Re: [CR]Pasadena Freeeeeeeway Ride... weeeeeee...

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Chater-Lea)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 18:34:52 -0700
From: "Jay Van De Velde" <jaysports@lycos.com>
Cc:
Subject: Re: [CR]Pasadena Freeeeeeeway Ride... weeeeeee...
Organization: Lycos Mail (http://www.mail.lycos.com:80)


Oh man! What a Father's Day gift! Something we've all dreamed about: what if there were no cars on a well paved 40' wide winding path that follows the course of a creek, bordered with sycamore trees, with no pesky joggers or rollerbladers, just fellow cyclists all travelling the same direction? Chuck Schmidt hammering off the front on his beautiful Gillott. Matt Gorski on his Colnago Equalateral, Charles Andrews and his fabled 3Rensho, Aaron Lipstadt on a Riv, who just yesterday was riding in one of the most scenic centuries anywhere, in the Eastern Sierras. I gamely pursuing on a 1931 James. When can we do it again? Link to a couple of ride photos:
   http://photos.yahoo.com/jaysportif Jay Van De Velde Seal Beach, CA --


--------- Original Message ---------


DATE: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 15:32:39 From: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Cc:
>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/mkpl/pasadena/n43-york.jpg
>> http://members.cox.net/mkpl/pasadena/n25_sav43_2.jpg
>> http://members.cox.net/mkpl/pasadena/n49-prospect-meridian.jpg
>>
>> 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

>>

>> .