction of Dr. Dickwad who pulled in front of some bike riders and then slammed on his brakes sending them to the ER as his way of saying, "Pardon me, would you mind fucking off and getting your own damn infrastructure?" Wouldn't it have been ironic if the injured riders got to the ER and Dr. Dickwad was their doctor? Man, that would have sucked. But not as much as picking your missing teeth up off his trunk. I hope the judge drops some science on the good doctor's ass come sentencing day.

Anyway, Larry Mantle covered the car/bike dialog which usually goes something like this:

Bike rider: "We'd like to have some space to ride our bikes to work, school, etc."

Car driver: "GET OFF THE FUCKING ROAD AND P.S. EAT MY INTERNALLY COMBUSTED SHORTS..."

I didn't hear the actual show, or the call in, but I'm guessing it started there and ended with both sides behaving badly and getting nowhere. Larry blogged post-show and while his post is basically reasonable he does have some behind-the-wheel bias, such as when he mentioned a rider taking the lane (which is recommended in some situations for safety) saying, "It might be legal, but it's sometimes unnecessary and, in my opinion, rude to needlessly hold up car traffic." Yeah, that's exactly what Dr. Dickwad was thinking too, only he expressed in a less socially acceptable way.

I posted a comment on Larry's blog and since it might be read there by, oh, one person I thought I'd post my comment here too so I could double that readership (Hi, Tom!).

So here it is, my contribution to the comments section:


"One problem here is that many car drivers see a bike rider acting dickishly and then make the leap to 'all bike riders are dicks'. That's not true, by a mile. Clearly from the Mandeville case we see that poor behavior is not limited to bike riders, and when you get a jerk behind the wheel of a car, it's no longer an annoyance, it can be deadly. My feeling is that the guy who rides his bike like a jerk is probably a jerk when he gets in a car, too. So it's not the mode of transport, it's the jerk.

"Cars are awarded the overwhelming majority of infrastructure dollars compared to bikes - it's not even close. You spend much time out there on a bike and you are quickly made to realize that you are second class. You piss people off if you use the sidewalk, and you piss them off if you use the street. (You piss SOME off - most car drivers are really respectful - in my experience) You are forced to go rogue out there - you're really left to fend for yourself. So the fact that bike riders improvise, for convenience or for safety, is to be expected. The roads aren't made for us, the laws aren't based on our impact or our threat to others. So we improvise. Car drivers may see it as lawlessness, but they should try it sometime, you learn to make do however you can.

"That doesn't excuse rudeness. I live by Santa Monica College and I see some true retards out there on bikes, salmoning up the wrong side of the road and blowing through crowded intersections. Obviously Darwin has plans for these scofflaws.

"I think that car drivers should spend a bit of time on a bike - for many reasons. Health, sense of community, and for a little understanding of what we face. We're out there literally 'pulling our own weight', and really don't deserve the intolerance some car drivers send our way. And hey, when they pull into that empty parking space, maybe they could send a little goodwill to those of us who left our car at home."

There. World saved. Crisis averted.

El Porvenir, Clean Water and Bike Commuting

OK, I’ll get right to the point. El Porvenir is a small, grassroots organization that helps local communities build clean water and sanitation facilities for themselves in the rural areas of Nicaragua. Here's how they get water before El Porvenir gets involved - the women carry it from wherever a source is...

Photo by Patrick Xavier Bresnan

Clean water for people who deserve it - it’s a fundamentally important thing. (They also build washing/shower facilities, healthy cook-stoves and have begun reforestation projects - but it all starts with the water.)

Here's a picture of my Mom and Step-dad about 15 years ago when we went on one of their work trips. My folks were on the board of El Porvenir for many years.


(My folks also dabbled in helping kids over the border into the States to reunite them with their families trapped by INS laws, and protesting things like the School of the Americas - with the arrest record to show for it. They look so innocent, don't they?)

Anyway, if you ever wanted to see your charitable (and tax-deductible) dollar have a direct, tangible, deeply satisfying effect on the lives of others - this is it. Bringing clean water and sanitation facilities to these communities has a life-saving effect on their health, and a profound effect on the lives of the women that are the core of family life. Clean, accessible water and sanitation is a BIG DEAL that we take for granted.

I’ll provide more info below, but here's my brother-can-you-spare-a-dime/bike-related pitch...

We’re having an event at our house on November 6th to provide information about what El Porvenir does (and of course eat and drink and tell stories and goof off). Doors will open at 7, and we'll have a speaker from Nicaragua at about 8:30. We want people who work late (like me) to be able to attend. So there’s that, you are invited to come on the 6th.

If you can’t make it or if you just like additional reasons to part with a little cash, we will be doing our transportation bike riding in November as a fundraiser as well. We ride as a family about 10 miles a day to get to school and work. We are looking for pledges based on our commuting miles in November - probably about 200 miles - rain or shine! You can set a limit to your contribution or do it any way that works for you. Email me with your pledge and I’ll follow up with any more info you need. We’ll love you for it.

Please RSVP to me at bikedate(at)me(dot)com if you plan on coming so we can be ready, and we'll send you the specifics. Also, please come even if you can’t give right now. We mean that, we want to see/meet you and share what El Porvenir does more than anything. You can even just stop by for a drink and then head off to that exclusive Hollywood party that you didn't invite us to!

The bottom line is, this is a great organization. Very low overhead, and your hard-earned dollar will make life better for men, women & kids. It’s that simple. (We set up Quicken to send a small monthly check - that works for us.)

OK, here's a short video about El Porvenir:




Here’s the link to El Porvenir's site.

Friend them on Facebook here!

That's it. We hope to see you on the 6th! RSVP! RSVP! bikedate(at)me(dot)com

High Fives, Bad Bloggers & Lousy Excuses

OK, I'm the worst blogger ever. Too busy lately. But a friend just sent me this vid and it just makes me smile.

Excellent...