A friend of mine forwarded this warning about the Ballona Creek Bike Path along (the email was time-stamped this afternoon about 3:00 pm):
Dear all,
If you or someone you know rides their bike on the Ballona Creek bike path, please be extra cautious. While running on the path with my dog yesterday evening, I discovered that someone had hung a nylon yellow rope noose from the rafters of the Overland overpass. It was hanging in the west-bound lane of the bike path at the height that could have hung a biker riding through. It would have been invisible during sunset and very hard to see at any time of the day because it was hanging in the shadows.
I could not untie the knot at the rafter, but I pulled it up so that it was no longer dangling in the path, and then we left. There were a few individuals that could have seen me trying to remove the rope, but they were too far away for me to be able to tell if they were watching me. We ran back to Duquesne and up to the Culver City dog park, where I ran into an officer who said he would report it.
I was so angry that I wasn’t scared until I got home. The path should be a wonderful community asset and yet it continues to be covered in graffiti and liability.
I don’t ride down there and haven’t been down there to check, and I don’t want to get caught up in the politics and questions of “Is the Ballona Creek Bike Path safe?”, but for anyone who does head down that way, it never hurts to be thinking about it. Better safe than sorry, right? (And thanks to the woman who sent out the initial heads-up.)
los angeles rides 
i ride that trail quite a bit (it’s a sweet ride, a few easy miles without a single street to cross) and i have to say i’ve always wondered when someone would run a line across the path and take my head off going under those overpasses. i always figure i’m not the first along the trail today so if there’s decapitating to be done, it’s already happened…
this truly sucks. how can we make that ride safer?