Last Sunday, we had a fantastic 1^st BikeSage Group Ride – 5 BikeSages and four of their friends participated in a laid back, fun, social ride .   We took our time, biked mostly on side quiet streets and had plenty of time to socialize.   We started at the Bike Kitchen, stopped to visit a thriving community garden, made another stop at a beautiful mural and then lunched on the sidewalk at the Larchmont Farmers Market. We finished up by climbing the hill at Barnsdale Art Park and enjoying a brilliant view of our local mountains to the north and city to the west. 

Every BikeSage knows safe and pleasant streets to ride on in Los Angeles. Each BikeSage has discovered this  network of bike-friendly streets through trial and error.  Someone who doesn't bicycle on a regular basis may not even know where these streets are in their own neigbhorhood.   The point of these rides is to have BikeSages share some of their wisdom of the best local places to ride with folks they know, turning this experience into a fun social event.

What was most pleasant about the ride on Sunday was its intimacy - nine riders gave everyone the opportunity to get to meet each other.  BikeSages got to meet other BikeSages.  And folks new to riding got to meet each other and BikeSages as well.  Much fun!

After the ride, everyone agreed that this was a good idea and we should do some more of them.  One BikeSage on the ride volunteered to plan another ride in June which will take place in Los Feliz.  If you're an experienced rider, you can be a BikeSage by inviting someone you know to this ride who doesn't currently bike much to the ride, especially someone who lives in the local neighborhood.

If you’re interested in organizing a future ride where you show off your neighborhood, your favorite local routes and visit a couple of cool destinations, please email Ron Milam.  Imagine if we had rides like this in every neighborhood every weekend everywhere...it just might inspire some more folks to start riding.