Day of the Dead at Hollywood Forever

This year was my first time seeing the Day of the Dead festivities at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, home to the rich & famous no longer living. The altars people made for it were often highly elaborate and the whole experience was full of captivating & unique sights. I just wish it went on longer into the night, it began wrapping up around 11:30. Will have to come back again next year and get their earlier.

Día de los Muertos: Flickr Set (50 images)









A tribute to Mel Blanc, voice of almost every original Looney Tunes character and hundreds of other voices.





Light projected onto a wall became a venue for shadow dancing to the music at the stage nearby.

The Halloween Ride

Halloween weekend descended upon Los Angeles and lots of merriment and costumes on bicycles ensued Downtown Friday evening. I dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and I dressed my bike as the wolf. It was my first time in public dressed as woman, and it was a little unsettling how well the costume worked. Even some people I ride with every week had to take two or three takes before realizing it was me. Hope none of them had impure thoughts...

Red Riding Hood Takes Pictures (Halloween Ride Photos)

Swarm the Pier II

I posted up pics from the insanely awesomeness ride "Swarm the Pier II." It was a big mass ride starting at the Bicycle Kitchen in East Hollywood, winding down to meet up with more West Side ridazz in Culver City, then off to Venice Beach and finally north to the Santa Monica Pier. To keep with the swarming theme, some came out in insect attire, with bees the popular choice, and kazoos and other noise makers were handed out to make some buzzzzzzzz!!!

Midnight Ridazz Flyer

Flickr Set: Swarm The Pier (139 pics)
























Flickr Set: Swarm The Pier

The "I PISS EXCELLENCE" Yellow Jersey IMAX Ride

The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I did 3 Midnight Ridazz rides in one day as well as riding between each one and eventually riding home. It could have been 4 rides, but I couldn't get awake early enough for the unusually early Pier Pressure ride. The first ride of the day for me was The "I PISS EXCELLENCE" Yellow Jersey IMAX Ride, to go see the Tour de France documentary "Wired to Win". The pissing excellence is in reference to the drug testing between stages, and we wore yellow, color of victory in the Tour.



While waiting for the film to start, we wondered the California Science Center at the USC campus. At the top of the building is a high wire bicycle with heavy weight to counter balance the rider. Most people who tried it went tepidly across and back, but Cole, from our group, rode it hard and tilted it all over the place. Was awesome to see, and next I'm at the Science Center, I'd like to try it out as well.


The documentary was fascinating on two main levels for me. One is that the documentary focuses mostly on the adaptation of the brain to extreme physical conditions, with the Tour De France as a case study. The other level is just the awe of seeing these super humans of endurance riding on some of the most beautiful roads in the world, on the epic screen size and resolution of IMAX. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in psychology, physiology, and or the sport of cycling. A word of caution though, it's guaranteed to make you feel slower the next time you get on your bike.

Link to Flickr Set:
The "I PISS EXCELLENCE" Yellow Jersey IMAX Ride

Also, in testament to the small world we live in, at the Wolf Pack race later that day, we ran into the projectionist who was showing the IMAX movie, and he recognized our yellow jerseys & shirts.

First Wolfpack Race

I've been part of a lot of activities and events recently that I'd like to share, but work, photography and spending almost every other free minute bicycling has kept me pretty busy. I'll post more pictures and accompanying writing, as I get caught up on my back log of photos to process.

In the mean time here is a picture taken of me at my first Wolfpack street race (photo courtesy of Spook). It was a short distance crit, 3 laps around a city block, so all sprinting. In the pic I'm about to get fourth place, split second behind third, out of about I think 15 or 16 riders. Nothing special for getting fourth, but I was pretty stoked about it, having no idea how I would measure up to Wolfpack riders. I'm wearing the yellow jersey in homage to the Tour de France, as there was a themed ride earlier in the day to watch an IMAX documentary on the Tour. I'll post more on that and other such things later.

