Los Angeles Left In The Bicycling Dust Again

I just read that the city of Pasadena has opened up its first “bicycle boulevard,” which comes during the same weekend that the city of Glendale unveiled its brand new Trail Safety Patrol Program. The best LA could do is get its mayor to sign a bike parking ordinance — not insignificant, mind you. But still somewhat indicative of a gridlocked metropolis that has its head stuck up a collective tailpipe.

Speaking of Glendale, it was my pleasure this Super Bowl Sunday morning (before heading down with Susan to my friends Arnold and Martha’s place in Newport Coast and cheering on the Ravens to victory) to be one of the first to be of service in a volunteer capacity in the Verdugo Mountains as part of the freshly minted program.

For my first excursion (timelapsed above), I and my fellow volunteers Paul Rabinov and Mark Kobayashi rode up into the Verdugos on a purely magnificent high-definition visibility day via the Beaudry North Motorway from the trailhead to the benches at the intersection of the Brand and Verdugo motorways before coming back to visit Tongva Peak and then heading back down to the trailhead via the Beaudry South Motorway.

It was an absolutely amazing day to be on the trails, introducing ourselves and the patrol to practically everyone we met along the way.

If Los Angeles was even half as open-minded and forward thinking about its open space trails being rightfully accessible to all modes of user instead of patently and institutionally discriminatory against the type I happen to favor then I’d be devoting my time to a trail safety patrol program in that city. But it’s not and it’s a safe bet to say they never will be. So Glendale? I’m all and proudly and bright-yellowly yours.