Bicycles have become transportive vessels for much needed change. They can be used to inspire healthy mobility, to empower their users with an otherwise forsaken independence and to promote learning in all its forms. 

Empact Long Beach, a grassroots bicycle advocacy group, has organized a slow-paced bicycle tour of community gardens and farms in the city.

Danny Gamboa, Los Angeles’ Ghost Bikes initiator and organizer and well-known bicycle advocate, was quoted in Empact LB’s press release, saying “we are creating thematic bike tours of the city to engage and encourage underserved communities in the creation of bike advocates, events, group bike rides and more.”

On Sunday, July 20, the 20-mile tour begins with an exploration of Trace Fukuhara’s Pacific Wind Arts Sculpture Garden. This award-winning Long Beach artist turned his parent’s drive-thru into a fantastical home for his imaginative, oversized, brightly colored sculptures.

After touring the sculpture garden, riders will pedal their way to North Long Beach for a sneak peek at The Growing Experience, Long Beach’s largest farm space located at the Carmelitos Housing Project at 750 Via Carmelitos. David Heddon of Leaf & Fin will show riders his innovatiave aquaponics system, a project dedicated to using fish waste to grow plants and plant waste to grow fish.

The last stop on the ride is in downtown at Foodscape Long Beach’s Chesnut Lot, a permaculture garden intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. Foodscape Long Beach, according to their site, is a “volunteer-based not-for-profit agricultural organization.”   

This community ride is put on by Empact Long Beach and funded by the California Endowment. The ride is FREE and open to everyone.