Bike commuting took on a whole new meaning when I moved to Los Angeles. I have commuted by bike round the globe, from my college days at York and Birmingham (UK) through working in Holland, Denmark, Paris, Tucson and even the South Pole where, yes, we had two Trek mountain bikes!
But Los Angeles, the city of the automobile, has its own challenges for the bike commuter. I commute daily from Santa Monica (on the coast) to down town LA, a round-trip distance of about 32 mi. I use a few route variations depending on my mood and what errands need to be run, but I normally follow Venice Blvd. Most of the way as it has a nice wide bike path. I then branch off to National / Jefferson to take me in to USC. This is a bike route (no special path) part of the way, and it saves me some really messy intersections closer to down town than just sticking on Venice Blvd.
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I normally ride a 1993 Trek 8000 bike with semi slick tires, Karimore panniers and at least 3 spare inner tubes. It is a strong, reliable frame, the wide tires normally handle the rather poor road surfaces well, and the short wheelbase lets you get out of trouble quickly. I have just started to use Mr. Tuffy tape in the tires, as it is no fun having to change tubes, especially more than once a day! I `think' that I can feel the difference in wheel balance with the tape, but it is a small price to pay if I can go without patching tires every evening. |
The route takes me through and eclectic mix on neighborhoods: from yuppie Starbucks infested areas, industrial wastelands, and finally downtown LA. It takes me just under an hour, which should be contrasted to the 25 min – 1.5 hrs it takes to drive depending on freeway conditions. The air quality does not seem to be a problem except when following a bus, but even that is getting better with the adoption of more natural gas busses. The worst time is in the rain, and then it is just best to stay off the roads, whether on a bike or in the car!
I am now commuting from northern Highland Park, nicely situated with easy access to Pasadena, Eagle Rock and Glendale. This route is only about 12 mi. each way, and if it wasn't for freeways would be a very simple commute. I am still investigating routes, but this is the way I travel most often.
Taking Figueroa south through Highland park. It is all down hill after a short steep climb from Yosemite. Figueroa would come all the way to USC if it wasn't for the 110 freeway, so I have to hang a left at Pasadena Ave., then a right on Broadway and over the LA river. Broadway takes me through China Town where the only real problem is to watch out for busses (more on them later). Hang a Left on Temple and up another hill, and Left on Hope past the LADWP offices with all the solar panels on the parking lot. Down the hill Hope turns into Flower, and that takes you all the way through downtown LA on a wide, one-way street. Stay on Flower past Adams and Jefferson, and hang a right at Exposition and USC is right there. On the whole, a nice, easy ride almost all down hill. The problem then of course is that going home is almost all up hill!
I now normally turn Right on 30th. St., cross over Figueroa and then hang a Left on Hoover. This is neither quicker or safer, but it DOES take me right past the Starbucks in the University Village, which provides a nice way to start the morning sitting outside and checking e-mail and news with a late.
OK, so going back is not quite the same. Take Figueroa north from USC, through downtown, right past the Staples Center (watching all the way for the guys standing in the road waving flags to entice you to park... does ANYBODY fall for this?). Now you really have to watch for busses. So far by far the worst are "Foothill Transit" closely followed by the "Dash" busses, if any of them see you you are lucky, but not lucky enough that they will take any notice of your existence on the road. The MTA Metro bus drivers on the other hand seem mostly considerate, and if you treat them OK, they will normally give you a good amount of room and do not always cut you off at stops. (school busses... not on a public web site!).
So follow Figueroa North through downtown, and hang a right on Caesar Chavez, down the hill, and then a Left onto Broadway, under the Dragons, and again through China Town. Just over the bridge take the Left back onto Pasadena Ave. I then take another left onto Ave. 20 / San Fernando, and then just under the freeway take a right onto Figueroa again. Now it is just a slog up the hills (especially the short 1/4 mi. climb out of Sycamore Grove Park) and back up through Highland Park.
If you want to get to Pasadena, hang a right on Colorado, and be prepared for another steep climb. Keep on going along Colorado, and after the freeway exit to the left you take the left fork, and over the beautiful Colorado bridge into old-town. (A nicer alternative to get into Pasadena is to take a Right at York, which will turn into Monterey Rd. after the railroad. Then you can take a left anywhere along Monterey and get up into Old Town Pasadena. )
Similarly to get to Eagle Rock and Glendale take Colorado west. I actually normally veer off Figueroa at the bottom of the hill at Yosemite, take a left at the end onto La Loma, and it will join Colorado.
The Trek 8000 is still going strong, but I have changed from the very old Karimore panniers to a pair of Jandd panniers, these are very nice, though slightly smaller than the Karimores. They also don't have pockets on the back, which is nice as the pockets had a tendency to get sucked into the back wheel if the bags were empty. I have also added a 1996 Trek 7000 to the stable as a spare, which I must admit I ride more than I should being lazy about repairs at the moment.
