GaryinLA

HI I am commuting Culver City Stn to San vicente/Barringon in Brentwood weekdays, arriving 945am.

Im taking metro to Culver City Stn then biking. My current route is Venice Blvd (bike lane) to right turn (N) on Maclaughlin which turns into Barrington. I like this because it is a straight ride, Im not a mornign person. I do the return trip also, leaving at about 645pm, later if I stop to eat. This route has some portions of Barrington/Maclaughlin that are not ideal for biking-- single lane both direction with not enough room to maintain 3 feet from parked cars and drivers to leave 3 feet to left of me. There are portions where I would not want to take the sole lane as I would impede a line of cars. There's also 1 minor hill on Barrington as it approaches Wilshire.

So I am wondering if anyone has recommendations on different routes with same start and end points. I see google has about 4 different route recommendations but i havent tried any yet.

My first issue is safety, id like to avoid roads with the problem i mention above. 2nd issue is trying to avoid hills. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dunbar

The most bike friendly route, which won't be the shortest by a long shot, would be to take:

Ballona Creek Bike trail to the Marvin Braude bike trail to the end
(left) Washington Blvd to Venice Beach
Beach path all the way north to Channel Rd (walk bike under PCH)
Channel Rd to Entrada to San Vicente

I'm not that familiar with the last part (Entrada to San Vicente) but it looks pretty straight forward on a map. Also there's been some concerns over safety on the Ballona Creek path but mostly late in the day near dark (and later so) you should be fine at 9am. If your bike is nothing fancy you wouldn't be targeted for theft anyways based on the reports I've seen (they've all been fancy road bikes.) This route is ~80% bike path with no stop lights or stop signs so you should be able to make good time.

GaryinLA

thanks. im very familiar with route you suggest from weekend rides. agree it may be most bike friendly but it is very roundababout and probably increases the miles from 7 to maybe 15-18. i found my current route do-able so i wouldnt do your suggested route unless i wanted to extend the ride. also i wont take ballona at night due to assault threat and fact its very dark, no lights, done it. in thinking more of alternative streets ie westwood blvd,, federal, bundy/centinela mayve sepulveda due to width. there may be a best route zigzagging on residential streets, dont know.

Dunbar

I google mapped it and it looks like around 12 miles which is definitely longer but may not be any slower due to the lack of traffic lights and stop signs. I live in north Santa Monica and have not found any good north/south routes through Mar Vista. I tried it a few times and went back to taking Ocean/Main St. I'm not very familiar with your options east of the 405 but you might try google maps bike view if you haven't already. There appear some quieter residential streets that run north/south like Military and Veteran Ave to get you up to Ohio Ave. All I could suggest is to experiment with different routes to find the best one that works for you. Looking at Google street view it appears that going north/south through that area is not terribly bike friendly.

Coming home at night you'd be going downhill taking San Vicente to Ocean to Main St down to Venice Blvd. You might give that a shot to avoid those narrow streets with no bike lane after dark. In the morning it might make more sense to take a more direct route from Culver City to Brentwood since you're facing an incline for the last few miles which will slow you down quite a bit.

GaryinLA

took san vicente blvd west to ocean to some more streets to venice blvd e.,friday night.
fast run ride but longer.

going to work think id have uphill incline somewhere no matter what route. going maclaughlin to barrington n., i have it there.