Los Angeles: Let's get down to business

I've been involved with Los Angeles cycling 'culture' since 2003 and the growth, energy and spirit of it has been unexpected, lively and insanely motivating. Since back then we have C.I.C.L.E, the Bicycle Kitchen, the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition; all of which have been working diligently to put people on bikes in this city. And my how we have grown. Midnight Ridazz has ballooned by epic proportions and now the splinter rides of splinter rides have their own rides. There are a whopping four community bike spaces, not including the bike shops opened by active members of those spaces. There once was a time when I knew every cyclist I'd pass on Sunset Blvd. I'm delighted that this is no longer the case and bike riders abound like never before. And in the city where everyone said it was impossible...

But in a way, very little has changed. The Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) is virtually unknown to those who use two wheels as transportation, our 'inside' person with the Dept of Transportation since 1994, Michelle Mowery, acts as if it is still the mid-nineties and bicycling as transportation is a totally unachievable pipe-dream in this city of cars. Advocacy appears to be dominated by the triumvirate of Alex Thompson-Stephen Box-Joseph Brayj attending meetings, blogging and opining.



And now the 2009 Bicycle Plan has been released. Our city hired a Portland-based consulting firm to create the plan, but it lacks the energy, direction or vision of Portland. To quote Stephen Box on StreetsblogLA,

"Portland is currently going through the same Bike Plan update process as Los Angeles and they have eleven working groups, one steering committee and one technical advisory committee, all working together to ensure that the Bike Plan is a robust document that represents the desires of the cycling community."

I understand that we are not Portland, but the point of a bicycle plan is a vision of what could be. I've spent time in Portland; the weather sucks, the roads are narrow and the city is spread out. Yet they are considered a bike mecca with only 6% of trips made by bicycle. We could have 6% of trips here in Los Angeles if our city took our concerns seriously and built bicycle infrastructure. New York, for example, tripled the number of bicycle commuters in three years by making the cost-effective, smart, safe changes that cyclists were demanding. Our city could not even organize a Bike Plan meeting within 5 miles of the East Hollywood 'hub' of cycling. We need to demand more from our elected officials.

It's a big city. We should dream big.

So what do we do?

As the number of social rides and fast rides has increased, the number of advocates/activists has not. When we have such few rebel-rousing, noise makers, the city believes that we are a minority fringe with only a few people who care about this issue. Michelle Mowery went as far to say that it is not a bike issue, that it is only about 'them'. This is detrimental to the future of bicycling in our city. We simply need more voices, more action and more pressure. We know that cycling is great for us, but we need to represent beyond our own interests: more urban bicyclists is better for the health and social well-being of everyone. Fewer cars means less pollution, safer streets and a more democratic and engaged citizenry. But it is up to us to make this case and up until now we have done a mediocre job.


Urban cycling is not swimming or golfing. It's gritty. Every day we are harassed and forced to fight for our space on the road. We are a tough bunch, used to taking shit from people and giving it right back. We fight to survive on our own streets. We need to harness this grit and anger and change our situation for the better.


Where from here?

Come to the LA Bike Working Group meeting this Saturday at 1pm in the LA City College Faculty Lounge* as we work to improve the plan. 1000 come to a social ride, but we're lucky to get 10 to a meeting. You can do both and you can influence how policy is written in our city. More info here and facebook is here.

Write a comment about the 2009 Bike Plan here: Los Angeles 2009 Bicycle Plan. Yes, they do read and note them. Imagine if we generated 10,000 responses demanding more bicycle infrastructure and actual implementation! You should review it and form your own opinions, but the most popular arguments are: lack of vision, no real plan for implementation and cyclists' concerns are secondary. If you only read one article, read L.A.’s Draft Bikeway Plan: Non-Committal, Sloppy and Perhaps Illegal by Joe Linton.

Get involved with a campaign. There's C.I.C.L.E, the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition, and even Midnight Ridazz has some advocacy plans. And don't forget that the Department of DIY always has open positions (DIY bike lanes, DIY park).

Read. Seriously. We need substance beyond rhetoric and need to be educated on the case for bicycles.

