I worked in a bike shop in Los Angeles. At first I only had one route. After several months I had at least three different routes. One was very direct but had a lot of traffic as it was in a bike lane. Another way was street and bike path it had a lot less cars but more people. The third was through residential streets and about a mile longer. This way became my favorite because it had the least amount of traffic and was the most interesting.
Pedestrian traffic can be worse than cars as people will be wearing head phones or earbuds and not hear your approach. Many times I would be on the bike path and people would be walking in the bike lane not in the pedestrian part of the path and not get out of the way even after I alerted them to my presence. It became very frustrating as many people would scowl and sneer as I asked them to please walk on the pedestrian part of the path not on the bike part. I would alway be polite and slow down as to not frighten them but many time they still get angry. I alway felt that as a cyclist I was an ambassador for all cyclists and try to to be courteous to all.
My ride home was mostly at night so I had several lights. one rear red light, two front white lights. Of the two front one was mounted on my handlebar and the other on my helmet. I came to really love riding at night as there was less traffic. I was also much cooler when I was riding in the summer. My wife sewed reflective ribbon to my backpack as it was black and she felt better as I was more visible. Remember it's always better to be safe than sorry.
My favorite night to commute was Halloween. The ride home was full of people in costume. Children everywhere were laughing, talking and having fun. The cars would drive slower and seemed to be more aware of people and cyclists.
Please let me know your commuting experiences.
one of the many bike paths in Los Angeles
Keep on Pedaling
Marco
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