Terenig Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Hi unicyling Angelinos! I wanted to gauge interest in an electric unicycle meet-up to do a little stunt. In LA we have a huge traffic problem. Worse yet, LA is set to grow a staggering 38% over the coming years (https://la.curbed.com/2014/9/25/10042926/los-angeles-will-probably-be-the-densest-us-city-in-2025). With so many additional people, how bad will our traffic get?? So I wanted to try a little stunt to really get a conversation going about transportation in Los Angeles. If you live in LA, you probably know about the notorious 405. The alternative to the 405 is usually Beverly Glen or Coldwater Canyon. These streets are usually jam packed during rush hour, with cars crawling at a snail's pace trying to get over the hill. So what I was thinking of doing was getting a few folks to zip by the car traffic on our unicycles to make a statement about car traffic in LA! Perhaps we can wear t-shirts that have fun quotes like "Hey, that's cheating!" We could record this stunt and post it on social media and to start a conversation about alternative modes of transportation in Los Angeles. I actually tried a dry run of the Beverly Glen route on a Sunday morning and even with my not-so-capable Segway One S1 was able to easily make it up the hill and down no problem. What do you guys think?? A Bit of Background Behind This Idea I'm the founder of Have A Go, a site that reviews electric bikes, e-scooters, and many other e-wheels like electric unicylces and helps people find the right electric ride for their needs and lifestyle. We just launched our beta a few weeks ago and are looking to continue adding product reviews in the coming weeks. I started Have A Go because I believe in the power of electric wheels to transform the way we move around in our cities. Over the weekend, Have A Go participated in a large mobility event in Downtown LA called LACoMotion (lacomotion.com). There we met someone who had just moved Singapore. He talked about how he and his friends were able to regularly ride their unicycles everywhere in the city since their non-car mobility infrastructure was so well developed. He showed me a little video and I was blow away at the wide pedestrian/bike friendly paths that he said criss-crossed the city. So I wanted to bring a bit of this magic to Los Angeles and make drivers feel a bit ridiculous sitting in their giant cars as a group of us easily zip past them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who_the Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 This sounds cool, wish I was down there. I guess we hold dozens of "mini-protests" every day when we roll past stopped traffic around San Francisco! Good luck with your publication, I know how much work it can be. I run a local news and sports site, SFBay.ca, up here in the Bay Area, we just gave you a follow on Twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiSkySun Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Sounds fun, count me in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmethvin Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Yeah it's funny when I ride around here and some guy yells out the window while driving by, then the traffic is so bad that I catch up to them several times at lights and get to yell back. Usually it's not mean they're just excited. When the speed limit in an area is 25 to 30 mph and there are a lot of lights, it's quite possible to keep up with the cars for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terenig Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 On 11/20/2017 at 5:37 PM, YoshiSkySun said: Sounds fun, count me in! Cool! Let's see if others are interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abinder3 Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 It depends on what street(s) you're talking about riding on. A street like Sepulveda (PCH) here near the beaches would be almost a 'death wish' if anyone rode on that. Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terenig Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 44 minutes ago, abinder3 said: It depends on what street(s) you're talking about riding on. A street like Sepulveda (PCH) here near the beaches would be almost a 'death wish' if anyone rode on that. Allen Oh no no! My suggestion would be Beverly Glen or Coldwater Canyon during peak rush hour so that the cars are crawling. And there are a lot of side streets for us to retreat into if the car traffic is faster than our unicycles. I've tried Beverly Glen on my slower Ninebot on an empty Sunday morning, it was very easy. Next, I want to try Beverly Glen during rush hour to see if it's feasible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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