First 2012 Los Angeles Based Ciclavia Now Rapidly Approaching
 

http://www.ciclavia.org/next-event/

Plus For The Latest Official News:

http://www.ciclavia.org/blog/

THese are alot of fun. I plan on being out there with the family!

Would be awesome except it is Sunday... oh well...

Is this a pain to do with clipless pedals? I notice the crowd is pretty dense.

Yes I must have unclipped at least 50x but it is a necessity if you're commuting there by bike

I ride my hybrid with platform pedals while pulling the 2 yr old in the kid carriage

If you have a bike with platforms I'd recommend using this instead. The crowds can get dense and it's easier to stop at the spots on the side of the road to walk around, partake in festivities without cleats.

Definitely going this time. For the last one in October, I sold my bike like two days before and got to watch everyone bike while walking to the grocery store.

I'm going to ride literally all day and try to get in as many miles as possible.

see ya there...today! will be difficult to remount after visiting the nom nom food truck at 1st & spring st...

The blogger BikeSnobNYC will be there, too. And I'm hoping the blogger Militant Angeleno is there.

I made it up to Orange 20 just in time to catch the last of BikeSnobNYC's talk. Bought the new book and had him sign it. And Militant Angeleno was also out there somewhere. I've posted a few pics of some of my stops along the ride to my blog, Slouching Toward Rivendell.

again, a total blast. a big thank you to all the organizers, volunteers, city planners and city employees (lapd, dot, etc) that make it possible. see you again in october!

I was there. Some of my thoughts:
No stops to get check the air in my tires (but lots of non-official stands to sell drinks and snacks.)
Very few places to get water in my water bottle. (I found one stop with a water fountain connected to a fire hydrant.)
But lots of places to BUY water.
One place to get free bike repair (I wanted to tighten up my seat stay) but I didnt want to wait in the line.
There were numerous intersections where the line of bikes had to wait for a light to change. I didnt expect this. I figured if the route is protected, there wouldnt be any stoplights at any intersections. Imagine if they ran the LA marathon but there were stoplights.
At one of the stop lights some volunteer was shouting asking all bikers to stop and walk their bikes on the downhill sections of the route for safety. One: this is not reasonable, it is a dedicated bike route. There shouldnt be pedestrians or people stopped that pose a risk to moving bikes. Two: the method of communicating this request was inadequate (one guy shouting, no megaphone, no signs, no other warnings or communications.)
I got to Orange 20 at 245pm. I stopped to eat lunch. When I wanted to turn back to ride south to where i live (south of the route), the protected route was already ended (it ended at 3pm) so I had to ride home as if there was no special event.
10am to 3pm isnt a lot of time for a 10 mile+ mile route if you intend to bike it the whole way roundtrip and stop for lunch. I didnt start from my home until about 12pm and I made some stops.

Sounds like you showed up late and unprepared. Next time bring a waterbottle. That should be plenty for a short 10 mile ride, no? I take it you're not a regular cyclist? Also, a marathon is a timed event not a family friendly stroll through the city. Just my two cents.

I brought a water bottle. But i wanted to get it filled up. It wasnt a 10 mile ride for me because i rode roundtrip and also rode to and from my home which added another 10 miles roughly. So this short 10 mile ride for me was a 30 mile ride. You are right i brought the water bottle not fully filled up and I expected to be able to get some free water at various places along the way. I had read there would be support stations (I looked at the website first) so i figured they would have some free water there (similar to every 10K running race I have ever done.) There was no free water anywhere that i saw, no bottles, no tap water, except at one location there was ONE water fountain hooked up to a fire hydrant. I am a regular cyclist. I bike from 35-100 miles a week including one group ride a week. The website indicated there would be support stations. I saw a few first aid stations, I was offered sunblock by one volunteer but i didnt see any free water except 1 place as I say. I read the cost to the city was $350K, so i expected some free water to be available.

I didnt show up late. As you say, it wasnt a race. So there was no start time. I chose to start my trip at about noon from my home. I knew in advance that the event ended at 3pm so i knew in advance (especially as i made stops including a stop for lunch) that the event would end before i was done riding back. But my point is that a 10am to 3pm duration of the event is not very generous considering it is 10 miles and also many people like probably wont opt to start at 10am, and many if not most are riding roundtrip (back to wherever they start from.) Also another thing to consider is many people might bike directly from their homes rather than drive or take public transportation to the event with their bikes. So even though the event opened up at 10am, many people probably biked from home to the event and that is a factor as to why many people may not start at the event at 10am. Some people may want to go to church on Sundays also. This is a factor for the group ride I do on Sundays usually. Once a month the start time is at 12pm instead of 1030am to accommodate church-attendees. 3pm isnt a very generous ending time for this event, that is my point.

Gary relax smile and have fun. it wasnt about what WASNT there...its about what WAS there! As experienced as u r, u should know that u cant count on any support during any ride, this or a even an organized century. 99 cent water was all over the place. Take care of your bike on your own. Press materials always indicated a 5 hour window.

This ride is not for everyone. I leave the roadbike and gear at home for this one. I bring 3-4 water bottles for me and the family, a few snacks, and a few $$ for drinks along the route. We have a blast each time.

Read the LA times write-up this morning. This sounds like the perfect event for an alt bike. Got to finish off my Beach Boys themed Varsity-based cruiser.

and yeah, i think we'd all love to have the hours extended from like say 9am-6pm but at this point, they aren't. to close the 10 miles of street in/near downtown foe the ciclavia is a huge undertaking as it is. would we all like to have zero stops at intersections? probably but the concession needs to be made (especially downtown) for the occasional car crossing. personally, i think the stops at the occasional intersection aren't a bad thing. gives you a chance to look around in detail, take a picture, chat or have a laugh with the rider next to you, etc. my only very minor complaint was that the terminus at northern spur to chinatown/olvera street wasn't really well marked. wish we had this in san diego but as it is, i will continue to visit the la one twice a year and enjoy.

Gary, think of it this way, businesses initially did not like the idea of closing down DTLA for the better part of a day because it would take away from their customers. If you buy water, food etc. from a local business, this just reinforces that this is a good event for everyone involved.

I think we should really get away from the mindset that the street were "closed" for Ciclavia. They were more open during Ciclavia then they usually are.

And Gary, this isn't a bike only event. It is for peds, skates etc.. too.

Gary, its not about what Ciclavia can do for you, it really about what you can do for Ciclavia. Dude, be thankful that there is 10 miles of no cars in DTLA.

I read the article this morning in the paper as well. I'm still not totally sure what the point is, as I don't really have a desire to putz around crowded LA streets, but I was certainly impressed they were able to pull it off and others seemed to enjoy it.

I'd be more interested in hearing about progress in making LA more cycling friendly in general. The 4000 rental bike program sounds neat, but maybe 10 years too early? Most of the area still seems like a hell hole for cycling at the moment.

The point is to re-imagine the city streets not being car centric, but people centric.
Things like CicLAvia are help make those other cycling friendly things possible. Brings attention to how great things could be.