Reflections on Bike Month Pasadena 2022
May is over, and that means Bike Month in Pasadena is done for another year. What a great time it was! I had so much fun seeing friends and meeting new people. How about you? It was also fantastic to see streets in Pasadena (and the San Gabriel Valley) so full of bikes! Cities are much quieter when there are fewer cars.
The ride that started it all off was 626 Golden Streets and a feeder ride from Pasadena to South Pas. For most of a day, Mission Street was closed to cars from South Pasadena to San Gabriel. Instead of car traffic and exhaust, the road was filled with smiling faces and an incredible variety of bicycles and other human-powered vehicles. Thousands of people came out. Did you see the Bicicrófono as it played cumbias rolling down the streets?
Feeder ride participants before heading south to 626 Golden Streets
May 4th was National Bike to School Day and Pasadena students joined students across the country in biking to school that day, especially at Marshall Fundamental and Blair where students already ride to school on a daily basis.
The Bike Shop Social was an off-the-bike social event hosted by Around the Cycle and Day One. The shop, located on Lincoln near Washington, was a meeting place for local cyclists to meet each other and discuss everything from gear for bike commuting to safe riding practices. Participants enjoyed pizza and snacks while seated by a great selection of new and used bikes.
Riding around Centennial Square at the end of the Night Ride
Thanks to Jim Fleischer for this video of the Night Ride.
After that was the Night Ride. So many bicycles were decked out in lights in so many creative ways for this nighttime adventure! I know the ride gave at least a few of us ideas about how we can personalize our bikes – and it was also a fantastic way to access the Cruel World festival at the Rose Bowl and catch a glimpse of Gen X favorites such as Bauhaus, Psychedelic Furs, Devo, Blondie, and more.
Taco Tuesday Ride
Biking and eating just go together.
The Taco Ride was a delicious success, organized by Dan Huynh of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition (PasCSC). The ride circled through eastern Pasadena and ended up at Vero’s on Orange Grove. It was fantastic to see how many people could fit in their parking lot when no one used a car to get there!
Taco Tuesday Ride
You can thank Dan for the tacos!
Next up was Bike to Work Day. Pasadena City Council member Felicia Williams and a police escort, along with PasCSC volunteers, left McDonald Park bright and early at 7:30 a.m. and rode to City Hall where Day One hosted a Bike to Work Day pit stop with additional support from Around the Cycle, Metro, Pasadena Police Department, and the Pasadena Fire Department.
Council Member Felicia Williams, Blair Miller and PPD
In total, some 30+ bicyclists stopped by on their way to work (sometimes going right back home). Commuting to work by bicycle really gets the blood pumping! You can show up at work ready for anything!
Day One Bike to Work Day Pit Stop at City Hall
The Handlebar Happy Hour, at the Doghaus in Old Pasadena, was a successful event to end Bike to Work Day. People filled the alley, talking, laughing, eating, and drinking. It was great to get out and socialize – and to see so many bicycles parked outside. Imagine if all those people tried to park their cars there. It was a vivid demonstration of how much space cars DON’T have to take up.
Handlebar Happy Hour at DogHaus
Relaxing at the end of Bike to Work Day with this blog’s author in orange.
The Ride of Silence followed the next Saturday. It was a somber reminder of why it is so important to protect our most vulnerable road users: pedestrians and cyclists. Day One hosted a taco stop with free tacos provided by the Pasadena Athletic Association at the end of the ride (and even included some veggie options)!
Ride of Silence Taco Stop
Did we mention that riding and eating go together?
That same evening was the bike-in movie night, hosted at Day One. “Together We Cycle” chronicled the transformation of Amsterdam. In the 1970s, the city was traffic-choked – know any place like that? People got fed up with traffic deaths, pollution, and traffic. The film mapped out the activism and progress that led to Amsterdam becoming a city with an impressively high quality of life, with physical infrastructure that prioritizes pedestrians and bicycles.
The following day was a tour of public art led by Caroline Zorthian of Side Street Projects and Day One. Participants got a closer look at the quirky and beautiful art pieces that help make our city special, and heard about their origins and the artists who created them. Council Member Andy Wilson and his wife joined us too. Wilson shared a lot of “city insider” info regarding many of the art installations which everyone enjoyed.
“Solar Flower” at Washington & Glen was a must see on the Public Art Tour
The Bicycle Brunch Picnic Adventure coincided with the grand re-opening of La Pintoresca Park and Family Fun Day on May 28. Riders started at Victory Park in East Pasadena and rode to La Pintoresca Park, stopping at McDonald Park and Washington Park to pick up additional riders along the way.
As part of the Family Fun Day at La Pintoresca, Day One and Active San Gabriel Valley (Active SGV) partnered with the La Pintoresca Teen Education Center and a local Boy Scout troop to host a bicycle repair workshop. By the end of the workshop, more than 30 donated bikes were repaired by the Boy Scouts and given away to children in the community, along with helmets, food, skateboards, and other items from the City’s Parks Department.
Bike Repair Workshop at La Pintoresca Family Fun Day
The very last ride of Bike Month was the Ice Cream Ride, organized by Day One and hosted in partnership with PasCSC, Salt & Straw, Mercadito Monarca, El Portal, Milkcow, and Bloomfield Creamery. After lunch, about 50 big and little folks took off from City Hall with an all-important mission. Seven miles and five ice cream shops later, even the kids had reached their ice cream capacity. Sticky, full, and covered in smiles, the participants melted into the city and just like that, Bike Month in Pasadena came to an end.
Little kids and big kids at the Ice Cream Ride
You just can’t beat riding on a beautiful day, topped with ice cream.
We hope that those who rode with us, and people who saw the events from the sidewalk or from behind their car windows, will feel encouraged to continue to explore Pasadena by bicycle.
Bike Month Pasadena was made possible by the City of Pasadena Department of Transportation, Day One, and the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition.
On the way home after eating tacos on the taco ride.
Liz Schiller, Colin Bogart and Christy Moision contributed to this blog.
