Ferdinand NYC

Hi, there.

As a New Yorker who has always been curious about L.A. and whose least favourite thing about his hometown is its winters, I am considering doing about a 5-day stay out there in the continent's other great city in order to escape the depressing cold.

Unfortunately, I might have thought of this too late to get it done this winter; I should have started thinking about it in December, and planned it for right now.

But, anyway, whether I would try do this during this winter or next, the same issues arise: I find myself being a bit scared off by the hills. Do any of you Angelenos find north-south travel to be prohibitively difficult because of the inclines?

I realise that some cyclists seek out hills. Please note that I am not one of those! I avoid hills; and I have been a bit spoit because of the fact that New York City and its immediate area does not have many big hills. But last year I got my ass kicked by a huge climb up a mountain in northern New Jersey that turned two 50-mile rides (to my destination in the morning and back home in the evening) into the hardest rides I have ever done. (In my complacency about not having big climbs here in New York, I neglected to look at the topographical map, and so I failed to discover another route that would have skirted the mountain altogether. Stupid.)

So I am not fool enough to even mess with Mulholland Drive or any of the roads through the Hollywood Hills. Which is just fine, really, because I am more interested in exploring the streets in the more urbanised areas of the city.

But do bicyclists in the L.A. area generally even try to get to locales north of Griffith Park? According to my scans of the elevation map at Earth Tools, it appears that Hyperion Road offers something of a pass around the big mountains; but, in looking on Google Maps, it doesn't seem that bikes can use that bridge.

I am an avid and experienced cyclist (almost 6500 miles last year); but hills really put me off. I would be interested in hearing how L.A. bicycilsts handle the hills, and if there are any good ways around the worst of them. Or do you think that, given my preferences, L.A. just isn't the place for me to visit?

I'd be really grateful for any comments on this.

Secret Squirrel

For me flats are paths to get to the hills. If you want to keep it flat in LA, your best bet is the bike paths along the beaches or river bed trails along the freeways.

diphthong

plenty of good cycling on the paths mentioned above-especially the beach bike
path between santa monica and redondo beach.

the la river bike path and street (name escapes me) that runs along the north
side of griffith park
just south of the 5 freeway are fun too. northeast of dtown la is flat and you can
zag northwest once past the elysian park/dodger stadium area to do more northern
exploring. that route and pacific coast highway (pch) go around the east and west ends
respectively of the santa monica mtns. you can also take the subway from the dtown
or hollywood areas which will drop you off north of those mtns if you don't feel like the
10-12 mile ride to go around.

hyperion is a handy street and is easy northbound but southbound may be a different
story for you.

dtown la is fun to ride 10am-2pm between commute times. fewer cars and only hilly in the
nw corner by the disney concert hall.

Ferdinand NYC

Thanks for the tips. Please keep them coming. I hope to put them to use if I actually get out there.

blarnie

Don't worry about it. You can ride through Griffith Park without any hills or ride the LA River path. You can ride up and down the coast. Or you can ride all over the San Fernando Valley. You can ride the San Gabriel River path. You can ride all over the San Gabriel Valley. Plenty of places to ride without and big climbs. There's little bumps here and there but nothing to worry about.

TrojanHorse

Nevertheless - there are some pretty tame hills out here that are totally worth doing if you have the time and inclination (and gearing!)... Glendora Mountain Road is a great mountain for non-mountain climbing people. The grade is pretty manageable, topping out at about 8%.

I used to be you - hating hills. Frankly, being 6'2" and 220 means I'll never be first up a hill but hills = cycling to me now.

rlp

I am in the same boat as TH, being a clyde hills are never easy but if you are equipped correctly they are still enjoyable. If you are use to riding mostly flat I would suggest you start by looking at your gearing. Most out here are riding compact front rings and for us gravity challenged a 28 and some up to a 32 in the rear. If you are geared correctly you should be able to slow down and enjoy all but the nasty climbs around (deer creek comes to mind ).

If you really want to stay flat you can ride the coast. I'm in Ventura county, there are several nice rides that are flat on PCH from Malibu up through Santa Barbara.

Ferdinand NYC

I realise that I could hug the coast. But, the thing is, I have to admit that I am not that interested in the beach areas; I want to see the city. So the tips about the river paths and other hill-minimising routes within the city are really what I am after.

