Two Wheeled Love Letter to NELA – stone skipping lessons

The day after the April 10, 2011 CicLAvia I took my daughter down to the LA river in my bakfiets. She got a chance to practice her bike riding on a totally protected, high quality, bike path.

I got a chance to ride (and walk) without having to worry about either of us being run over by cars or harassed by security types along the slowly transforming banks of an urban river. Skip to the bottom of the post if you want to check our route and perhaps try it for yourself.

We stopped along the banks of the river and I showed my girl how to skip stones. She kept her helmet on for comic effect during the whole effort.

On the way back to the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop, we stopped at Lucifer’s Lil’ Water Park (my nickname for a new park at the confluence of the 5 and 110 freeways north of Downtown LA) – so named because there is an awesome water fountain system at this new park (“water park”) and the park is in an incredibly hostile place to all but the hardiest of humans (loud car noises, thundering trucks, air pollution).

The girl went wild in the fountain. I am happy I brought a change of clothes in my oversized Clarjis panniers.

We got back to the shop and it was well beyond nap time. The route is a short one – spoiled only by a nasty stretch of North Figueroa Street between Cypress Park and the entrance to the LA River Bike Path.

Despite this one nasty section of road, you’d be hard pressed to have a more kid- and family-friendly ride anywhere in LA! North East Los Angeles still offers up some of the best recreational opportunities in LA, and on the cheap too. Aside from the post-ride junior-sized hamburger from Cypress Best, the day was made possible thanks to daddy’s legs and daughter’s will to play.

Want to take some Stone Skipping Lessons of your own?

View Stone Skipping Lessons in a larger map

This route is a light weight jaunt from the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop (located at 3404 N. Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90065) to a bend in the LA River and back to the shop, with a brief lay over at a new water park on the return trip. The start point is convenient to the Metro Gold Line Heritage Square station and the 81 and 83 Metro bus lines (which run 24 hours). Total cost for the day if you arrive by bike and pack your own lunch: $0. Free parking at the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop if you want to arrive by car.