ArtCycle Highlights This Week’s “Bike Weekend”

Longtime readers of L.A. Streetsblog may remember that the occasional post highlighting a variety of ride options as part of what we called “bike weekend.”  In the lead-up to the bike summit, it seems a perfect time to highlight some of the great rides that will be going on this weekend to both plug more riders in to what’s going on and to show off the depth and diversity of our bike culture.

If it’s the last weekend of the month, a bike weekend is a three day event.  Tomorrow morning, at 8:00 A.M. you can join Councilman Bill Rosendahl and the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition for the second “Car-Free Fridays” at at the West LA City Center
on Santa Monica and Corinth.  The group will leave at 8:30 before commuting to
Westwood End in Century
City / Ave. of the Stars
area. If you can’t make it to the Westside, you can always join Car-Free Friday by biking or taking transit to work yourself.

After work is over, the last Friday of the month is the traditional day for Critical Mass across the globe.  If you’re looking for a late night ride with a couple hundred of your newest friends, check out the list of Critical Masses at the C.I.C.L.E. calendar.  Incidentally, that calendar is a great place to get information on rides and green events throughout the city.

Speaking of C.I.C.L.E. they have a double-barrel of planned rides this weekend.  In addition to their regularly scheduled class, this time a “Handle it Better” for medium-skill riders; C.I.C.L.E. is also holding one of their “Urban Expeditions.”  This time the expedition will be looking at the San Gabriel Valley with “Jewels of the San Gabriel Valley II.”  For more information, head over to cicle.org.

However, the most unique ride of the weekend is the East Hollywood ArtCycle, an event that features a tour of the Hel-Mel district, a block party, and a ride to many of the top galleries in East Hollywood.  I’m not sure I can give a better description than the ArtCycle planners, so in their own words:

From 2-10pm Artists will take over the street to show their work. A
silk-screening booth will be on the street so you can take away a
memento of your day. If you bring your own shirt you only pay the cost
of the ink!! You can even get your shirt inked by a bicycle that paints
your clothes with its wheel! Bring a shirt!!!

To round out your weekend, the Southbay Cruisers bring you “A Ride to Old town Torrance IV” on Sunday Morning.  The title doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination, but if you’re interested the ride starts and ends at the rear parking lot next to the basketball courts at Wilson Parkin Torrance.

Of course, if you spell “bike riders” with two z’s and an a, there’s always the Midnight Ridazz site which is chock full or group rides 365 days a year.