Bike Town Beta / West Side Mosey / Warriors ride.

OK, if anybody that's reading this HASN'T been on a group bike ride in L.A., and is wondering what it's like, and why an ever growing number of people are heading out on their bikes in ever larger groups, well, imagine the feeling of joy and wonder an 8 month old deaf baby might feel at hearing his mother's voice for the first time.



Well, OK, maybe riding in L.A. doesn't always provide quite THAT level of happy amazement, but it's pretty awesome nonetheless.

So today was Bike Town Beta, a daylong event designed to Copenhagenize West Hollywood for a day, and make the presence of cyclists felt en masse.

And it was awesome! A lot of people put a lot of work into this, especially Alec



and Roadblock



and it really paid off.

Much fun was had by all.

I rolled out from West L.A. around 6ish and took Venice to Hauser to Pan Pacific Park. Aside from the one short but steep hill between Pico/San Vicente or thereabouts it's a pretty mellow ride and a pleasant way to get to that part of town.

When we got to the park, things were well underway, thanks to the West Side Mosey crew (et al.).


It was nice to see what everyone looked like in daylight for once.

After a while, it was time to get on our bikes and mosey around West Hollywood. It was a mellow excursion through some of the side streets of WeHo, and we ended up at a different park, where there was:

Bike Polo on a basketball court




and lots and lots of cool people,








and yours truly.



So after hanging out at this park for a while, it was time to ride again. This time it was the MR "Warriors ride", and we continued exploring more of WeHo. So we rode for a while, but before too long, a combination of too little rest this week and being a big fat man on a fixed gear bike made itself felt, and I was pretty much done. So I looked around for my buddy Eddie who I'd ridden over with and asked how he was doing. He was pretty fried too, from not having ridden, and not having ridden in a group, for a while, so we decided to let the group head off while we went in search of food.

Oki Dogs was out, as some cranky person yelled at us and told us not to bring our bikes into the breezeway where people could sit and eat.

So being on Fairfax, Ethiopian sounded good, and we headed South, but on the way, we saw Johnny Rockets at the Farmer's Market.

Say what you will about chain restaurants, but Johnny Rockets at the Farmer's Market is an AWESOME place to grab a bite while you're on a bike. We leaned our bikes against the wall next to our table on the patio, ordered some food and Coca Colas, and all was well.

Seriously, the chance to sit down and have a meal and 5 or 6 pints of Coca Cola in the middle of a bike ride is an experience not to be missed. (In the middle of a ride, cold Coca Cola tastes like the nectar of the gods.) Plus, the staff there was AWESOME, they could not have been nicer or more helpful.

Then it was time to ride back to Palms, twitching slightly from the caffeine and sugar overload. From West Hollywood, at night, Fairfax South to Pico, West on Pico to Robertson, Robertson South to Venice, and Venice West to Palms, is a really pleasant ride. (The Robertson off ramp from the 10 merging with Robertson South would probably be a little hectic for a group ride though.)

Then home, for the first beer of the night. I tend not to drink on the rides, as I need what few reflexes I have functioning at full capacity when somebody eats it for no reason on a flat straight section of road (which is sadly not as rare as it should be), but there's something really nice about coming home safely from a ride, finding a comfortable chair, and cracking open a cold one.

Tonight was so much fun. If you weren't there, you should come out next time. All you need is a bike and a sense of humor. You've got a lot of choices - http://midnightridazz.com/events.php - so come ride!