Category Archives: Press

Path Less Pedaled – Last SoCal presentation in El Segundo!

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Tuesday, October 11th,
The Path Less Pedaled

an evening of photos and stories from the road with Russ Roca & Laura Crawford
Our friends Russ and Laura will give their last SoCal presentation (for a while a least) as they are heading back up to Oregon and on to more adventures.  We’ll be sad to see them go – but can’t wait to read about their next adventures!!  You can follow their awesome adventures and reviews at PathLessPedaled.

In 2009, Russ Roca and Laura Crawford sold everything they owned to travel by bicycle. They’ve been on the road for nearly three years. They recently started riding Brompton bicycles and have been pushing them to their limit. Join them for an evening of photos, stories and videos from their travels. They’ll also share bicycle touring tips, show you how to tour on a small folding bike and give you some ideas for great local tours in Southern California.

FB Event RSVP here
Event is Tuesday, October 11th, 7pm to 10pm
Location: Joslyn Center (main social hall) 339 Sheldon St El Segundo, CA

If there is interest in a group ride from Santa Monica to leave about 5pm.
If you would be interested in riding from Santa Monica (or your area) to the event go to the FB event page and post there for riders to join in.

CicLAvia is here again, this Sunday!! 10/09/11

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Whether you ride down with us or get there on your own – don’t miss it!
CicLAvia celebrates the streets of Los Angeles for everyone!  Temporarily limiting the access of motor vehicles and opening the streets to all users – walking, wheelchairs, skates, bikes, scooters, skate boards, strollers – you name it!

Ride to CicLAvia with us!!

We will once again do a feeder ride to CicLAvia this Sunday. We meet at the top of the Santa Monica Pier at 8:00am and roll out at 8:30am sharp. Ride is 13.6 miles, mostly flat on streets with bike lanes or low traffic volume at our time of travel. Facebook event here
Russ & Laura from PathLessPedaled will be our special guest on the ride – come meet them and join us on the ride!

Meet           8:00am
Roll out      8:30am (sharp)
Route         Here
Join us anywhere on the route but be early as we will only stop to regroup. No riders left behind.

More info on bus routes to or from CicLAvia
Bus Info:
Big Blue Bus Rapid 10 (my favorite) takes the frwy and gets you downtown FAST!
Metro 733 travels from Santa Monica on Wilshire Blvd to downtown
Metro 720 travels from DT Santa Monica south, Venice Blvd to downtown Union Station

Stuff to bring:

  • helmut (for feeder ride)
  • sun screen
  • cash
  • spare tube/ patch kit
  • hydration

CicLAvia 10/10/10

 

Also in regards to volunteer recruitment CicLAvia is looking for volunteers to assist us with Pre-10.09.11 CicLAvia Outreach (which involved door-to-door canvassing to residents and business along the route to notify them of street closures for the event)  and the day of event CicLAvia 10.09.11.
They are looking for volunteers for CicLAvia 10.09.11 to assist with:
  • Assisting at Hub Station (MacArthur Park, City Hall, El Pueblo, Bicycle District, African American Firefighter Museum and Hollenbeck Park) with Setting up, T-Shirt and buttons sales, information booth and cleaning up
  • As Route Angel’s assisting bicyclist with basic bike repairs along the route (such as flat tires, loose chains, dry chains, seat adjustments, etc.)
  • At Crossing Points (where cars are still allowed to cross the route), assuring people are still following traffic direction.
  • At Hills to enforce dismounts to all cyclist for safe travel down the hill.
There are several shifts one can choose from to volunteer for and at their hub location of choice. They can fill out this form for CicLAvia 10.09.11 Volunteering   or you can forward this link  —>  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&pli=1&formkey=dFozNXNWNGJ6eEdBZEVSUVYxdHhrNWc6MQ#gid=0
For more information about the event you can go to CicLAvia.org

Save the Dates: CicLAvia, Tour de Fat, Path Less Pedaled

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Wednesday, October 5th,

CicLAvia fundraiser at The Veggie Grill 

The Veggie Grill will donate a 50% of sales to support CicLAvia!  5-10pm  All Veggie Grill restaurants will participate – we will be at our local Santa Monica location at 2025 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403 | map
Come have dinner with us – we are planning a free bike valet .On October 5th, 2011, you can enjoy yummmmy veggie food and support CicLAvia at the same time!
From 5pm to 10pm, Wednesday October 5th, The Veggie Grill is donating 50% of its proceeds to CicLAvia. Just show up and mention “CicLAvia” or print and  bring this flier. Veggie Grill has hearty soups, you-can’t-tell-it’s-not-meat soy entrees, quinoa salads, and start off with some sweet potato fries!
Come and meet other CicLAvians. RSVP and/or share via our Facebook event. Some CicLAvia luminaries will be posted at various locations – see fb event for details. Come ask us questions, tell us your ideas!
Seven mouthwatering locations to choooose from. Including some for our Orange County participants. We know you come up to CicLAvia, and we’re really happy to see you – support us eating locally next week!

