BikeSD reader, Travis, sent us this story from the L.A. Times. The story is about a group called cicLAvia, playing on the original name ciclovía, who wants to shut down major thoroughfares in Los Angles once a week and turn it into "a town where people ride their bikes and walk in the streets and the smells of tacos and veggie burgers drift through the air instead of exhaust." A pipe dream? Hardly. The idea originally began "thirty years ago as a response to the congestion and pollution of city streets" in Bogotá, Colombia.
If there is one thing Southern California is known for, besides the year round perfect weather, it is smog and the car-entrenched culture. But can Los Angelenos and San Diegans imagine life outside the automobile?
The idea of ciclovía came from the former Bogotá mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who decided to subscribe to the economic model of hedonics, a philosophy whose proponents focus on fostering not economic growth but human happiness. After being elected Peñalosa said,
A city can be friendly to people or it can be friendly to cars, but it can't be both,” the new mayor announced. He shelved the highway plans and poured the billions saved into parks, schools, libraries, bike routes and the world's longest “pedestrian freeway.
It has shown us that with a little forethought and ingenuity you can make a change, maybe not a change that you are looking for, but that’s how things go when you have revolutionary protests. No, you won’t get a speedy expedited process of convincing people to throw their cars away for a bike, but you will get them to think about it.
Although at times simplistic, Cordoba's piece is a counterpoint to Kyle's harping on the negative aspects of the ride, and a good reminder to Mass riders that the movement is supposed to have a purpose behind the excitement and chaos. It's also an indication that Critical Mass is gaining a higher profile in San Diego. This is neither uniformly positive nor uniformly negative for other bicyclists. The lack of consensus in media reporting about the event reflects the city's own ambivalence toward bicycling generally. Some love it, some hate it, few take the time to truly think about it. Our city is experiencing an awkward teenage phase in its transition to a truly bicycle-friendly city, and we're bound to encounter the usual teen drama. And like the teenage years, it's going to seem like it takes forever.
The April 17, 2010 Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic is the newest AdventureCORPS cycling event, featuring 103 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing and three different ascents of San Diego County's Mount Laguna! We'll climb San Diego's highest point via Sunrise Hwy from the north, via the fabled and car-free Kitchen Creek from the south-east, and via the little-known and truly epic Pine Creek drainage from the west. There are just three stop signs and NO traffic lights on this incredible route which starts and finishes in Pine Valley, CA!
Curious on what the route looks like? Watch the video below.
Th video is compiled from 181 images of the route from various rides we've enjoyed out there in recent years. The images are in sequential order, exactly as if riding the event. Each of the three loops is also depicted with a map, elevation profile, and 3D image. It's a large file, so allow a few minutes for it to load before you click the Play button. Turn up your speakers to enjoy the music!
Please note that the event is timed and we will also recognize the club with the largest number of finishers, and fastest co-ed trio, plus the usual categories like 50+, fixed gear, tandem, etc. Also note that the Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic has a 300 rider limit.
Ken from Bikes Del Pueblo dropped us a note to let us know about the upcoming San Diego Grrrl Fair. His email had a request that states in part,
San Diego Grrrl Fair 2009
San Diego Grrrl Fair is a local event set for December that is designed to share skills and knowledge to empower womyn/women and their communities. We're currently looking for anybody who is woman cyclist to head a workshop or discussion on biking, such as sharing their experiences riding or just practical how-to's of biking.
If you are a woman cyclist and would like to head a workshop, please contact Ken at sxeken (at) riseup (dot) net or leave a comment that we can forward to Ken .
Furthermore, the organizers would also like to host an event that reflects the needs of their attendees. They have created a survey to determine what those needs are.
At SDNN today, Brian Peterson, president of the Grantville Action Group, makes a plea to retain one of Birdland/Grantville's few bicycle lanes, pointing out that a proposed plan to remove the lane flies in the face of the city's alleged determination to support bicycle infrastructure.
[I]t is important to make bicycling easier, not harder. Yet, even though the city of San Diego’s General Plan speaks of encouraging the bicycle as a viable form of transportation, they are seemingly not doing anything of substance to make it any easier.
The photo above shows the stretch of eastbound Genesee Avenue that passes under the 163, site of the proposed bike lane removal. As is plain from the photo, even the current bike lane seems barely adequate, but it's one of the few bits of bicycle infrastructure in this auto-centric neighborhood. Is this what it's come to? Scrambling to retain the sub-par infrastructure we already have, instead of promoting new and better development?
