Video: Turkey Trot

On a day when families across the U.S. share a meal for Thanksgiving, neighbors in Mar Vista take part in a before the coma-inducing meal.

Thanksgiving 2011 marked the fourth year of the ride, and organizer Lew Roth led the pack for the 10 a.m. neighborhood cycle wearing a hat that resembled a turkey.

The ride itself is only six miles, but neighbors take their time, staying afterwards to socialize in the Roth's front yard. This year's ride was slightly different to previous years, with Roth deciding to make the ride a little easier by cutting out some of the hills.

"We called it the hill drill," Roth said of the last three years' rides. "It was a bit too much and we're getting a little bit too old for that," he added.

This year, participants got to have fun on a 3.5 mile flat ride, after which the more adventurous cyclists continued on to hit three hills.

For some, the turkey-themed ride is becoming a family tradition. 
Fred Dashiell and his daughter Emily have taken part in the ride for the past three years.

"It's a great thing to get to meet your neighbors and talk to your friends and relax on a day that's a holiday," he said. "Everyone's got a good mood."

Roth's octogenarian mother flies out from New York City for the holiday and  says she likes to watch the neighbors come together for the ride. There's quite an age range, she said, and not everybody knows each other, but, "the main thing is riding a bicycle and that is wonderful that they can share an experience like that with others."

And she's thankful that although she doesn't know how to ride a bike herself, she can be part of something special.

"I'm especially thankful that at my age I'm able to be here," she said. "And to be able to joyfully share something as wonderful and as pleasurable as this with other people."

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