this past sunday, we rode in the 3rd cicLAvia event in los angeles—this time with a longer route covering 10 miles of car-free streets. cyclists, families, roller-bladers, skaters, runners, walkers, and stroller-pushers alike came out to enjoy the gorgeous fall-in-LA day. we started out on a new leg of the route, extending up to cesar chavez & main streets, so our first views were of the outstanding crowd of people and tents at the occupy LA protest.

we headed east toward hollenbeck park. the views from 4th street bridge were amazing in all directions. a few days after a day of rain, and los angeles cleans up nicely!

we were curious to see the new leg of the route extending into south LA to the coca-cola bottling plant and the african american firefighter museum. the ride down went past the old central market, by lots of music, fresh coconuts and taco stands, down to the bottling plant at 14th street, where coca-cola had set up a booth and was showcasing all their new drinks. we took some shots of sucralose in the form of coke zero [pretty good, if i drank soda] and powerade [it’s what plants crave, and it’s gross!] and headed into the museum.

this fire wagon was quite a relic of history. i’m not sure how it was pulled, and i’m not sure how many successful fires it put out, but it sure is sweet.

heading back through downtown, i never get tired of shots of LA filled with bikes.

there was strong support for occupy LA throughout the ride, whether they were protesters who joined in, or riders who wore supportive signs. this 1% guy cracked me up.

on our way back from the east hollywood / LACC end of the route, i was riding under the northbound 101 overpass when i noticed this really slow sunday traffic in the southbound direction. though the cars are somewhat hard to see, it was an impactful reminder of what we’re trying to leave behind, and what we’re trying to create with awareness events like cicLAvia. keep riding, everyone!