Jewel City Ride ~ Report

The 3rd annual Jewel City Ride (Glendale, CA) was a fantastic success!  We had 3 bike rides: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.  Having done some of the climbing for the advanced ride, I know for sure that it was a challenge.  My husband and I marshalled the intermediate ride.

In total there were about 130 riders.  The majority of cyclists chose the Fun & Fitness ride.  The feedback we heard from those riders towards the middle or back of the pack were that they didn't expect that many hills.  Even though the bigger hills from the 2nd annual event (last year) were moved to the Gear Grinder, some felt that there were still too many hills.  But the person who was saying that had only one gear on their bike.  There were very few complaints actually!  We had great weather and the cars we encountered were well-behaved.

The feedback we got from the Gear Grinder riders is that they got "dizzy" in the switchbacks leading up to North Glendale.  I'm glad it wasn't just me.  I wish I had taken some pictures of the event, but I was pretty focused on keeping everyone on our ride safe that I didn't want any other jobs.  There were professional photographers for the event, so it wasn't necessary to take pictures.  The other comment from Gear Grinder riders is that they would have liked to see an elevation profile.

The event got some good media coverage from Mr. CiclaValley and Streetsblog LA.  Some people on the ride indicated that they really weren't comfortable riding in traffic.  It may be a good idea to check out Bicycle Safety Classes throughout June, July, August, and September.  They will be held at a variety of locations including Claremont, Culver City, Downtown LA, North Hills, Long Beach, Pacoima, Reseda, and Santa Monica.  These classes are FREE of charge, thanks to Metro and a grant from the CA Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

BIG THANKS to the Glendale Rotary Noon for helping secure funding for this event and for providing support at the water stops (and for all the other things you all did that I'm not aware of).  It made a great community event to have the picnic cooked up by Rounds Burgers.  Some wondered why many of the sign-ups happened during the last few days leading up to the event, but from what we heard, many participants found about the event through word of mouth.