Speak with cyclists, friends, activists. These ideas and events need to be given life. No one is going to do it for us. Tell others about what is going on.

Donate money. My least favorite of the actions. We need money for all that we do, but we'd prefer you and your energy. Donating money creates the mentality that others will do it for you, but those most invested in this have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars of their own money because of their passion. Buy an activist a burrito!

More on the bike plan
Call for open revolt (about the draft, but relevant)
LA's Bike Plan: Return to Sender
Bicycle Advisory Committee unanimously recommends deadline extension

Other sites
completestreets.org
carfreeusa.blogspot.com
worldcarfree.net
copenhagenize.com

Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will."
- Frederick Douglass

Get to work.


*Update: The LA Bike Working Group meeting has changed time and venue. The new location and time is Saturday, 2pm, at the Hollywood Adventist Church, 1711 N. Van Ness Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028. We’ll be in the Fellowship Hall on the NW side of the parking lot.

Furnace Creek 508 wrap-up

background on this year's race here.

It's never easy to write about these kind of events. Yes, I rode for a long time, it was difficult and I'm stoked on the accomplishment. But the adventure, camaraderie and even spiritual (yeah, I wrote it, what?) parts can barely be articulated. My crew: Morgan, Max and Chris, were so exceptional and supportive and best of all super fun! Around 1am, as we traversed Death Valley into 40 MPH winds, the van rolled up next to me at 5 MPH, my average speed for most of the night, just in time for me to see Chris puke out the window. Quite a sight with the winds! Did it slow him down as a valuable crew member? Nope. We laughed about it. Spent a lot of time laughing, even more so when conditions were worse. And that's what I love about 'being out there'. The bike is merely a medium, as I've said before.

Pre-wind, average speed of almost 20 mph through 254 miles

I did have some important goals for this race. One was getting up Townes Pass (the 11-mile climb into Death Valley) in the light in order to 1) have less time for car-sick prone Chris to have to follow behind 2) do the 50 MPH descent a little more safely. The extra benefit was the stunning beauty of the sunset. This is my favorite time to ride. Another goal was to swim at the Furnace Creek Inn at mile 254, which we did successfully. Though eight fewer minutes swimming and I would gotten 9th. Haha. It was worth it. I tried to make up the time by bunny-hopping the cattle guards (did 4 of 5).

I recommend reading the AdventureCORPS post-race write-up and this story on Charlie Engle who owns the the record for fastest combined Badwater ultra-marathon and Furnace Creek 508 in the same year. He's articulated the course and race very well.

Thank you guys!

Nutrition/food post coming soon. Thanks for reading. Have a fantastic weekend and be thankful for your health and ability to do all we do.

Dessert Locust, the alter-ego of Desert Locust, which is the alter-ego of....

What are the chances? Chris makes the amazing dessert locust signs for the support van and uses photos from my friend Danielle's bakery Vegan Treats for my second year racing the Furnace Creek 508 solo. The day before the race a mutual friend of ours returns from a trip to Pennsylvania and brings me a peanut butter cup brownie, one of the desserts on our signs! I'd say unbelievable, but really, when you set out to do fun/silly things, the world responds positively and next thing you know you have a great photo op:

Every Furnace Creek 508 racer gets a pre-race mugshot.

Photographer: You know there is only one 's' in 'desert' right?
Me: Uh, yeah. I'm writing dessert.
Photographer: (cocked head, stares puzzlingly)
Me: I'm going to be eating this dessert in the photo as well, if that's cool.
Photographer: Uhm, okay.

vegan chocolate raspberry blondie bar finish to complete the circle of desserts.

And has anyone mentioned that it was windy? Like 40+ mph and 8 hours to ride 45 miles? Just thought I'd mention that part. I'm going to do a more thorough write-up this year and discuss non-dessert related nutrition, etc. My crew was so so supportive, I can't thank them enough. Same with the encouragement I received from friends, family, other races through this blog, facebook, etc. This is only a bike race, but having so many people 'with me' is incredible and I'm extremely fortunate. Thank you!

Matt and his hero

Matt gets to eat his cake, too...

Approaching the finish line in Twentynine Palms

Everyone is tired, but Matt's display of Ruscigno Power is impressive.
Five miles to go!

