Bicycling

Located east of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley is home to over 30 cities and 2 million persons.  A strong recreational cycling scene exists in the region, particularly in the northwest and foothill communities where large, long-standing group rides like the seasonal Rose Bowl ride have been a fixture for decades.

Yesterday, while plotting out my Bike to Work Day route that would allow me to see the most booths as possible, I got a phone call from my Mom.  She was biking to work, and wanted to know if I wanted to join her.  Longtime Streetsblog readers will note that Mom and I have had several bike adventures together in L.A. at Tour de Ballona's, the 2009 River Ride, and a pair of CicLAvia.  Now we're rounding out our experience with a Bike to Work Day Ride.

Well, tomorrow is the big day, Bike to Work Day is finally upon us.  I'll be riding with a special guest to her job tomorrow and reporting on her experience biking to work.  This guest is not a usual bike commuter.  To help us round out our coverage, I need your help.  While riding to work tomorrow, take pictures, video, or take note of special stories as you complete your commute.  Send them to me at damien@streetsblog.org or leave links in the comments section below.  As the day goes on I'll update our Bike to Work Day events page with your stories, pictures and other media.

The Sylmar Business Improvement District (BID) is seeking to improve and re-imagine a just-over-half-mile section of San Fernando Boulevard through the power of greenspace creation and landscaping.  The BID isn't seeking to change the use of the road, all changes will happen on existing medians.  Instead, they just want to make San Fernando Boulevard a more pleasant place to be.

(In the third installment of our series on bicycling around L.A. County as part of our Bike to Work week coverage, long time reader Michelle Chavez writes about bicycling in the Antelope Valley.  Chavez's work is really top notch and includes an interview with (which you can read in its entirety here) and a bike commute in one minute in the A.V.  Pay special attention to the road conditions. - DN)

(Instead of covering the traditional gambit of events around the City/County that are part of Bike Month, we reached out to cyclists working on local groups and issues to talk about the experiences and challenges they face.  We tried to get folks from areas we don't usually cover on bike issues, (i.e. not Long Beach, not Wilbur Ave...) and are proud to present the first part of our Bike Week bonus coverage via Mark Elliot of Better Bike Beverly Hills.)

Tomorrow, on Saturday, May 14, Streetsblog will host our first "Westside Ride to the Venice Pier."  Our vision for the ride was a slow paced family ride with a stop along the way for a regroup, so come on out, bring the kids, and lets go for a ride.

Last week, the LADOT Bike Blog announced that plans for 1.5 miles of Bike Lanes along Foothill Boulevard , from Osborne Street in the west to Wentworth Street in the east, in the Northeast San Fernando Valley were running in to a road bump.  In an effort to preserve a little bit of car parking, a portion of the southbound bike lanes will be removed with cyclists encouraged to take an alternate "Bike Route" for just over a quarter of a mile onto the parallel Foothill Plaza.  The "Foothill Plaza" detour will allow the LADOT to constrcut bike facilities for this portion of the valley without having to go through an environmental review or local political battle.  The detour was suggested at a meeting of the Foothill Trails Neighborhood Council and has the support of the local City Councilman, Paul Krekorian.

On Saturday afternoon, the City of Santa Monica hosted its 20th annual Santa Monica Festival. The wholehearted embrace of biking at this year's event was, it seemed, both an embodiment of the city's early successes in encouraging biking and a hopeful harbinger for an even more bike friendly future.