RVD72

Hi Everyone,

I have been working in Santa Monica for the past 2 years. It's been great because although I do get lazy and drive a lot, I try to get on my bike and ride to work a few days/wk. I live in Redondo Beach near the beach bike path so I just get on the bike path, ride up to Marina Del Rey, then over to Venice, then up the bike path to Santa Monica. Luckily my work is just a few blocks from Santa Monica beach.

However, I just accepted a new job in Culver City. Believe it or not, one of the factors was riding my bike to work and until about 5 minutes ago, I thought my bike riding days to work were over. When I drive to what will be my new office, I take 405N and get off at La Cienega and then go to Jefferson. I figured that there was no way that I would ride along that route through Inglewood, etc.

But I just realized that the Ballona Creek bike path ends/starts just a block or so from my new office! So my bike riding days are back!

I have never ridden the Ballona creek path from the beach to Culver City. Yes, I've read that it can get dangerous at night. I probably will be leaving work at around 6:30 so it won't be too dark when I'm on the path (except winter).

I usually ride my pretty nice carbon fiber road bike on my commute. I'm thinking that maybe this isn't such a good idea anymore along this path. I can ride my mountain bike but maybe I should get a cheap commuter bike or something. Any thoughts / opinions? I know that there are a few incidents here and they seem to be from a few years ago, etc...and there's more chance that you get hit by a car than get mugged but I'd still rather play it safe.

Anyway, if anyone here commutes regularly along this path these days, please let me know. Thanks!

Rip Van Winkle

I live very near the Ballona Creek Bikepath and ride it nearly everyday. I guess you could say that I'm an expert on it. There have been problems in the past, but I haven't heard about any in a long time. Just use some common sense and you should be fine. I've been riding it for 30 years.

Some people avoid the stretch between Inglewood and Sawtelle, by Mar Vista Gardens. You can get off at either one of those spots and take McDonald Street as a detour. Frankly, there were problems there in the past, but they put a fence up about fifteen years ago that seemed to fix the situation. Again, I ride that stretch regularly without a problem.

Likewise, it gets a little dicey near the eastern end. It also gets rather isolated east of Overland, and more so east of Duquesne. Fortunately, there are some nice quiet Culver City streets in that area that you can use as an alternate.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any more questions. I live on McDonald Street between Sawtelle and Inglewood.

RVD72

thanks for the info. sounds great!

am i the only one who makes the bike commute a big part of job decisions?

calamarichris

More like I make the job a big part of bike selection and home location decisions. (Only two miles from work. )

tFUnK

When I moved back to LA one of my deciding factors was to look for a place within 10 miles from where I work/go to school. I will use similar criteria when deciding my next move.

As for commuting along Ballona Creek, I think it'll be fine, although I'm generally not a big fan of riding on those river paths. I would probably just take Jefferson/Culver all the way.

And as for a commuting bike, I picked up a Redline 925 singlespeed commuter and have been happy with it. I will need to pick up a rear rack and panniers before the summer heat picks up and makes wearing a backpack unbearable.

Sci-Fi

Depends on your start location in CC. Culver Blvd is fine until u go over LIncoln, the lane is pretty narrow from that point to the beach. Jefferson is fine and fast. A lot of improvements were recently done in the CC part of the path. Use the route u feel is convenient as well as safe and change up routes if u leave at the same times.

RVD72

Hi Everyone,

I just thought I would chime in. I have been commuting via this route for a little over a month now.

In the morning I generally leave my house in Redondo Beach at around 8:30am or so. I have left as late as 9am and as early as 6:15am. The route is pretty empty in the morning the earlier you go (as expected) although there are many people (joggers, people walking their dogs, bicyclists, etc.).

I ride pretty slowly through Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. I generally pick up speed once I approach Dockweiler. When I get onto Ballona Creek trail, it's usually pretty empty but there are plenty of people around to make it safe. It's definitely not deserted so you'll have bikes usually within 5-10 seconds of each other. After Lincoln, it does get pretty empty but even there you will likely see a bike every minute or so.

I get off at duquesne and then ride up Jefferson. Jefferson is nice in that the street is pretty wide. However, there are many cars parked on the right side and with me riding at 20-25 mph, I am afraid of getting doored so I generally just take the right lane. Even if I'm smoking it at 30mph, cars want to pass me so it does get a bit uncomfortable sometimes.

As a result, I will continue to ride on the trail until duquesne as opposed to getting off earlier. I got off on sepulveda once and rode Jefferson all the way to Rodeo (my office) and it was ok but I prefer the trail.

In the evening, I have been trying to leave work early so that there is still light out. It's summer so it hasn't been too hard but I leave at around 6:30 and it is still very safe. If I leave at 8 or 9pm, I'm not sure how safe it will be.

There are sometimes homeless folks living under the bridges so it could get a bit sketchy I suppose. There are also random teenagers and such hanging out but overall, they seem rather harmless so far.

But again, it's summer so I would say that this is probably the safest time of year.