Doah!!! Senior moment... forgot to list Aaron Lipstadt! Sorry Aaron!
Chuck
Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>
> Views of the "course" (imagine without a single solitary car in sight!):
> http://members.cox.net/
> http://members.cox.net/
> http://members.cox.net/
>
> Description of the "course":
> Quote: "If you live in Pasadena, you will have to consider a ride on
> that odd, curving, three-laned, 55-speed-limited highway which happens
> to be the oldest freeway in the world, the spur of Interstate 110 known
> as the Pasadena Freeway.
>
> Opened as a scenic highway in 1940, the Arroyo Seco Parkway boasted
> complete freedom from the dangers of intersections - most crossroads are
> bridges or tunnels - and the brave new world of onramps, which have
> about as much in common with a modern freeway access lane as your
> driveway. The designers allowed the concrete thoroughfare - two lanes
> each direction - to meander for most of its distance along the path of
> the Arroyo Seco wash. That dry creek twists and curves, and so does the
> freeway. This was thought an asset, affording motorists a constantly
> changing view as they wound their way to downtown Los Angeles.
>
> In later years a third lane of asphalt was added each way along the
> median, and the road got its modern moniker, the Pasadena Freeway.
> Most of the ramps are
> 5 MPH ones (yes you read that right, FIVE MPH!), and the speed limit
> (design speed, probably) is 55 MPH."
>
> ArroyoFest Bike Ride:
> Imagine a place as car dependent as Los Angeles closing one of its
> Freeways for five hours so that people can ride their bikes on it for an
> hour and a half. Yeah, I had a hard time believing it too! Pinch me, I
> must be dreaming! It's never been done before here in SoCal.
>
> At 7:00am I was on the start line with fellow listmembers Charles
> Andrews, Jay Van De Velde and Matt Gorski, all of us on CR limit bikes.
> Along with us were another 3,000+ riders (the organizer ran out of the
> 3,000 orange wrist bands they had).
>
> The ride went down the Pasadena Freeway six miles to the turn around,
> back uphill to the start to turn around once more for the ride back down
> to the finish at a park; a distance of 16 miles total.
>
> I found out later that I finished second to a Lightning F-40 fully
> faired recumbent, me riding a 27+ pound, 1954 Gillott 8-speed averaging
> 23+ mph. Must have been the two downhills and only one uphill with the
> finish lower than the start. I didn't think I was going that fast!
>
> I met up with Charles at the park and while soaking up the local
> ambiance we discussed Bianchi Folgores, Gillotts, Grant and the future
> of Rivendell... you know, important stuff!
>
> Old bike sightings: I saw a guy on a black '60s Cinelli road bike, and
> Charles saw a guy on a red '70s Cinelli track bike, and we both saw a
> guy riding a 1885 high wheel.
>
> A beautiful Father's Day. It felt like a once in a lifetime Freeway
> ride, but there is talk of doing it again...Unbelievable!!!
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, California
>
> .