Hi Bhop. I know 7 is totally doable for someone who is in semi-shape and rides often. My problem is this: I haven't been on my bike in six months
. When I was riding more often, like last summer, the most I rode was a 17 mile slow meandering about day. I'm so terribly out of shape that I really need to condition myself and well there's another problem. I wake up as it is at 6am. I'm not sure if I'm committed enough to wake up 30 minutes earlier. I teach high school and simply need to be at work by 7:30 each morning. I know, I'm pathetic
Originally Posted by
bhop
7-ish miles eh? That sounds like a decent ride. You should give it a try! A weekend test ride should give you an idea of what it'd be like.
The problem with 4th is it's nearly unrideable due to cracks and potholes. I've taken it a few times and you're right that there are hardly any cars, which would make it awesome if it weren't for the quality of the road, but it's just too much for my bike and body to handle, especially after dark when it's harder to see the cracks. Then it's just too dangerous.
Check this out, imagine a whole width of the street like this for miles. Images near the bottom.
http://www.bicyclefixation.com/4thst.html
I actually found a decent route that i've taken yesterday afternoon and this morning. I take my normal route through Hollywood, to LaBrea. Ride down to Willoughby then down Pointsettia. This takes me as far as 2nd, where I shoot over to Cochran, then down to venice to the bike path. Still fine tuning it. I'm going to try a different way to get from Venice blvd to Poinsettia that I scoped out on google maps on my ride home in a bit, but so far this way isn't too shabby.
this is roughly my ride this morning.. i left out the first part from my apt. to the starting point on the map, but you get the idea from there
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...=UTF8&t=h&z=15