Free Bike Mechanics Workshop

This Saturday come to Corazon del Pueblo and pick up on some useful skills for your bike, such as basic maintenance and mechanics. Presented by Bici Digna, this workshop will help riders both new and experienced familiarize themselves with some of the basic steps to maintain a working and safe bike. This includes things like being able to adjust your brakes, gears, wheels, tires, how to fix a flat etc. For most experienced rides, skills like these are biking common sense, but as more and more riders are taking to the streets, there are those who may be intimidated and unfamiliar with the workings of their bikes. I know a few people who still haven’t grasped how to fix flat tires and it’s ok, we all gotta start some where right ? This will be the first of what will hopefully be one of many workshops on bike mechanics and how to ride on the streets safely that Bici Digna and City of Lights will be coordinating in the East Side.

L.A. to O.C. Dream Ride

Join us in a 50 mile bike ride to continue raising awareness for Federal Dream Act, California Dream Act (institutional financial aid) and getting drivers licences for all California residents, as well as bringing attention to the rights of all bicyclist in the city of L.A and Orange County. Spokes & Words, The Orange County Dream Team and Dream Team Los Angeles are working together with City of Lights and the Bici Digna program in organizing and funding this event to bring together all these great orgs that fight for social justice for for all.

When: Sunday Feb. 20 (presidents day weekend)

Where: Starting at Corazon del Pueblo 2003 E. 1st. street Boyle Heights 90033 and ending at Centro Cultural de Mexico 310 W. 5th street Santa Ana 92701

Registration: Registration form and $15 fee (link at bottom of page) will be due on Jan. 28. This will include lunch, dinner, bike maintenance during event and over night stay in Orange County. Form can be downloaded via link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13WcyFiBe45oBXLUIAOkvINgfZAzimUHsIxHlPCWnNOM/edit?hl=en

Route: Approx 50 miles via streets of L.A., San Gabriel River Bike Path and streets of Santa Ana.

Housing: Sleeping over at Centro Cultural de Mexico. Individuals are responsible for bringing their own sleeping bag, pillows, blankets, toiletries, change of clothes etc. and transportation back to L.A. A truck will carry participant’s belongings, sleeping bags etc. to Santa Ana and back to CDP after ride is over.

Food: Lunch, dinner and snacks will be provided for all participants accounted for, for the event.

Bike Safety Work Shops: All participants of event will be required to attend at least one workshop on safety, rules of the road and ridding in a group. No exceptions.

First workshop will be at CDP on Jan 23rd from 1 to 4 p.m. Second will be at Centro Cultural in Santa Ana on Jan 30th from 1 to 4 p.m. and the final workshop will be at CDP on Feb. 5th from 1 to 4 p.m. Riders needing help with their bikes will be encouraged to bring them to the workshop for maintenance and bike tune up. Workshops will be coordinated by City of Lights.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for anyone that wants to donate food, supplies or sponsor riders for the event as well.

Anyone with questions about the event can contact dream.act.riders@gmail.com for more information or concerns

Event Sponsors:
Spokes & Words
City of Lights
Orange County Dream Team
Dream Team Los Angeles
Corazon del Pueblo
El Centro Cultural de Mexico

Link to pay pal account here:
http://justarandomhero.blogspot.com/2011/01/la-to-oc-dream-ride.html

CICLAVIA 2010

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. One day only, ONE DAY ONLY !!!!! 7 miles of L.A. streets will be closed off so people can frolic, worry free about getting hit by a stupid driver who’s not paying attention to the road. But what exactly is CICLAVIA, from their site,

“A Ciclovía is not just for recreation. It is social integration.

Ciclovías started in Bogotá, Colombia, over thirty years ago as a response to the congestion and pollution of city streets. Now they happen throughout Latin America and the United States, connecting communities and giving people a break from the stress of car traffic. The health benefits are immense. Ciclovías bring families outside of their homes to enjoy the streets, our largest public space.

In Los Angeles we need CicLAvia more than ever. Our streets are congested with traffic, our air is polluted with toxic fumes, our children suffer from obesity and other health conditions caused by the scarcity of public space and safe, healthy transportation options. CicLAvia creates a temporary park for free, simply by removing cars from city streets. It creates a network of connections between our neighborhoods and businesses and parks with corridors filled with fun.”

