The First Annual Tour de Arroyo


Building a Safe and Healthy Transporation Alternative

Jeff Chapman and daughterMore than one hundred intrepid bicyclists pedalled down the Arroyo Seco Saturday on the First Annual Tour de Arroyo. The riders, who spanned almost eighty years in age, passed by five Gold Line Stations on their 9.7 mile ride from Memorial Park in Pasadena to the Los Angeles State Historical Park near downtown Los Angeles, demonstrating the feasibility of a bikeway as a transportation option.

There, in the park known as the Cornfields, Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco Foundation led a brief rally where Meredith McKenzie and Arturo Gonzalez informed the crowd about LA's plans for the environmentally sensitive Cornfields/Arroyo Seco Confluence Specific Plan and ASF's Confluence Gateway project.

The first annual event honored Dennis Crowley, the bicycle advocate who revived the memory of Horace Dobbin's Cycleway of more than one hundread years ago that planned an elevated veloway along the Arroyo Seco connnecting Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles. Peter Jacobsen and Bob Soderberg spoke about Dennis Crowley's vision and enthusiasm and urged all those present to help make Dennis' dream a reality.

The Tour de Arroyo was presented by the Arroyo Seco Foundation with additional sponsors including the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council, Audubon Center at Debs Park, Peter Jacobsen, Bob and Jo Soderberg, and LA City Councilmember Ed Reyes.

At the end of the rally, some of the riders mounted their bikes to visit Arroyo highlights such as the Confluence, the Audubon Center at Debs Park, and the Lummis Home. Others boarded the nearby Chinatown Gold Line Station for the return trip.

Comments overheard as riders headed out of the park noted the great natural beauty of the Arroyo in the midst of a densely populated urban area and included enthusiastic calls of "Let's do it again!."

All proceeds from the ride will go towards promoting the Arroyo Seco Bikeway and Greenweay. If you would like to help make the Arroyo Seco Bikeway a reality, please click here: Contribute to the Bikeway


The Arroyo Seco

The Arroyo Seco has been called the most celebrated canyon in Southern California. This spectacular corridor with a gentle river flowing through it links downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley.

The Arroyo Seco is ideally suited to feature a bicycle path as viable transporation alternative. It's a gentle downhill ride of about ten miles from Pasadena to the downtown Los Angeles filled with scenic hightlights and cultural landmarks. The path would parallel the Gold Line train with six nearby stations so that bike riders take the train one way and ride the other in the spectacular natural setting of the Arroyo Seco.

It's a fun, refreshing and healthy alternative to freeway congestion.



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