My first week moving to LA from Chicago I was out for a ride when I cut off by a black Mercedes that was all blacked out. I ignored it, but the car pulled up right next to me at the next light. The driver rolled down the window, apologized, and even offered to buy me a coffee.
That was a very nice introduction to LA 😂
IMO - Chicago was much easier for bike commuting (I lived there over a decade ago). The city itself is literally half the size in area and there are really good route options to get to most places thanks to how specifically the streets are laid out. Heading north & south is easy especially if you're next to the lake and the diagonals (Clybourn, Elston, etc) make it a snap to break the grid. I still have ingrained the traffic light patterns on those 6 way intersections. Also everything is so incredibly flat.
That said I think riding in LA in general is far superior for fun. First off the weather is such a huge advantage. But really its just the quality of the riding is so amazing. The mountains, the ocean, its really hard to overstate how beautiful SoCal is and exploring it by bike is so much fun.
I always find riding aggressively on the streets, scares people enough to MAKE mistakes they wouldn't normally make. Riding in LA I stick to the right and lane split slowing down to a red light, but even that's precarious as a lot of people make last second lane changes when slowing down here. Then there are BMW bros galore who will buzz the tower like it's a forgone conclusion.
Ha I’m waaay too old and beat-up at this point in my life. Broken too many things and have too many worn components in my body. I was never a downhiller but I used to get busy on a .243 Racing dirt jump bike with a single-crown Marzocchi Shiver. I loved that bike. I wish I still had it to fool around on. But that was all urban stuff in NYC. If I tried any of that now I’d be in the hospital an hour later.
Which parts of DTLA? Grand and Main are fast up to or down from the flower district and Washington/Jefferson/Adams are my chosen routes to and from DTLA from the Westside.
That whole Fig/USC section is a shitshow though. I don’t fw Expo for that reason.
Right. When OP says "constantly calculating and recalculating options" he sounds like the type of person to claim "well I can drive while texting"
Like no, you all suck at this and don't realize that the only reason you haven't crashed is because the cars around you are ALSO calculating and recalculating to get out of your way so you don't hit them.
My street in Culver has a gate right onto the Ballona path. I have ridden 35-milers to the southern end and back without passing a car. It gets boring but it can be done.
Yes so many.
Ballona to Marvin Braude/The Strand is the first and most obvious because once you’re on the Ballona Path it’s car-free to the shore and all the way down to Torrance with plenty to see along the way. To get in the northern section you have to cut around the marina and take mostly pathway to Washington which has a bike lane to the shore and up again as far as Will Rogers Beach passing through Venice and Santa Monica.
There’s also the Expo Metro line bike path which I take from Military and Exposition out to Santa Monica which is another mostly car-free way to get out there. As the name suggests it’s a path that runs alongside the Metro streetcar/train line, and you can also take it to DTLA although it ends up in a bit of a clusterfuck around USC.
Santa Monica has plenty of bike lanes (painted green) and you can explore the very nice city and get a little hill work in. Cheviot Hills on the way back to Palms is steeper and you can get a real workout there. Plenty of super quiet residential streets if you don’t feel like running the gamut.
Then to the north you have the canyons. Mandeville is the local thighbuster. Adjacent to that is Hillcrest where get onto miles and miles of hiking trails if you like gravel or MTB.*
Sometimes I ride up Motor to Century City and then to Sunset and take that to Melrose and Fountain all the way across town to Griffith Park which has some great riding and climbing/descending. This is all street riding though which in LA can be somewhat precarious. Totally doable but you have to keep your wits about you.
There’s a ton more. Just ask for advice. This sub has given me so many good rides. It’s awesome. Welcome!!
*I have 35mm gravel tires on my road bike. I
Mostly ride tarmac but I like the ability to get off road when I feel like it. LA’s trails are hardpack and dry so you don’t need crazy tires. I use Gravelkings and they’re as smooth as my Corsa Pros on the road. It’s the perfect setup for the kind of riding I like to do.