To avoid the lower part of Figueroa, and miss the climb out of Sycamore Grove Park here is an alternative route. Take the normal route through downtown and China Town, and still take the left onto Pasadena Ave. Instead of taking the Left turn onto San Fernando keep going straight, following the inbound route. When you get to the multi-way crossing (Pasadena Ave, Daly, Ave 26) go straight which will be Ave 26. Take this all the way to the T-junction at the end, and hang a Left onto Griffin Ave. Griffin rolls up and down more-or-less parallel to the 110 Freeway (and Figueroa). Take it all the way, it will turn into Ave 52, and after crossing over the 110 Freeway, and a short steep climb will lead you back to Figueroa just by the Food-4-Less. Beware on the fast descent after Montecito Dr. the road surface has some significant tree-roots damage that can easily send you airborne. Now take a right on Figueroa and continue as before. This adds about 1/2 mile to the journey, but is much quieter than Figueroa.
As an added bonus this route takes you past the new Audubon Center with a solar-electric system designed at Kyocera Solar Inc. (by: yours-truly; Amy Hoagberg and Larry Cooper), and installed by the inimitable Wade Webb.
This is not for the faint hearted as though sections are an official bike route, it scared even me in a few sections. This is not a great way to get to the Pasadena area, but is much more direct for Glendale / Silver Lake etc.
Still take Figueroa north through downtown, then hang a left on second street, up a hill and bear left onto Glendale Ave. After the 101 freeway you go past Echo Park. Keep on Glendale, and watching for traffic going right onto the 2 freeway bear left up the hill still on Glendale. Down the hill and bear right onto Fletcher Dr. over the 5 freeway and LA river. Stay on Fletcher over San Fernando and it will turn into 36th Ave. which will come to and end on Eagle Rock Blvd. Take a Left on Eagle Rock Blvd. and at last... a BIKE LANE! keep north and depending on where you are heading take a right on York, Yosemite or Colorado to get to Highland Park (There is a Trader Joe's on Colorado, but it is quieter to take Yosemite, and then take a left on Townsend, and a right on Colorado)
On my commutes I count the number of Hummers and Hybrids I see. The change over the last couple of years is amazing, mostly I am seeing many more of the Toyota Prius (even a Prius taxi!), but there are a good few Honda Insights and Civic Hybrids in the mix too.
| 1/2007 - 6/2007 | 7/2006 - 12/2006 | 1/2006-6/2006 | 7/2005-12/2005 | 1/2005-6/2005 | 7/2004-12/2004 | 6/2003-6/2004 | |
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Hummer |
25 | 223 | 205 | 147 | 102 | 59 |
117 |
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Hybrids |
81 | 653 | 465 | 291 | 163 | 93 |
42 |
Ratio (Hum/Hyb) |
0.31 | 0.34 | 0.44 |
0.51 | 0.63 | 0.63 | 2.79 |
| Bike km (miles) | 14,070 (8,794) |
19,323 (12,077) |
4,838 (3,024) |
3,339 (2,087) |
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We are in the second week of the MTA mechanics strike, so the traffic has been significantly worse of late. There are still some busses running, my old favorites Foothill Transit and Dash are still on the road, but as of today my new least favorite company is "Commuter Express". One of their drivers actually managed to hit me from behind this morning, and no apology or real acknowledgment. Luckily we were both going very slowly waiting for a light to change, but it was still an unpleasant surprise to find myself moving sideways as the driver seemed to be trying to nudge me out of the way... (10/29/2003)
Again, I am amazed by buss drivers, and this time in a good way, and again the MTA Metro drivers take the praise. Twice now in two weeks a driver has waved me in, once making the left turn onto Pasadena Ave. and once just riding down Figueroa, Thank you!
I have been using NiteRider lights now for several years and have always been happy with their performance. Last month the battery lead started to fray, and the communication with the lamp became intermittent. A quick phone call gave me an RA number and within a week they had fixed the battery pack, with a stronger lead, and all at no cost to me. Thank you NiteRider.
Well for the first time in over 10 years I have changed my mode of transport in a reasonably significant way! I have added an "xtracyle" to the trusty Trek. (Well I actually got Steve's Cycle in Altadena to do it for me). I saw one of these several months ago, and was very impressed with what a great idea it was, so now thanks to a present from Mum and Dad I have one fitted to my bike, Thank you. I have fitted a KORE "Chain Reactor" to manage the longer chain, and this system seems to work very well.
Also check out the excellent work done by the xtracycle folk developing sustainable transportation systems for developing countries as the "Xtracycle Access Foundation" (Xaccess).