It’s pretty self explanatory, so grab your bike and cruise around. I’ll be at Hollenbeck Park from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. helping out before I head out and ride. The event goes on from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. See ya there. P.S. I’ll be wearing a cape 😀

Spokes & Words Back to School Ride

With summer  at an end and school starting up again for students, this ride is dedicated against all the bullshit everyone has to put up with in the institutionalized educational system. After all, all we wanted was a Pepsi.

Join up with the Spokes & Words riders as we share poetry, words and stories at Self Help Graphics, Cal State L.A., East L.A. College, Salazar Park ending the ride at Corazon del Pueblo.

Meet up at Maricahi Plaza on First and Boyle at 6:30 and ride out at 7 p.m.  this Thursday.

Make sure you also “like”” the official Spokes & Words facebook page to stay up to date on rides and connect with fellow riders.

TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, MAKE SURE YOUR BIKE IS IN WORKING ORDER. MAKE SURE TO BRING EXTRA INNER TUBES, TOOLS ETC. IN CASE ANYTHING HAPPENS. THE LAW REQUIRES ALL BIKES RIDERS TO HAVE BOTH BACK AND FRONT LIGHTS AND ANYONE UNDER 18 TO WEAR A HELMET.

ON THE DAY OF THE RIDE WE WILL QUICKLY GO OVER THE RULES OF THE ROAD FOR SAFETY REASONS. HERE IS A QUICK LINK

Here is the google maps link to the bike route

Spokes & Words

In the spirit of creativity, Spokes & Words is focused in bringing together spoken word with bike riding. As Julio commented on facebook, riding a bike is poetry.

There are six designated stops in which anyone can share words, poems and stories. Each location will have two/three people sharing and we will ride on to the next stop.

All poets, artist, riders and anyone who has an appreciation for poetry, spoken word and riding their bike around town is welcomed. Since this is the first ride, it’ll be an easy one. We welcome input from everyone on rides, routes and locations to include in future rides.

TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, MAKE SURE YOUR BIKE IS IN WORKING ORDER. MAKE SURE TO BRING EXTRA INNER TUBES, TOOLS ETC. IN CASE ANYTHING HAPPENS.

ON THE DAY OF THE RIDE WE WILL QUICKLY GO OVER THE RULES OF THE ROAD FOR SAFETY REASONS. HERE IS A QUICK LINK,

http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

We will meet at Mariachi Plaza this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and ride out at 7 p.m. West, stopping first in Little Tokyo by the Japanese National Museum. We will continue on 1st. stopping at the Walt Disney concert hall, then continuing on stopping under the bridge on Beverly and Glendale, in front of the long gone Belmont tunnel, riding up Glendale stopping at Echo Park Lake and riding down Sunset, finishing of at the Chinatown Gold line stop and riding bake to the Eastside.You can view the route on google maps,

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101988524258856390304.00048d6d80c30bdc35945&ll=34.060126%2C-118.238468&spn=0.031856%2C0.053902&z=14&lci=bike

Midnight rida

It’s been about a good month since I joined the bicycle community. I have always loved riding around town on a bike and now more than ever I find zen like pleasure when I do it at night and when I do it with friends. I do ride around primarily for transportation because I’m tired off the bus and because I need to get rid of the situation, and by the situation I mean my pansa. I’ve been getting around town just fine and just last night I biked 15 miles from UCLA to Boyle Heights. Nothing compared to seasoned riders, but I’m proud of myself. It’s not like when I decide to do the marathon with P3000 out of the blue. Since I started riding more actively and around town I’ve noticed a few things.

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BLINDSPOT!

I’ve been commuting to my job at Lincoln High School by bicycle since I’ve started working there almost 2 years ago.  It’s been pretty uneventful as far as run-ins with automobiles, suprisingly since Broadway is pretty hectic around 8am.  I know that once I approach the school that I should really be on the look out for people darting into the far right lane to drop off their kids. Now here is where today got interesting… Continue reading