Anyone ever been through the Sepulveda Tunnel (LAX) during rush hour?
 

Maybe I'm wrong, but this is probably the last possible place I'd like to ride. Check out the thread and chime in if you agree (or even disagree).. I'm just trying to figure out what this guy was thinking:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=420266

You couldn't pay me to ride through that thing. It's an accident waiting to happen in a car, let alone a bike. Plus the build up of fumes is horrible.

but I always thought it was cool to go under the runway when I was a kid, and we would root for an airplane to be going over us!

Sheldon

I rode it one time. It's not only the fumes but I was blown away by the noise of the traffic.

We use to root for the airplanes too, funny.

I wouldn't ride through it alone. But if I were among a large peloton I wouldn't mind.

My friend said he tried it, couldn't pay me.

i couldn't thing of anything more insane...

I was visiting my in-laws in Torrance and decided to go for a ride. Well, I got a little lost and ended up going through the tunnel on a Sat. morning. Traffic was light but I couldn't see crap and I was scared like hell! Needless to say, I'll never do that again!!!

I don't know why anyone would intentionally go through that tunnel, and at rush hour none-the-less!

I've done it once during rush hour. Decided to map quest a route to the beach and back, told it to avoid highways and figured I was fine. Turns out it doesn't avoid highways every time and still put me on one and put me through the tunnel. Never trusting map quest again.

I did it last year on Thanksgiving eve at around 11pm going Northbound... Arguably one of the busiest nights at LAX. The lanes in those tunnels are very narrow for some reason and it's hard to dodge those divider reflector thingies on the ground. In short, I've definitely had brighter ideas.

Thanks everyone! I figured a local perspective on it might help my case here (specifically how it's a bad idea to be in that tunnel at any time).

Glad to see that I'm not off my rocker.. ;)

I did it once by accident. I missed the last turnoff and didn't think it would be that big of a deal going through once I realized my only choices were to go through or hike back through the grass on the side of the road.

The grates in the tunnel are bicycle wheel eaters, just the right size to suck in a wheel. I was going through wearing sunglasses, so I didn't even see the grate til I was right up on it. I jerked up my front wheel and pulled it left out of the way. My rear tire went in and very slightly taco'd my tire. I didn't lose control as the wheel was still rideable and I made it through, though the rim rubbed my brakes everytime it got to the little crease.

I figure I lost one of my nine lives that day.

I drive thru it every day on the way home. I would never take a bike thru there. Who went thru it?

I saw some dude coming out of the tunnel on my way to work yesterday (heading south towards the 105), which took me completely by surprise.

I'd love to know the actual story (as I'm now sure he had some bad direction) but it was interesting to see the reactions of those who aren't familiar with the area (or even L.A. in general).
Supposedly it's a perfectly fine idea to ride through there.. and I'm an angry motorist to suggest otherwise. :roflmao2:

this tunnel can be fun.

ive ridden through it a bunch with people and a bunch by myself. dave did it with me once. if you are going fast enough (my cyclometer said 32+) take the lane and go close to the speed of traffic, then they arent gonna **** with you. the fumes suck, but deal with it or throw a bandana over your face and you should be fine. riding lincoln from marina del rey up the hill towards loyola is dumb. the tunnel is whatever.

no, it's true. my comp said 32 mph and i was falling behind a little, tyler and tony were probably doing close to 35/6.

we were trying to draft off supercole and dave hobogoblin on their tandem, and they were going alot faster than us.

how come you cant type cuss words, but you can post pictures of them and not get reprimanded?

Another "mystery of the mods" here at BF.

I would guess you can DO whatever you want. It's not until the moderators notice that it's an issue. No one reports it , so no one addresses it. We can time it and see how long it takes for someone to notice/report :popcorn

edit: seems not to have taken long...

You ride something like 48x16, right? So that's like 140+ cadence. Pretty impressive.

my crew has passed through that tunnel lots of times. no probs. screw the cagers. one time on my phantom fighter, spinning the 58t, wearing my slippin' dickies and chrome loaded with liquid goodness, me and the boyz hit the tunnel at probly 43 mph. a thirst starts building so i pull a 40 OE from my chrome. slam down the gold in one fluid motion and deliver the empty against the side of an mbz that's being passed. f'n capitalist cager. i ownz you b! the 5-0 that was passed way back sees me recycle a glass container against the 500sl and his bacon starts sizzling. do a quick bunny hop over the audi i've been drafting, crank up the rpm's to 173 and blow out of that tunnel doing 62. adios cerdo. the boyz and i manual all the way back to the bigfoot and work over 100 PBRs. good times.

^^^ Post of the year!

lulz

46x16. im flattered.

Wouldn't that mean you're doing higher than 140? Damn.