Even though the number of cyclist on LA roads has been steadily rising, yesterday was a red-letter day around Los Angeles as hundreds of first-time and out-of-practice cyclists took to the roads as part of the city’s Bike to Work day. To document the day I spent the day on my own two-wheeled steed taking pictures and enjoying a day when bikes were king of the road.
The day had it’s share of frustrations, such as a L.A. County Sheriff who wanted to see my ticket who had forgotten about the free pass cyclists on trains were supposed to get, and odd ironic moments, such as LADOT Bike Coordinator Michelle Mowery cruising past a group of Ridazz on the way to a bike workshop without a lot of people recognizing each other; but all in all yesterday was a thoroughly enjoyable day of riding, activism and education.
After the jump you can images from around town from the big day.
At the "Pit Stop" in West Hollywood, organizers estimated they were seeing about 30 cyclists an hour breeze by and another 5-10 stop by the booth. Their booth featured Fuze drinks, bottled water and granola bar
Illuminate's L.A.'s table at the Hollywood and Western Metro Station didn't have bottled water (bad for the environment) but did feature Chris from Hollywood Pro Bikes doing check-ups and quick fixes.
What's more fun than "Bike to Work Day?" how about "Bike Not to Work Day?"
The LACBC had my favorite pit-stop, it had tamales. It also had a crowd of bike activists.
At City Hall, cyclists had an impromptu bike rally. That large scroll of paper is the Cyclist's Bill of Rights with signatures. A second scroll stretched horizontally across the steps just below where this photo cuts off.
CALTRANS welcomed us with a jazz band, a pit stop and a request to please not bike in the plaza. Mikey Wally, apparently trying to add CALTRANS to the list of places he's banned for life, sort of sang along to some Queen belting out "I love to walk my bicycle; I love to walk my bike..."
But the day at CALTRANS ended on a high note with another "bike lift" and CALTRANS District 7 Bike Coordinator Dale Benson leading a group of officials in signing the Cyclists' Bill of Rights.
From there, what remained of the group took off for a bike planning workshop at USC (more on that later). For a last image, I'd like to say that a lot of people I saw on the road yesterday had shirts celebrating biking in one form or another, but only one celebrated working.
Photos: Damien Newton
