CicLAvia has come and gone, and once again, I marvel at what a wonderful event it is. The official number of participants was an approximate 100,000 people, and from what I can tell, nearly all those people had an amazing time. There were smiles everywhere I looked, and everyone was enjoying the sights, the people, the music, the food, and most of all, our city. Our posse started at MacArthur Park, rode downtown, and then south to USC. The new addition was great fun, and the party at Exposition Park was packed. We continued back north to the newly opened Grand Park, and there we sat. We ate lunch, listened to the bands, and watched the kids get soaked in the fountain. The riding was of course great, but sitting in the new park, and enjoying the day, was something I think doesn’t happen all that often in Los Angeles, especially in the midst of Downtown. Our city is changing for the better, and is becoming user friendly.
I agree. It was an amazing time. We did the entire route from Chinatown to USC, to MacArthur Park to Boyle Heights and back to Chinatown to watch the Cyclo-cross event. I also noticed that everywhere I looked people were smiling- people were being nice to one another. Different bike sub-cultures showing off their goods- next to people who were riding that bicycle they pulled out from years of haphazard storage behind their bar b que in the back yard that they had forgotten they owned. It was an event that transcended bicycling really- and I too thought to myself- LA is getting better.
It was great to see you guys and I’m very impressed with the event. Not everyone was smiling, however. At the end of the Exposition Park segment it was very crowded in front of all the booths. I stopped and reached in my pocket for my phone to make a phone call, but was interrupted by a gruff voice behind me “Don’t stop in the middle of the road, pull over to the side!” Now mind you, it was the end of the Expo Park segment, there was basically no significant wheeled movement by anyone because of the number of people who were standing and walking around. It took the smile of my face and I cursed him under my breath. But whatever, I pulled a bit over to the side to let him pass. I resumed making my phone call, but it didn’t go through so I rolled forward not more than 10 seconds later. Ten feet in front of me this same guy was stopped in the middle of the road blocking my way. What did I do? Ha ha! “Don’t stop in the middle of the road, pull over to the side!” I gave him a good long hard look just to make sure his smile left his face too, we made eye contact, I held my stare, and after a few seconds he relented in an “Ok, you got me” gesture. So, two smiles were briefly missing from CicLAvia but I think we both got a chuckle out of it 🙂
100000 of us I felt it down-town at the crossing pass with car traffic! Out of courtesy the Ciclavia organizers probably tried to please car drivers. Well, I thought it was our special day! Anyways I still kept my big smile as I share with you that feeling that the city is becoming friendlier and I am very much ecxited about that.
Hello Alex,
Sans le tuyau d’Amandine, je n’aurai pas eu l’occasion de voir cette photos, a voir le vélo fait un tabac à LA. De quoi ne pas se sentir trop seul, et sans doute l’occasion de voir des petites merveilles. Comme le bikes de semelles rouges…