CicLAvia – Bike Event – Los Angeles, CA
October 9, 2011
CicLAvia means “bike way” in Spanish. About 30 years ago Ciclovía originally started in Bogotá, Colombia which was a weekly street closure event…. and NOW Los Angeles. Sunday's event would mark the 3rd one of these that has been held since it's inception in 2010. There really is no official starting place or finish to this bike event, participants pretty much join the fun wherever they want along the 10 mile route. For many though, they considered the starting point of the event to be at the corner of Melrose and Heliothope where Orange 20 Bicycles and Bicycle Kitchen reside in East Hollywood at the Bicycle District.
A grip of people hooked up for the ride that would take them through, Koreatown, to MacArthur Park, into downtown, then over Olvera Street, to Little Tokyo, down through the Fashion District into south downtown LA, across the 4th Street Bridge over to Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights. The ride started at 10am and would last till 3pm which would give the participants plenty of time to go cruise through the LA streets without having to content with any traffic.
The crew that participated with the Big Wheel staffers are not expert bike riders in any regard and found that the 10 mile ride was easy to do and any rider of any level could tick off this 20 mile round trip ride. Water, bathrooms and food were everywhere along the route, so this was no Tour de France hardcore thing, it was a great ride to socialize, meet anther people along the way and to trip on the sites of Los Angeles that many of us normally miss in our everyday busy lives. The crowd of bicyclist, walkers, skaters and whatever else that rolled was well over 125,000. Bikes of all shapes and sizes and the ages varied with some participants from other states and even different countrys.... this was an event of the people.
The next CicLAvia is already planned for Sunday, April 15, 2012 from 10am to 3pm. Make your plans now to come join in the fun of this event. For more info on the next event, go HERE: www.ciclavia.org
After ride fun
More photos of CicLAvia can be seen HERE
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