3949dxer

I've been trying to work out a good route from Simi Valley to Agoura Hills or Hidden Hills. I live in Burbank and want to take the train to Simi, then ride home through the SF Valley. Unfortunately I can't find any small/quiet paved or unpaved roads south from Simi. The roads that looked most promising at first all seem to be blocked by gates and gated communities when I look more closely. Madera-Olsen-Sunset Hills-Erbes would get me there, but it seems like a lot of 4 land road with cars whizzing by, and perhaps not an especially great ride.

I ride a road bike but am not adverse to navigating some trail or fire road, or walking/carrying the bike through rough sections.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

hamster

I'm not personally familiar with the area, but Olsen-Erbes looks well within my tolerance limits in terms of road condition and visible traffic in Google Street View (as long as it's not rush hour). Most bike traffic is directly from Olsen to Erbes, not through Sunset Hills.

According to Strava heat map, if you get to the intersection of Wood Ranch and Long Canyon, there is a 1.5 mile trail that takes you to the north end of Westlake Blvd, and then you can take Westlake->Kanan. The trail looks unpaved and there are (low) gates at both ends, but it apparently sees a lot of bicycle traffic so probably not all of it is MTBs.

rlp

Actually there is a ton of good ways to get from Simi to Agoura. Here is the first one that comes to mind but there are a lot of options. Madera road and Kanan road are about the only place with fast traffic but both have wide bike lanes. If this makes you nervous you can also take the bike path that runs along the arroyo and then out Tierra Rejada to Read Road where there is a by-pass (bike lane) to get to Olsen. If you want less climbing once on Madera/Olsen turn on Pederson to Erbes, turn off of Erbes onto La Granada to a bypass that takes you past a tight spot on Erbes (that is really not bad). If you want more climbing jump into the Santa Monica Mountains at any of several points and ride Mullholland to Calabasas. The shortest option would be to head east out of Simi and ride straight back into the valley. If you don't like the Simi options you can always stay on the train for one more stop and get off in Moorpark and ride into Thousand Oaks using the Read Road by-pass.

Let me know if you would like me to map out other routes.

If you really don't like the Simi options you can also stay on the train for one more stop and get off in Moorpark and use the Read Road by-pass to get into Thousand Oaks.

3949dxer

hamster and rip, many thanks. rip, I think I'll follow the Strava route in the link you gave.

I do a lot of urban rides around L.A. and am not uncomfortable with those larger roads or sharing the road with cars, was just looking for quieter more rustic routes, which are more enjoyable to me.

I use Strava to record my rides but never got around to exploring the other functions. There must be tons of route info to be found by searching though, guess I should learn the other options for questions like this.

Thanks again!

Calder Benson

I like the idea of using the train to open up possibilities in your commute or explore your range of riding routes. I checked the Amtrak site and it looks like you can bring your bike aboard for free (other lines have either a $5 or $10 fee). You just have to reserve a 'spot' in advance for your bike. Pacific surfliner charges $0 and has 6 spots per train.

Any of you SoCal riders have experience with Amtrak'ing your bikes?

Very curious about this.


https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bicycle-onboard

nesdog

A few years ago, my wife and I rode from Ventura to Santa Barbara. For the return, we just bought tix at the Amtrak station that afternoon and placed the bikes in a rack in the car we rode in. They went on hooks at the bottom level. At that time, we didn't have any reservations, etc.

No worries at all, and plenty of room. Just one thing...make sure you know how to get the bike off the hook before you get to the destination station. They only stop for a few minutes!