Nobody bikes in LA

[Keith99]

Link to story by a new commuter. Seems L.A. is pretty nice to bike in after all.

http://www.slate.com/id/2130978/?GT1=7407

My one disagreement is about drivers. At least for me (a weekend cyclist) drivers have MOSTLY been pretty nice. Of course there are some truely amazing exceptions.

[genec]

Nice article... "the secret LA... "

[77Univega]

Link to story by a new commuter. Seems L.A. is pretty nice to bike in after all.
--- Yes, it was. I bike commuted in LA from 1972 to 1986. These excerpts from the article reflect my own experiences there:

"...there may be no major city in the world with a climate as perfect for bike commuting as ours—warm winters; moderate, dry summers; alarmingly little rain... [and it's FLAT]
Instead of the major thoroughfares I use when driving, I cycled quiet back streets...
I found my commute so easy that I soon started looking for other short trips I could make on the bike—picking up a few groceries, going to the gym, returning library books—then longer ones. I plotted new stealth routes no driver would [or could] ever take..."

[Marge]

you know, every city (well maybe not manhatten), has a secret cycling route that's
better then a car.

[Mehow]

I Bike L.A. :)

[Cyclon]

I bike in LA also.

A couple of days ago there was a thread about this article and another article in Slate.

[Treespeed]

What is it 80 degrees out here today, and in the commuting section there are pics of a guy riding in snow. I'd almost feel bad except all of the smog has suffocated my sympathy functions.

[noisebeam]

you know, every city (well maybe not manhatten), has a secret cycling route that's
better then a car.
Not the parts of Phx-metro I cycle in. Once you get off the grid of main roads you end up in a maze of residential streets designed with the purpose to make thru travel impossible of inconvienient.

Al

[webist]

Not the parts of Phx-metro I cycle in. Once you get off the grid of main roads you end up in a maze of residential streets designed with the purpose to make thru travel impossible of inconvienient.

Al

But, wouldn't a secret bike route reveal itself after sufficient research?

[noisebeam]

But, wouldn't a secret bike route reveal itself after sufficient research?
I've lived here 15yrs or so and have studied maps, explored on bike and in car and thru running. There simply are not those 'secret ways' that I've encountered in other places I've lived. Maybe there are some here and there, but certainly not in the areas I have explored. Maybe its because when you lay out a city on a 1mi grid of 45-50mph arterials you cant really create many unique paths or routes.

Take a look at this link to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.338703,-111.928196&spn=0.055791,0.075831&hl=en). See the residential streets between the yellow arterials. For some you can find a NS or EW route, but many don't have a thru route. And when they do you still end up having to cross an arterial without a light (harder done than said in rush hour) and there may not even be a street to connect to in the next residential block. To really see the issue pick a point in the upper left and a point in the lower right (or any route from one side of map to the other) and see if you can do it without using the arterials.

Al

[EricDJ]

But, wouldn't a secret bike route reveal itself after sufficient research?

Secret driving routes exist if you look here in LA. The good thing is that people who come to work where I live, live elsewhere and not here. Therefore they clog the main roads that usually cross a freeway off in the distance. They don't know about the sweet other roads that are in between. If you try hard enough, you can find a road. Teaching my wife to drive, I showed her how to go from Beverly Hills to past Covina without getting on a freeway. Theres many long and short distance shortcuts. May not be designated a bike path, but in my neighborhood, I see commuters and peeople who ride for excercise and lots of them.

[genec]

Secret driving routes exist if you look here in LA. The good thing is that people who come to work where I live, live elsewhere and not here. Therefore they clog the main roads that usually cross a freeway off in the distance. They don't know about the sweet other roads that are in between. If you try hard enough, you can find a road. Teaching my wife to drive, I showed her how to go from Beverly Hills to past Covina without getting on a freeway. Theres many long and short distance shortcuts. May not be designated a bike path, but in my neighborhood, I see commuters and peeople who ride for excercise and lots of them.

It was that way back in my old neighborhood in City Heights in San Diego... side streets and back streets that allowed connections to anywhere.

Same city, but different area, and the canyons make alternate connections impossible. I have to use the arterials, where the speeds start at 35MPH and go up... 50MPH is not unheard of. And sadly the arterials do not have BL and do have autos parked along the side... sometimes for long stretches, sometimes in patches. Either way I have to take the lane and stay out of the door zone.