wobblyoldgeezer

Foix. Border of Languedoc Roussillon and Bas Pyrenees/Haute Ariege, south west France. Went there as a 14 year old to visit a pen friend, pen friend's friends rode and raced bikes, the hook was set

Dave Ferris

+1

The only negative, at least riding on the road here, are all the cars and the MANY ***holes in them unfortunately. I live in a pretty mellow area compared to say the Valley or the West side. I tend to stay off the busy roads and do my best to take less traveled streets around La Canada and the Rose Bowl area but still a few dicey intersections. Out towards Augora and Calabassas can be nice...just stay off PCH. If you're gonna ride those canyons--Topanga, Malibu, Kanan, etc.-- do so at your own risk.

I have some friends that moved down to San Diego and outlying areas and it's much more bike friendly they've told me.

Another thing we don't have (at least around by me) is a place to take a cyclocross type bike. It's pretty much all mountain bike. I'd kill for some of those trails I see being posted here back East and in the Midwest.

Pamestique 

Orange County is much more bike friendly than anything in LA County and there are places here to cyclocross. No specific "Parks" but plenty of trails and areas to ride. Although I have seen cyclo bike on terrain I personally thought should be MTB only and those riders had no problems. In a local Park - Santiago Oaks - I regularly see Cyclo riders on all but the nastiest trails. You also see them all over Chino Hills, Whiting and other parks.

If you don't mind the drive... look up the Big LAguna Trail - Mt. Laguna. Awesome for cyclo bikes; very mellow singletrack for mountain bikes. You can easily put together 20 - 50 miles on trail and road in the area (check out Sunrise Highway).

Dave Ferris

Thanks for the info. Yeah I know they are a lot of really great places to ride down there. