Cycling on the West Side
 

I live in Long Beach and I'm thinking about moving to somewhere on the west side (somewhere between Play del Rey and Santa Monica north to south, and possibly inland to Culver City and anything in between).

Currently I love being able to ride from my doorstep and can access the LA River, San Gabriel River, Santa Ana River, and PCH. Is there much access to decent trails, or streets, on the west side so I can continue my cycling addiction if I move? I also commute to the City of Commerce via the LA river now. I know I wouldn't have as good a route as I do now, but what might be some of the routes you guys would choose? Any thoughts are appreciated about routes, or even locations I should consider living!

i'm actually making the opposite move in a few weeks, going from westwood to LB.

from the westside you can obviously ride up and down PCH or go over to the valley. i don't go as far as commerce but to get to DTLA/USC area there are many large/busy streets you can take though it's not so pleasant. Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico, Venice, Washington, Jefferson all go west-east til at least close to DT. streets south of Washington also go west-east but they'll take you through parts of south central. all of these can get pretty bad during commute hours and have more than the occasional pothole.

I am confused.... Why would you move**********? It looks like you already have an ideal situation.

Yeah. I say stay where you are. Westwood, etc is a madhouse, and I think very dangerous for bicycles, except on the big school campus.
I lived in Manhattan Beach many years ago, and the coastal routes, strand, bike path, etc got so crowded it was just ... well, too crowded.
Over where you are now, I don't think there is too much traffic, in terms of many bikes. Nice.
dc

I live in Culver City and have access to the L.A. River. It's about two blocks away from me. If you take that bike route west you can then move up north towards Santa Monica or south towards Manhattan Beach. However, if you only consider cycling it sounds like your in an ideal situation. I personally live in Culver City because of my son's elementary school. Its the top school in the area. If you do chose to live in CC, you should consider living east of Sepulveda. And if you want to live near the bike path then stick to Jefferson Blvd.

-JRod

by LA river, do you mean Ballona Creek?

Oops, yes sorry. I rode the LA river bike path a few days before, stuck in my head I guess.

Clubs as resources
 

South Bay wheelmen Manhattan Beach / LB area
Velo Alegro LB area
Velo Club La Grange LA, west LA, and SF Valley areas

organized rides on the west side

NOW cycling team - Santa Monica area
... search a bit and alot of more clubs are here.

There is great riding on the westside! I live in Westchester and can bike straight to marina del ray to hit the beach path which you can take all the way down to Palos Verdes. That is my current favorite place to ride. If I want I can add some miles by biking over to the Balona Creek Path and around.

Santa Monica/West Side does have some pretty nice rides. There's Mandeville Canyon and Westridge if you want a nice quick climb, San Vicente is nice for a few laps in the morning and you can easily get to PCH for either a ride to Palos Verdes or up to Malibu.