Southern California - Looking for Route/Ride Suggestions From UCLA

Howdy-
I'll be at UCLA on Saturday morning, helping my wife get set up for the Festival of Books. After set up I've got a few hours to get a ride in. I'm not familiar at all with the area. I'm looking to get in around 65 miles with some climbs. Any ideas??? Are the Santa Monica mountains within reach with this mileage?
Thanks....:)

Go to PCH via San Vicente to Ocean to Chataqua, go up to Topanga to Old Topanga to Mulholland Hwy, take MH as far as you'd like and turn around or take one of the other canyons back to PCH, or, take PCH to Latigo and climb it to MH, or climb Encinal and come back down Latigo or... Oh, be careful on PCH.
If you decide on a route, I can tell you where there is water and food.

Thanks! :), I'll check out these options tomorrow. I'll come back for a little more detail, once I've figured out which way I'm going.

Go to PCH via San Vicente to Ocean or then head south on ocean through santa monica and venice, do a loop of the marina del rey, and head south towards palos verdes.
edit- not so much climbing though. pch will take to lots of potential canyons.

If you're talking about riding from UCLA, another choice is up Bellagio/Roscomare/Stradella to Mulholland east, perhaps down Benedict/Up Franklin Cyn, and maybe down/up Nichols Cyn. It's much more urban, not as relaxing, but closer and still some good climbing. You do lose the sketchy ride up PCH from SM to Topanga, and will spend less time getting to the good stuff in the SM mtns.

If you can drive a bit, you can get out of town and into Malibu in about 30 minutes or so, depending on traffic, and from there all the great stuff big john is describing is within easy reach.

Go to PCH via San Vicente to Ocean to Chataqua, go up to Topanga to Old Topanga to Mulholland Hwy, take MH as far as you'd like and turn around or take one of the other canyons back to PCH, or, take PCH to Latigo and climb it to MH, or climb Encinal and come back down Latigo or... Oh, be careful on PCH.
If you decide on a route, I can tell you where there is water and food.


Hi John (or anyone that wants to chime in),
I'm mapping this out on Streets & Trips.
I'm assuming I turn Left on Mulholand Hwy??

What would be the best way to make a loop of Mulholland, Cold Canyon, Piuma and Stunt (Clockwise or Counter)? Is there water and food around those areas? Is better to get back via Topanga, or take something like Los Flores back to PCH?? Any roads that I just shouldn't touch? How bad is PCH up there? I brave it down south in Laguna Beach and the other coastal cities every weekend. Lastly, any approx guess on total climbing?

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it....Pat

That loop including Stunt is quite tough, and there's no water I'm aware of. My favorite short loop is: drive to the Malibu Civic Center, then ride on PCH to Latigo, climb up Latigo, go right on Kanan Dune, right again on Mulholland, descend, ride, turn right on Las Virgenes, which becomes Malibu Creek, which drops you right back at the Civic Center. If you want a longer ride and a steeper final climb, you go past Las Virgenes and turn right on Stunt, climb, then descend on Schueren and Las Flores, then right again to PCH--but that is a demanding ride, at least in my book.

There is water on Stunt right before the top. One of the homes (second driveway about a mile from the top) has a water fountain at the foot of the driveway! It's a little late in the ride, but a nice gesture on their part.

That Latigo and Stunt loop is about 42 miles +/-, btw. A very nice, hard ride that could take about 3-4 hrs dependng on your speed. I would do it in that order (up Latigo first) as you get a downhill on Mulholland to the rock store, and downhill on Las Flores. The other direction is a much harder climb all the way around, IMO.

Hi John (or anyone that wants to chime in),
I'm mapping this out on Streets & Trips.
I'm assuming I turn Left on Mulholand Hwy??

What would be the best way to make a loop of Mulholland, Cold Canyon, Piuma and Stunt (Clockwise or Counter)? Is there water and food around those areas? Is better to get back via Topanga, or take something like Los Flores back to PCH?? Any roads that I just shouldn't touch? How bad is PCH up there? I brave it down south in Laguna Beach and the other coastal cities every weekend. Lastly, any approx guess on total climbing?

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it....Pat

Yes, left on Mulholland from Old Topanga. Soon after this is Cardiac Hill, a short, steep thing with a guard shack at the top. There is a water faucet behind that shack. Descend from there and you could do the Stunt/Piuma loop either way. There is a drinking fountain for cyclists on Stunt as D Scott said. There is a faucet on the south side of Schueren(?) just before the descent of Piuma, if you're going clockwise. There's a fire station on Piuma past Cold Creek, water there, too.
There is no store in that area, but you could go west to Sierra Creek (before the Rock Store) and turn right for 1/4 mile and there is a great store there at the corner of Kanan.
Las Flores is 23%, so a bit hairy descending. You could go back down Topanga, but be careful toward the bottom where it get twisty. You could go down Maibu Canyon, but lots of cars there.
PCH is O.K. once you get away from Topanga, but the traffic is nuts toward the city. Go up Chautaqua and snake around to Ocean. Hope this isn't too late.
I'm guessing 5000 feet.

Just got back myself. Windy, but warm out.

There's a ton of cyclists out on PCH this morning, many in large groups. Is there a ride of some kind going on?

sorry i got on this so late but just for reference you can check the lagrange rides or the ucla rides

http://www.lagrange.org/rides.htm
http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/cycling/rides.html

click on the rides for details