this is the “la river ride” to long beach. i did it yesterday for like the 4th time.

the map is just an approximation due to the fact that the trail by the river and the beach trail don’t show up on the map and thus can’t be tracked exactly. 

things to know -

finding an entrance to the la river is a pain in the ass.

once found, the trail often ends for no reason only to spit you out in a random spot and force you to find an entrance again. 

in my opinion the best point to get on is just off slauson and alamo. once you get on there you’ve got 15 miles or so to long beach. the only trick is you have to cross over about halfway down or you find yourself having to cross major road ways. you can see where the trail starts up on the east side of the river and i just cross as soon as i get a chance.

there are no stop lights. which is awesome unless you’re looking for an excuse to rest. 

it’s fairly flat except when it goes under roads. it dips and curves and then comes back up. these are super fun but visibility is no good due to the curves and other bikers, stray dogs, homeless people, etc are somehow always right at the point where you can’t see them. caution.

it is always always always windy. this literally blows. i can generally keep up a good 19-20 mph avg on something equally as flat yet i’ve never pulled an average over 17 on this trail.

here are my stats from the ride. i wasn’t pushing to the max and i rested a few times but and so…

total time = 4:26:22

total distance = 74.1

average mph = 16.6

max speed 31.4 (see below for the related story)

so the real story here is when i was coming up the inlet just south of marina del ray and…if you’ve never been you should go, it’s pretty amazing.

there is a bridge between the ballona creek path and the bike path that goes down the beach to long beach.

i was coming north and crossing the bridge where it makes the 90 degree turn into the ballona trail. there was a pack of guys on sweet rides all decked out in fancy kits. they were all lolli-gagging in the middle of the bridge making it impossible for me to keep up my speed. i slowed down and cruised through the group and hit the turn. 

i got my speed back up to about 20. the trail is fairly narrow and it’s clearly labeled on the edges with white lines and down the middle with a dotted yellow line. i was hugging the white line on the right because there was a lot of west bound traffic and i wanted to give them room. i hear a noise behind me that sounds close.

i turn my head a bit and there is one of the guys from the pack. he’s about 6 inches off my tail and just slightly offset to my left. i don’t know much about bicycle etiquette but he’s pretty close considering the number of people on the trail and the drastically varying levels of skill. i mean, there is a mom and her two kids riding up the trail towards us.

anyway, he yells “move!”. obviously i have no where to go. i look back again and say “what? are you gonna bring it? you ready?” he literally sneared at me. i had no idea what to expect but i was ready to go. being 50+ miles into my ride and having no idea how fast this guy might be i just crammed it. 

i didn’t switch gears or stand up i just kicked my legs up a notch or three. after 4 seconds my computer said i was going 28 mph. i did a probably unsafe look back and he wasn’t as close as before but he was still fairly close, maybe 10 feet. i could tell i had a little more juice so i just went for it. 

i made it up to 31.4 mph (my max for the day) and didn’t look back until i hit centinela which is where i had to get off to go to meet my friend. it’s about a mile from where i first noticed him on my tail to the overpass at centinela. i went up on the bridge and waited. he came into view and after 30 seconds he finally passed. he had slowed his speed dramatically. i could see his pack of friends coming up the path in the distance. i waved. he just looked at me. 

i’m not sure what any of this means besides it makes me want to race even more. 

chirp,

hillary