Almost almost Amboy

Almost at the last checkpoint before the finish line... Crew ETA
around 10:30pm

Leaving Baker, ~126 miles to go...

We dosed Matt with jet-fuel grade camp-stove brewed espresso...

The 508: a tour of the worst roads in the desert

Goat here, filling in for our intrepid hero, Matt, aka Desert Locust,
aka Dessert Locust. My first ever blog post, quite exciting. I imagine
I'll ruin Matt's sincere and consistent prose style, oh well.

I've always read horror stories of the 'thermonuclear headwinds' that
are said to rip through Death Valley at night. In my four years of
involvement with the 508, however, they've never materialized. The
glorious northbound tailwinds have always dissipated by the time night
has fallen, leaving fairly smooth conditions for the southerly route
through the valley itself.

Things were looking good this year. Matt's in excellent shape, and has
a lot of 508 experience now. He completed the first 200 miles in just
over 9 hours, and just outside of the top ten riders. The time, in
part, was aided by the aforementioned tailwinds.

Unfortunately, this year, the winds were here to stay. After a
refreshing break at Furnace Creek, there ensued eight hours of
gruelling slog against intense, gusty headwinds. To make matters
worse, one our crew. Had chronic, vomit-inducing car sickness. Matt
hung out in the van for a couple of rest breaks, but soldiered on
regardless. The winds eased by the time he hit the Salisbury and
Jubilee passes climb, and there was light in the sky.

Somehow in the overnight chaos I also managed to misplace one (of my
two) shoes. Oups. Should liven up the rest of the trip.

So now, here we are leapfrogging Matt across the (in my opinion)
toughest section of the 508, Shoshone to Baker.
Here, the rider has essentially thirty or forty featureless,
approximately flat miles, on a shoulderless road populated by
thundering RVs. It's a painful and lengthy trek before you reach the
quiet beauty and grandeur of the Mojave National Preserve just past
Baker, with the Kelso dunes and the Providence and Granite ranges.

To quote the closing passage from Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus":
"...we must imagine Sisyphus, happy" .

2009 Furnace Creek 508 Solo

Webcast
with reports, photos and progress through the weekend.

Well, here we go again. The Furnace Creek 508 starts tomorrow at 7am. A 508-mile race from Santa Clarita through Death Valley and Mojave to near Joshua Tree. I wrote extensively about it here (read this!), I have a 508 tab and National Geographic Adventure covered it when they called it one of the top ten toughest races in the world.


Is it October already? Despite taking part in this race the previous four years, 2005 (crew for Morgan), 2006 (fixed gear team), 2007 (hang out), 2008 (solo), it always excites. Despite a last-minute crew switch from one race veteran to another and finding tiny cracks in my Dura Ace wheels yesterday, preparation is going well. Chris and Morgan are back for another year of crewing and Max is joining us for his 5th(!) time on the course. I couldn't be more fortunate! I have phenomenal support in these guys and in all of my friends who have helped me out leading into this weekend. Like Jack lending me his ridiculous wheels without any hesitation. Thank you all so much, I couldn't do this without you.

You pick an animal totem that is yours for life. I'm Desert Locust:

With a minor change for this year:

Take yourself seriously, but not too seriously, right? And yes, those desserts are vegan. Though I still love dessert, I've managed to get my weight down 15 pounds from last year. I'm weighing in at 170, a number I haven't seen since high school. A full 30 pounds lighter than winter Matt!

I'm looking forward to a weekend of adventure, mindfulness, solitude, beauty, struggle, fun, high highs and low lows. The desert nearly defeated me last year somewhere between Baker and Kelso, but after our training ride out there this summer and some Edward Abbey studying, I am more prepared and approaching with an open heart and mind:

"I am convinced now that the desert has no heart, that it presents a riddle that has no answer, and that the riddle itself is an illusion created by some limitation or exaggeration of the displaced human consciousness." -Edward Abbey

He also said this, which nothing to do with bike racing, but is worth passing on:

'Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers —
obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls.'

I'll do my best to send updates from the road, but cell service is limited. Thanks to everyone who has already sent kind words or vegan desserts!

