Bikes Best Jet Blue over 405 in LA!

[MuddyTrails]

So, the temporary closure of I-405 in LA (dubbed carmaggedon in the local press) provided Jet Blue with a brilliant opportunity for tongue-in-cheek self-promotion. They decided to create a one-time-only flight from Burbank to Long Beach, at $4 a seat, and fly over carmaggedon.

Apparently, Tom Vanderbilt, who writes the Transportation column at slate.com, tweeted that he believed that cyclists could well beat the plane on such a short ride. A local riding club took the challenge, and off they went this Saturday. The rules were simple, two persons on the plane, a group of "elite" (their word) riders on road bikes, obeying all traffic rules (duh), racing from a certain address in Burbank to the lighthouse in Long Beach. First to reach the lighthouse won.

And, as we can well imagine, the bikes won!!! But, guess what, as the enterprise took a life of its own on twitter, others decided to sort of join the contest. So, one person took the same trip via walking/public transportation (bus and subway), while another got out her rollerskates and hit the road as well. EVERYONE beat the plane! Here are the times:

Bike: 1:34
Metro/Walk: 1:44
Rollerblades: 2:40
Plane: 2:54

You can read Vanderbilt's analysis of the race in salon, and the comments are, for the most part, quite good as well.

It has been fun following this whole affair from a very safe distance (half a globe away!)... Here's hoping perhaps Angelenos will re-think their relationship to their city and how they move about it. (And no hating on LA, I actually like it very, very much, even if my heart belongs to San Francisco).

MuddyTrails

[Kerry1976]

This is fabulous

[MuddyTrails]

Muirenn:

The Slate article doesn't say how long the ride was, but it does mention that someone in the group came up with an average of 24.4 MPH. Some quick and dirty math says that at 24.4 MPH, in 1hr, 34 mins, you'd cover 38.22 miles. More or less. (I think... I was a humanities major, so check my numbers)

MuddyTrails

[Tri Girl]

an average of 24 mph, eh? Hmmm... then in that case it would have taken me almost as long as the plane to arrive there. I would have barely beaten the plane.

[TsPoet]

Kudos to Jet Blue for being a sport about it all.

[Bluetree]

Muirenn:

The Slate article doesn't say how long the ride was, but it does mention that someone in the group came up with an average of 24.4 MPH. Some quick and dirty math says that at 24.4 MPH, in 1hr, 34 mins, you'd cover 38.22 miles. More or less. (I think... I was a humanities major, so check my numbers)

MuddyTrails

The ride was just under 40 miles and the first third was in stop-and-go traffic. Once they hit the river trail, they were GONE.

And no, they weren't your average weekend warriors. While they publicly represented a group of urban night riders, by day they raced for a prominent SoCal crit team. Their leader is the current road race state champion for his masters age group.

(And yes, they rode totally street legal)

[Biciclista]

great story!!!

[Melalvai]

an average of 24 mph, eh? Hmmm... then in that case it would have taken me almost as long as the plane to arrive there. I would have barely beaten the plane.

But you would have had more fun.
And no xrays or groping!