I greatly appreciate all this feedback. It is encouraging.

tinrobot

That bridge is right in my neighborhood. Bikes can go over it, but I'd only suggest doing it outside of rush hour. Rowena to Glendale is a good alternate. You could also try going up Griffith Park to Los Feliz and back down. LA river trail and the flats of Griffith Park are great.

Rides without hills - I do a loop from the LA River trail down to Riverside, back up to Figueroa to the Arroyo trail at 42nd Ave, then up to the Rose Bowl. If you are a strong rider, the Montrose ride on Saturdays is pretty flat, but extremely fast.

And Mulholland isn't that bad once you get up there. Between the 101 and Sepulveda it is mostly a lot of rollers with very nice views.

TrojanHorse

If you want to see "city" you might want to clarify what you're looking for. The river trails probably aren't it.

tinrobot

If you want to see the "city" of Los Angeles, the LA Basin from downtown to Santa Monica is very flat. Some streets are crowded and not very bike friendly, and some streets halfway decent. This bike map is a good start:

LADOT Bicycle Services - Bicycling in Los Angeles - Bicycle Maps

There's also a Metro rail system that can get you and your bike from one place to another quickly.

Los Angeles is collection of cities, each with their own character. Try to see and ride several areas. For cycling, I'd suggest Pasadena, Palos Verdes, Malibu, Long Beach.

diphthong

i'm thinking venice blvd or washington blvd for east/west travel but what have others found handy/relatively cycling-friendly streetwise for e/w or n/s travel in the basin (besides bike paths)?

diphthong

except for the pavement quality, traffic and those damn rollers. not exactly a magic carpet ride. some excellent exercise and the aforementioned nice views however.

diphthong

thinking the op will be pleased with hitting the dtown, hollywood, pasadena, koreatown, culver city, venice/santa monica and wilshire/miracle mile corridor.
plenty of sights and sabor. any other thoughts? that's a pretty good slab of area to cover in a few rides.

Pamestique 

Since you are coming out for vacation is there some reason you selected LA and not Orange County, San Diego County or Ventura County? If it were me... LA County would be a last choice for many reasons. Both Orange County and San Diego has miles of safe, clean dedicated bike trails, the only elevation being over or under a road bypass. Plus roads are in way better shape, there is less traffic and less areas to avoid... just saying...

PS fly into John Wayne airport... stay at a local Newport Hotel and catch PCH in either direction (ride from NB to San Diego and take Amtrak back). Check out the San Diego Creek Trail and Mountain to Seas trail systems...riding around Back Bay, Newport Beach. Now one caveat... there is really very little flat in all of CA... so I assume you are good with rolling terrain...

Ferdinand NYC

I am aware of the variegated nature of the Los Angeles area. Based on what I can tell from the bike layer in Google Maps and the elevation information on Earth Tools, it seems that a route involving the river path and then onto the street called Riverside Drive (also the name of a great bike street in New York, incidentally) would be a good way to get to places north of Griffith Park, such as Burbank.

Thank you for the bike map. That will certainly be useful.


Ooga-booga is right. Of course I want to ride around in the Downtown and surrounding areas, and also up in Hollywood and West Hollywood, and through Beverly Hills. Believe it or not, I am also curious about the Inglewood/South L.A. area. I figure I'll fly into LAX; and the immediate area really interests me, as I enjoy riding in gritty urban areas.

The bike shop that I have my eye on for a 5-day rental is in Santa Monica. So I see that, right after the rental, I could come eastward into town on Santa Monica Blvd. into Beverly Hills. Or else I could use the all-bike-lane route on Venice Blvd., breaking off onto National Blvd. then onto W. Jefferson Blvd. then eventually W. Exposition Blvd. to get to the USC/Coliseum area.

I also like to see sports arenas. When I rode all the way from New York to Philadelphia and back (my proudest acheivement), I had a great time grooving around in the area where their baseball and football stadia and hockey/basketball arena are located. So seeing the Coliseum and the Staples Center would be cool. Even seeing the (formerly Fabulous) Forum in Inglewood would be nice. But, from what I can tell, there's no point in trying to see Dodger Stadium, as it's built in a ravine, so cannot be seen from any surrounding streets.

I'd like to see the Rose Bowl; and Tinrobot mentioned Pasadena as a place to do some riding. But the hill question comes up again: how the hell does one get up there? I guess that's where the Metro comes in. I see that the Gold Line light rail goes up there. Can you bring your bike on that line?


