Southern California - Los Angeles River Ride, June 5th. Is this a "good" ride?

Early registration closes this Friday. Considering doing the century. Is this a decent ride to do? Are there going to be a bunch of people who don't know how to ride? Literature says it's a "Relatively flat profile", so I wouldn't think it would be too difficult.

Anybody riding this? In addition to the century, they also hae a 70, 50, 35, and 15 mile ride option.

Did the century last year. Yes, it's a flat century and the ride is mostly in the 'sewers' of LA. Highly doable.

It's ooo-k IMO but not too crazy about it. There are a lot of squirrely riders especially on the way back/last few miles of the ride since you will meet children, families weaving their bikes on the bike trail.

Not sure if I'm doing this again this year but we'll see.

i hope its good. i am really looking forward to it. first time riding with a lot of people and first time attempting the century.

Thanks for the info, especially on what to expect in the last miles. Guess I'll go ahead and sign up for it. I'll use it as a "training" ride for the L.A. Wheelmen Grand Tour three weeks later. For that one, I'll just do the easier "lowland double".

Good luck. Just remember to pace yourselves during the ride. Post a ride report after doing your first century. :)

I did the 50 last year and liked getting to see a lot of L.A. Yes, it's not all pretty for sure. But it's home!

Been on the fence about whether to do the 70 or the 100. Just decided on the century. It'll be my first.

The first three miles were a bit crowded on the path but after that it was manageable.

I hope L.A. will continue to extend the L.A. River bike paths like through downtown and the valley. Universal Studios is trying to expand but is also trying to block expansion of the river path claiming that screenwriters are going to throw screenplays over the fence!

Good luck. Just remember to pace yourselves during the ride. Post a ride report after doing your first century. :)

Will do. It won't be my first century. I rode in the San Diego Bicentennial celebraton back in 1969, I think it was. That was a double century run as part of San Diego's 200th anniversary and one tough ride. Only other organized century I've done is the Solvang Century back in 1985. Still have that give-away shirt, but it's pretty tight on me these days. Done a bit of other riding here and there over the years. Went from Washington, D.C. to Virginia Beach to central Kansas in 1995 (1800 miles in three weeks, unsupported). Other stuff here and there, but nothing organized. Need to get serious about riding on a regular basis, for health reasons if nothing else. I'll post a quick recap after the ride. I'm not expecting any issues. Need something nice to break in the new bike.

My husband and I are doing either the 36 or the 50 - it will be my first time at either of those distances, and we are doing the Pasadena Marathon pre-ride next weekend (26mi) as a warm-up to see where I am at.

This will be my first time, but I've done quite a bit of research on the routes and they all look flat. I will also take the advice about pacing - my husband likes to go fast and has much better "bike muscles" than I since he has been doing it since he was really young. Lucky me I am in better shape than he is after he took a long break from biking :)

Hello all!

I am looking into this ride as well. The fee is 55 bucks. What do we get again for $55? Is there a meal at the end of the ride? The website is not clear on this. I would appreciate any input. I would like to sign up... i hope it's fun! :)

The ride is fun and it is about as flat as you can get. The entry pays for a medal (i think), t-shirt, food at the rest stops which was OK and a enpanada at long beach (which was a piece of crap). I am going to renegared the ride, some of my buiddies are going to do it (pay) but much slower.

The ride is decent. I have done the ride and found it rather boring because it is in my "backyard" so stopped at Artesia and went home for lunch. Later I took the train back to Silverlake and saw a few other riders on too. Also, I have volunteered at the Long Beach stop and was shocked by the greed of the faster cyclists. The volunteers make sandwiches and cut fruits, put out beverages and assisted in any ways possible only to have not enough for all riders. The faster guys stood around and ate most of the food while some who came a hour later quit the ride at the Pike to buy their own food. Shucks, no one is that hungry for a crusty sandwich filled with sugar laden peanut butter and jelly. On the other hand, it was nice to talk to some of the cyclists who were doing their first long ride.

gonna have to pack a few gatorades and some protein bars. :)

Can't wait for some crusty sandwiches

Hello all!