100 Miles by Moonlight. The Dark Century.

I just woke up from the coma induced sleep of crashing on my bed after riding my bike for 100 miles through the dead of night, on the Dark Century. It was an epic journey from Union Station downtown, to Hollywood, then snaking down the LA river to Long Beach, then north to El Monte, across south Pasadena and finally back to downtown. There were a lot of beautiful views of various parts of LA at night on the hills, and we went through lots of areas I'd never been before. It was a life perspective changing sort of ride. Lots of pain and accomplishment awaited our finish, and we satisfied our hunger at Denny's which has never tasted so good, but only because I was so hungry.

Final stats from my bike computer: 99.8 miles, 6:16:37 riding time (doesn't include planned and unplanned breaks for food, drink, fixing mechanical problems and flat tires), average speed 15.8 mph, 2946 ft. of climbing, and an estimated 5830 calories burned for a rider my height and weight.

I think I'm going to go lay down some more. Bed, so soft, so wonderful...

Ride-Arc "Incarceration, Gentrification, and Homelessness"

"Transitional Housing"


On July 6th, Ride-Arc hosted their 2nd Anniversary ride on the eye opening but bleak topics of homeless population shifting, upper class developments amidst poverty stricken areas, and the rapid expansion of the incarceration system.


"In front of needle exchange clinic" (Pictured is Alex Amerri, one of the ride founders.)


Contrast in demographic could not be more apparent then in Downtown L.A., with upper scale loft/condo developments springing up with 4 million+ dollar pent houses, literally only blocks away from transitional housing, a needle exchange clinic, and homeless encampments.


"In front of needle exchange clinic"


Right at the heart of the city a new large scale jail facility is being constructed near the Civic Center. Already standing is the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the largest such jail in the United States, and was of monumental expense to the State of California. This facility is able to house a high concentration of prisoners through the use of a panopticon inspired design.


"Twin Towers Correctional Facility"


In a panopticon, inmates are housed in a tower with a circular or polygonal floor plan and a single guard on each floor in the center, who is able to watch any inmate on the floor from a single location. This particular facility also subdivides cells on each floor into two half floors to stack more cells into less space, and one way optical glass is used to keep inmates unaware of when the guard is actually watching them.


"Twin Towers Correctional Facility"


"Twin Towers Correctional Facility"


Then we made our way back to the SCI-Arc campus, for food, drink, and music. It was a fun after party in spite of it concluding our trip to the county jail. I didn't get any pictures of the party it self, as it was low light (didn't bring my flash) and I didn't want to feel like I was in event photographer mode. It was interesting to walk around the campus a bit though and I took a few pictures inside.


"SCI-Arc Campus"

At art school we had a our fair share of drafting tables for doing illustration work, but SCI-Arc is the champion of most drafting tables in a single building I've ever seen.


"SCI-Arc Campus"

I was also highly captivated by a simple chair hung from the ceiling in a small gallery space near the entrance. It's amazing how different a feeling you get from something so familiar when it is simply presented in a different way.


As things were starting to settle down I got involved in a long and interesting discussion with the Ride-Arc organizers and a girl I had met at the Independence Day critical mass ride a few days previous. Debated were pro's and cons of wealthier people moving into downtown, other social issues, environmental problems, and how different demographics react to these issues. I'm looking forward to the next event if for no other reason then the conversations that can happen.


"SCI-Arc Campus"


After the after party there was a bunch of folks still seeking yet more adventure. I joined them in their quest for an early breakfast and drinks, as we indecisively meandered the streets of downtown looking for something that was open. We finally stopped at a local diner, and made conversation over toast and jam. Finally at what was then I think 5:15 in the morning, I rode my bike back to Santa Monica.

Reflecting on my Independence Day Weekend.

This last weekend was the most exciting time I've had for a fourth of July ever. It's not usually a holiday I really get into, but I got two days off from work, took an extra day off and had a five day stretch. I ended up participating in a different group bike ride each of those five days, doing in total I think close to 180 - 200 miles.

