So what's the deal with biking in LA? People who know me from back home know that I insist on taking my bike everywhere no matter how rough the conditions are as long as the distance is less than 30km and my bike doesn't suffer from a mechanical problem I can't immediately fix. Therefore I started studying the city maps of LA even before coming here to find out where I could live in LA if I wanted to bike to work every day. I've heard the horror stories from a lot of people about how it is absolutely impossible to go anywhere in LA without a car, and I've also been to big cities in Brazil where it was physically impossible to go to certain places without a car. But it's actually pretty good over here - for one thing the weather makes it possible for people even less insane than me to go by bike all year long. And they actually have bike lanes - miles and miles of wonderful bike lanes. Living where I live right now, I can actually take Santa Monica Boulevard all the way from my home to my work, and it works out perfectly. So I though I'd take the opportunity to share some of my experiences with whomever might be interested in knowing what it is like to Bike in LA.
Once again courtesy of Cyclemeter I give you my route to work. The route back is almost the same, although I tend to take a couple of detours if the sun has set, since parts of Santa Monica are a bit unsafe after sunset. Not because you get mugged, but simply because it can be hard to spot the giant holes in the road where the road is poorly lit. But check out the map in the link and I'll run you through my route to tell you what it's like - the route is marked with milestones, and I'll use those as reference.
The route
0-2 km: The first couple of kilometers have a bike lane, so this part goes pretty fast. There is always a lot of traffic in the morning, and this makes it possible to actually pass through some of the stoplights, even if it's red as cars are blocking the intersection in the direction I'm going. This particular stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard is also the home of a long strip of gay bars, making it a very fun and colourful ride if you take it after dark.
As I cross the 2 km milestone I enter Beverly Hills and the spot for the first regular: "Homeless sleeping on Lawn guy". The Beverly Hills stretch has a very well kept lawn of front, and this regular guest likes to sleep here when I pass it in the morning. I guess he knows the schedule for the sprinklers that constantly irrigates this lawn making it very green and healthy looking for this very dry part of the world ...
2-5 km: The next stretch can be a little bit more challenging, as the bike lane ends. But again, traffic is pretty heavy in the morning, so I'm simply passing by the cars on the inside. Only challenge is avoiding the grates in the road that show up occasionally - you have to make sure to go around those, as the holes in the grill are pretty big, and I don't want to put the very slim wheels of my road bike down there.
5 km is also the spot of one of the regulars I meet on my route. I call him "Homeless sleeping in camping chair by his shopping cart guy". He's been there every single morning, and he has all his worldly belongings in his shopping cart and sleeps sitting in a plastic chair beneath a parasol. He's always tugged in nicely in a big jacket with his head bent forward in a very awkward looking position and his hands in his pockets. I guess there is a lot of shade in this particular spot.
5-8 km: The next couple of kilometers take me through Westwood on yet another lovely stretch of really fast bike lane. This is the fastest stretch on the way, and it takes me past the very grim looking Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint. The picture in the link was taken in full sunlight, but going past this place at night, especially on a gloomy night, can be pretty intimidating. The architecture reminds me of the Lenin Mausoleum - I wonder if this was done intentionally?
Around the 8km milestone is where we find the next regular: "The Preacher". This is yet another lovely homeless guy wearing a green raincoat. And where the first 2 regulars have been sleeping, this guy is very much awake. For the last couple of days he has been relatively calm, but I've gone past the guys a number of times where he is either blessing the passing traffic or throwing horrible curses at us. He also seems to have some pretty intense arguments with all the voices. But perhaps his medicine has started to kick in lately, as he seems to have calmed down some.
The 405 Freeway is passed at 8.5 km. This is the most annoying part of the route, as there are a lot of traffic lights where I can't seem to find the rhythm, so I always end up stopping at red lights at all of them. The more daring cyclists exploit the pattern that allows a brave cyclist to cross the Sepulveda intersection right between the point where the crossing traffic is stopped and the approaching traffic taking a left turn north on Sepulveda are let through on a green left arrow, but while recognizing this pattern I also find it pretty disrespectful to everybody else in the traffic; I'm on a mission to introduce cycling culture in LA, and this kind of behaviour isn't really earning us the respect of the automobiles and their drivers.
8.5-10 km takes me down the last part of Santa Monica Boulevard for my morning and afternoon commute. This stretch doesn't have a bike lane, but parking in the left lane is prohibited in the morning hours leaving plenty of room for me and my fellow cyclists. At Brockton / Santa Monica I make my way into the "go left" lane of the road and take a left down Ohio to take me onto Broadway. It is actually legal to use the car left lanes in the road, and while this can be pretty intimidating at first, especially in the very large intersections, it actually saves you a lot of time. You have to be quick though, as the green left arrow isn't there for long, and you don't want to get stuck in the middle of a giant intersection because you're taking to long to click into your pedal.
10-goal take me down Broadway, where the city of Santa Monica have been nice enough to include yet another wonderful bike lane. There are a couple of 4-way stop intersections in the beginning of that section, and while it takes a little getting used to the "First come, first served" system they use in these intersections in America, it's actually pretty convenient when on a bike, as you're almost always first served, since you're not waiting in line behind a row of cars.
The trip home is pretty much the same, although I sometimes take the parallel road of "Civic Center Drive" some of the way, as this has a lot less traffic and a better lit stretch of road with fewer holes in it than the parallel part of Santa Monica Boulevard. I also don't meet any regulars on my way home, which makes it a bit less entertaining.
But all in all I really enjoy commuting to work this way. Let me list a couple of advantages. Besides the obvious advantage of the hours of exercise I get every week I also enjoy a much more stable means of transportation than going by car: No matter how heavy the traffic is, it always take me roughly the same time to get to and from work, and the tempo is completely up to me, not to the traffic jams on the 405, the accidents on the 10 and the closed lanes on Santa Monica.
