Levi Strauss is continuing their market push to stay relevant with products designed for the new pedaling revolution; pants for the commuter and a new revamped version of the classic Levi’s Trucker Jacket styled for the new bred of Rig-Riders{™©®} in mind.

Levi’s® is planning a 5-day 5-city launch event: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Brooklyn & Philadelphia.

Friday night is the launch party at Orange 20 in Los Angeles (across the street from the Bike Kitchen and LACC) from 7:00 to 10:00; the perfect opportunity for a multi-modal (bicycle & Metro-Line) event.

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Visit the Levi Strauss website for more info: http://us.levi.co

Screen shot from Fred Swegles and The O.C. Register

You know bikes are truly riding their way into the regional consciousness and vernacular when in the span of ten days the San Clemente section of the O.C. Register reports that Charlie Gandy’s “Bike Tour of Long Beach Gives San Clemente Ideas” on 3/15 and then on 3/25 I open the Los Angeles Times to read in the Mind & Body section that Roy M. Wallack is giving readers tips and feedback on the right ride to help “Bike to Work.”

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There’s a stretch of retail that’s thriving on 1st Street in Long Beach between Elm & Linden and groans around the block as well.  It’s part of the East Village Art’s district; a little like Melrose on a smaller scale.

I stopped in at the The Academy (a small clothing store) and found a pair of well made, well styled pants made to wear on or off the bike.  There’s a nice stretch in the fabric, a narrow cut to the leg that helps avoid the chain and cuffs up neatly.   The pants are well cut, trims nicely with a snug fit yet hangs comfortably and moves as you do without binding and rides like a pair of tights but off the bike presents itself with a tailored style.  These are the nicest pants I’ve ever worn on the bike for riding around town; bicycling functional yet allows me to feel like an adult ready to do business when the bike is locked away.  The material is stretch cotton twill; 98% cotton 2% stretch; the Academy Riding Pants.  EZ-Rider was penciled on the tag.  Love the fit and Love the price: $42.00

All goods made by Academy are produced in the U.S.

The Academy
429 East First St.
Long Beach, CA 90802

A year has passed since the loss of our dear friend Mark Bixby. In honor of all he meant to us as a friend, collaborator, superbly motivating athlete and inspired leader we’d like to have pictures speak a thousand words and share with you a series of images, quotes and comments we’ve collected from those who grew close to Mark through his work as a passionate cyclist and visionary bike advocate. If you have images and thoughts to share with us, we hope you’ll write to us at bikeablecommunities@gmail.com. Check back often, we’ll share more as they come in!

Mark at the installation of the Penny Farthling sculpture at City Hall in fall of 2009.

Image courtesy of Charlie Gandy
From Charlie: "I give you Bike Advocate Extraordinaire Mark Bixby"

Image courtesy of Pat West: Mark handling photos for a group of Catalina Channel Swimmers.

Image courtesy of Ryan Autry: Mark and friends at the Solvang Century in 2010

Image courtesy of Mark Friedman: San Diego VPL 2007

Image courtesy of Trent Newlon: Mt. Whitney

Image courtesy of Bill Cockroft: Mammouth

Image courtesy of Evan Doherty

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An alert reposted from the LA County Bike Coalition:

We need your help to get legislation to allow triple bike racks on buses!

All you need to do is to click here…cut and past the material in italics below…add your name and hit send. Of course if you want to know what you are supporting you might want to read the three following paragraphs.

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Want to avoid the parking lot rush????

The Saturday Parking Lot Scramble....

Pretty much every Saturday the Trader Joe’s parking lot in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach looks like this.

What can you do to avoid this scene…and frustration?

Thanks to the Pedalers’ Society it is as easy as 1-2-3…

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BIKEable Communities and twenty ardent supporters spend a few hours at “The Hub” building bikes and working on the facility.

The Hub is a volunteer based non-profit organization in Long Beach that takes old bikes (with a few newer ones thrown in), reconditions them and then either gives them or sells them at low cost to people in the community in need of a bike.

The Hub started two years ago with some help from the City of Long Beach and a $10,000 grant though Waste Management to recycle bikes.

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I’m over the top enthused about the video on Bike Friendly Long Beach done by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and his team. It says so much about how Long Beach is setting the standard for being bike friendly….and more importantly the difference it is making in our community.