I am looking into this ride as well. The fee is 55 bucks. What do we get again for $55? Is there a meal at the end of the ride? The website is not clear on this. I would appreciate any input. I would like to sign up... i hope it's fun! :)

Hey remember it's a major fundraiser for LACBC...

I had lots of fun when I did it. The volunteers were wonderful. There's plenty of time to socialize, too. I met a couple of riders in 2007 who are still my friends today.

The fact that it attracts more cyclists every year says something about it, too...

around how many cyclists come to this? also how many do the century?

Just signed up for the century. Also the Cool Breeze double metric century in August that runs from Ventura to Goleta via Ojai and back. That ride will make up in beautiful scenery what the L.A. River run lacks. The Cool Breeze jersey is really attractive, so I ordered one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSRelSB_y6c&feature=player_embedded#at=164

do you have to pay? can u just ride like on regular days?

yeah there's a fee. the money is going to good cause i believe.

This will be my 4th LA River Ride - first time attempting a century. Registration fees go to support the LA Bicycle Coalition, a great advocacy group on behalf of LA cyclists. The fact that the LA River Trail has been extended, and the LA Bike Plan has gotten renewed interest is because of their input at City Hall. The route is very flat, so you shouldn't have much trouble completing it. I heard last year that some of the first riders through the pit stops were somewhat piggish, but it seemed like there was enough to go around when I came through much later in the day.
And yeah, the ride may be through the sewers of LA, but they're MY sewers, so you better not talk smack about them...

Enjoy the ride and good luck!!

i'm gonna register at rei. free water bottle. :)

They're expecting between 2-3000 cyclists?

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/35793460

I entered the (tentative) century route into Map My Ride. This came from their web site, but with the warning that it isn't the official map. I asked yesterday at REI when I picked up my packet if they would hand out route maps. They didn't have a clue. They said there would be "signs". Uugh. I don't want to rely on signs. Too easy to miss. From Map My RIde, you can output a GPX file. However, I wasn't able to import it into Garmin Connect. Tried a bit, but couldn't figure out how to convert the GPX into a Garmin FIT format file. Can't get it onto my Edge 500. Next will try to upload it into my Oregon 400T (with U.S. Street maps).

I am going to renegrade it. Rode it last year and the food well kind of sucked and my firends road slow so this year I will be riding at my own pace.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/35793460

I entered the (tentative) century route into Map My Ride. This came from their web site, but with the warning that it isn't the official map. I asked yesterday at REI when I picked up my packet if they would hand out route maps. They didn't have a clue. They said there would be "signs". Uugh. I don't want to rely on signs. Too easy to miss. From Map My RIde, you can output a GPX file. However, I wasn't able to import it into Garmin Connect. Tried a bit, but couldn't figure out how to convert the GPX into a Garmin FIT format file. Can't get it onto my Edge 500. Next will try to upload it into my Oregon 400T (with U.S. Street maps).

They will hand out cue sheets.

Kind of surprised it's on a Sunday.:D

I think it was on Sunday last year as well, not sure why?

Kind of surprised it's on a Sunday.:D

Way, way back ... about 40 years ago, I did a little bit of racing, but stopped because all the races were on a Sunday morning. I decided church was more important, so I stopped racing. (I stunk anyway.) These days, a lot of churches have services on Saturday nights or even Sunday afternoon/nights ... so I'll be riding.

Way, way back ... about 40 years ago, I did a little bit of racing, but stopped because all the races were on a Sunday morning. I decided church was more important, so I stopped racing. (I stunk anyway.) These days, a lot of churches have services on Saturday nights or even Sunday afternoon/nights ... so I'll be riding.

I just thought it was interseting as most riders would want to do a century on Saturday, have Sunday to rest before heading back to work on Mon. mornin'.:D

Is it too late to sign up, and is anyone driving in from the IE?

