best (bike instead of work) day (off) ever

as mentioned previously today is bike to/instead of/against work day in la and the rhombeo and i took to the streets with the ride to city hall, cal trans, and finally usc. we were slow getting started. we were to meet at 8 but i woke up at 8 and didn't get a call from her until 8:15. we finally met up at intelligencia at 8.45 and figured we'd just wait for the ride to pass by at which point we would just fall in line. well 8.45 became 9 became i don't know. but we figured it maybe best to ride to the pit stop at site la (which by coincidence i just so happened to have noticed last night on my ride home) so we took off down sunset. when we got to parkman we ran into big bike dan so we pulled over in front of cafe tropical. he told us that he had just called someone there and they said they were leaving soon. so we camped out and caught up on dan's progress on his bum knee. after about 20 minutes we saw in the distance the group riding up sunset in their two wheeled glory. familiar faces rode by including josh, my roommate. we hopped on our bikes and took off to the pit stop at mae ploy half way up the hill to echo park.

we all disembarked and some feasted on tamales and other mexican delicacies. sitela hosted the stop and they are essentially an art gallery from what i could tell. they had on show miniature trash cans that various artists made their own. this allowed for the perfect place to unfurl the cyclist bill of rights that we intended to present to city hall and caltrans representatives. riders who had not had the chance previously to sign it grabbed sharpies from stephen box's hand and we left our marks. after rallying around a bit and getting pretty pumped up about the day we mounted on our bikes and headed down sunset towards downtown. the group was excited and happy as we rode in the warm morning sun down glendale pass echo park and then down through the 2nd street tunnel. just because the sun was out didn't mean that we weren't going to scream and shout, ring our bells and make as much noise as we could while riding through.
we circled city hall three or four times letting all those walking around to take notice of us. there was a farmers market going on the front lawn of the building and patrons all seemed a bit confused by the ruckus that we created riding around. we finally entered the lawn and proceeded to the front steps to deliver the cyclist bill of rights and take a group picture. we chanted for mayor tony to join us on outside but he never showed. we also chanted for pizza and donuts but they didn't show up either.
we hit up caltrans after city hall. it had the most perfect sidewalk for the bikes to ride. smooth cool cement blocks with no bumps, cracks, holes. just smooth cool gray. the courtyard of caltrans is pretty rad. it has a got a great futuristic vibe with the lights and glass. some of the cool bike kids who can do fun tricks began to do just that. within minutes security came and told them to stop. the irony was not lost on the witty cyclists gathered for "bike to work day" festivities. we hung out for awhile and listed to a guy named dale(?) talk about bikes and sign the bill of rights. we also listened to a smooth jazz band that looked like the ladot office band. after another group photo we split into two groups. the crazy bike kids took off to philippes for sandwiches and beer while a smaller group of us rode to usc for a free lunch and lecture courtesy of LANI (los angeles neighborhood initiative).
the usc group was lead by me through downtown and included rhombeo, stephen and enci, damien newton, alex thompson and chicken leather. fun and random bunch. we got to usc just in time for lunch. it was somewhat fancy affair. they had wraps (turkey, veggie, nasty roast beef), nasty pasta salad, nice soft cheeses and sparkling water. the cyclists being the rebels we are didn't sit at a table but rather we gathered under a jacaranda tree and sat on a small wall or on the floor. everyone was in a great mood and had some really great things to say about transportation and los angeles in general. we all assembled into a conference room on the second floor to listen to michelle mowery from ladot , eric knutzen of homegrown evolution, and lynn goldsmith of metro talk about what they are doing for cyclist. the message that i walked away with was this and simply this: government doesn't care about bikes so they don't alot any funding for bikes and bike related issues (like lanes). so what we need to do now is to rally support from our local politicians and representatives to tell them that bikes are important. it really felt like a let down to some extent. but overall the group that we rode down with were an enthusiastic and happy audience. many times over the speakers noted that they were literally preaching to the converted. i was impressed by a woman who was representing a community center from south central who was really frustrated by the lack of bike planning in her region. as was an older lady also from south l.a. who noted that it's gotten to expensive for her to take the bus and she has opted for her bike. awesome!!! but she too wondered were any planing was for south l.a. i think they caught both michelle and lynn off guard as they seemed to dance around the question.
after the lecture ended rhombeo and i paid the first of many visits to the l.a. swim stadium. the best pool in la and it was free with a library card. we changed and walked out on to the deck. the water was PERFECT. it didn't shock you as you walked in and as always the deep end was empty. we swam for about an hour. we dove and cannonballed. i even dove all 16ft down to the bottom to get my hair tie that had fallen. we then rode up figueroa back up to 2nd and then to the house of spirits in echo park for a celebratory beer. i had a few too many of those and ended up needing a ride back home. overall it was perfect day. they only money that was spent was for the coffee in the morning and the beer in the evening.