I'm from West Hills (close to Ventura County). Whatever I'll try to do - in a few rides from start my fellow neighbors bring me to the LA core. Not oftenly than once in a two month I'm getting rides from core to close by to my home. DF takes me up to three hours of shitty rides to get close. Thus mostly I do deadmiles at least 25 ml to get home.
Living far away from core is a big disadvantage.