Compton Creek Bike Path: Part 2

Here at CiclaValley, we’re dedicated to giving you hard hitting cycling news with my crack staff churning out material 25/7(that’s how hard we work).

I promised a swift, current follow-up from Part 1 of my Compton Creek Bike Path roundup only to watch sand flow through the hourglass and now two months later, I’m fulfilling my prophecy.

Some might say it took my same filling coming loose sending me back to my dentist in Carson to get this done, but others call it an act of God.

The people wanted part 2 and if it took unforeseen forces to fix my snaggletooth for the sake of great journalism, who am I to argue?

While I was eager to continue, I was still a bit in the dark for what to expect. Just from looking at Google maps, I knew the northern portion of the bike path would be different from its southern counterpart, cutting through a large amount of residential properties and busy streets.

I started at the entrance off of Greenleaf Blvd. coming from the south. For starters, the path looked a bit rough around the edges, but Iit was comforting to greeted by a few signs stating path information and the path’s history.

From there, everything went downhill as I traveled upstream. Overgrown shrubs, dangling branches, piles of trash and earthquake inspired cracks impeded the length of the path.

As a writer, I tend to flamboyantly describe details, but I’ll spare you the pageantry and sum up the path in one word: Uncomfortable.

This isn’t just a Compton thing, but you want to know what’s around you, especially when you’re stuck on a bike path with nowhere to go.

The sad part is you could tell that somebody put a lot of pride and love into this path, but now it serves as a monument to malaise.

My entire time over the three mile stretch, I only saw one other bike rider(oddly, I saw the same number of people on horseback).

Another sore spot that hinders the path’s usefulness is the number of awkward crossings. Cyclists either have to jet illegally across busy street medians or have to backtrack enough that you’ll end up covering more distance on the sidewalk than on the path.

Imagine you were driving on a Freeway, but had to exit every offramp, head down to the nearest gas station, then get back on. It would make you question the necessity of car ownership.

I recognize the effort, but this path was set up to fail. It’s really too bad because Compton has a framework where biking could easily enhance the fabric of the neighborhood, but it seems like the city has given up.

Right next to the path, a small three acre park looked impeccably manicured as a handful of landscapers tended to it inch by inch. Feet away on the path, piles of trash had accumulated over what looked to be a period of weeks. I think we’ve already seen the bike path’s future.