We stopped hosting the “Get Sum Dim Sum Ride” years ago; but now, after many months of research and test rides, in collaboration with LA Cycle Tours, I am proud to announce that the Get Some Dim Sum Tour is now live on the LA Cycle Tours web-site!
Origins
Back in August of 2008, Flying Pigeon LA co-founder Adam Bray-Ali had a genius idea after brainstorming with his friend Huy Tran: promote Flying Pigeon bicycles with a weekly ride to a dim sum restaurant.
The ride was a great way to introduce Flying Pigeon bicycles to new people, and to help spread the idea of riding a bike in the city as a fun way of socializing. The experience of trying tons of different dim sum restaurants was an excellent bonus.
The Get Sum Dim Sum Ride was featured in March of 2009 by Sunset Magazine. Image by Chris Lechinsky.
Sunday after Sunday, we marshaled our bikes, rallied our customers and fans (many of whom became close friends over the months, and then years), and headed out to a dim sum restaurant. The ride, and our shop, got picked up in the local and national news. We were a featured story in Sunset magazine. The idea was a hit!
Fast forward to 2017, the ride and the shop were closed down (so I could pursue a run for city council in Los Angeles).
Enter the Tour
After losing the election in May of 2017, it took many long months to recover my sense of self again. With the shop gone, most of my day-to-day social life had evaporated. My friend Art Palacios, founder and owner of LA Cycle Tours, heard I was loafing around feeling sorry for myself, so he asked me to help out with some of his rides from time to time.
Art and I met through the social bike ride scene in LA. We have both organized and participated in hundreds (thousands?) of group rides over the years. We also share a common bond: we love this city, and we love to show people how wonderful it is to experience it on two wheels.
Art has been running a LA Cycle Tours for several years – making a living doing what he loves. His most popular tour is the Taco Tour in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The question came up between us: could a similar ride for LA’s amazing selection of Chinese food, history, and culture be done?
We dug in to researching the story of the Chinese in America, the history of the tea house in China, the history of tea, the origins of dim sum, the names and varieties of the dishes, and the history of Los Angeles’ Chinatown. We also ate a ton of bao, dumplings, noodles, duck, pork, and even a few chicken feet while we zeroed in on the best way to both tell a story about a community and share some of the best food from small, family owned, businesses in town.
The result of our collaboration is the Get Some Dim Sum Tour!
We have scheduled a bunch of tours for January of 2019, and are working out our schedule for the first quarter of the year now. The price of the tour includes the use of LA Cycle Tours’ bicycles, helmets, and covers all the food. You can check out the Get Some Dim Sum Tour schedule here.