Thx.

Is it too late to sign up, and is anyone driving in from the IE?

Thx.

From the email they sent out today:



For your friends and family who have not registered yet but plan on doing so on the day of the ride:


Come early as the lines for day-of registration tend to take a little more time.
If you can come with a form already filled out, that will speed up the registration process (though we will also have blank forms available for you to fill out).
Please make sure that the waiver portion is signed and that you write clearly.
We accept checks, credit cards, and cash for registration, but we encourage you to bring checks (made payable to LACBC), as they are the form of payment that speeds up the registration process the most.


Check out the site for more info: http://www.la-bike.org/lariverride

I will be at the Shoreline pit stop volunteering tomorrow morning. Ride safely folks.

Thought the pre-ride ceremony dragged on for a bit but overall it was a good ride!
Finally completed the century this year.

Saw a bike pinned under an SUV on my way back to the finish line. Didn't see ambulances so hopefully nobody got seriously hurt.

@StopDiegoStop we saw the bike under the SUV too - I don't know what happened but it looked like a kid's bike :(

I was very, VERY disappointed in the organization of this ride. Having the kids on the "family ride" have to ride over the freeway over-crossing in all that traffic really worried me.

We did the 50 mile route (my first 50, YAY ME!!) and the sections that were on city streets were so bad I thought my eyeballs were going to vibrate out of my head. All of the railroad crossings eventually knocked my wheels out of true, even with how careful I was being. As the day went on, traffic on the streets got progressively worse and I felt like it was just dangerous. A lot of bikers didn't know traffic rules (like if there is a right turn lane and you are going straight, ride to the left of the right turn lane) which snarled traffic even more.

I wanted to love this ride, but the sections in traffic were just too much for me.

I was gonna ride it this year but due to my accident in April i wasn't able too. I wanted to do the century. I live in Burbank and ride the LA river a lot, it gets pretty boring but theirs no cars so its nice not having to worry about drivers and stop lights.

Here is my RR:
Anyway it was great weather amd the frowds didnt seem to bad. they did get a late start but that is no big deal since i was renegadeing the ride I brought all my own water a food so i cant say foe sure how well supported it was but from the looks there was not much and little to choose from. The course was much better this year as they utilized more bike trails. We didnt ride any of the early street near the zoo. Also once we made it to Long Beach there was another bike bath we used not sure which one. That was nice until it got really rough. The headwinds were not too bad until deep back into LA.

There was one acident I know of at the very last turn of the ride in front of the zoo. Apparently a bike cut a car off? becase the car was in his proper lane. Anyway the bike was under the rear tire of a SUV and the rider was pulled out and taken off. Not sure what the status was of teh ride but it looked scary.

Thought the pre-ride ceremony dragged on for a bit but overall it was a good ride!
Finally completed the century this year.

Congrats on the century. There was a "pre-ride ceremony"??? What time was that? The web site says that check-in started at 6:00. I didn't get there until 6:30, checked in and got a route slip, looked around and everybody was just kind of hanging around, so took off to do the ride.

Don't think I'll do the ride again. I like the idea of the non-traffic bike path ... a nice long one. Was getting lots of use, by people other than on the organized ride. The second bike path, (San Gabriel Bike Path???), was awful. They don't maintain that at all and there were several spots where the asphalt was coming up, resulting in pot holes. That will screw up your wheel truing.

Also didn't care much for having to go through the industrial part of East Los Angeles, but they have to get you from one place to another. It was well marked, but heaven help you if you missed one of the markers. I was surprised that none of the markers were pulled up off the street. There were enough riders, going and coming, where it was not necessary to have a route slip. Outbound, I hooked up with a small pace line, (sort of). I just followed them, and it didn't take long at all before they left me behind, but I always caught up with them at the next signal light, (hee hee).

The rest stops were pretty good, in my opinion. In Long Beach, they had P&B sandwiches, oranges, and bananas. Something else, but can't remember. Was surprised that at the finish, they didn't have anything. Somebody was selling food, and it didn't look all that desirable.