The first day being on the 4th, was a critical mass gathering of a couple hundred bicyclists, taking over the streets riding from Santa Monica to the Venice side of Marina del Rey for the big fireworks show. Of note was a guy out there with barbecue on the rear rack of his bike, with coolers hanging on each side, and he started cooking food at the after party. The party was a lot of fun, with music, dancing and people lighting fireworks. Some of us also went down to hang out the beach afterward, a few even swimming, as the water is warm enough for that at night now.

The second day I went out to my second Cubcamp, a fast pace group of riders that goes out every Thursday night, and on Tuesday nights they have Cubscouts ride, scouting the route for Cubcamp. They were doing a practice ride for the All City Team Race East to the Beach, an underground street race hosted by the Wolfpack Hustle. This involved going from east Hollywood to Dockweiler beach as fast as possible the whole way, and trying to keep a paceline formation going. I've never riden that fast for such a sustained length of time before, it was certainly grueling, but also exciting.

On friday, was the second anniversary of the monthly Ride-Arc, a group ride hosted by students of SCI-Arc university. Each ride has a theme, and is led through different parts of Los Angeles stopping along the way to discuss architectural trends and history at the architecture being discussed. Bikes are a pretty ideal way to do this as you are able to cruise slow enough to appreciate your soundings,unlike cars, but able to cover far more ground then walking. It was an eye opening experience and I had an amazing time, I'll write more about this ride in a future post accompanied by photos I took from the event.

On saturday I joined the "Pier Pressure" ride because everybody is doing it. It was a more casual paced ride starting at the Santa Monica Pier and cruising toward Venice in search of the 7-11 that had been converted to a Kwik-E-Mart for the Simpsons movie promotion. Was a fun little ride, and I learned some new little routes cutting through Venice. I also got my self a Squishee and a hyperactive pink cartoon style donut, the most junk food I've had in months. I didn't finish the Squishee though, it was pretty overrated I felt. Afterwards a couple of the riders went out to see a gallery opening in Culver City so I joined them for that, and the day became an all day sort bike ride adventure.

On sunday morning I joined the West L.A. Cycling Club, which I've been doing for a couple weeks now, for their up the coast from the Marina area to Palos Verdes ride. They are a friendly group of folks, and the ride is about 35 miles (plus my miles getting to the start and getting home) with a little climbing. For how crazy I've gotten though, this has become my wind down for the week ride, and the route is ideal for a chill pace and chatting part of the way. The coast is always nice, and as usual gorgeous weather.

After that it was off to Disneyland, as my friend Sam had invited me to come with her and her boyfriend. They talked me into getting a season pass, which I agreed to if for no other reason then the photo opportunities. I find Disneyland to be an interesting intersection of American idealism and fantasy, consumerism and excess, technical innovation and imagination, as well as being a mixing pot of various demographics within America, and tourists from around the world. I'll be starting a Flickr set soon, with my Disneyland adventures.

Sunday was also the day the street race mentioned earlier was happening, and I found out the Cubs got third place in spite of a rider taking a nasty fall, causing a couple minutes to be lost. Apparently a car pulled out suddenly forcing one of the riders, Rich, to brake suddenly, and the rider behind him in the paceline, Annie, slammed into Rich's back tire and flew off the bike getting some road rash along the way. She got back up, made sure nothing was broken, and they went on to get third place, with apparently only 30 seconds between them and the first place team. Big props to the Cubs for pulling that off.

Then came Monday, and my weekend that I wished could just keep on going, finally came to an end. I met so many interesting people and had so much fun. This whole experience getting involved in the local bicycle scene, has given me a renewed appreciation for living in Los Angeles and taking advantage of what it has to offer. I look forward to more adventures in this big crazy city.

Most of these rides were found using the following links as resources:
midnightridazz
bikeboom