This week my post on Orange 20 Bikes lets you know how to Relax Your way Through Rush Hour with L.A. Bike Trains.

While at Flying Pigeon LA I look at The Valley's Crosstown Corridor, which follows an old right-of-way once used by literal railroad trains.

Enjoy your holidays, whichever ones you may prefer!

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 25 Dec 2013 19:00:23 -0800 [link]  

As I had finished several tasks in the early morning—one of which would actually return a pittance to me—I let myself be tempted outside by a fine, sweet rain that was just starting to fall. Having nowhere in particular to go, I put on a couple of sweaters, grabbed an umbrella, and treated myself to a walk around the neighborhood.

Los Angeles is delightful under rain; the low sky, the even light, and scents of happy vegetation combine nicely into an calming massage of the senses. I ambled down Sixth Street to the nearby park (home of the famous Tar Pits and the art museum), and while waiting to cross the street, I saw an elegant fellow riding through the tail end of rush hour on a Brompton folding bicycle.

Rather than sporting the technical gear US "avid cyclists" seem enamored of, the gentleman was wearing a tailored grey overcoat, dress slacks, and a tie, at the least. I couldn't see what else he had on under the coat. He was in the upper reaches of middle-age, and pedaled serenely along through the rain. He had the same bag Gina and I use on our Bromptons, the one that clips on the front (which was one of the factors that decided me to get a Brompton for myself). The light changed, and he rode on past the rows of car commuters waiting impatiently behind each other, heading apparently to one of the many office towers along Wilshire a block south.

I don't know whether he lives in the neighborhood or was just passing through, but if he is a resident, that makes at least four Bromptons besides our own in the Miracle Mile. Since it's an unglamourous and highly utilitarian, not to mention pricey, bicycle, possession of one indicates, I suspect, a commitment to practical pedaling.

I cut through the park to Wilshire myself, where I saw a quite different rider, a young woman on a hybrid with basket in front, riding, for some reason, in half-shorts and a light jersey, though the weather was cold as well as wet. She seemed as content with her lot as the Bromptonist, and off she went towards Beverly Hills.

There were plenty of bikes parked on the sidewalk racks as usual, and lounging on the racks in front of city buses.

Perhaps LA's residents are becoming a little more grown-up in their approach to bicycling for transport, and realize that a little water from the sky is pretty easy to handle…and can make for a delightful ride.

Richard Risemberg on Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:17:42 -0800 [link]  

On Orange 20's blog this week, we hear that You Won't Have Beverly Hills to Kick Around Anymore…Maybe. Yes, faint signs of enlightenment in that benighted city!

Meanwhile, on Flying Pigeon LA we look at the bike as facilitator of Conviviality, perhaps its finest civic grace.

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 18 Dec 2013 18:22:05 -0800 [link]  

I wasn't even on the bike this morning, just walking to the credit union to deposit an all-too-rare check, but it was a velocipedal half-hour anyway. Wilshire Boulevard was hosting a goodly number of people riding bikes to work (to judge from their attire and luggage), and even though a bare majority of them were riding the broad sidewalks, it was a pleasure to see. (Sidewalk riding is legal in the City of Los Angeles, by the way, as long as one is polite and doesn't go too fast.)

Almost equal numbers of men and women, too, and the bike racks starting to fill up, both along the curbs where the city racks are, and in the private parking areas.

Considering how daunting the traffic is along Wilshire, one of the busiest commute corridors in the nation, and one afflicted by hordes of arrogant LA drivers, it's certainly cause for optimism. The morning had started quite chilly, too, though ti was warming up by 8:30.

My eyeball count of cyclists along the Miracle Mile "has shown continued growth over the past two years," and more rigorously-derived numbers support my personal impression.

LA is slowly growing up and getting out of the motorized baby carriage….

Richard Risemberg on Thu, 12 Dec 2013 19:44:41 -0800 [link]  

All about weather this week, as I annoy both the outside blogs I write for about getting ready for winter in LA…such as it is:

See Greeting the Season on Orange 20's blog, and look at The Heck of the West on Flying Pigeon LA's.

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 11 Dec 2013 19:53:01 -0800 [link]  

What is it this week? Let's see….

At Orange 20 Bikes, I return to gaze fondly at Santa Monica's bicycle infrastructure, where Someone Gets It Right.

While at Flying Pigeon LA, I wonder whether what Los Angeles really needs, instead of a Department of Transportation, is a Department of Mobility and Access

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 04 Dec 2013 20:02:49 -0800 [link]  

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