With the launch of the “Month of Wheels” event in downtown Long Beach coming this April 3rd and 4th, the Long Beach Cyclists Organization and other sponsors will encourage the use of bicycles as more common means of transportation throughout the city. The festival will take place in the East Village and will celebrate the rolling out of the bicycle “master plan” which will include family bike education, safety programs and procedures, and a coordination plan for new proposed city bike routes.
“The event is mainly a festival providing education with a race component,” Mark Bixby, festival director, said. “This is a combined venture between downtown Long Beach Associates and the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), although many sponsorship opportunities are still available.”
Russ Roca, LB Cyclists Events Coordinator and acclaimed photographer has spent the last nine years traveling only by bicycle. Roca will be helping out with a bike education booth at the festival promoting bike safety and giving live demonstrations on how to ride correctly in the streets.
“We strongly believe in education about biking for the community and its law enforcement,” Roca said. “We want to create a good name for cyclists and remind people that the road was meant to move people, not just vehicles.”
The LBCyclists Org. is striving to spread the concept that drivers and cyclists need to share the road in order to make Long Beach more bike friendly.
“The whole downtown area is on board with us,” Roca said. “Helping people turn to riding bikes will lower traffic, improve parking, and allow for businesses to do better. Biking is a practical option in today’s economy.”
The event will include nearly 8 hours of racing, both amateur and professional, around downtown and Pine Avenue. The second day of racing will start with the USCF Junior bicycle races, followed by the women’s pro race, youth races, a firefighter and police officer individual race and team races.
The racing series ends with the men’s pro twilight race that will feature Tony Cruz, Long Beach’s Bicycle Ambassador and former teammate and training partner of Lance Armstrong on Team Discovery.
The six-turn course is U.S. Cycling Federation approved and takes cyclists from Pine Avenue and Broadway, then onto Pacific Avenue, Fourth Street, Promenade, Third Street, through City Place, Long Beach Boulevard and finishes at Pine, where the awards ceremony and celebration take place.
“I just want people to remember that bicycling is becoming more mainstream now and it is a lot safer than we think,” Roca said. “Long Beach is flat and great for biking and this event is one more step in joining the rest of the world that has already caught on to this idea!”
Jenny DuBois is a contributing news reporter and current journalism student at Long Beach City College.