Niki’s Imaginations 135k – IWD Celebration
134km/4700ft RUSA Populaire
| Start time | Saturday March 15, 2025 7:00 am |
|---|---|
| Time limit | 8 hours 56 minutes |
| Ride ends | Saturday March 15, 2025 3:56 pm |
| Start location | Mingei International Museum Balboa Park Plaza de Panama 1439 El Prado San Diego |
| Nearest parking | Parking available at various location. Closest lot is behind the Spreckles Organ Pavillion. |
| Map | rwgps |
| Organizers | Maitram Giske |
| Registration info | RUSA memberhip is required to ride this brevet. Ride fee is $0. Online registration is open until Thursday March 13, 2025 12:00 pm. |
| Register | To cancel a registration, email the ride organizer. |
| Registered riders | Matthew Cazalas |
“Beware the Ides of March!” so saith the soothsayer to Caesar. For randos, the Rides of March are to look out for with great anticipation!
On March 15, we’ll continue our advance up the RUSA Rouleur Award distance ladder by venturing around San Diego County to marvel at the artistic legacy left behind by Niki de Saint Phalle while supporting the International Women’s Day tradition. Most San Diegans will readily recognize the UCSD “Sun God” serving as the unofficial logo of the university and the namesake of a long-standing annual student festival. Yet few know that her works of art are on public display throughout our county, from the once rural community of Escondido to the bustling urban downtown setting.
Starting in Balboa Park this time by the Mengei International Museum where de Saint Phalle’s “Nikigator” is on display, you’ll ride south to the Convention Center where you’ll visit “Coming Together”. You’ll then venture north on Pacific Hwy. Passing the County Administration Building, there are 3 sculptures to see: the “Seal” and the “Baseball Player” on the south side of the building and the “Serpent Tree to the north”. Reaching the UCSD campus in La Jolla, you’ll view the “Sun God”, the first piece commissioned by the university’s Stuart Collection. Turning inland, you’ll climb Del Dios Hwy to reach Escondido which has 2 of her works on display: the “Grande Step Totem” in front of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, followed by the iconic “Queen Califia’s Magical Circle” in Kit Carson Park. Winding your way south along the I-15 corridor, you’ll return to Balboa Park for the finish.
With her artistic reputation established internationally, de Saint Phalle spent the last years of her life in La Jolla from 1993 to 2002 when she passed away from respiratory failure thought to have been caused by fumes from the materials she used to create the Nanas and the Tarot Garden.
Public bathrooms are available in the park. Parking is guaranteed at 7:00am.
RWGPS map will be updated to reflect the correct start/finish location.
Please read our accepted proof of passage.
To celebrate the (R)ides of March, we’ll serve the “French flan” at the post-populaire picnic. As you stab through the crackly sugar topping to take a spoonful of the delectable custard, you too can paraphrase Julius Caesar’s famous last words: “ET TU Brûlée!”
