People think of Los Angeles as a car city. Everyone drives everywhere. But Andrew Jackson thinks of it as a cyclist’s city. Jackson, 33, has lived in L.A. since he was ten, and he grew up riding bikes with his brother, Eliot, who went on to become a World Cup downhill mountain-bike racer and found the Grow Cycling Foundation, which promotes access to cycling for all.
Jackson became a pro cyclist, too: his bike career has spanned nearly every discipline on two wheels. He started out riding dirt bikes and was a Kawasaki-sponsored racer by age 16. When a bad crash sent him into a coma, he eventually left the motocross scene and started riding BMX bikes, going pro, sticking with it for a decade, and filming BMX street videos around the world, from China to Europe to South America. Lately, he’s gotten into road biking and gravel racing, and he says Los Angeles is a perfect place to train.
“People say they want to escape the city and get out,” Jackson says. “But I like riding in the city, going through downtown, getting up into the hills. There’s so much to see.” These are some of his favorite places to roam, get his bike tuned, and pick up sushi or pizza afterward.