Winter Tour 2009 rolled out of Chicago on December 1, 2009 with a truckload of beautiful De Fietsfabriek bicycles and a simple goal to spread the joy of car-free mobility to as many people as possible. After more than 7,000 miles of driving and countless smiles on test riders faces, the tour made its return to Chicago on Sunday January 17, 2010. I am extremely grateful beyond words to my family & friends who took care of me and gave me a place to crash and would also like to thank all the bike shops who opened their doors. By every measure the tour was a giant success and I am already sketching out a map for Winter Tour 2010.
My last update included the first two stops- Boulder, CO & Albuquerque, NM. This post covers the rest of the tour up and down the California coast.
12-10-09 Thursday- Welcome to LA! Within minutes of off-loading the bikes in Santa Monica we were stopping traffic. Weather was partly cloudy with temps in the lower-50′s- tropical for any Chicagoan but judging by the winter coats, hats and scarves some of the Angelenos were wearing this was their idea of winter. My brother Erik and I rode all day weaving through Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
End of Santa Monica Pier (and Route 66) with my brother Erik
12-11-09 Friday- Started the day early at the Venice Beach farmers market where the bikes got a lot of attention. Then it was off to the Dutch Consulate for a radio interview on 90.7FM KPFK’s Bike Talk program. Bart van Bolhuis, the Consul General of the Netherlands provided his insights on the bicycle culture in Holland along with Conny Lederer from the Consulate’s office. KPFK’s Nick Richart conducted the interview, local bicycle advocate Joe Linton was there representing LA and I did my part to speak for Chicago. Click on this link to listen to the interview. Be sure to select ‘Bike Talk’ from the program list, then scroll down to December 19th and click on play or download. The program is 2 hours long and our interview starts at about the halfway mark.
12-12-09 Saturday- Rain, rain and more rain. Headed indoors to the Eco-Village to sit in on a planning meeting for LA’s answer to Bogotá’s Ciclovia and Chicago’s Open Streets. The idea is simple, take back the streets from cars for a day and open them up to the public for walking, cycling or any other non-motorized means of transport. The LA version will be known as CicLAvia. The organizers I met at this meeting are a passionate bunch and although they have a monster challenge ahead of them, I am confident that they will succeed. Afterwards, I got a local tour of the ‘Hel-Mel’ neighborhood and stopped by Orange 20 Bikes at the center of ’Hel-Mel’- the corner of Heliotrope and Melrose.
Not your ordinary Ordinary on display at Orange 20 Bikes
12-13-09 Sunday- Rode Big Red to a really cool pet store, Healthy Spot, in Santa Monica where they were hosting a fund-raiser for Fuzzy Rescue who helps sweet pups like Scooby Roo find a good home. Poor Scooby Roo was found abandoned in the streets of LA and was born without his front legs. Thanks to the incredible efforts of Sheila Choi, CEO of Fuzzy Rescue, he is learning to get around with the help of a custom-built two-wheel cart.
Took Scooby Roo for a ride to help spread the word about the Fuzzy Rescue fund-raiser
12-14-09 Monday- Time to check out The Strand. This is the name for the oceanfront towns from Santa Monica south to Redondo Beach. Stopped off in Hermosa and Manhattan Beach and Big Red was drawing crowds all over the place despite it being Monday in the middle of “winter”.
At the south end of The Strand in Redondo Beach
12-15-09 Tuesday- Hung out at Orange 20 Bikes for most of the day. This is a wicked cool shop and I highly recommend checking it out if you are in LA. Had lunch at Pure Luck, a cycle friendly vegan restaurant next door to Orange 20. Although I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian for that matter, I thoroughly enjoyed their jackfruit burrito.
The original home of Orange 20 Bikes before moving next door
12-16-09 Wednesday- No time to rest when the weather is this beautiful, headed to the farmers market in Santa Monica. One thing is for sure, there are killer farmers markets almost every day of the week in LA.
Farmers market at 3rd and Arizona in Santa Monica
12-17-09 Thursday- Rode Big Red from Santa Monica to East Hollywood and back. It was a perfect day for a long bike ride and I met countless people along the way. I had a great time checking out new ares for the first time and couldn’t help myself from daydreaming about a Chicago with this kind of weather in December.
Chocolate shake at Urth Caffe really hit the spot after a long day of riding
12-18-09 Friday- More exploring new areas in Santa Monica. Rode down Montana street where I literally had people in their cars pulling me over to the side of the road to check out the bikes.
Cool sighting- a kids bike locked up near an elementary school with no adult bicycle in site
12-19-09 Saturday- The owners of Orange 20 Bikes were super cool and let me set up in front of their shop for the day. Foot traffic was solid and people were smiling ear to ear while taking a test ride…or even better, being taken for a test ride.
