Road Cycling - LA biking

so this chicagoan is going to be visiting Los Angeles and
I'm looking at whether I should bring my bike to get some
riding in. I'll be staying in the Valley, but I should get some
car access too. Any help with routes or links or such would
be greatly appreciated. C'mon SoCal-ers lets see some
local pride! Thanks

jeff

San Fernando Valley Bike Club is a terrific group - lots of people and lots of rides and routes. www.sfvbc.org/
I used to be a member when I lived there and still go out as a guest when I'm down there.

55/Rad

socalcycling.com

look under training rides

There is a good book on LA rides that I have - unfortunately I cannot remember the title. (Sorry).

However, I have made good use of the bike path running south along the beach from Santa Monica and joined this with the loop around/over the hill Palos Verdes and back. There are some issues avoiding pedestrians&rollerbladers etc if you are a faster rider. There are also good rides along sections of Mulholland drive. A little while back I did the Sepulveda Pass climb, starting at Manhattan Beach, up the coast to Santa Monica, then switched inland for the 'pass up to Mulholland drive and along there 'till I got home.

So, Yes.... there is loads to do in/ arlound LA and even as a british rider, being on the "wrong side of the road" I was not the least intimidated by traffic etc.

How do I know all this? I married a local!

Have fun,

Ed

Here in SoCal,you dont have to ride along side cars,alot of our paths are free of motors.

If you're gonna be in the Valley, at least drive or ride out to the Rose Bowl on any Tue or Thurs @ 6pm.

Second vote on the Rose Bowl loop. If you do nothing else, it's worth it to check it out. Bring your good legs....

55/Rad

It's been a while since I lived in LA but I agree the Palos Verdes area was a lot of fun. I used to ride from Hollywood to Santa Monica then over to Palos Verdes and back. Also there was a nice loop through Griffith Park.

Last year my wife was at USC for a semester and while I was visiting her, I'd do the Griffith Park thing. She was living in the Hollywood hills and it was some serious climbing (for this flatlander) up to the house she was sharing.

Also drove out to Santa Monica and rode up PCH past Malibu and back. Bring sunscreen and a spare tube (lots of glass and crap along the road there).

Bluechip, how did you get from Hollywood to Santa Monica? I tried SM Blvd. and it scared me to death.

Sunset, Santa Monica, Wilshire, Olympic, Pico, Venice - they are all pretty bad if you don't like traffic. There are many options for getting from SM to H'Wood. Side streets like Fountain offer less traffic but the lights will kill you. San Vicente (west) is good but it won't get you into Hollywood.

55/Rad

The road at Grif park isn't too great. If you're coming to LA, go to the beach!
Since you're going to be in the valley, get on Mulholland and head west. Mulholland itself is a challenging ride, it's constant rollers. From Mulholland, you have plenty of climbs available...Stunt, Piuma, Latigo, Kanan Dune, Encinal, Yuerba Buena, etc. All great climbs, and beautiful too. Just grab a map and try one or two of rides that I just mentioned.
If you want to do flat stuff, park at PCH and Cross Creek, head north. This stretch of PCH has fewer cars and bigger bike lane than from coming from Santa Monica.

Stay out of traffic...LA drivers are dangerous!!!

Bluechip, how did you get from Hollywood to Santa Monica? I tried SM Blvd. and it scared me to death.

This was in '88-'89. I was a bike messenger back then. I had no problem with SM Blvd. My area was Beverly Hills and Century Ciity so I was on it all day anyway.

hey! thanks everyone for the great tips especially the links. I'm going to try and hook up for at least 1 group ride while I'm out there and I saw a double century that looked interesting (double!!). Looks like you have a really good road rider scene.

couple questions:
The Rose Bowl loop. How long? on streets or paths? Is there some kind of event or something?
Are there any good long routes along the ocean?
Fixer - what gear ratio do you run on your fixie?

thanks everyone. jeff

Rose Bowl Ride (Tuesday & Thursday)
5:55 pm (April 6-October 28)
Distance: 3.1 mile loop - April-October - 31 miles (10 laps)
Pace: Fast - BALLISTIC!

http://www.socalcycling.com/Group%20Rides/seasonal/rose_bowl.htm

55/Rad

hey! thanks everyone for the great tips especially the links. I'm going to try and hook up for at least 1 group ride while I'm out there and I saw a double century that looked interesting (double!!). Looks like you have a really good road rider scene.

couple questions:
The Rose Bowl loop. How long? on streets or paths? Is there some kind of event or something?
Are there any good long routes along the ocean?
Fixer - what gear ratio do you run on your fixie?

thanks everyone. jeff


Beach ride: You can ride Pacific Coast Highway for miles starting in Santa Monica and heading north. You'll be on the bike path on the sand for the first 5 miles. After that, it's the road. It's heavily travelled and you must be very aware of cars. As mentioned above, once past Malibu, it widens a bit and is a bit more sane. More hills but beautiful views along the coast for another 25 miles.

