Tucson Bike Party

Cyclovia Tucson t-shirt

There’s no spell checking this post; it’s a word to be spoken more so than printed. Ciclovia, CicLAvia, Cyclovia, take your pick; it started in Bogota, Columbia where on Sundays they close the streets to cars, leaving only kids and bikes, pedestrians and skateboarders and, well, wierdos. Then Los Angeles did one; now they have 3 planned for 2011. Today it’s Cyclovia Tucson, for the 2nd year in a row.

children laughed at my bike So here I am; as if I needed an excuse, there’s a financial conference I attend each year beginning tomorrow, so I throw my new foldable bike in the trunk and blast along I-10 through Phoenix to visit friends then on to Tucson. I have interviews while I’m here and I speak at the conference; what a nice combination of interests I enjoy.

So I’d know how to get to the Cyclovia I took a ride across the UA campus last night. On the far side there are bars and restaurants and after 8 hours in the car a beer was on my mind. Just as I approached University Street, it sounded like a jet engine, but that couldn’t be… no, it’s kids cheering for their basketball team in the NCAA tournament and the game was close. I remember this age and my nascent interest in basketball; Julius Erving was a freshman at UMASS the same time I was. No one called him Dr. J then, but we were all crazy about him. We all died a little, too, when he left to go pro after his junior year. Well, my beer was out of the question now; you couldn’t get anywhere near the bar at any of these joints. The crowds were lined up out to the sidewalks. Then it all ended with a whimper, losing by only 2 points, so I turned around, knowing half of the route I’d take this morning to get to the Cyclovia.

Curtis Gunn, what's in that bag? I had a friend to meet; Curtis Gunn is a former pro cyclist and he’s President of Tucson’s Desert Angels. Talk about combined interests, he and I are on a panel discussion tomorrow at the SW Regional Angel Conference and today he’s introducing me to some of his friends in bike education and advocacy. He seems to know everyone; we stop several times during our loop around the route to chat with friends. He tells me he moved here because of how nice people are, genuine, not like LA, and the weather is great for training.

On my way back to the hotel I only have a mile of bike lanes before I’m
on 3rd Street which is shared with cars but designated for bikes. No one has blown their horn at me so far, and unless I blow through another stop sign, (I wasn’t paying attention, that happens), I doubt anyone will. I am getting a sore neck though, from all the head-nods I reciprocate; cyclists think other cyclists are friendly here in Tucson, and they are.

I’m jealous on several levels; I want a Cyclovia of my own here in Newport Beach, but I also want that grid that cities like Tucson, Long Beach and New York share that makes dedicated bike streets possible.

Here they come! It’s a beautiful day for a bike party!

I learned a lot by coming. I’ve proposed a similar event for consideration to the Newport Beach Bike Safety Committee. After all, the City closes the peninsula every 4th of July, there’s just no room for all the cars, so why not do the same, but with a purpose, to have our own Cyclovia (insert your own preferred spelling here). But Tucson, I discovered, spreads the joy around; this year it’s a different neighborhood than last year’s. The cynic in me wanted to call this the Junk Yard tour, the route took you through some of Tucson’s best auto grave yards. Oh! Wait! That’s real cynicism! I understand now; the route purposely takes the cyclists here to show them what happens to all those cars the other half loves so much.

At first I didn’t understand… why does the route line Tucson’s junk yard district? Now I understand.