Looks like a lot of folks don’t care for those semi-weekly group rides around the Rose Bowl.
They should ban traffic jams as well. They are quite dangerous.
I could see why they would do this. Every group ride I’ve ever been on has had more than a few knuckleheads who get that group mentality of being invincible and doing stupid things. I know the majority of group rides and riders are good, but from what I have witnessed, there are always a few that make the rest look bad.
The rosebowl ride has gone way beyond a normal group ride.
It has become a race for too many people who show up for it.
I think the incidents will leave the city no other choice than to do something about it.
Question of “public safety”.
It is too sad that there are too many irresponsible or plain stupid people riding bikes…, but the writing was on the wall for a long time coming.
I understand the reasoning behind this. Its a victim of its own success…
It is too sad that there are too many irresponsible or plain stupid people riding bikes…, but the writing was on the wall for a long time coming.
Monrovia resident, frequent rider at the Bowl, drop in on this group from time to time…
There are many sides to the issue: pedestrians and joggers not following the signage (ie, walking/running with traffic, not against), walkers/joggers turning into traffic without looking, rollerbladers with headphones taking up the space of 3 bikes, cars blasting up the west side at 50-60mph, cars making unsignalled u-turns or turn on the east side by the golf course field house or into the parking lots at the south end of the bowl.
The contention of the local cyclists is that a fair solution should share the burden among all the users of the Bowl, not single out one segment of the users. Stats cited say there have been 7 (?) bike-on-pedestrian incidents in the last several years (sorry, can’t remember the exact number, wanna say 7). However, I can personally name 6-7 cyclists who’ve been whacked by cars at the bowl, several as hit and runs.
My experience riding in the peleton is that it’s a typical, very fast group ride: guys are hyper alert and attentive to what’s going on around them, passing warnings up and down the group, etc. Hard to be polite all the time, I suppose, when your tongue is in your spokes and you’re driving the train at 35mph with your head on a swivel looking for the errant car, jogger, walker, etc.
Sadly, I think ultimately the burden will be placed on the cyclists to fix it. In the minutes of one of the recent city council meetings the city lawyer said he was afraid that now the city has been made aware of the issue, they stand to be liable of they don’t do something and something does happen. That’s the nail in the coffin there, I suppose. The motion has been tabled for November, I believe. The ride will end when the clocks change but hopefully the local cyclists will stay on top of this.
Pasadena and the SG Foothills are in general pretty bike friendly. When I travel around the country to ride with my athletes, I see we’ve got it pretty good here. Pasadena has landed the final stage of the Tour of California so hopefully we can all just get along.
This is by no means unique to Pasadena. In Westchester County, NY one of the nation’s oldest “unofficial” rides has recently come under fire. “Da Gimbels” ride has grown into the hundreds and its route takes it past several busy highways and thoroughfares.
Peloton type rides such as these are easy targets due to their spectacular nature. They are big, intimidating and when they get that big the quotient of knuckleheads goes up dramatically.
It doesn’t help the cause either when the pack blows through a red light, 200 strong at 30 mph…
Eric J
I’m pretty sure that state law would preempt a city permit requirement for pelotons as suggested in the article.
Rich,
I think there is plenty of blame to go around here.
I had the pleasure (;-)) of spending a few days in the ICU thanks to a pedestrian, walking the wrong way, who made a sudden turn to cross the street without looking. (I managed to miss her, except for my right bullhorn and got flipped like Lance.) 8 months later a guy who was too lazy to park across from the golf clubhouse, made an abrupt U-turn right in front of me causing me to end up on my right hip and keeping me from running for 3 weeks not long before IMAZ.
90% of the pedestrians walk the wrong way. The two opposing groups of pedestrians pass en masse extending out well into the street. They randomly cross without looking.
The cars DO frequently cut through there at high speeds for no good reason and honk at the cyclists who aren’t going just to their liking. They make left turns right in front of either individual cycllists and even the peleton.
A small number of the peloton have gotten out of control. They force the other cyclists over toward the pedestrians. I, not infrequently, have had one of them pass me on the RIGHT, into the pedestrian lane, when I’m between intervals, hugging the white line (pedestrian lane).
