Washington Boulevard, By George

I don’t know where this really came from, but out of nowhere I’ve gotten a bug in my bottom bracket to do a July 4 ride of Washington Boulevard the 27.65 miles from its beginnings in Whittier to its finish at the Venice Beach Pier… something obviously never done by bicycle ever in the history of Los Angeles — and certainly not on Independence Day.

Of course that doesn’t include the 16-plus miles that it will take to get to Whittier, nor the similar miles to get from the ocean back home, bringing it all in at around 60 miles for the trip — and they ain’t the most picturesque miles, either… certainly not the grossly industrio-desolatorum some of the environs found from Whittier to downtown. Bleak is almost a compliment around there.

The good aspects: Given the holiday, traffic should be light and there shouldn’t be that much gun-firing-into-the-air thing so early in the day, though I will be traversing Vernon so that could go either way.

Thus, unless I get an attack of the sanities it’s all gonna begin when I depart at the crackadawn Friday heading east on Sunset Boulevard. And on the faaaaaaaar off chance anyone reading and able and in the pioneering spirit to join me for this urban excursion, by all means the more the merrier.

Where’d those chirping crickets come from?

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Will

Will Campbell arrived in town via the maternity ward at Good Sam Hospital way back in OneNineSixFour and has never stopped calling Los Angeles home. Presently he lives in Silver Lake with his wife Susan, their cat Rocky, dogs Terra and Hazel, and a red-eared slider turtle named Mater. Blogging since 2001, Will's web endeavors extend back to 1995 with laonstage.com, a comprehensive theater site that was well received but ever-short on capital (or a business model). The pinnacle of his online success (which speaks volumes) arrived in 1997, when much to his surprise, a hobby site he'd built called VisuaL.A. was named "best website" in Los Angeles magazine's annual "Best of L.A." issue. He enjoys experiencing (and writing about) pretty much anything creative, explorational and/or adventurous, loves his ebike, is a better tennis player than he is horr golfer, and a lover of all creatures great and small -- emphasis on "all."