Here's a ride report posted on the iBOB list by Rick Risemberg:
======================================================================== ===== Hi All--
Stitching the River was a great ride again, with several BOBs in attendance, including the inimitable chuck Schmidt and his beautiful Waterford 2800 fixie. More BOBbish bikes than last time, with (besides Vivian the Nickel-Plated MIyata and the Bambina, my Bottecchia fixie), the following:
A Romulus with a front basket (ridden by Po-Wen) A Jack Taylor fillet-brazed tandem (Charles & Carmen) A Nishiki mixte (Kay) And (hold your breath, folks!) a pristine 1973 Rene Herse! (Matthew)
There was also a sweet Surly Steamroller, a modern Cinelli (whose rider also has a perfectly restored lugged steel Cinelli that he often rides), a classic lugged Colnago with Albatross bars, and a whole lot of other nice iron.
And all the riders were lively, good-natured folks with interesting stories to tell.
No Wheelmen showed up this time, so we felt freer to stop for photo ops or interesting historical bits, including the only working winery in Los Angeles (San Antonio Winery, been there nearly a hundred years), Sci-Arc, and of course the beautiful old Art-Deco bridges themselves.
Brought the ride back to start through my new home-away-from-home, the Garment District (where we passed within a block of every shop where I'd picked up material for the knickers I was wearing) and the joyous cacophony of Broadway, which leads from the major Latino shopping area of the city center, with dozens of food stands and music shops, as well as row after row of Art Deco office buildings, on through the jewellery district, the courts of justice, the original Plaza where LA was founded, to end up back in Chinatown. Broadway's traffic--both vehicular and pedestrian--operates at midtown-Manhattan levels, but bikes re everywhere--delivery bikes, transport bikes, and of course cop bikes, so our group did not feel intimidated. (If it had been a weekday, there would have been hordes of messengers as well.)
After we got back and shared dim sum, a couple of messenger types came gingerly up to say hello--and invited us to go on a feed-the- homeless ride their crowd does every Wednesday!
Great ride--thanks to all who came!
Rick "loves downtown" Risemberg -- Richard Risemberg http://www.rickrise.com http://www.bicyclefixation.com http://www.newcolonist.com ======================================================================== =====
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA