The good news about where I live is that there's a really long east/west bike path right up the street. It will take me 3/4s of the way to work and the last 1/4 would be include a very small hill, but I believe it's a very wide street also.

As far as parking the bike, people I work with now who ride in just bring the bike into work. The project lead sits across from me in a very large cubby that I'm sure he'd let me park there during the day.

The major point for me at this point is temperature. This part of LA is "over the hill". One of the things that designates is that it can get very hot here. It's supposed to be close to 100 tomorrow. I'm going to have to bring in a care pack to work on Monday with baby wipes, a towel, etc. and try riding later in the week.


>>I moved a couple months ago and ended up significantly closer to work. The distance is 5 miles. Because I now live "over the hill" so to speak, the temperature will be significantly higher then the "other side of the hill", where i used to live.
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>>I'm thinking of alternatives to getting to work. I can potentially ride my bike. But there's no shower at work, and I'm concerned since i tend to sweat alot. I've had people recommend having some baby wipes at my desk, and just swabbing myself down a little and changing my shirt before work.
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>>I've also been investigating Scooters. In the 50cc to 125cc range. Although it seems 125 is the better option. There's actually a scooter store across the street from me now. But they sell higher end 125cc scooters. The 50cc's didn't sell for them. Their prices start in the low 3,000s. I've seen Chinese import scooters that have good specs in the $1,500-$1,800 price range.
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>>I'm looking for any input that might help me to make a decision.
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>I'd think some factors would be:
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>- is there a bike-friendly route to work where you're not jostling with semis? How are your bike handling skills?
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>- do you have a decent bike in good working order? Is there a place you can securely lock it up at work?
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>- What's your general fitness level? A 5 mile (8 km) ride for someone moderately fit should be only 20 minutes or so, assuming it's not a mountain road < g > , without working up much of a sweat (unless it's really hot). It's not really enough to improve your general fitness level, but it's certainly better than nothing
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>With such a short distance, and presumably mostly nice weather in LA I'd look real hard at biking it. Bias disclosure - I'm a long-time roadie.