If you head south from SM, you can ride the bike path along the sand for five or six miles, duck through Marina Del Rey, then re-join the path for another 20 miles along the beach to the South Bay.

Notes on the bike path: lots of cutesy little curves, so watch for sand or expect to slide out! Plenty of other riders, walkers, skaters. It's not necessarily a high speed route. Lots of restrooms, and a good side show when you get to Venice.

Sheldon

The Rose Bowl ride is great. Really fast. Come ride and watch me get shot out of the back of the pack!!! The good thing about this ride is that you can't get lost. If you get dropped, you can pick them back up on the next lap. This is 80+, and often 100 riders.

There is a 45ish mile ride on Sat. mornings at 8:30AM. Basically the same fast group. I'll be happy to ride with you if you want.

I don't know when you are coming. There is a century in Ojai (Oh-hi) on June 12th. That is a beautiful area. http://www.ojaivalleycentury.com

reviving a dead thread.

bicycling magazine has a cool link: www.bikemetro.com

United wants to charge me $80 each way to bring my bike
so I'm boxing it up and shipping it UPS.

SoCal here I come.

jeff

The book you're referring to is probably 'Bicycle Rides Los Angeles County' by Don and Sharron Bundrige. Make sure you get the revised 4th Edition (I got it via Barnes and Noble's e-shop). Haven't had time to look it thoroughly through yet.

I just got myself a road bike. The last two Sundays, I took Topanga Canyon Road (from PCH) around 2 pm (there's no traffic allowed until 3 pm because of reconstruction of a road that was partly washed away - so I was alone on the road until Topanga itself :) ). I can recommend Old Topanga Canyon Road (make a left just after the village of Topanga). It's nicer and more quiet than Topanga Canyon Road itself.

Still I am looking for a safe way to get into the Santa Monica Mountains (I have no car): I get to PCH via San Vicente (which has a nice bike path west of Barrington), but PCH itself is terrible: some of those bloody SUVs come way too close. An alternative might be Mulholland, but the part just east of Topanga is indicated as 'dirt road' on my map (I guess until Encino Hill Drive). Does anybody know if taking this dirt part is feasible with a road bike? Is Mulholland safer than PCH anyway? Any other alternatives?

Thats the one! Thank you Bram

Cheers,

Ed

Is Mulholland safer than PCH anyway?
I don't think Mulholland is safer than PCH. The cars to go fast on PCH, but for the most part there's plenty of shoulder room. The few instances where there's no shoulder are few and far between, and if you ride it a couple times you'll know when to expect them.

Are you going to have a bike.

Come join us sat morning from Beverly Hills

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/beverlyhillsspokesmen/

If you want a good 40-50 mile ride with some good climbing here is a great route from Agoura Hills (about 25 miles north of Burbank off of the 101 freeway).

Exit the 101 on Kanan and turn lft. You can park in the lot behind the Chevron gas station.
Leave the parking lot and head north up Agoura road, at Westlake blvd turn left, take that to Petraro (sp) and turn right. This will take you over two minor climbs and down one longish decent to Reino Rd turn right. At the first light (Lynn Rd this will have a minor climb and a very steep and techinical decent be carefull) turn left and take this till it dead ends. I don't know the name of the road Lynn dead ends into but turn left to the first light and turn left again. This road will take you to PCH where you will head south. Once on PCH you have a ton of choices. Depending on how difficult of a climb you want to do you could do any of these:

Rating 1 hardest 2 hard 3 difficult

Yerba Buena 1 this is tough climb and one of the hardest in the Santa Monica's
Mullholland 2 this isn't as bad as YB but longer
Encinal 3 what makes this one hard is the length almost 6 miles.

All of these climbs will take you back over the Santa Monica's to Westlake Blvd.

The other option is to ride to PCH head south to Neptunes Net and have lunch then turn around and head back the same way. The worst climb will be back up Lynn 7%-11% grade for about 2 miles.

If ya wanna roll down to Orange County, you can ride with me and my club, the OC Rebel Riders...

www.ocrebels.com

jeff

Try La Tuna Canyon in the valley ,after the crest and you are done puking on your shoes, very nice long down hill spin back through Glendale,to glenoaks back to la tuna 24 mile loop do it til you die lol