I have selected L.A. and not the other areas you mentioned because I love riding in a city. Even here in New York there are cyclists who seek out the long stretches in the Pallisades just over the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey, where one can do long rides on winding roads with great mountain views. While I appreciate the beauty of more sedate and natural areas, for me the real riding is in a dense urban setting, navigating the street grid and feeling the pulse of a city.

I tend to do almost all of my riding in the five boroughs of New York City, just revelling in the bustle. People who know me sometimes make fun of me for my Woody-Allen-esqe focus on the city to the exclusion of everywhere else. You should travel, they say; go to Europe. I respond to this counsel with the following vow: as soon as I have seen everything there is to see in New York City, I will immediately start on the rest of the world.

On those occasions when I do go to New Jersey, I do not go north from the George Washington Bridge to hit those Pallisades rides that I mentioned earlier; I go south to the dense cities of Jersey City, Union City, Hoboken, and Newark. When I visited Philly, I was fascinated by it. It was the first time I had ridden in another large city on the scale of New York. I intend to go back, this time taking my bike on the train, so that I can do all my riding within the city and not in the rural stretches of New Jersey that separate Philadelphia and New York.

This gave me the idea that, notwithstanding my earlier vow, I should visit other big cities and explore them by bike. And the big city that most captures my imagination is L.A.

My idea is to fly into LAX and stay at one of the hotels on Century Blvd. right near the airport. I see that the Super 8 Motel at La Brea Ave. has good prices and good reviews. I'd take a cab the next morning to the aforementioned bike shop in Santa Monica, and rent a bike that I'd keep for the next five days, and start each day riding from the hotel in Inglewood.

(I have a friend who lives in Palm Springs who has been imploring me to come out there. While I love extreme heat, I see that the climbs there are even worse than what you find in L.A., and there's no urban life to be had there. And it takes longer to get to Palm Springs than to L.A., as there are no non-stop flights. If I do make the trip to L.A., I almost dread breaking the news to this person, who will surely insist that I come to Palm Springs instead.)

So that's my story. As I said, it might be too late to get this done this year. But it is still possible.

I also want to reiterate my thanks, and say again that all this response is very helpful.

bitingduck

But the river trails do give a very interesting and unexpected view of the back of LA and the surrounding cities. It's kind of remarkable how much livestock there is in a very urban area. I always used to stop and watch the rodeo on the SGRT for a bit when I went past.

bitingduck

Once you get a little north of downtown, there's a nice river trail along the 110 that takes you up to Arroyo Dr/Blvd (zoom in on the Arroyo Seco Parkway at Monterey and York to see the end of it) and that's a nice shallow grade (2-3%) right up to the Rose Bowl. There's steep bits at the end, and getting into Pasadena, but they're very short. Stay off the bike path there in the unlikely event of rain though- it's essentially in the river bed and rivers in LA can go from completely dry to raging water many feet deep very rapidly because the water from the face of the mountains gets concentrated in the arroyos.



There are some quite flat rides out of Palm Springs/Palm Desert, as well. You can wind your way along the surface streets through the date orchards to get to Salton City and the Anza Borrego desert. It's dead flat from PD to Salton City, but be prepared for wind! Anza Borrego has rolling hills through badlands from Salton City to Borrego Springs, but nothing terribly long or steep unless you want to head up the mountains out of Borrego Springs. If you really don't like the climbs, you can drive up the climby part of 74 out of Palm Desert and park up there (you may need an adventure pass depending on where you park) and ride the crest and plateau. There are rollers up there, but most aren't long. If you feel warmed up when you get to Mountain Center at 74 and 243, you can climb up to Idyllwild (prepare for cold in the winter!). You can also ride into Anza (a town in the mountains, different from Anza Borrego) from there and get lunch and ride back.

And the Palm Springs area does have quite a lot going on - it's sort of the Hamptons of LA, but with probably more entertainment.

bitingduck

Also (as I put up three posts in a row instead of just adding to one...), there are a number of groups that do urban rides, both day and night that are generally fairly flat. They used to all get posted at Midnightridazz.com (you have to sift through party rides to find the ride-rides), but Facebook seems to have displaced MR for a lot of the groups. Monday night Cyclones (I think moving to weekends, daytime soon) is almost entirely flat rides 30-40 miles in urban areas at night. Sunday night Raccoons was based in Pasadena - I think they're doing other nights, too, now, and some other ones that may or may not still go (TRFKAS?) and Wolfpack (typical saturday racer ride, but at night, and a different route every week). PM me and I can try to hook you up with some of the FB pages.

