7th & Alvarado: looking east.

LA Metro to cIcLAviA? This ain’t Paris.Roubaix Toto.

It was huge! The turnout for the second L.A. CicLAvia was big.   Everyone said it was much bigger than last year.

The journey to the event, to use Charlie Gandy (Long Beach Mobility Coordinator) vernacular “was a multi-modal trek” : Bike from home to the LA Metro station in  Long Beach; Metro to 7th  & Hope in Downtown LA, smack dab on the route; ride west to Heliotrope & Melrose where the Bike Kitchen is located right next to LACC;  ride east back to the City Hall;  across the 4th St Bridge to Boyle Hts;  ride back to 7th and then home on the Metro. 7 1/2 miles of Los Angeles city streets were closed from 10:00 to 3:00.  There’s no start, no finish.  It’s just a ride up and back along the route to see what you can find.   It was a free-for-all that was well coordinated with well mannered bicyclists.  The city felt like a well oiled community. The only time you see that many people on the streets is for a riot. What gives?  What’s happened to the anarchy?  All the intersections that were open to cross traffic were well served by traffic coordinators.  Give the people an officially sanctioned critical mass ride and it get’s all nice.  It was a civilized event.  I was told that the city deployed fewer police and traffic control officers this year since last year’s event was such a success in terms of safety and cooperation.  The next one is scheduled for July (2011).  Maybe the people will start getting bored.

For more information visit the CicLAvia Wedsite.

1899 CicLAvia Los Angeles: (USC Digital Library)

CicLAvia 1899: Bicyclists on Spring Street looking north near Eighth Street, ca.1899