Greetings all. My first post here.

I had a good ride this morning. My commute begins at a train station near LAX Airport and concludes 14 miles north in Santa Monica, CA. The weather was cool and the air was still as I started north at about 6:30am from the train station on Aviation Blvd. Almost immediately I was cruising at a healthy clip. I have no computer on my bike but I estimated my speed at around 15mph. I was anxious to get off that road. There's no shoulder, no bike lane, and no sidewalk. And traffic is aggressive on Aviation. Once past the first straight away; however, my ride takes me along hotel row near LAX and then along a recently resurfaced road paralleling the north runway. Traffic here is fast but sparse and the bike lane is acres wide. I can negotiate this stretch fairly free of vehicular molestation.

I should add that I started commuting by bicycle about three months ago. For the first time since I started this experiment I closed the distance and passed another cyclist. Thus far it has been a considerable effort to achieve this little feat. This time I was well ahead of him before I realized that I had not even gotten winded. He never caught me either. It was a small victory for me. My endurance has definitely increased.

I glided through the little village of Playa Del Rey and then into Marina Del Rey. The light was with me as I crossed Washington Blvd. I slowed along one of the side streets for a rest before dropping the hammer on Venice Blvd. A street clock in south Santa Monica read 7:29 as I rolled into the final three miles and I walked in the door at 7:40am.

I crossed paths with no caged cretins today and even received an applause as I passed a homeless guy who stopped digging in a trash can to give me accolades.