CA – Marina Del Rey

    Marina Del Rey: Starting from Marina Del Rey, on the West side of Los Angeles, there are three good roller skiing routes ranging from 8.5 to 12 miles and varying from flat roads along the beach to rolling terrain to strenuous hill climbing. Go early and bike / car traffic will be minimal.

    Enter the bike path at the West end of Fiji Way, heading down the jetty towards the ocean, cross the bridge, then go straight onto Pacific Ave., continuing on to Culver Blvd. From here, there are three routes. 1)Zigzag to the right onto Trolley Way, continuing to the end where a gate opens onto a service road that parallels the beach. If you follow the service road until it ends in an RV parking lot, you’ll get roughly an 8.5- mile round trip. 2)Or turn left onto Culver, then veer right onto Pershing, climbing a gentle hill. Numerous side streets lead from Pershing into hills where you can get in all sorts of hill climbing workouts. But be sure you have the resistance wheels or speed reducers for the downhills!    3)Alternatively, if you bypass the hills and continue on Pershing, turning left onto Westchester Parkway, you’ll find a huge roadway with 3 car lanes and one bike lane in each direction, but with virtually no traffic on weekend mornings! (Avoid it on the weekdays though). Westchester undulates gently for about 3 miles. The asphalt is very good. That makes for a roughly 12 mile out – and – back course. It’s possible to mix it up and combine these routes for a longer workout. You can also add a mile to the course by including a circuit up and down Fiji way, which is flat and has pretty good asphalt and a bike lane. –B.T.