Was sad to see the condition of the bike path through South Gate, East Compton, who knows what the name of the town is. Lots of graffiti. A lot of money and effort was spent in bringing a off-street bike path to this area, and they trash it.

I was happy to get my first century in about 22 years. A nice flat one to start. I'm signed up for the Cool Breeze double metric century in August. Better start training. My legs are a little sore this morning.

I'm not really sore this morning either, so I'm happy about that! Although I only did the 50, but it was my first one. I just have to solve the crippling neck pain issue - on the last 10 miles it felt like there were knives sticking in my neck and in my upper shoulder and I was almost frozen in position :( the bike has been professionally fit now, so it isn't that. It is either a fitness issue or an actual problem with my shoulder, so I am going to break down and go have it looked at

Sunday was my first century. I suppose the ceremony was going on around 7:15. Not sure. I hung back and stretched out so I couldn't see what the hullabaloo was at the start line. I'd guess there were 400 or more waiting at the start of the century ride. I loved the ride. I enjoy riding through the industrial zones. They're parts of town I rarely see. There were some rough patches of road, but that's the reality of our city. No money = crumbling roads. I stopped in LB. The snacks were appreciated. I liked the beach path, and the San Gabriel River was in decent enough shape for me. But the path was pretty narrow for the amount of riders on it. Only a couple times did the racing types make passes that were a bit dangerous and had people yelling. I had expected more rudeness on the century (ambitious types). But it was very congenial. I felt great the whole ride till around the 2 Freeway on the way back. My knees started to throb, and my arms - having been in the same position for six hours on my flat barred hybrid - started to go wobbly on me. Won't get into my pickled behind. Luckily a guy who'd been pacing me for a while yelled at me to keep pushing those last four miles.

I took advantage of the free massage at the finish. Which was nice.

I'm not asking for free stuff, but the finish was a bit lackluster. Also, didn't feel like paying $7 for a beer. $7? How is that sponsoring the ride?

I saw the bike crushed under the car but no rider was there. It's a dangerous intersection, in general. The 5 Freeway sometimes gets back up many miles just with people waiting to get off at Zoo Drive. The design in outdated. Hopefully the rider is okay.

Congrats on the century. There was a "pre-ride ceremony"??? What time was that?

The second bike path, (San Gabriel Bike Path???), was awful. They don't maintain that at all and there were several spots where the asphalt was coming up, resulting in pot holes. That will screw up your wheel truing.

I was happy to get my first century in about 22 years. A nice flat one to start. I'm signed up for the Cool Breeze double metric century in August. Better start training. My legs are a little sore this morning.

Thanks. Did this ride last year but missed the extra miles after the Long Beach SAG. Finally did the whole thing this year.

It wasn't really a ceremony but they lined up all the riders @7AM and the mayor of LA and Glendale and a dude from a tv show gave some "short" speeches.

Yup, some of the bike paths were terrible. I just imagined I was doing the baby version of the Paris-Roubaix (Hell of the north) bike race from all the cracks and holes on the ground.

Will probably sign up for the Cool Breeze century too. Not sure if I'm ready to do the double metric yet. Good luck! :thumb:

I was gonna ride it this year but due to my accident in April i wasn't able too. I wanted to do the century. I live in Burbank and ride the LA river a lot, it gets pretty boring but theirs no cars so its nice not having to worry about drivers and stop lights.

I 100% agree with you. I do the same! :thumb:

Is the LA River trail more than 5-6 miles long? Looking at google maps it seems like there isnt much there.

I work right by there in burbank (Western&San Fernando), and would love to have a lunchtime ride I could do. Riding conditions up here seems so horrible compared to OC, so I've not tried a lunch ride yet.

My second organized bike event (first one was the Long Beach Tour de Cure) and first century. I have to say overall it was a fun event with a few things to improve on. Will I do it next year? I think so.

