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.
Jay Van De Velde
Seal Beach, CA