More Beach Bike Blogging

This morning, I rolled out on my bike at about 8:40 a.m., and rode over to Venice for a haircut. After the trim, I headed over to the beach, with the intention of riding the coastal bike path southward. Little did I know that the beach path ended just south of Venice Boulevard, at Washington. I then rode around several streets in downtown Marina del Rey before I picked up the path again at Admiralty park.

After Admiralty park swings around Fiji Way (and Fisherman's Village); then crosses a bridge over to the beach.


After all the time I spent trying to get to the beach, I only rode on the thing a short distance. That day Heal the Bay was holding a beach clean-up; which was fine except for all the pedestrians who loathed walking on sand, and preferred instead to walk on the "bikes only" bike path.


After my beach adventure, I gave Amy a call. She had been picking up her own bike -- her Kawasaki Specter motorcycle -- from the shop. I invited her to lunch at Fisherman's Village. The village is a collection of restaurants (including, purportedly, the original El Torito), hamburger stands, and a little mall with a tchotcke shop, a bicycle rental/sale/repair place, and booking offices for charter cruises. Besides the restaurants and shops, the primary attractions are the slips and docks for such commercial lines as Horblower Dinner Cruises and the ferry to Catalina Island. (Not to mention fishing charters.)

The village takes full advantage of its position at the crossroads of the Ballona Creek Bike Path and the South Bay Coastal Bike Path. A sign at the entrance welcomes bicyclists; and in front of the restaurants are several of the finest bike racks -- the ones on which you hang your bike up like a jacket.

We at at The Angler's Choice -- a seafood restaurant, with an upper-class menu but lower-class nautical decor, complete with plastic lobsters and sharks on the walls.