Last Sunday, the host committee working to bring CicLAvia to South L.A. held a popular group ride. The ride was covered in the L.A. Times including a great photo gallery to go with their article. The ride had nearly a hundred participants, of all ages and races, including many South L.A. residents and plenty of others from outside the area who were checking out the neighborhoods and landmarks for the first time.

The starting point for the ride was Augustus Hawkins Natural Park, a treasured green space, easy walking distance from the Metro Blue Line Slauson Station. From there, cyclists wended their way through South L.A. neighborhoods, including riding on the buffered bike lanes on Holmes Avenue in the unincorporated county Florence neighborhood. The crown jewel of the ride was a visit to the Watts Towers. The towers are a nationally and internationally recognized landmark, and one of L.A.'s most beautiful, historic and idiosyncratic works of art.

From the Watts Towers, the ride wended its way to the Watts Labor Community Action Committee's headquarters on Central Avenue. WLCAC is a non-profit that works to improve the quality of life for folks in Watts and the surrounding neighborhoods. WLCAC is the home base for the EastSide Riders Bike Club - who host regular community group rides in South Los Angeles. EastSide Riders helped plan and lead last Sunday's ride, showed up in big numbers, and are helping with efforts to bring CicLAvia to Watts.

The ride was hosted by the CicLAvia South L.A. Host Committee, which includes TRUST South L.A., Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, A Place Called Home, Mercado La Paloma, All Peoples Community Center and others. The host committee has been meeting and riding for just over a year. Initially rides were to assess possible expansion routes for CicLAvia to grow southward, then the rides continued to give South L.A. residents a chance to ride togehter, and to invite others to explore South L.A. (To get involved in the CicLAvia South L.A. Host Committee, sign up for the Google group and Facebook page.)

The host committee partnered with C.I.C.L.E. and BikeRoWave to help plan and lead monthly rides, with brief workshops on safety and maintenance. The ride and workshop program is supported by L.A. County Department of Public Health's RENEW initiative (which also sponsors CicLAvia), which includes a focus on healthy physical activity to help prevent obesity. 

Adding a new layer to Sunday's ride was ParTour L.A. - a community group that works with neighborhoods to create interactive web mapping to tell community stories. Check out the ParTour website for photos showing the neighborhoods the ride explored. 

A big thanks to all the groups that made last Saturday's South L.A. ride such a success! 

Share This