Listened to 36 Chambers the whole way through this morning for Swarm!ing motivation:

5 gallons of tea: crucial

Crucial Vegan Friendship Picnic

Little late on this...but for y'all here in LA check this out Sunday:

Crucial Vegan Friendship Picnic
12-5pm, Elysian Park, on Solano Drive, North of Academy
If you have a facebook, there's an event page.


Join us for a vegan BBQ and Picnic in Elysian Park! Enjoy great food,
a beautiful park and old, new and future friends with us this Sunday
from Noon to 5. Bring something (vegan) to grill or make your best
dish or dessert (prizes awarded!). We'd also be super-duper stoked if
you could bring your own reusable plate and utensil so we can be all
environmental-ish. The park is easily accessible by bike or foot and
even automobile. Please pass this on to other interested folks!

This photo from Ulldepeix's flckr is totally unrelated, except that it sums up my excitement and overall outlook on life.

Mt Shasta CORPScamp

In late July I made the journey to Northern California for CORPScamp Shasta, 5 days of cycling and yoga, hosted by AdventureCORPS. Chris and Elizabeth were fantastic hosts: each night after riding and doing yoga there was either a group meal with delicious vegan options or a film.

Mt Shasta hanging out in the clouds above 14,000 ft.

Each morning we'd meet up, do some stretching and head out for a 50-90 mile ride. My goal was to swim every day. On Thursday's ride I submerged myself in some cold snow run-off:

On the way back from McCloud there was a bonus climb on an unmaintained road above Mt. Shasta city:

On Friday we rode up to Mumbo summit, which is on the Mt Shasta super century that we'd ride on Sunday. The bonus climb this day went up to Castle Lake:

I jumped into water that was slightly warmer than the day before and swam about 500 yards out to a big rock in the middle. Exhilarating! A rock in the middle of a lake in the mountains is a great place to reflect (what's important to you? Being in open water in the summer ranks high on my list!).

Sunday was the Mt Shasta Super Century, which I posted about previously, but I only mentioned the food :)

I'm fortunate to have these opportunities in my life and the health and capacity to take advantage of them. Are you?

Park[ing] and Race[ing]

Yo social weekend here in Los Angeles! Friday was Park[ing] Day, a day-long event where communities transform parking spaces into parks. It's brilliant because of all the problems of automobile dependency, often overlooked is the amount of space it requires to not only move them, but to park them. In Los Angeles the bike community is especially involved, which included a 40-mile bike tour of the parks with the editor from LA Streetsblog. Photos, including the one below, stats and reports here. Dan Koeppel also covered a Dept of DIY Park[ing] Day event.

I can't think of a better use of a trailer than 100's of vegan cupcakes

I spent the day using the 'parks' as meeting spots with friends between work and other obligations. In Heliotrope Village the neighborhood council took over 5 spots and had a dj and a swimming pool. That evening I met up with some friends at Echo Park where the Echo Park Film Center was screening Les Triplettes de Belleville.

Saturday, this was worth my time:

A 3-lap race in Griffith Park, up and down climbs I've done hundreds of times, only 2 miles from my house. How could I not? I rolled over with my housemate and of the 50 people hanging about, I knew two: the organizer and his sister. Is old man status fully achieved?

photo from Dev204's photo set on flickr

Had to represent Feel My Legs (photo from Kelly's Flckr)

It was fixed gear only so it definitely attracted a lot of the LAfixed.com crowd, but I was surprised at the half dozen or so kids in kits.

40+ of us did a rolling start through the parking lot before hitting the top section of the two-mile climb up Fern Dell Dr/Western Canyon. There was some talk re gearing on the message board the week before and kids were talking running 47-16.....which seems way too big for me for the city, let alone a hill race. I palped my city gearing: 44x16 which worked well. Of course, I was totally spun out down Vermont Canyon, but wasn't everyone?

photo from Dev204. I love Griffith Park!!

Anyway, there was this guy way off in front that I just couldn't catch. Sean did a terrific job organizing this, but in his excitement he (and everyone hanging out at the start/finish apparently) lost count of our laps. So the two of us went out for a fourth lap before they figured out how to count. Hilarious. Ends up the dude who beat me is a Cat-1 roadie. Equally hilarious. At least he rode his bike to the race, unlike a bunch of the racers (only in LA people would drive to an alleycat?).

