Southern California - ISO 3 hour flat ride in Los Angeles area

Hi All,

Anyone know of a good flat route where I could get in three hours of flat riding in the LA area? It wouldn't have to be completely flat. . .a few rollers would be fine but no real climbing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

If you are in SM, the bike paths along the beach can be fun. Flat as a pancake...but a bit of wind when returning north. You can ride all the way to the south bay and back. I used to really like that route when I lived on the Westside.

san gabriel river trail

Thanks nesdog and pepper grinder. Riding south to and around PV is my go to long ride and occasionally, I'll take the bike path through Manhattan beach. I haven't done the San Gabriel river trail, though. Pepper Grinder-- do you know of a site with a map of the San Gabriel River Trail?

Look here (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/San-Gabriel-River-Trail)...

If you are in SM, the bike paths along the beach can be fun. Flat as a pancake...but a bit of wind when returning north. You can ride all the way to the south bay and back. I used to really like that route when I lived on the Westside.

I strongly recommend NOT doing the path along the beach for the following reasons:

1. Lots of sand on the path
2. Pedestrians/runners/rollerbladers completely oblivious
3. Path is not smooth
4. Path is windy and its hard to get comfortable at cruising speeds of 20mph+

Sometimes when the wife want to ride she prefers flat we will park at Liberty Park right off south street and the 605. Ride down to Seal Beach 10 miles the you can get onto PCH and go down to Huntington Beach and back that would be about the ride your looking for.
Start from South Street nice area
The Route (http://www.roadbikerides.com/ride/view/sgrt_cerritos-_hb/1115)

You can also do LA River trail up to Whittier Narrows and then cut over to San Gabriel River trail and take that back down and finish out the loop by doing the bike path along the beach. 53 miles and about 3 hours depending on how fast you are.

Sgrt +1.

You can also do LA River trail up to Whittier Narrows and then cut over to San Gabriel River trail and take that back down and finish out the loop by doing the bike path along the beach. 53 miles and about 3 hours depending on how fast you are.

Do you have a routeslip for that ride? Where do you get on to the LA River? At DeSoto? I'm coming from Silverlake.

Actually, I believe he's refering to the Rio Hondo River Bike Path which doesn't intercept the L.A. River until Imperial Hwy. The Rio Hondo path can be accessed at E. Lincoln and San Gabriel Blvd. near the Whittier Narrows Dam Recreation Area.

Actually, I believe he's refering to the Rio Hondo River Bike Path which doesn't intercept the L.A. River until Imperial Hwy. The Rio Hondo path can be accessed at E. Lincoln and San Gabriel Blvd. near the Whittier Narrows Dam Recreation Area.

Yes, LA River to Rio Hondo - my mistake on the omission.


Do you have a routeslip for that ride? Where do you get on to the LA River? At DeSoto? I'm coming from Silverlake.

Just made one for ya: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/ca/long%20beach/747123883965291196

And, it is actually 51 miles. Enjoy.

Drive up to Zuma Beach and ride up PCH to the Camarillo/Oxnard area and back.

Yes, LA River to Rio Hondo - my mistake on the omission.



Just made one for ya: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/ca/long%20beach/747123883965291196

And, it is actually 51 miles. Enjoy.

Thanks! I'll have to try it one day soon.

http://metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/la_bike_map.pdf YEEHAW

you're in santa monica, just head north on pch

SGRT can be windy... Today was a good example: there were times where people were creeping at 10mph at santa fe dam... I slid by a group of guys at around 18, the wind died down and I found myself going 27-28

I started at Liberty Park this morning, rode north to Imperial Hwy, then west over to LART (by way of Paramount Blvd and Gardendale St over to Hollydale Park), then down to Shoreline, on over to SGRT, and back to Liberty Park, with a stop at the very nice farmers' market at Alamitos Bay just before getting back on SGRT.

Headwinds heading north, a nice Santa-Ana conditions tailwind on Imperial, then a bit of tailwind on LART until I got down to about Artesia Blvd, where the wind turned from Santa Anas to offshore, which, of course, meant a nice tailwind on that last leg.

Radagast (my Giant Cypress) is better for the market ride, because the REI panniers fit it better than the Schwinn panniers fit Orion (my Bianchi Premio), I discovered today.

Drive up to Zuma Beach and ride up PCH to the Camarillo/Oxnard area and back.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. This is pretty close to what I ended up doing. Here's a link to a map of the ride. The ride got a little crosswindy once I turned onto Las Posas and I don't suggest this ride if you don't like the smell of strawberries or fertilizer as you ride past bunches of farms and the smells are pretty strong. Totally didn't bother me but my husband was a little bothered by the farmy smells.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=6105450