Category Archives: bicycle event

Feeder ride to CicLAvia from Santa Monica, 6/23/2013

Whether you ride 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!

Come experience CicLAvia’s New Route, Iconic Wilshire Blvd

Open streets and the opportunity to explore one of the most legendary boulevards in Los Angeles car free by foot, bike, skates or other non-motorized transport marks the June 23
CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.… the most walkable CicLAvia route ever!

We will once again lead a feeder ride to CicLAvia this Sunday June 23rd. We’ll meet at the top of the Santa Monica Pier at 8:00am and roll out at 8:30am sharp. Ride is aprox 9.7 miles and mostly flat on streets with bike lanes or low traffic volume at our time of travel. We will be traveling at an easy pace but do ask you to “stay with the pace” so we can all get there together. Join us Sunday and experience the fun of CicLAvia!

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Starting from the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica Spoke
The route here,  

 For more info visit CicLAvia’s web site

CicLAvia Route wilshire-6:23:2013

Stuff to bring:

  • helmet (for feeder ride)
  • sun screen
  • cash
  • spare tube/ patch kit
  • hydration
  • any special tools your bike requires!

June 23rd CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard

Open streets and the opportunity to explore one of the most legendary boulevards in Los Angeles car free by foot, bike, skates or other non-motorized transport marks the June 23
CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.… the most walkable CicLAvia route ever!

SM Spoke, Santa Monica feeder ride information coming soon. As usual we plan to start at the top of the Santa Monica Pier. Specific start time and route will be posted here as they are confirmed.

CicLAvia Route wilshire-6:23:2013Click here to download a printable map    

Wilshire Boulevard was first carved out as a long path through a barley field in 1895. While its beginnings were humble, this path has transformed into one of the most notable boulevards in all of the United States.
From 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on CicLAvia day, participants can stroll through a snapshot of the city’s architectural evolution from Victorian vision to modernist experimentation; massive towers of business to intimate houses of worship; world class museums to working class mercados.

The CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard route will connect One Wilshire in Downtown Los Angeles to Fairfax Avenue along Miracle Mile. These two anchor hubs will feature pedestrian zones with performers, activities sponsored by several fantastic museums, programming by  community partners, food trucks and more. Additional hubs along the route include MacArthur Park, Koreatown and Mid-Wilshire.

CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together 17 local cultural institutions for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city’s development and ongoing impact in new ways. Major support for CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard has been provided by the Getty Foundation.

As part of Pacific Standard Time Presents, the June 23 CicLAvia will include programs designed to provide participants with a deeper look at the architectural history of Wilshire Boulevard. Radio broadcasts by noted architectural researcher and commentator Edward Lifson will lead up to the June 23 event and will be available for participants to download and listen to as free podcasts.

The radio series will tell stories that run quickly through Wilshire’s beginnings more than a century ago and its pre-WWII boom years, to focus on the modern era, with stories and sounds. A diverse group of Angelenos will share their dreams, challenges, failures and successes. Lifson will examine the forces shaping this boulevard, explore how Wilshire’s getting its mojo back, with a new subway line, the tallest new tower in town, attractive apartments, a radical new campus for LACMA, a huge museum for the movies, and more.

Catherine Gudis, who is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California at Riverside and is the school’s Director of the Graduate Program in Public History, is preparing an architectural guide for participants in the June 23 CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard. The guide, designed by Colleen Corcoran, will allow people to appreciate and understand the context for modernism and the role the Wilshire Boulevard built environment has played as the city’s cultural and demographic makeup has changed.

CicLAvia is open to the public and free of charge. Registration is not required and there is no starting or ending point along the route. From 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., CicLAvia – Iconic Wilshire Boulevard offers six miles of car-free, open streets and participants can join the fun at any point along the route.

Thursday, June 13th: Global cyclist comes to town

Traveling at the Speed of Life: Author Presentation

The tragedy on September 11, 2001 killed many and hurt many more. Author and Speaker, David Sylvester, tried to make sense of that senseless moment by jumping on his bicycle and connecting with people. Ten years, 33 states and 21 countries later David has evolved from being just a guy with a dead friend into a cross-continental bicyclist/motivator/filmmaker//author that’s adopted a life mission to meet, hug, high5, motivate and inspire as many people around the planet as he can. His message to the people he met across hundreds of miles and three continents was simple: “Find your bike.” It translates to finding your passion and now, ten years later, after pedaling across deserts, down dirt roads and highways, and over the mountains of Africa, Asia, and North America, David spreads his inspirational message on the pages of this book. Whether relaying stories of tragedy or triumph David writes with a degree of honesty, humor and passion that will make you want to ‘find your own bike’ and go for a ride. Please join us to hear inspirational stories from his book,  Traveling at the Speed of Life

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Silver Level Bike Friendly Community designation!

Santa Monica moves up to Silver Level in Bike Friendly Communities
and named 5th Most Bikeable City in U.S

During all the celebrations of National Bike Month and to kick off Bike to Work Week, the League of American Bicyclists announced its latest round of Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFC). The City of Santa Monica has been awarded national recognition of our local efforts by raising our ranking from Bronze to Silver level. At the same time Walk Score, a national organization devoted to promoting walkable neighborhoods, ranked Santa Monica at #5 on its Bike Score list of Top 100 most bikeable cities.

The Bicycle Friendly Community “Silver” award will be presented to Mayor Pam O’Connor by our own Jennifer Klausner, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition on Wednesday, May 15th at 5pm in the courtyard behind Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica.  Before the award presentation you are invited to join us and SM City staff on a bicycle tour highlighting new bicycle facilities during Bike Week. Cyclists are invited to gather for the ride at 3:30pm in the courtyard behind City Hall.  We roll out at 4pm to return by 5pm for the award ceremony. After the ceremony you are in invited to join us for a Handlebar Happy Hour Celebration at West 4th & Jane.

“The Bicycle Friendly Community Silver award is presented only to communities with remarkable commitments to bicycling. You should be very proud of this accomplishment,” wrote Nicole Wynands, Program Manager for the League of American Bicyclists.

The City earned an impressive 83 Bike Score from Walk Score. This rating is derived from a data set that includes infrastructure, hilly terrain, numbers of bikers on streets and more.

“Santa Monica has embraced bicycling as one of the most important strategies to help achieve its environmental, economic and quality of life goals and adopted an award-winning Bike Action Plan in November 2011.  Since then, the City has invested heavily in bicycling, in both programs: education, events, awareness, enforcement, –and facilities: parking, lanes, sharrows, and signal detection” quoted the press release by Lucy Dyke, Planning & Community Development.

For more information on Bike Week Events and bicycling in Santa Monica:
Bike Month Santa Monica, SM Spoke
Bike Santa Monica, SM City

For more information on Bicycle Friendly Communities:
http://www.bikeleague.org/

For more information on Bike Score:
http://blog.walkscore.com/2013/05/bike-score-expands-to-100-cities/

 

Save the date: June 1st Santa Monica Festival

Santa Monica Spoke’s 3rd Annual Bike Exhibition at the
Santa Monica Festival

Plus lots more – stay tuned for more info on our events at the festival.
Don’t miss the 22nd annual Santa Monica Festival! Experience an eclectic mix of live music and dance, DIY art workshops with recycled and repurposed materials, guilt-free shopping featuring earth-friendly artistic wares and local services offered by City, environmental and local non-profit organizations. The Festival is a celebration with a purpose, highlighting the dynamic connection between the City’s communities, businesses, art, culture and the environment while offering ideas and options for a greener, healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Supporting the Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy in Santa Monica.
SM Festival