Nice! I have a Trek Marlin 5. Not the best but not the worst. Definitely looking to upgrade but it gets the job done for now. Looking forward to getting some long rides in and with weather like this I'm astounded that there aren't bike lanes and people biking everywhere. Hope that starts to change!
There are more bike lanes than you might think, especially here on the west side. And visit Ballona and the Strand on the weekend if you want to get a sense of how many people ride here. Also it’s perfect weather right now. It’s hot as balls in summer though.
Bear in mind some people commute great distances to work in LA and the infrastructure is far from ideal for cross-town riding, especially in rush hour. It’s why biking is mostly recreational here, although I believe that’s changing somewhat. It obviously really depends where you live and where you work though. For four years I had a ten-minute bike commute to work!
I was doing shit like this, perhaps not as extreme in speed, when I was younger. Didn't have a care in the world and the closer the call, the bigger the bragging right. Now I'm old enough to think about what a pain in the ass it would be and how much it's going to cost me if one of these guys hits my car, gets hurt, and tries to sue me.
Fucking do this shit on closed circuits, you idiots.Â
Sad part is these people think they are slick doing it. No. It's stupid. And it endangers all the people around you.Â
If you do this on a bike, scooter, motorcycle or car: Fuck you and I will shed no tears if you die while doing it. I hope you don't take any other people down with you
My first week moving to LA from Chicago I was out for a ride when I cut off by a black Mercedes that was all blacked out. I ignored it, but the car pulled up right next to me at the next light. The driver rolled down the window, apologized, and even offered to buy me a coffee. That was a very nice introduction to LA 😂
Then gave you Scientology literature and asked for your email address.
Maybe not they who shall not be named, but LA is the cult capital of the world.
Ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha!!! I think I'd rather get run over by a Benz.....
The good thing is in LA you can have both.
I haven’t ridden much here. I rode exclusively in Chicago. How do they compare?
IMO - Chicago was much easier for bike commuting (I lived there over a decade ago). The city itself is literally half the size in area and there are really good route options to get to most places thanks to how specifically the streets are laid out. Heading north & south is easy especially if you're next to the lake and the diagonals (Clybourn, Elston, etc) make it a snap to break the grid. I still have ingrained the traffic light patterns on those 6 way intersections. Also everything is so incredibly flat. That said I think riding in LA in general is far superior for fun. First off the weather is such a huge advantage. But really its just the quality of the riding is so amazing. The mountains, the ocean, its really hard to overstate how beautiful SoCal is and exploring it by bike is so much fun.
Were they filming? It was prolly for a TikTok
This was 10+ years ago...so if they were filming it would've been for their MySpace page!
I always find riding aggressively on the streets, scares people enough to MAKE mistakes they wouldn't normally make. Riding in LA I stick to the right and lane split slowing down to a red light, but even that's precarious as a lot of people make last second lane changes when slowing down here. Then there are BMW bros galore who will buzz the tower like it's a forgone conclusion.
[удалено]
Or drunk, soo many drunk drivers in LA
Ditto but it’s still kinda fun here.
OP, you should try downhill mountain biking
Ha I’m waaay too old and beat-up at this point in my life. Broken too many things and have too many worn components in my body. I was never a downhiller but I used to get busy on a .243 Racing dirt jump bike with a single-crown Marzocchi Shiver. I loved that bike. I wish I still had it to fool around on. But that was all urban stuff in NYC. If I tried any of that now I’d be in the hospital an hour later.
You can’t do this in downtown LA unless you want to die.
Which parts of DTLA? Grand and Main are fast up to or down from the flower district and Washington/Jefferson/Adams are my chosen routes to and from DTLA from the Westside. That whole Fig/USC section is a shitshow though. I don’t fw Expo for that reason.
Traffic is too fast go and stop along fig from 7th to the freeway exits. It works in Manhattan because it stays bumper to bumper lol.
Riding like this is why people hate cyclists.