There are no houses down there. Why is there two way traffic all the way around? Why are left turns even allowed down there? They are totally unsafe maneuvers in the context of the bike and pedestrian traffic. Why doesn’t the city obligate the pedestrian to walk as directed by those 40-50 painted signs on the pedestrian path?
Sadly, I think ultimately the burden will be placed on the cyclists to fix it.
Oddly enough, I don’t find it sad at all to think that a group of cyclists would be required to “fix” their unsafe behavior.
See my and Dick’s post above. I can repeat many, many tales of car on bike, pedestrian on bike incidents where the cyclist was NOT at fault. Many parties recreate at the Rose Bowl, cars use it as a shortcut home, many elements are at fault here for the conditions at the Bowl. However, the cyclists fear that the burden to fix all the issues will be laid on our shoulders only, as we are the most visible users out there. We just want the others users to share a little bit of the love, that’s all 
That said, I don’t ride in the peleton on Tues/Thurs night because there are some areas of the Bowl where traffic/pedestrians, etc can make it pretty hair. When I do hop in, I make sure I’m in the front in these sections or somewhere with a clear escape path. Or I TT off the back. Dick, yep, I saw a guy once dive INTO the pedestrian lane to pass a pedestrian on THEIR right. I and a few others immediately jumped on him. But I’ve had cars turn left in front of me, joggers veer left into traffic, etc. The net is that I don’t really ride at the Bowl with the exception of the PTC Wed Night Brick, where we do 1 lap social and then hit the hills around the Bowl.
i noticed on the map, there are a few intersections the ride goes through. If those intersections have stop signs or lights, how many times does the Peloton stop for those traffic signals?
i noticed on the map, there are a few intersections the ride goes through. If those intersections have stop signs or lights, how many times does the Peloton stop for those traffic signals?
They ride the loop counter clockwise, all right turns and no stop signs. No traffic laws are being violated. Dick, correct me if I’m wrong but I think the speed limit is 30mph at the Bowl? The west side (7-12pm on the dial) is slightly uphill and they’ll go 24-26mph. East slight is slightly downhill, they hit 33-35mph. But, again, I’ve had cars pass me at 75+mph. THAT is crazy.
Bottomlines:
This is the only place in Pasadena where this kind of riding can happen. If you took out all the other users it’s a pretty good venue
It’s a VERY popular recreation space. I’d say on a summer evening you easily have…500+ people walking, jogging, walking dogs in the pedestrian lane. Probably another 30-40 recreational cyclists. The area at 6pm on the dial is used for soccer fields so cars, kids, the odd ball kicked into traffic, etc. That’s also the one of the highest speed areas of the loop, as you turn right at the bottom, with car traffic coming on your left and then there is a parking lot on your right: cars coming out, cars turning in. Can you see why I choose not to do the ride?
It’s really an issue of a great resource being stretched to capacity and things needing to be changed to best accommodate the needs of ALL users. We all use it, the burden should be shared by all, I’m just sayin’
We went through a similar battle in Atlanta with an area known as Columns Drive. However it is not a peloton, but triathletes cycling on their own or in small groups. They ended up passing a single file cyclist law, which many people believe is superseded by state law. However, the county has been very careful not to write any tickets. A couple of warnings, but no tickets that can be challenged in court. In fact a small group of people who live in this area were becoming so vocal to the county police, that the police started staying down there a lot and even did a license check one day, but it is motorists who have been the ones getting all the tickets and grief. The cyclists havebeen very well behaved. And as a homeowner on the road, I am glad to see the motorists start getting reined in. In the end things have not changed much, other than most people are more aware and are more polite to others. I swear I have seen more recreational cyclists, older couples on hybrids especially, start cycling there after all the publicity. We still have the old bitter people, but everybody pretty much ignores them now.
The county commission meetings sure were fun for a couple of months! I think the commissioner that brought up the original “no cruising” law that was discarded probably got his ass whipped by the other commissioners. When 100+ plus cyclists show up to talk, the meetings run very late.
I will say that the problems that had been going for for 20+ years were made worse and seemed to begin the latest round of BS were brought on by TNT dropping 100+ runners on the road Saturday mornings. They were running 3+ abreast and in packs, and making things difficult for cyclists and motorists. They still show up every now and then and still make a pain of themselves.
A blog on that one issue:http://bikecobb.blogspot.com/