ORANGE LINE SPINOFF BYPASS THE BUSWAY - EXPLORE THE BIKE PATH.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - I'm no Lance Armstrong, which made me the right person to ride the bike path that parallels the 14-mile Orange Line busway, which opened this week between North Hollywood and Warner Center.

If I could do this, anyone could.

The task itself got off to a rocky start. I'd strapped my bike to a rack on the trunk of my car for the trip to the MTA's North Hollywood Station, where I arrived at 7:20 a.m. to find the parking lot full.

I eventually found a two-hour spot on the street, then had to spend a couple of minutes finding the start of the bike path. That's because the first two miles aren't a path at all, but a bike lane along Chandler Boulevard.

Fortunately, it's a nice, wide bike lane, and I didn't feel the slightest bit threatened by the traffic whizzing by.

The actual bike path materialized at Ethel Avenue, and I was instantly charmed. To my left, separated by a green fence, I could see the busway. To my right was a sculptured soundwall.

The smooth asphalt path ahead of me was completely empty, and the air was fresh and crisp, like champagne.

I met Walter Boge, 84, of Sherman Oaks, who said he and his wife had ridden the Orange Line bus last Saturday and had liked it. He had since incorporated the route's jogging path into his morning walk.

'`I go 20 minutes, a half-hour - that's enough for an old man like me,'' he joked. ``It's kind of pretty, although the wall blocks out the view a little, but the landscaping is coming along.''

I flew along the path at 12, 13 mph, exhilarated. I wanted to kiss the genius who had greenlighted the plan for the bike path - until I hit the first stoplight, that is.

The folks from the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition that I met last Saturday were right: The pedestrian buttons on the signal poles are designed for pedestrians, and are simply too far away from the curb cuts for a cyclist to reach them easily. The lights also take forever to change.

That was a problem for Eric Foxman, 54, of West Hills, who took time out this particular morning for a bike ride before work.

``You spend as much time sitting as you do riding,'' he complained.

Averaging 22 mph on his bike, he couldn't possibly keep pace with the bus and catch all the green lights in time. The pathway was nice and smooth, but with all the stops, ``it's not much of a workout,'' he said.

Around Balboa Boulevard, the bike path abruptly ended. No problem, I had a map in my backpack. Or did I? No, I apparently had left it in my car.

The Balboa Station was no help - the map showed only the bus route, not the bike path, and while I had spotted plenty of MTA employees at other stations, there were none here.

On a hunch, I continued along Victory Boulevard, and was relieved to see bike path markings painted on the sidewalk. But along about White Oak, the markings ended again. Ah, but there was a bike lane on the street I could take ...

Great. Riding on White Oak in rush-hour traffic is not my idea of fun, but I managed to find the bike path again at Oxnard.

Note to MTA: More signage would help.

The bikeway abruptly ended again at Variel. I looked to the south: No bike lane. I looked to the west: just a sidewalk. But I knew the terminus of the Orange Line was just two blocks away on Owensmouth, so I forged on.

After dodging a few low-hanging branches, I pulled into the Warner Center station at 9:30 a.m. Total distance: 15 miles. Total ride time, 1 hour, 23 minutes and 25 seconds. Average speed: 10.7 mph, with a maximum speed of 16 mph.

Not bad, but nothing that was going to keep Lance Armstrong awake at night.

Now I needed to get back to my car.

Buying the one-way ticket from one of the machines was a cinch. Getting the bike on the bus - not so much.

The bus's bike racks were a mystery. I found a pin I was supposed to pull and two hooks with instructions like ``put the wheel in A.'' Which wheel? Where's A?

I was baffled. An older gentleman wheeling a bike with a flat tire was baffled. An MTA employee shouted encouragement from the curb, but the bus pulled away, leaving me clinging to a strap, still confused.

I attempted to work the origami-like device for two more stops, then gave up and just sat down with the bike leaning against me. The ride was a little jouncy, but smooth enough that I wasn't in danger of impaling myself on the handlebars.

The ride back to North Hollywood took exactly 40 minutes. As I settled back into the comfortable seat, I realized suddenly that I didn't have to think. I could just relax and breathe.

After a few years, a car commute becomes routine, but you can never quite relax - you have to always be on your guard for the idiot in the Infiniti who pulls into your lane without signaling, the moron in the SUV talking on the cell phone, the flying tire tread from the semi in front of you that takes out your front headlight.

But not on the bus. Maybe it was the endorphins, but I felt a Zen-like calm drift over me.

I pondered all the people who think they're too good for mass transit, and thought: Suckers.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

(color) Cyclists in safety helmets cruise along the bike path that runs parallel to the San Fernando Valley's new busway.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Map:

Orange Line Bike Path

Warren Huskey/Staff Artist