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I'll be the one riding the white, 36" unicycle with aerobars! I plan to be there about 9am when it starts, and will be filming as I ride so I can make a mini-documentary of the event.
CicLAvia 6/23/13. A 6 mile stretch of Wishire blvd. in downtown Los Angeles, closed to traffic, and we had it all to ourselves from 9am-4pm! I used the "CicLAvia" booklet they handed out, as a way of "opening & closing" the video.
It's good for the image of cycling and the promotion of cycling, no doubt about that. Is it good for cycling itself...well, it depends on whether you think an event that habituates people to riding slowly on closed streets is really likely to get anybody to ride after the streets open up again. To put it mildly, I have my doubts.
Still, I had a good time at each one I've done. It is hard to argue with fun. (Not to be confused with Funzie, who is assuredly not fun)
I understand your doubts, but I look at it like this: anything that gets people to experience the joys of riding a bicycle is good. They'll want to do it more often.
Yes, I agree with your points on both sides. However putting people in a cordoned off safe zone to ride conveys to me that the bicycles are too dangerous to use as transportation and that bicycles are solely toys, not to be used as a serious conveyance. Getting people on bikes is a good thing for sure, 100,000 people running local errands or commuting to work would be a major boon for cyclists.
rev106 responding to a comment by mr rollers
06.28.13 - 10:21 am
Nope, not kidding myself, but if only a very small percentage of those thousands & thousands of people decide to go out on a bike on a "normal" day it will be a good thing.