Breaking the Cycle

This week I took a different route on my bike ride. I heard about this really cool bike path that follows reservoirs all the way from Huntington Beach up to Azusa from the bike mechanic at Helen's Cycles. I rode up Torrance Blvd. to Del Amo and from there all the way up through places I've never ridden before. I encountered a lot more urban housing and open road than I expected on this venture. And the reservoir! It was vast and had a glossy sheen from the sunlight like I've never seen before. It felt really rad to know that I had found a route that could be a future bike commute from my house all the way to the base of the San Bernardino Mountains! I rode past teenagers on BMX bikes dropping off the cement ramps of the reservoir down into its basin, and came across a family of three (mom and two sons) that were having fun scootering around on the bike path. I didn't stop, but waved as I passed, and was intrigued by how relaxing this bike path felt compared to the busy streets I had taken to get there. It was a pretty cool experience and may become one of my regular activity spaces in the future.
I didn't think of it at the time, but in retrospect I now wonder who else has found that bike path. Who has traveled to and from the far off mountains and started their epic adventures on it. As I encountered the BMX bikers, I wondered what their daily routine might be; where they live, the school they go to, how they got into BMXing etc. This activity has helped me to think about others' activity spaces.