Kayaktivism: The Bike Tour takes to the Water to Protest a Mall on the Lagoon

Sustainability and development should go hand in hand. When people see that natural spaces are being threatened by unnecessary human consumerism and profit, we have to take a stand.  A corporation called Caruso Affiliated is attempting to construct a mall on a sensitive lagoon in Carlsbad, and the public was not included in this dialogue until concerned citizens made some noise. Now that the measure is going to a public vote, the local community is finally able to take a stand, so our team joined the citizens of Carlsbad to show the developers that nature is worth protecting. 

Kayaktivism looks good on these activists

Save Carlsbad: No Lagoon Mall!

What do we want? NATURE! When do we want it? FOREVER!

The team takes a break at a table that hopefully is the last of its kind in this lagoon

Why? What made you think up this mess?

Cycling the Desert

Some highlights of our ride so far:

On the Santa Ana River Trail en route to Chino Hills State Park

Entering one of the most magical places on Earth

Tess finds a new home in Joshua Tree's canyons

Hardest decision of the day: which crack to climb in this monzogranite wonderland

Rich and Janice Langen saved the day (again) with their endless support and melodies! 

On the lookout for the elusive Chuckwalla lizard 

The Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia, is found mostly in the Mojave Desert between 1,300 and 5,900 ft elevation 

Cholla cactus garden in Pinto Basin 

Barrel Cactus like this grew along our route from Joshua Tree through Anzo Borrego

 --Nico

Touring before the Tour

Today was our first day riding together as a group around LA and it was pretty exciting. We started the day with a tour of the 24th Street School's garden, where our friend (and former CELPster) Abigail works. Its a beautiful little nook in the neighborhood of West Adams and I imagine even more magical when filled with small children.

Our focus for the day was on gathering ideas for our space back home on Catalina. As the previous post explains, our garden is going through a lot of transition right now and we're hoping to have it thriving again soon, so we need to keep at it! We all loved the abundance of trees, the kids' art projects and we made a long lists of ideas to take back to the island!

24th Street Elementary School Garden Tour

The wishing tree

Upcycling

The next day we went to the Los Angeles County Arboretum and had our friend Chris (another former CELPster and Abigail's husband #powercouple) show us around. We saw examples of Hugelkulture, different bee housings, and even a room of beautiful orchids. We left feeling so inspired and excited about our 30 mile ride through the foothills to Chino Hills State Park!

Chris showing us the Ocotillo

Bee hives in unexpected places

Vanilla comes from a species of orchid native to Mexico

We're planning to incorporate an arroyo like this at Howlands

We spent some time climbing trees

We're sorry for the delayed posts; we haven't had any cell service until today! Also, be sure to follow our Instagram account: www.instagram.com/SLBikeTour
--Venisha

The Howlands Garden Renovation

Catalina may be paradise, but gardening here has its challenges. The arid climate and the presence of "pests" like the Catalina ground squirrels and rats means that we have to devise some creative solutions as a community. Similar to how an ecosystem must adapt to keep up with environmental pressures, we are constantly experimenting and changing the way we do and design things. 

Here a few highlights of some ongoing projects, which were done in great part thanks to the help of two student groups from Fort Collins, Colorado: Kinard CARES and Lesher IMPACTS.  

This geodesic dome will be converted into a beautiful nursery to protect plants from getting eaten by island critters

We just planted an array of native plant seeds in this newly constructed bed around our fruit trees

The terrace project will soon contain vegetable beds, all made with our local Howlands compost

The latest rainwater catchment system--gravity fed, baby.

The 2015 tour aims to focus on the following topics:

• School garden design
• Garden irrigation methods
• Low water gardening (xeriscaping) and water catchment
• Pest management

We're stoked to visit local LA schools to get some inspiration!

Voler....Voler, Voler, VOLER!

Pronounced "voh-LAY," this rad cycling apparel company kindly donated 3 whole boxes full of brand new riding gear for our team. Amazing! We are so stoked for the colorful new collection of amazing threads, and future bike tour cyclists will be able to enjoy this quality swag for years to come. 

We have oodles of gratitude for our sponsors and supporters at Voler! A special shout out to Ed, Seth, Derek and Aaron. We would look like a bunch of chumps without your generosity. Now we feel like superheroes!

Ride on,

The 2015 SLBT Team

The Proposed 2015 Route

Behold, the tentative route for the 2015 Bike Tour! Of course the itinerary is always subject to change based on a variety factors. Last year's tour ended early because of mudslides on the PCH. Especially with this year predicted to be a strong El Nino year, we're keeping our fingers crossed for decent riding weather (while simultaneously keeping our fingers crossed for much-needed rain during this drought.) Stay posted for further developments!