Sean hooked up an after party and I got so many prizes I couldn't carry them home. Gave lots of stuff away, but not the front light, which I happened to need. Score! Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen and who braved a tough climb three (or four) times.

Philosophy

Taken from here (proceed with caution).

Do like the Europeans: Death Valley in the summer

After the slaycation (Mike had to be back at work Saturday evening), I met Morgan in Lone Pine and swapped my stuff from the adventure van to his rental car to head to Death Valley and beyond for some 508 training.




I got out of the car in the Panamint Valley to do the 11-mile climb up Towne Pass. The sky was ominous and the air quality low due to the fires in LA 200 miles away.

It was super fun to do the descent into Death Valley in the daylight. Though seeing my computer read 62.6 MPH did scare me a little more than I thought it would. I knew I was going fast, but seeing it register over 60 triggers your mind to display the potential dangers...Each time I would hit 60 (It's a loooong descent) I'd sit up to slow down to a safer 50 MPH. In Stovepipe Wells this thermometer greeted us:


We camped in Furnace Creek after poaching the pool and seriously considering driving to Las Vegas to party with some friends. Up at dawn (the best time to see Death Valley, in my opinion) to drive to Shoshone so I could ride the sections that were miserable for me last year: the long, false-flat to Baker and the 23.5 mile climb out of Baker (see the entire route here).


Morgan was more than happy to do support for me, which I can't thank him enough for. The desert and black metal? He was content to spend the day handing me cold bottles of liquid. In the 6 hours it took me to ride the 85 miles of the route in 100 degree plus weather I drank 2 gallons of liquid. Didn't even think that was possible!

Morgan put up more of his photos here.

We drove the remainder of the route and made it to Loma Linda in time to score a giant can of my favorite vegan hot dogs for our upcoming picnic/bbq:


And with these back-to-back trips my 'summer' drew to a close. Yes, I live in Southern CA and am underemployed, but September in my mind always brings a new situation and a new outlook. After a slightly disappointing summer, I'm amped on making the most of Fall.

ideas that involve act

In my previous post I alluded to being some sort of activist, but it's unfortunately true that my participation in 'activist' activities (action?!) is irregular. Though in the last month or so I've been keeping up more with sites like LA Streetsblog and Infrastructurist.com and am seeing more potential in the overlap between their ideas and my own. I'm trained in counseling through my nutrition schooling and one of the main foci is that knowledge is not enough to produce change in individuals. Regardless of the targeted change, there are a plethora of social and environmental factors working against us. Techniques to overcome these barriers as they appear are crucial in any behavior-change plan. My approach has been to be a quiet (okay, not always that quiet!) example and to be a resource for those with a thirst for bicycles, veganism, etc. So before I'm off for this weekend's adventures I wanted to share what I've spent time this week reading.

You should check out this event tonight:
Portland City Repair’s Mark Lakeman will be speaking Friday September 11th at 7:30pm at the Eco-Village and then Saturday from 10am to 6pm he’ll be leading an intersection repair project. more info


Would $5 Gallon Gas Cause Commuters to Change Their Ways?
This is very curious to me. As cheap as I am, I forget how driven by cost so many people are. $5/gallon gas could totally transform our cities.

Did anyone look closely at this controversial interview and research out of Toronto?
Professor Chris Cavacuiti on how to stay safe on the roads

Here's a criticism from http://www.cyclelicio.us:
http://www.cyclelicio.us/2009/08/study-claims-cyclists-at-fault-in-only.html

Have you talked to your work about this?
Bicycle Commuter Tax Provision: Frequently Asked Questions

The Bike League worked hard to get that passed, but local cyclist, trouble-maker and mathematician Dr. Alex Thompson is rightfully unhappy about the bronze-level distinction they awarded Santa Monica with ZERO input from local cyclists: an open letter to the League of American Bicyclists. Props to him for articulating an idea I've had about drivers for a long time: murderously entitled.