Taking my friend Gina for a quick spin
12-20-09 Sunday- My last day in LA. Checked out the Main Street farmers market in Santa Monica and cruised around Venice Beach. Of all the different areas of LA that I was able to explore, this one seemed to have the largest number of locals using a bike for everyday transportation. I said a fond farewell to LA and headed down the road to San Diego to spend Christmas with relatives.
My overall impressions of LA as a bike friendly city are very positive. There is no doubt that they love their cars and like most other US cities, the bicycle infrastructure needs some serious attention. However, that said, the momentum is moving in the right direction with a large and diverse bicycle advocacy base and when you have weather like this it’s only a matter of time before more and more people are hoping on their bikes instead of jumping in their cars.
12-21-09 Monday- You stay classy San Diego! I spent the morning catching up and hanging out with my Grandparents who live in Rancho Bernardo then headed to Pacific and Mission Beach with my Uncle Tony.
With Uncle Tony in front of Lahaina Beach House in Pacific Beach
12-23-09 Wednesday- Brought the bikes to Coronado Island for the day. Coronado is super ideal for biking, the weather is perfect year-round, it’s basically flat and everything is within a 15 minute bike ride. You can even bring your bike to downtown San Diego with a quick trip on the ferry-boat. I got a chance to meet the nice folks who run Holland’s Bicycles, Coronado’s only bicycle shop which has been around since 1924 and has only had three owners. I ate lunch next door at Danny’s Palm Bar & Grill where I had the blue ribbon burger of the winter tour- sorry Fatburger, In & Out Burger and Griff’s Lottaburger…all worthy runner ups. It was a great day and I was very happy that one of our 996′s found a new home in Coronado.
Big Red in front of Hotel del Coronado
12-24|25-09- I spent Christmas having fun hanging out with relatives in San Diego and caught my breath before heading north for the stretch run of the tour.
My Grandpa Tony, you wouldn’t believe he was 95 if you saw him in action
12-26-09 Saturday- Hit the road early in the morning and drove north to Santa Barbara. I kept hearing from everyone that Santa Barbara would be a great place for our bikes and I must say that it did not disappoint. Rode Big Red around town and along the oceanfront where I was pleasantly surprised to run into customers of mine who I had delivered a bike to back in Colorado. They were extremely kind and even offered me a place to stay that night.
Big Red on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara
12-27-09 Sunday- Working my way up the coast towards San Francisco I stopped in Monterey and spent a few hours cruising around town. A beautiful place that I hope to return to someday when I have more time to enjoy it.
12-28-09 Monday- Left Monterey early in the morning with a busy day of deliveries to make in San José and Atherton. Had a great time meeting my new customers and helping them get acquainted with their new Bakfietsen.
Smiling faces in their new beautiful BF18
Finally! San Francisco! I had never been here before and was really looking forward to my first visit and having some fun celebrating New Years with my cousins. Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly work out that way. I became very ill and was out of commission for about a week and forced to put the tour on hold. I was extremely fortunate that my cousins Mark and Gina were there to look after me and give some very much-needed family support. You guys rock!
1-6-10 Wednesday- Happy New Year! Back in the saddle, took the bikes for a tour of Berkeley with my cousin Gina. Cruised the bikes up and down 4th street and got an immediate sense from people we talked to and the visible bike infrastructure that Berkeley was serious about their bike culture.
Cousin Gina and her dog Sherman J. Peabody (Ret.)
1-7-10 Thursday- Back in San Francisco, brought the bikes to Pier 39 where I met some really great people from Earthbound Farm and had a busy day riding along the Embarcadero.
Bakfiets on Pier 39 with Alcatraz looming in the background
1-8-10 Friday- Quite possibly the highlight of the entire winter tour. Bart van Bolhuis, the Consul General of the Netherlands and a group from the Consulate’s office met up for an early morning ride from the Golden Gate Bridge to their brand new office in the financial district. Also along for the ride was Andy Thornley from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and San Francisco bicycle legend Darryl Skrabak. Darryl did the honors and led the way and we all had an absolute blast. I would like to say a very big “DANK U WEL!” to everyone who was there and helped make the ride happen.
A great way to start the day
1-9-10 Saturday- Last day in San Francisco. Rode the bikes to the Ferry Building and along the Embarcadero. There was a great farmers market at the Ferry Building with some of the most amazing food you can imagine. The bikes got an overwhelmingly warm reception from the big Saturday crowd at the market and it was a great way to wrap up the tour.
Looking out at Oakland Bay Bridge
All good things must come to an end. The Winter Tour 2009 was officially over and it was time to make the trek back to Chicago. Even though I didn’t get to bring the bikes out to nearly as many Bay Area locations as I had hoped or planned, it’s always nice to have a reason to return. The road trip back to Chicago was a smooth one with clear weather and luckily for me a copilot, my great friend Max, along to share the driving duties. We got a chance to experience three National Parks on the route with stops at Los Padres (Big Sur), Joshua Tree and Petrified Forest. Thank you all very much for following along. I hope you enjoyed it.
The End
Parting shot, sunset from Big Sur
