Hey,

Just moved back to torrance, picked up cycling while i interned in norcal.

Are there any clubs/groups in around torrance/pv. I'm 21, and generally fit, and looking for a more competitive group.

Thanks

also, hows the pv for road cycling? Any good sites that show some challenging routes?

Hello jmtomasz

Welcome! Please visit the "Who are you..." thread and tell us a bit about yourself! :)
If you're competitive, the South Bay Wheelmen may be the group for you, bassed out of Ted Ernst's shop in Manhattan Beach. Cynergy Cycles of Santa Monica also has a team, and a big chunk of their roster lives in the South Bay.

As far as local rides, the Saturday Donut ride through PV (climbing) and the Tues/Thurs Pier Ride (flat sprints) from MB are pretty good.

PV is a great place to train and ride. You can choose from many different graded hills (3% rollers to 15%+) that are under 3 miles/1000 feet, so it mostly translates into hill repeats of varying difficulty. Plus, the weather is always temperate so you can train all year around. Keep in mind, thought, that PV is a "hill." For mountain work, I suggest the Santa Monica Mountains, Angeles Crest or Glendora Mountain Road (all within an hour's drive).

EDIT: Here are some links:
Popular South Bay rides (http://www.southbaywheelmen.org/RidesAndRacing.html)
Happytime's PV Training Loop (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Longer-Harder-PV-Loop)
South Bay Wheelmen (http://web.mac.com/kitkarzen/SBW/Home.html)
Bike Palace (San Pedro/PV) rides (http://thebikepalace.com/page.cfm?pageID=83)

Well, being on the South Bay Wheelmen I highly recommend joining us. We have a good group of racers and riders. I do the Donut ride relatively regularly (when I don't have a major race the next day). Its descriptions on the various websites fit perfectly. It's fast and big with about 75-100 riders often including local pros such as Rahsaan Bahati. It has a bit of climbing in it (one main climb that is a tad under 900 ft. Starting in April (or when day light savings start) there's a criterium practice every. Tuesday night at 6 PM at Telo Ave. off of Lomita Blvd across from Torrance Memorial. All throughout PV there's good riding and climbing but it is a small area so if you want to get in big miles it's a bit less tedious to head up the coast into Malibu.

Oh yeah, riding down here is not bad, but it's fact that we got nothing on Norcal for riding.