And as far as how people deal with the hills-- we mostly just get used to them. It can take some time when you move from flatland (which I did many years ago), but now most of my rides involve a lot of climbing, since I live right on the edge of the National Forest.

Where on Hyperion do you see a bridge that cyclists can't use? The bridge over the 5 to Glendale is very cyclable (I've probably done it, and I have done the one on Los Feliz a number of times). Hyperion looks better than Fletcher, which has a bad traffic pattern when it's busy. Unless it's a freeway, cyclists in CA can ride anywhere a car can drive (and many places they can't). Municipalities aren't allowed to restrict cyclist access to roads. In some spots where there's no other route, cyclists are explicitly allowed to use the freeways, typically from one on ramp to the next off ramp.

Pamestique 

So are you really familiar with the area LA and all that surrounds it? Just thinking you are asking for trouble but I guess for a New Yorker it may seem tame. Personally I just don't see any reason to put myself into harm's way... do you know much about Inglewood? If not, I would do some research (I am trying to be very PC here but pretty much it's an arm pit...)

Of course no one else seems to think its a problem to ride from Inglewood... so maybe I am overreacting...

bitingduck

I've done Venice and Pico between DTLA and SM and they were pretty comparable. It's probably an interesting tour of LA. The OP also might like riding the length of Sunset or Hollywood for the tour value. I wouldn't use them if I wanted to go fast, but they're a nice slice of LA.

Ferdinand NYC

That's the spot I was looking at, where Hyperion Ave. (sorry, I wrote "Hyperion Road" before) crosses the 5 and the river. The pictures on Google Maps Street View didn't look promising. But I am pleased to read that you've ridden that road.

As an aside: isn't riding on the Interstate generally legal in California except where signs prohibit it? In practice, I think that this tends to be allowed where no other roads are available. Like, someone bicycling to Palm Springs would have no choice but to use I-10 for a spell. Not that I am eager to ride on any Interstates! I am just wondering whether I remember correctly what I read on that issue.

I know the reputation of Inglewood; that's why I said "believe it or not" when I mentioned my interest in seeing that area. I ride often in areas of New York City which are similarly derided: East New York, Bushwick, the South Bronx, Soundview; and in similar areas in the neighbouring cities of Yonkers and Newark. Those places are as interesting to me as are the Midtown avenues that more iconically represent New York in most people's minds.

I also enjoyed those areas of Philadelphia which most people sneer at during my two days of riding around that town. The gritty underbelly zones are part of my enjoyment of a city.

bitingduck

I think tinrobot beat me to it, I just didn't read all the posts first. There are quite a lot of bridges around LA that look a lot like that and are fine to ride.

Sort of. It's actually true throughout the US, but nearly every on-ramp has a sign that says "Pedestrians, Bicycles, and Motor Driven Cycles Prohibited". There are quite a few areas in CA, though, where you can/have-to ride on freeways or take drastically different routes. There are stretches along the 10, there's a stretch of the 5 in San Diego that the SDBC ride goes on every saturday morning, and another piece of the 5 through Camp Pendleton (in case they don't let you ride through the camp). I've been on a stretch of the 8 where there's actually a dirt road alternate that's much nicer that I've taken every subsequent time through there. I've done a lot of miles in southern california and been on the freeways very few times.

zonatandem

A 'mountain' in New Jersey? Seriously . . .
Have ridden at higher elevations (9,000+ feet) and in 30 some states.
Going east from the Pacific coast is UPhill and is lots of stuff near the ocean. You've got gears? Use 'em!

tinrobot

That's the loop I was talking about.

Take LA River trail south to Riverside. Over the bridge (currently under construction, be careful, the left side has a protected sidewalk) Past the Home Depot and up Figueroa for some grit. Right on Ave 43, over the 110 bridge, then first left. Left at the park gets you on the Arroyo trail. It spits you out at another park, take a left, up to Monterey, right, then first left on Arroyo. Enjoy the nice homes and the Colorado Bridge as you head to the Rose Bowl. This is whole thing is actually a long gentle climb - nothing scary.

If you want a nice descent and can do a short climb or two, go up to Linda Vista north, then work your way over to Descanso, then a left on Verdugo Blvd into Montrose Village. A left on Verdugo Rd takes you straight down for a few miles back into Glendale. From there, Chevy Chase will take you most of the way back to the river.

I have a couple of people I do this ride regularly with if you want to tag along.