Originally Posted by
Ferdinand NYC
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?
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.
(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.
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.