Jay Van De Velde wrote:
> Jack Romans wrote: >What anyone familiar with that route would
> give to fly
> down that cycleway<
>
> In June 2003 the Arroyo Parkway, which developed from that
> cycleway and is the oldest freeway in CA, was closed to motor
> vehicles for a few hours and given over to bikes and pedestrians.
> Along with Chuck Schmidt, Matthew Gorski, Charles Andrews, myself
> and other CRs were hundreds (thousands?) of other cyclists enjoying
> the experience of a Sunday morning ride like no other we've ever
> experienced. Flying down the fast lane with no cars in sight or
> earshot was almost surreal. On a freeway that is more like Rock
> Creek Parkway than Santa Monica Freeway, paceline cyclists to
> family cruisers with kids in tow were able to enjoy the experience
> in the fastlane or slowlane of their choosing. I rode my 1931
> James, but that wasn't the oldest bike on the freeway. There were
> at least two penny farthings attracting attention on the ride. This
> freeway follows the natural course of a canyon (arroyo) stream, so
> it does have a distinct grade. I followed one of the highwheelers
> on the
> downgrade and was amazed to see the rider spinning that mother of
> all fixed gears at 20+mph.That was something to see! Since the only
> other time I've seen a soCal freeway given over to bikes was for
> the 1984 Olympic team time trial event, this ride was most likely a
> once in a lifetime event.
Yeah that was a fantastic morning, riding the Freeway. It was the first time in 64 years that the Pasadena Fwy. had been closed to cars!
I went to the '84 Olympic time trial on the Freeway (was that the Garden Grove Fwy?). I remember that the freeway was not completely finished yet, so not sure it was "closed" for the event? Nit picking...
Everyone make sure to visit Jay's excellent web site: http://theracingbike.com Lots of good info and amazing bikes to see there!
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, Southern California
http://www.velo-retro.com (timelines, reprints and cool t-shirts)