diphthong

any roads that you want to ride in socal that you consider too dangerous to ride? which one(s) and specifically why?

sam21fire

San Timoteo Canyon Road in San Bernardino county south of Redlands. Narrow, winding, heavy traffic, narrow/no shoulder, limited sight line, brain-dead drivers, lots of garbage trucks. I'm not easily intimidated by road conditions but I drive part of this daily and it's often scary in a truck.

Elvo

Ortega Highway, Highway 2 from 9am to 5 pm.

TGT1

Beach Blvd. (39) over the Whittier Hills.

TJKnight

The 18 to Big Bear. I rode this on a club event ride, but would really enjoy riding it regularly. It's unsafe, with no shoulder and heavy traffic. Lots of tourists and hicks.

hamster

Seconded Ortega Highway. Closer to home, 78 between Wild Animal Park / Safari Park and Ramona, and S-2 between Solana Beach and Rancho Santa Fe.

jimxyz

+1 on 18 - 38 is bad enough, but 18 is where you get the really close calls

Cyclcist11023131

PCH thru Corona del mar and thru Huntington Beach. The Strip in Vegas. Been hit in those three locations. Survived....

TrojanHorse

What? Beach Blvd dead ends at Whittier Blvd. No hills in sight. I've ridden it from Whittier down to about La Mirada Blvd before, it's not a lot of fun but it's not awful either.

I can't think of any that fit the nature of the OP's question other than what's been mentioned already (18 to BB, parts of PCH).

I drove to Vegas on Thursday morning and saw a cyclist on the 15 right before the CA/NV border. It looks "safe" enough but ugh, what a chore.

HBCruiser1

Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach between 710 on the west side and Livingston on the east side. To me the absolute worst in SoCal beach areas and I do Corona Del Mar all the time (been clipped in CDM once but stayed on the bike!).

The Mariner Mile in Newport (PCH from Newport Blvd south to Dover) is a bit dicey but the speeds are slow-ish, but with construction through there now it's worse.

TGT1

Hacienda Rd, Hacienda Blvd from Colima on will always be Beach / SR39 to anyone that grew up in the SGV. I never knew till I consulted the intardnet that 39 had been rerouted over to Harbor and back.

TrojanHorse

Alright, I'm a recent emigree so I'll give you that one.

mwandaw

One route I stay away from is southbound Laguna Canyon Road between the 73 and El Toro Road. About half of that stretch has no shoulder. On weekend mornings, when traffic is light, the cars blow past at 60 or 65mph just inches away.

I love the destinations and routes that OC bike clubs plan along that path, but life is too short already for me to ride there.

furiousferret

I could understand that; I ride it a lot and its not bad after Redlands Blvd to MoVal. Only really take it early weekends.

Haven't done it. There is a road (Old Waterman Canyon) that goes up most of the way. I'd also like to do the 330 which is even crazier, but people ride it.

Jed19

Any of the Toll Roads in Orange County. When I drive on them, I always fantasize about how I'll like to ride on them, even in the dead of night.

LGHT

yeah that was a great route. I actually rode that on my bmx as a kid.

LGHT

Early on before I had a bike computer I actually rode the 241 from Santiago Canyon down to Hicks Haul (Jeffery) then to Portola. It was the first time riding the route alone and the only other time I rode it with a group I didn't notice we crossed over the road to stay on Santiago Canyon. This time I didn't cross over and just keep going straight right onto the 241. It was pretty early and no one was on the road so it wasn't bad. The whole time I thought the cars where going pretty fast. It was actually a nice route.

Jed19

Yeah, it certainly would be fun to ride the 241.

Leo90604

Beach Blvd going northbound to Whittier Blvd is tough. There are areas where there is not much shoulder from Malvern to Rosecrans. Also at Beach and Imperial is challenging to manuever since there are 2 right turning lanes. Southbound from Whittier to LaMirada Blvd on Beach is very safe due to a lot of shoulder area.

tinrobot

Pretty soon it is going to be Trash Truck/Mt Hollywood in Griffith Park.

Thanks to Tom LaBlonge, they opened the road to cars and the tourists have invaded.

Watch out for SUVs, illegal U-turns and fat people taking selfies.

#t=31

Elvo

Why pass on the right?

skidder

Anyone ever fantisize about riding the entire length of Sepulveda Blvd (Torrance/Palos Verdes to the north end of the San Fernando Valley/Mission Hills). I've been on most of it in a car, some of which are a little too 'tight' with traffic during regular mid-day drive times, but it would be an 'epic' ride.

skidder

LAguna Canyon Road was a nice ride +20 years ago; I'd ride it down and back (sometimes twice) on weekend mornings when I lived in Irvine. There was plenty of shoulder going both ways, and even the guys who'd 'race' their sports cars through there did it in the early morning when traffic was still light. Now with the toll road and restriping to 'stuff' another lane on it, its just too dangerous any time of day.

trailangel

^^+1
The only danger was the hippo.
Now it's a 4 lane mini freeway:
Bubbles the Hippo kept roaming - The Orange County Register

markg

I got to ride Ortega Highway back in 2011 as part of the Orangeman Triathlon. They completely closed the highway between Antonio Pkwy and Hells Kitchen for the race.