A friend for a day in L.A.
I often wonder why I write this blog. It doesn’t pay. And I really do have better things to do.
But I love biking and bikes. And now three times, this blog has actually done something for me.
1) I met a bunch good people at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette through this blog and (unrelated to this blog) was able to promote my book.
2) I met P. Lynn Miller in Australia. Who showed my wife and I the best time you could have in pouring rain on two wheels in Sydney.
3) A friend wrote me yesterday saying, “I hate L.A., too. And I’m there right now!” So she biked 12 miles to Santa Monica tonight and we joined friends of hers for a quiz night at a bar. Some might be happy with second place. But we were playing to win. And we had it, too… till the last round. When we lost our narrow lead in that damned music round. Why do they never have songs by Willie Nelson, the Pogues, Vassilis Tsitsanis, or the Andrews Sisters?
My friend mentioned the shame of biking in L.A. You can bike down side streets very well, but then it’s almost impossible to cross the major streets if you’re not at a light. In the same vain, I was thinking that they could turn some alleys into great bike lanes. But you’d have to give bikes right-of-way when crossing streets. I could be done, but it ain’t going to happen. Alas, my potential bike buddy leaves town tomorrow.
Anyway, I extended my stay till Tuesday. I’ll try and make the best of it. Check out some places mentioned in a comment in my previous post (thanks!). Maybe have lunch in Thai Town, too. And I could always jump in the ocean.
3 Responses
extended your stay???? well then… I jsut remembered that david feige is there too!! email him. call me if you need his #– I can get it from fertig!
Yay! I had a great time! Did you end up singing? Did the crowd get rowdier? Did Sora end up with cake on her face?
It _is_ a shame, the biking in LA; the streets that are main streets are like the streets that I avoid in Berkeley/Oakland, and the gutters are concrete instead of asphalt, so they’re harder, and there’s a seam between road and gutter, and the grates run in the direction of travel for maximum hazard. Sigh.
It would be _so fantastic_ to have a parallel system of bike-friendly streets, with triggered stoplights, or with stoplights that are timed so that cars coming out of a previous stoplight just get a longer light when a bike triggers it. It’s just so hard to cross the big streets, and the side streets are like side streets in Berkeley.
i appreciate you jerks bad-mouthing LA all the time. every sucker in christendom would move here if it weren’t for your neggy campaign.
unfortunately, LA is aweshome. i hope more people don’t find out. it is also easy to bike here if you know the city and have little regard for traffic laws and safety. you square.