Matthew’s ALC8 Blog

In addition to the training rides I have been doing, I also regularly commute to work by bicycle (3-4 days a week, sometimes less depending on weather and other training patterns.)  This involves a 11-11.5 mile trip down La Cienega to Venice Blvd, then over to Culver Blvd, and then either using the Culver Blvd bike path or the Ballona Creek bike path.  At night I don’t use the Ballona Creek bike path except for the section shown on the route using the Culver Blvd bike path.  During the day it depends on the mood I’m in, although in the morning I mostly use the Ballona Creek bike path.  I then work my way over to Lincoln Blvd before heading up to Otis College in Westchester.

I originally stated the bike commuting when I lived in Westchester, and it was only 3 miles.  I did it for the exercise, and to not be driving all the time.  As I continued to do it, I increased my bicycling including doing an occasional Bike Tour at a Marathon (I’ve done Los Angeles twice, Pasadena the once it has happened, and Long Beach once), as well as the LA River Ride once.

After moving to West Hollywood, I initially didn’t bicycle the longer route, but then decided to get back into it, partially as training for AIDS/Lifecycle.  By bicycling to work, it is faster than taking the bus (almost always, as it takes me pretty consistently about 1 hour to bicycle vs 1-1.5+ by bus), and it is even occasionally faster than driving (especially if there are street closures).  It also provides training doing something I need to do anyways – get to work.

Just as a mention as to the La Cienega aspect of my commute, as most people think I’m crazy for using that street:  I personally like taking the major streets for commuting, as the light cycles are usually better for travel time.  In the case of the North/South portion of my commute, there are really any bike routes/lanes without going quite a ways out of my way, so that combined with my preference for the larger streets keeps my options limited.  I tried Robertson for a bit, but actually prefer the larger La Cienega as it is three lanes instead of two, and if there are parked cars, there is enough room for me to stay outside of the main lanes of traffic (unlike Robertson).  Most of the cars on the road are pretty good, and extremely few have made me feel significantly nervous of being hit.  Even the ones that honk/yell still keep an approrpriate distance (and since I know I’m in the right, I don’t let them get to me).  It’s especially fun when someone does so and then I end up going faster than them overall…

These are the maps for the Ballona Creek route:

Commute To Work via Ballona Creek (click to see full detail)

Commute From Work via Ballona Creek (click to see full detail)

These are the maps for the Culver Blvd bike path route:

Commute To Work via Culver Blvd Bike Path (click to see full detail)

Commute From Work via Culver Blvd Bike Path (click to see full detail)

Today was the Inaugural Pasadena Marathon Redux, and here’s the reason for the Redux:  The original Inaugural Pasadena Marathon was supposed to be on November 16, 2008.  If you don’t remember, that also happens to be when the wildfires were happening in the Los Angeles area, so unfortunately they had to cancel the Marathon at the last minute for air quality reasons.  Therefore this was the Redux of the Marathon.

This marathon has not had much luck.  While the event itself was well run, especially for a first time marathon, the problem is that mother nature decided it was time to make it rain, mostly on the marathon.  For at least two weeks before and after the marathon, there was no rain.  Then the morning of the marathon, it rain, hard, mostly on the marathon…

I arrived in Pasadena before 6am for the ride out, and when I arrive the ground is wet, but it’s not actually raining, so not a big deal.  Of course the drizzle starts about 10 minutes before we take off.  Then just a few miles into the ride, it starts pouring, very heavily to the point that I had trouble seeing, and I was soaked.  It did taper off for a good portion of the ride, but I did have at least one other soaking, and was wet (especially my socks, which really sucked) for basically the entire marathon/bike tour, but I completed it regardless, although never again without different socks.

Fortunately it wasn’t raining at the end point when I reached it, so I was able to enjoy the end festival (and get the free stuff) before heading back to the car, where the rain stayed off long enough for me to get into the car and leave.  Most of my bike got a nice wash from the ride, and the parts that did were cleaned as a left in the rain, so I had a nice clean bike once I was home…

Despite the hassles, I enjoyed the Inaugural Pasadena Marathon Bike Tour, and hope to do it again, without the rain, so that I can enjoy the scenery instead of paying so much attention to being soaked…  It was also fun because I passed very close to the houses of a few people that I know from work.

Inaugural Pasadena Marathon Redux (click to view detail)