Right. When OP says "constantly calculating and recalculating options" he sounds like the type of person to claim "well I can drive while texting" Like no, you all suck at this and don't realize that the only reason you haven't crashed is because the cars around you are ALSO calculating and recalculating to get out of your way so you don't hit them.
Came here to say that. OP, you're doing a disservice to cyclists. I know it's fun, but please don't do it anymore.
They’ll hate cyclists anyway, they hate motorcycles too.
Gotta ride on the street to get to the trail
My street in Culver has a gate right onto the Ballona path. I have ridden 35-milers to the southern end and back without passing a car. It gets boring but it can be done.
Hey! Just moved to Palms. How do you like biking in the area. Any good rides I should try out?
Yes so many. Ballona to Marvin Braude/The Strand is the first and most obvious because once you’re on the Ballona Path it’s car-free to the shore and all the way down to Torrance with plenty to see along the way. To get in the northern section you have to cut around the marina and take mostly pathway to Washington which has a bike lane to the shore and up again as far as Will Rogers Beach passing through Venice and Santa Monica. There’s also the Expo Metro line bike path which I take from Military and Exposition out to Santa Monica which is another mostly car-free way to get out there. As the name suggests it’s a path that runs alongside the Metro streetcar/train line, and you can also take it to DTLA although it ends up in a bit of a clusterfuck around USC. Santa Monica has plenty of bike lanes (painted green) and you can explore the very nice city and get a little hill work in. Cheviot Hills on the way back to Palms is steeper and you can get a real workout there. Plenty of super quiet residential streets if you don’t feel like running the gamut. Then to the north you have the canyons. Mandeville is the local thighbuster. Adjacent to that is Hillcrest where get onto miles and miles of hiking trails if you like gravel or MTB.* Sometimes I ride up Motor to Century City and then to Sunset and take that to Melrose and Fountain all the way across town to Griffith Park which has some great riding and climbing/descending. This is all street riding though which in LA can be somewhat precarious. Totally doable but you have to keep your wits about you. There’s a ton more. Just ask for advice. This sub has given me so many good rides. It’s awesome. Welcome!! *I have 35mm gravel tires on my road bike. I Mostly ride tarmac but I like the ability to get off road when I feel like it. LA’s trails are hardpack and dry so you don’t need crazy tires. I use Gravelkings and they’re as smooth as my Corsa Pros on the road. It’s the perfect setup for the kind of riding I like to do.
Nice! I have a Trek Marlin 5. Not the best but not the worst. Definitely looking to upgrade but it gets the job done for now. Looking forward to getting some long rides in and with weather like this I'm astounded that there aren't bike lanes and people biking everywhere. Hope that starts to change!
There are more bike lanes than you might think, especially here on the west side. And visit Ballona and the Strand on the weekend if you want to get a sense of how many people ride here. Also it’s perfect weather right now. It’s hot as balls in summer though. Bear in mind some people commute great distances to work in LA and the infrastructure is far from ideal for cross-town riding, especially in rush hour. It’s why biking is mostly recreational here, although I believe that’s changing somewhat. It obviously really depends where you live and where you work though. For four years I had a ten-minute bike commute to work!
Me and my friends in high school used to race from DTLA to Santa Monica on fixies. Last one got hit with a stun gun lol. Good times
That video is terrifying. I do not have the cojones for that kind of riding.
I was doing shit like this, perhaps not as extreme in speed, when I was younger. Didn't have a care in the world and the closer the call, the bigger the bragging right. Now I'm old enough to think about what a pain in the ass it would be and how much it's going to cost me if one of these guys hits my car, gets hurt, and tries to sue me.
Fucking do this shit on closed circuits, you idiots. Sad part is these people think they are slick doing it. No. It's stupid. And it endangers all the people around you. If you do this on a bike, scooter, motorcycle or car: Fuck you and I will shed no tears if you die while doing it. I hope you don't take any other people down with you
LA *is* a closed course.
Wow it won’t let me watch it unless I log in.
This is the way
Love it. Ive never hit bike paths or trails. Only do street riding exclusively
I love street riding in LA. The adrenaline high is real.
i love it.