Southern California - Route from Santa Susanna to Woodland Hills?

I have family in Woodland Hills (Topanga Canyon Blvd and Ventura Blvd) that I will be riding down to visit in late April (from San Francisco).

I will be going through Simi Valley and over Santa Susana Pass. I've done this before and have taken Valley Circle to get to their home. But, Valley Circle is not a very direct route, has fast traffic and has some narrow sections (though a good portion of it had some shoulder).

Does anyone know a more direct route on "safe" biking streets? I know that the area is car heaven but I wanted to ask experienced bikers in the area.

Thanks,

Ray

I personally think Valley Circle is the safest and prettiest route, and that's how the Simi Ride (large group ride) returns to its start, but the San Fernando Valley Bicycle Club seems to think Mason from Nordhoff south is a decent alternative.

I like Valley Circle, ride it frequently as part of my lunch time workout. It's plenty wide in most spots, well marked and mostly decent pavement. Definately get off Topanga as soon as you can after SS pass. When I do a circle route via Simi to SS and around, I'll dump off Topa at Roscoe and head to Valley Circle.

I bicycle commuted down Topanga for years. The northern end of Topanga is fine. I used to vary my route just for sake of change but a route I would recommend for you might be
South Topanga to Nordhoff
(this section has small hills)
Right on Nordhoff, the road turns left and becomes Farralone
Right on Rudnick
Right on Michale
The road turns left and becomes Shoup

I worked at Topanga and Burbank so I would just take Shoup to Burbank and on to Topanga. However, this is not that great for you because Topanga at 101 is full of onramps and offramps.

There are some alternatives but it is going to depend on exactly where you are going. As an example, if your family lives south of Ventura, I might take Shoup all the way to the southern end which is Ave San Luis, turn left, and connect up to whatever street is appropriate.