If you’ve been reading LADOT Bike Blog for the last few weeks, you probably know all about the Tour LaBonge. This week’s Tour LaBonge takes place in and around Griffith Park and the LA River. Riders should meet up at 5:30 on Wednesday the 14th at the Mulholland Fountain at the corner of Riverside and Los Feliz Blvd.
LADOT Bike Blog previously joined in on the fun for Positively Fourth Street and a ride through Toluca Lake and North Hollywood. Last Wednesday, LADOT Bike Blog suited up once more to bike the Miracle Mile.
CM LaBonge at his Hollywood Field Office
After interviewing Council Member LaBonge that morning, LADOT Bike Blog hoofed it down to Tom’s field office on Fountain. There were already a number of riders excited and ready to go.
The route was pretty extensive, traveling through Hollywood, Miracle Mile, Hancock Park, Koreatown, and Park LaBrea. In all, the group assembled was to ride a ten mile circuit.
It was quite a ride
Once the LAPD escort was in place, the ride took off down towards Hancock Park. As with all rides on the Tour LaBonge, the pace was slow in order to keep the ride together and not discourage less experienced riders.
Riders waiting at a stoplight
While riding through Hancock Park, the Tour LaBonge went right past Mayor Villaraigosa’s house. Luckily for us, he was home and came out for a quick photo opportunity.
CM LaBonge and Mayor Villaraigosa
The customary “ice cream sandwich break” took place at the Grove, where riders got quite a few curious looks from tourists and shoppers alike. When they asked us why we were riding our bikes, they couldn’t quite wrap their heads around the answer: “Because it’s fun”.
Ice cream at The Grove
After our break, the group headed up Poinsettia to Waring. LADOT Bike Blog spent a large part of the ride speaking with Taylor Nichols, a writer for the Hollywood Examiner and an advocate for building a bicycle boulevard along Waring (his latest article deals with “cycle chic”). Traveling with Taylor along Waring – or as Council Member LaBonge likes to say “From Pink’s to Paramount” – it wasn’t hard to imagine a bicycle boulevard in place and hundreds of happy bicyclists using it to get around Mid-City.
One end of Taylor Nichols' proposed bicycle boulevard
The ride ended back at Council Member LaBonge’s field office in Hollywood, and the local fire department was on hand to greet us in style.
The fire engines in full display for the Tour LaBonge riders
As always, you can check out all the LADOT Bike Blog photos of the Tour LaBonge rides on our flickr page. Don’t forget that tomorrow, July 14th, is the second to last Tour LaBonge ride of the summer! 5:30 pm at the Mulholland Fountain at Riverside & Los Feliz Blvd.
[...] his candidacy for L.A. City Council, preparing to butt heads against incumbent 4th District Council Member Tom LaBonge; LAist says the reaction has been mixed, but some seem more than open to the [...]