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As those who know me know, I have a "thing" for recumbent trikes. I have built a total of four "Speedys" the kit trike from the great Mike Burrows, and the predecessor to the Windcheetah. I now have an old Trice, and a Greenspeed GTR. The Trice was just refurbished at "BentUp Cycles" Highly recommended! I do not quite dare to commute on a trike yet, but come the Summer I might try it. Today was my first day commuting on the Trice. It was actually much easier than I had feared. I did start out a bit earlier than usual, and traffic was pretty light. I still do not completely have my "recumbent legs" and some of the up hills were a bit slower than usual, but overall the commute took almost exactly the same amount of time as on the regular bike, which bears out my normal observation that it is the traffic lights that are the main time limit on the commute. It is VERY nice not to have to "unclip" every time I stop, and I had more positive comments than negative (another first!) |
Trike trio (AVD Windcheetah - Trice QNT - Greenspeed GTR) |
DISASTER — the frame of the Trice cracked just at the central steering pivot. I actually think this might have been a problem that had been developing for quite some time as the steering had been off, but I had just assumed I hadn't got the track dialed in quite right. Luckily I found the break before the frame fell apart. A visit to my friendly neighborhood welder confirmed my fears, there was no safe way to repair the frame. SO... it was off to see Dana at "BentUp" cycles again, and I am now the proud owner of a brand new Trice QNT. This has to be about the most fun trike I have ridden. The "NT" is for Narrow Track, bringing the wheels about 4" closer together. It is a VERY lively and superbly comfortable ride! It took a few corners for me to get used to the slightly less stable footing due to the narrower track, but I am completely used to it now, and can zip round corners even faster than before. The other thing is how close your hands are to the wheels! I am still getting used to keeping all my fingers in while breaking!
Speedy is back! Thanks to Elray, who is taking possession of a brand new Flevobike velomobile, there is a speedy in the stable again. If I had not hurt my knee a couple of weeks ago I would have started commuting with it this week, but it will have to wait another few days, which will also give me some time to fit mirrors and a flag, but I couldn't be more excited to start riding an upgraded version of my first recumbent trike.
One of the (very very few) problems with small drive-wheel trikes (like the Trice QNT, and Greenspeed GTR) is getting enough range in the gears. The Greenspeed solves this by using a SRAM dual-drive. This is a combination of a 3-speed hub AND derailleur system, and works very well. The Trice uses a standard triple chainring and 9-speed cassette, which is certainly OK for everyday use, but I was finding limiting at both the very low and high end. I thought for a long time about using a dual-drive real wheel on the Trice too, but I REALLY want a CyleOps PowerTap system to monitor exactly how I am doing. The PowerTap is based on a special rear hub precluding a dual drive. Schlumpf to the the rescue. The high-speed drive is a planetary gear system in the front. I selected the high-speed version as it gives me the range I want. Having used the high-speed drive for a couple of days now I am starting to get used to it. I like it a lot! even though I did not get my guess at ratios quite right, it certainly gives me a very nice range of gears. The ability to down-shift when stopped is GREAT!
My PowerTap Pro wheel arrived from Richard at WheelBuilder.com, who did a superb job. Mounting was reasonably simple, but I had to make a couple of mods, drilling out the rim to take a schrader valve, and then as I have twist-shifts on the Trice, I decided to run the wire from the PowerTap receiver to the computer routed through the bars. This meant drilling a hole in the left bar and mirror mount, and then cutting and splicing the cable. It was a bit more effort, but works very nicely! One quirk with the PowerTap system is that it does not like to work when I am using the NiteRider lights (front or back). At the moment the battery is mounted quite close to the hub, and the wire runs are right next to each other. I am hoping that by rearranging the setup they will both live happily together. Moving the battery to the front of the bike worked, but still stringing the cable to the rear LED light caused the PowerTap to become erratic, so I am running a very bright Serfas rear light now which works well.
It is beginning to get a bit chilly in the mornings (if you can ever say that for Los Angeles), so another trip to see Dana at BentUp Cycles to see what he had in the way of fairings. Dana's Greenspeed had a nice looking Mueller fairing with a very nice "swing up" mechanism, but I decided to go for an HP Velotechnik Streamer Fairing. I have used ZZipper fairings before, and really like them, they make a very cool "whump" noise when you go over bumps etc., but the Streamer is absolutely silent, AMAZING!
Pasadena has to be about my least favorite place to ride. Yes there are some nice bike lanes, and some beautiful quiet streets, but anywhere round Old Town is a nightmare for cyclists! Stopping at red lights seems to be taken more as an after thought than a requirement, congestion seems bad at almost any time, and the general standard of driving and lack of courtesy is the worst I have encountered in Southern California. Well, why this rant? In the last year I have had people throw things at me (on Walnut) and then do a hit-and-run on another vehicle, a door opened into me on Colorado (no apology, he just kept talking on his cell phone!), and then somebody cut me of by using a right turn lane to come past me on the inside, and almost tipped me off the trike as I braked hard and turned to avoid hitting (on Green)... not only that but the driver then proceeded to hurl insults at me. All this and absolutely zero incidences in any other city that I have ridden in the last 3 years. Unfortunately there are a couple of stores that I really like, but I certainly try to avoid the area as much as possible.
I have been gradually modifying the ICE QNT (and other machines) here is the latest on the ICE upgrades.
For the glass is half full folks: You ride down as many hills as you ride up.
For the the glass is half empty folks: You ride up as many hills as you ride down.
For the glass is empty folks: The hills don't mater...the wind is always against you :-)
Last update: January 18, 2007