"Every time I’m on a bike, I smile. I think the biggest part of cycling is that you never see anybody frowning on a bike. It turns you into a kid again."
Melba and Aubrey Provost have been married (and best friends) for over 60 years. They're among the city's most-devoted cyclists: they ride matching bikes, they advocate for more bike safety, they have been joining us at CicLAvia since our very first event, and they are CicLAvia Street Stars!
We pulled out a few highlights:
How did you get into cycling?
Aubrey: After getting our business up and running, we started riding our bikes to Venice and taking trips to ride in Santa Barbara. We enjoyed a lot of weekends up there. Melba likes bicycling. I like bicycling. It’s healthy and fun, and you get to see a lot of LA up close that you don’t see in automobiles.
Melba: Sometimes we would ride the LA River. You could go over to the zoo and the Gene Autry museum and go downtown to visit the bookstores and libraries. And health-wise, let’s face it, cycling is great.
CicLAvia is one of the most-beloved cycling traditions in LA. Could you tell me a little about your involvement?
Aubrey: I was at the first meeting the CicLAvia organizers had. We sat around and looked at some little pencil map of what our first ride would look like. We met two or three times before that kicked off. We had to get permission from the Metro stations to stop the trains so we could get through. It seemed like it was impossible. But here CicLAvia is some years later.
Melba: CicLAvia just grew and grew and grew. It would always be in the paper the next day — how many people came out for it and how they had their children and baby buggies. It’s amazing how it grew. You meet a lot of friends with CicLAvia, that’s for sure.
Read the full interview on the Los Angeles Times website.
Help us get back to the streets bigger than ever by joining Aubrey & Melba Provost as a CicLAvia Street Star with a monthly donation that shows your support for active transportation, small businesses, open streets, and good health. Plus, we'll send you gifts!