Have a safe, adventurous weekend and thanks for reading. Lastly, here's what's been in my head while I worked this morning:

2009 Mammoth Mountain Bromance Slaycation

I don't know about everyone else, but often I feel pulled in multiple directions at once. Because I've put so much emphasis in my life on being an example, politically, ethically, etc, this struggle manifests itself daily. Hourly? As an activist, professionally, intellectually, personally, athletically, spiritually, adventure(lly?)....all of it gets rolled into the ball that is my life. Sure, it feels great to ride my bike with my housemates over to the Eco Village to pick up our bulk Dr. Bronner's, organic dry beans, hemp milk, etc, but there's a part of me deep down that misses BMX. Not just the riding, but the whole lifestyle that ruled my life from pretty much age 12 to 20.

Gondala ride to 11,000ft. The faces they are making is a movie reference I didn't get.

It wasn't all narcissistic and 'extreme'. My friends and I would do anything for each other and we worked hard to build all of those trails and to travel the world to ride our bikes. We really were part of an international community and it forever changed my outlook on the world. Since then there have been some issues where overlap occurs, for example I regret being too punk in college to buy a mountain bike. State college is a great place to ride, as I experienced when I was there last summer, but I thought I'd be giving up my activism by spending time and money mountain biking. Glad I got over that!

I get a lot out of riding my track bike in the city, mountain biking local single track, etc, but lately it's just not felt like enough. As I've gotten older, despite still dressing like a teenager, I've suppressed this part of me. It's as if there is a continuum with Dan Cortese (mtv sports!) on one side and Noam Chomsky on the other. You've got to choose your spot! If you are more Dan Cortese than you are less Chomsky! Silly, I know, but I feel like a lot of people think this way and I've internalized it and have quieted my inner Dan Cortese.

Leading into the last weekend of August (of summer?) Mike, Max and I went to Mammoth mountain, rented freeride bikes, got lift tickets and had a Dan Cortese hell of an extreme time. I won't deny it!

At the end of the day we hit some double diamond trails that had gems like this. I wish we had photos of some of the drops and bridges, but we were going too fast to try and stop and go back.

The day we left we took our 'normal' bikes out and rode some of the trails lower on the mountain. This is the same trail as the other wall-ride/berm I posted about.

These were the types of jumps I hit when I was 10. But with a hydration pak, clipped in and a road helmet it felt appropriately sized.

My friend Stephen, who let us crash, scored us lift tickets and took some of the photos, had just written a short story about another friend of ours first time on a freeride bike. You can read it here.

Have a great week and please don't forget about your inner Dan Cortese AND Noam Chomsky. They can get along just fine.

oh, fire

Those of you in the Los Angeles area need no reminder of the station fire burning just northeast of us. Here are some unbelievable photos from the ever impressive photo journalism of the Boston Globe. Note the helicopter in this one:



This National Forest has been very important to me over the years I've spent in Los Angeles. I've easily been there hundreds of times road riding, mountain biking, hiking, swimming, running, taking Angeles Crest as a shortcut to the 14....

Recently I was discussing with a friend how we seek out contrast. We were laughing that we had both done hikes in the desert (him in Death Valley, myself in Joshua Tree) to springs to see the greenery that arises from the smallest amount of water. Why go to the desert to see green? We didn't really come up with an adequate answer, but didn't feel the need to. There is something magical to experiencing that part of nature that refuses to be like the rest and finds a way to be itself in the harshest circumstances. And this explains what I love about Los Angeles: all of the parks and green space, the surrounding mountains; the places that feel the most un-LA. If I love these parts why not live in Missoula or Portland? Because of the contrast.

This doesn't have much to do with the fire, and I'm sorry I can't add anything to those discussions. I'm just taking the time to reflect on the spaces that are so valuable to me. Here are some previous posts from times spent in the Angeles Forest:

Gabrielino trail(mountain biking)

Strawberry peak loop(mountain biking)

Midnight Express ride (over Angeles Crest at night to Acton and back)

The running and road bike mountain bike shuttle trip

LA Bike Coalition article with photo of Echo Mountain

To Mt. Wilson on dirt with the cross bike


Crazy to think it won't be the same for generations.