Saturday, October 8th,
New Belgium’s Tour de Fat supports bike advocacy in Los Angeles

Tour de Fat returns to LA 10am – 5pm  Check out TdF Facebook page

We are planning a feeder ride to the event downtown at La Historic Park (formerly the Cornfield).  We will start from the from the Santa Monica Pier.  Start time has not been set but should be around 8am in time to make to the Bike Parade which benefits LACBC.  Once the route has been made we will know better what time we need to roll out to make it for the parade at 11am
Come with us, or get there on your own – it is not to be missed.  Fun, Bikes, great shows, no entrance fee. Donations, beer and merchandise sales benefit local bike advocacy – Bike Parade benefits LACBC!!

Russ & Laura from PathLessPedaled will be our special guest on the ride – come meet them and join us on the ride!

Sunday, October 9th
CicLAvia!!   

10am to 3pm the Street of LA are open to people, instead of cars 

“CicLAvia makes the streets  safe for people to walk, skate, play and ride a bike. There are activities along the route. Shop owners and restaurants are encouraged to open their doors to people along the CicLAvia”.  See more on CicLAvia here

We will again do a feeder ride from Santa Monica to the Event.  We had such a blast last time with nearly 50 riders all enjoying a relaxed paced ride.  We will post the route so you can join us on route (we won’t have any stopping points this time)  More info will follow.

Russ & Laura from PathLessPedaled will be our special guest on the ride – come meet them and join us on the ride!

Tuesday, October 11th,
The Path Less Pedaled

an evening of photos and stories from the road with Russ & Laura

In 2009, Russ Roca and Laura Crawford sold everything they owned to travel by bicycle. They’ve been on the road for nearly three years. They recently started riding Brompton bicycles and have been pushing them to their limit. Join them for an evening of photos, stories and videos from their travels. They’ll also share bicycle touring tips, show you how to tour on a small folding bike and give you some ideas for great local tours in Southern California.

FB Event RSVP here
Event is Tuesday, October 11th, 7pm to 10pm
Location: Joslyn Center (main social hall) 339 Sheldon St El Segundo, CA

We would like to see if there is interest in a group ride from Santa Monica to leave about 5pm.  If you would be interested in riding from Santa Monica to the event please email us at info@SMSpoke,org

Come out, support bikes, enjoy your city on a BIKE!

Saturday 9/10/11 part 1, The Living Library

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We had a wonderful day Saturday, starting with Barbara Filet participating in a four-hour yearly library event The Living Library. This was started by a group in Copenhagen, Denmark to reduce violence in the community by enabling one on one conversations, and building understanding. People pose as books that can be checked out for a half hour on a particular subject: home schooler, union organizer, police detective, atheist, communist, transvestite, teenager, Blue Bus driver, Muslim, bicyclist and others. The topics were chosen based on questions the library receives.

Barbara had four readers plus some good conversations with others that just happened to be at the library:
Diane Meyer and her husband, who interviewed the home schooler for a film or play they are writing.
Chris Harding, the lawyer for the Hines Corp development at Bergamot.
A bee expert, with whom Barbara is rescuing a bee hive.
And a former co-worker, who talked about the bad behavior she sees amongst bike riders in her Sunset Park neighborhood.

Barbara felt her “packaging” could have been more interesting. “I thought they would describe me as a bike advocate; or they might have described me as a car-free bicyclist, that might have drawn in more readers.”  Still, she felt it was worth doing, and one way to make connections in the community.

Learn more about the Human Library Project at humanlibrary.org

Breaking ground in Santa Monica for the long awaited Expo Line!

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Monday, Spokes Barbara Filet witnessed the groundbreaking of the Expo line, Phase II, at its terminus in Santa Monica. Both she and Kent Strumpell have been pushing for this since about 1990, with the organization, Friends for Expo. “It is very gratifying to see it actually happening” says Barbara, but she reminds us there is still much work that needs to be done on the station area designs and the bike route.

Council Bill Rosendal thanked Santa Monica’s Councilwoman Pam O’Connor for her “tenacious, constant and very effective” dedication on this project. O’Connor in turn gave thanks the “dozens of  Santa Monica mayors” (many whom were present) who played such a huge roll in making sure this project made it as far as the beach.

Watch Video