One of my favorite subjects to blog about is bike parking, and I addressed again this week, my coverage ranging form Santa Monica in Orange 20 Bikes's In Your Face, to Pasadena in Flying Pigeon LA's Old Pasadena Learns New Tricks.

Because after all, if you can't park your bike safely when you get there, you aren't going to pedal there, are you?

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 25 Sep 2013 19:40:29 -0800 [link]  

This spiral bridge over the Pacific Coast Highway has been in place for ages, but I finally found a decent vantage point for a photo. Unlike the other pedestrian bridges over PCH, this one features all ramps, no stairs, making it convenient for bicyclists as well as walkers. It connects to the ramp that takes traffic down from Ocean Boulevard to the highway.

PCH is nearly impossible to cross without a signal or a bridge at most times of the day, so this is a valuable link between Santa Monica's clifftop Palisades and the beach. (There's also a bike/ped tunnel at Santa Monica Canyon to the north; south of the pier PCH turns inland and merges into Highway 10, and the cliffs diminish to nothing, so access is easy.

Richard Risemberg on Mon, 23 Sep 2013 18:36:09 -0800 [link]  

Back to bike racks this week….

At Orange 20 Bikes, I look at good news in El Segundo, and bad news on Larchmont Boulevard, in As It Happens. (Sorry, no link; the post was lost in a server migration.).

While at Flying Pigeon LA, I focus on Larchmont Revisited, as the bad news gets marginally worse.

But we'll see what we can do to make it better…eventually.

Richard Risemberg on Thu, 19 Sep 2013 06:56:17 -0800 [link]  

If it does not fit, you must not quit!

Okay, that's not quite what Johnny Cochran said, but it applies here….

I was picking up some foam for a non-bike project, and the price was good so I got a little extra. But then it wouldn't fit into my pannier, at least not without more folding and squashing than I felt up to there on Maple Street downtown.

At first I considered putting my arms through the bag loops as if it were a knapsack…but the weather was too warm for that sort of thing.

Then I looked down and saw that I could just cross the loops bandolier-style on my saddle and let the bag itself rest on the luggage rack. After all, it needed to last only seven miles.

The material is thin (and will be recycled, by the way), so it was perfectly comfortable, and the package arrived at home undamaged. Could easily have lasted twenty miles.

Looked stupid, but I didn't care. It got the job done!

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 02:54:20 -0800 [link]  

On Orange 20's blog this week, in Nice Try, But…. I cover an aesthetically delightful but almost unusable bike rack—one of the few in its town as well.

And at Flying Pigeon LA, I ponder why bike counts are left to volunteers on streetcorners two days a year, while cars are counted thoroughly, automatically, and at great length all over town; read Clipboards vs Robots for details.

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 11 Sep 2013 19:30:31 -0800 [link]  

Onward, ever onward!

This week on Orange 20's blog I review how the county's smaller cities have Los Angeles Surrounded by better bike infrastructure than the dominant town of the region has managed to come up with.

Then at Flying Pigeon LA I wonder What Is a Hater to Do? now that bicycling is becoming ever more widespread and…well, normal.

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 04 Sep 2013 20:58:24 -0800 [link]  

Well, your editor has somehow talked himself into showing a few photos at a local coffeehouse in Bicycle Fixation's home turf in LA's Miracle Mile district. They feature the varied architecture of the area—and the area's architecture is eclectic indeed, even for LA!—and they are on display for a few weeks at:


Muse has excellent coffee and teas, good pastries, and absolutely superb vegetarian and vegan entrées, from scrambles to wraps and sandwiches to chili and more. It's one of our regular places.

There will be an opening on Friday September 6th, from 8:00PM to 9:30PM (or later if we feel good!), and fellow cyclist John Vu of Hungry Beat will be spinning vintage sounds for the evening.

By the way, the place is bike-friendly, with racks available on both 8th and next door on La Brea (in front of The Little Bar, whose owner Angelo is a friend of both ours and Muse owner Jennifer).

So drop by, say hi, enjoy some great food and music, and maybe even look at my pictures....

See you there.

Richard Risemberg on Tue, 03 Sep 2013 03:28:04 -0800 [link]  

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