Do it, bike it yourself.

Bicycling Magazine is not usually my kinda zine, but Jim receives it. The latest issue has an article which I just had to share. It is about a bike lane (on Los Angeles' Franklin Street) created by guerilla cyclists. Unfortunately there is no link to the article on the web, so I can't share it here. The article is called The DIY Bike Lane by Dan Koeppel and is published in July '09's issue of Bicycling. Here is a sample of what a DIY bike lane looks like.

I did some further web snooping and found that this was not the first guerrilla bike lane. Nor will it be the last, especially in Los Angeles. Did you know there is a Bike Master Plan that has approved all kinds of lanes and street updates for cycling? Yes, indeedy, there is. Lots of improvements are approved, but few actually are seen through. This article in particular highlights the fact that of the twelve bridges which connect commuters to LA's downtown area, none have bike lanes. As a once Pasadena-Los Angeles bike commuter, I know this all too well. May I just say, it is scary to ride across them. I believe most have side walks. And as a cyclist, I am against riding on sidewalks because my bike at full speed scares pedestrians, rightfully so. Any wrong move and one of us could end up either in traffic or in the LA "River"- which (at the moment) Angelenos know to be six inches of water with two feet of concrete underneath, in most places. Concrete is not easy to pick out of your teeth. Or skull.  

This is why bike lanes are so important. Organizations like CICLE and LA Bike Coalition are always fighting for cyclists' rights. Somebody's got to do it. The guerrilla lanes don't last long, according to the article it was there for 100 hours before being removed by LA Public Works. 

It goes without saying that this is totally illegal... and yet I love it. Sometimes you just have to push the envelope, no?