I got a bright and early start on Thursday morning to check out the festivities for Bike to Work Day. Since I had spent the night in Glendale, my first stop out of the 39 Bike to Work Day pit-stops across the city was at The Bicycle Mart on Brand Blvd. in beautiful Glendale.

I got to meet Bill, the owner of the Bicycle Mart, a collector of antique bicycles, and an all-around nice guy. He’s up to 200 already and hopes to one day open up a museum of bicycle history. Out in front of the Bicycle Mart was a table staffed by two volunteers and stacked with goodies. Maps, danishes, coffee, bumper stickers, you name it.

A few other cyclists pedaled up while I was there and we all shared some Bike to Work Day camaraderie.

From there, I pedaled down to the Glendale Amtrak station for a ride into downtown. Even though the fare wasn’t free for riders, like all the Metro and LADOT buses, there were still plenty of bicyclists on the train.

that's my green Raleigh

Once downtown, I took a spin by the pit-stop at City Hall and the LACBC pit-stop at their headquarters down on Spring St. The City Hall pit-stop was handing out maps, donuts, and bike lights.

The LACBC pit-stop was absolutely jumping. My friends at LACBC told me that they had already seen over 30 cyclists by the time (8:00) I had gotten there. While I was hanging out, another 10 or so cyclists showed up.

LACBC was giving away these HUGE gift bags, and Cliff Bar was doing some promotional work for their 2 Mile Challenge.

There were plenty of bicyclists in the street as well and the whole thing took on something of a festival atmosphere.

And make sure to check out Streetsblog later this week. They’ll have tons of Bike to Work Day photos up from all over the City.