Things to look at:
1) Better roads??? Some pretty gnarly holes and cracks to go through. Some were painted so we could see at least. Also going through the tracks was not fun
2) Better organization slightly, at least compared to the Tour de Cure.
3) Bibs, I like to keep them for fun, wish they had one.

All the rest stops had PB&J quarters, bananas, oranges, and water. Routes were both clearly marked, thank you for marking after the turn so you knew if you made it correctly. Though there was enough people to follow all the time I didn't really have to look down.

Overall I had an amazing Sunday!

Still trying to pick up the lingo and all the hand signs, I think I'm starting to understand them.

Any other fun events coming up?

Adam

Is the LA River trail more than 5-6 miles long? Looking at google maps it seems like there isnt much there.

I work right by there in burbank (Western&San Fernando), and would love to have a lunchtime ride I could do. Riding conditions up here seems so horrible compared to OC, so I've not tried a lunch ride yet.

LA river trail is about 7 miles from end to end. Sometimes I would do 2 or 3 passes &/or loop around Griffith Park which is adjacent to the river.

This was my third ride on the LA River Ride and 1st century. Even though it was announced that this was a ride and not a race, you'd have thought it was the Tour De France the way some of the riders were attacking Zoo Drive. After the first few miles the pace kind of evened out and there was a little more space on the route. A lot of posters have complained about the roads through downtown, but it is an industrial area, so its not surprising that they are pretty chewed up.

Mostly, I wanted to thank all of the volunteers who spent their Sunday working at the rest stops, slicing oranges, making sandwiches, and keeping the riders spirits up. Everyone was really cool and I just wanted to let you all know that your efforts were appreciated - you guys rock!!

I was the Shoreline pit stop and was asked numerous times if maps were available. Unfortunately they were not and I didn't know which way to send folks so I had to ask myself. As El Gigante pointed out, many of those guys sped up to us like they were winning medals and/or money only to camp out for about 45 minutes then another 30 minutes after returning from the Eldorado Park route. Us volunteers could not understand it all but we kept on trying to serve the riders. As I mentioned about my previous volunteering experience with this ride, those fast guys who speed in and camp out for over an hour have no consideration for other riders. They are the ones who ate all of the sandwiches and had jerseys full of bars. As much as we tried to "conserve" what little food we had to distribute, these groups did not care. I felt for those who got only water and crackers. Hopefully the food supply will increase and/or people learn to be considerate of others.
The volunteers that I worked with were great and hard working and we made a pretty good team. Any concern or thoughts should be sent to the LACBC in order for them to better the ride in the future.

Strange I was pushing it and tried to avoid most of the stops. Hit Long Beach twice and that one right after you get back on the bike path while leaving LA. But then again I didnt knwo a whole lot of people out there and I also broguht all my own food and drinks.

I was the Shoreline pit stop...

Thanks for volunteering. The food and water were very much appreciated. The P&B sandwiches were a welcome surprise. Have to admit that I had three wedges, and about three, maybe four 1/2 bananas. Didn't take any oranges however. Thank you again. Your efforts were greatly appreciated by some of us.

On the hard cases ... for the most part, I found them fairly considerate, (on the road). I was passing people, (riding solo), but pace lines passed me frequently. Only in once instance was a "warning" not given, and that time they came so close to me that an accident/crash could easily have happened. Most of them seem to appreciate that I answered "Okay" when they'd shout out "Left", (meaning that I knew they were coming and I'd hold my line until they passed).

I enjoyed myself. Leg weakness pretty much gone today. Looking forward to the Cool Breeze double-metric in August. I think for July I'll ride my own century, from Palmdale to Tehachapi, and back by a slightly different way. Already have a route mapped out.

For as much as they charge for these events, I think its the organizers responsibility to provide enough food and drinks for all the participants. Why should the faster riders be frowned upon. If they are faster, they are probably lighter than the slower guys and probably eat the same or less.

how are most of the riders at these events? is everyone like on their own or their own little groups or does everyone socialize with everyone else?