Pedal Driven Adventures Part 2

I'm sure I don't need to make an argument for bikes. Everyone already they're better for the environment and are more accessible in most areas than cars, they're faster than walking, and best of all, you get a pretty decent exercise. I've made a post in the past in which you don't really experience the street unless you're walking it. You drive in a car, you turn up your radio, you forget everything you see as you drive by and don't really absorb the community, the neighborhood. Well, look at biking as sort of, walking really fast. So you get to really experience a street...slightly faster.

...granted you don't mind your ass hurting for an inordinate amount of time after a ride.

I've had my share of bike rides in different cities, and everywhere I go I'm never disappointed at the exceedingly picturesque natural (and even man made) scenery these rides have to offer.

So, over the course of the next few days, I'll be featuring one of the many rides I've made here and there and whatnot...mostly because there's just so much to say and post, I don't wanna do it all on one post (and plus it's getting late and I'm too tired to write anymore)

So, today:

Venice to Santa Monica, CA
Sunny SoCal. The Southland. The City of Angels. Simply LA. Call it what you will...it's actually technically not Los Angeles. It's Venice.



A perpetual summer season, seemingly endless beaches, and a relentless supply of attractive people...Southern California's got it all, folks...and a nice bike path too. I have yet to actually bike miles upon miles from one beach to another (I've only really done Venice to Santa Monica and back...a short 5 mile round trip or so), but the ride is still entertaining exciting. The sandy beaches and sunset on your left, various little indie shops, restaurants and street performers on your right...it's what you could call quintessentially Southern Californian. You can't ride your bike along the coastline in April in Chicago. You can ride your bike along the coastline in Venice in January.



Most folks begin their bike journey in Venice, where bike rental tents are so abundant, you have your choice of regular mountain bikes to beach cruisers to tandems for as cheap as $5 an hour. The bike path winds through a mixture of beach and street, where the concept of LA traffic isn't lost as rollerbladers, walkers, and other bikers share the same road with you.

One of the first stops heading north from Venice is Santa Monica, boasting the world famous (?) Santa Monica Pier. By world famous, I think they just mean that it's been featured on a few movies and suddenly the whole world has seen it. Either way, the pier is the perfect tourist trap: typical boardwalk amenities serving beach food (funnel cakes, fish n chips), relatively lame (and overpriced) thrill rides and a rollercoaster, and of course, overpriced carnival games that no one can win:
did I really have to bring it up again?

but if you're willing to pay the $8 (or if you're like me, find a job with the City of Santa Monica and go for free during the company picnic), something that is worth seeing is the view from the ferris wheel along the pier, since the old one was sold on ebay some years ago. Here you'll get one of highest (and therefore "best") views of the Southern Californian coastline.


Just remember to do it all within an hour so you can return the bike to Venice before they charge you extra.

"there's gonna be no penis jokes - it's gonna be great"
-AE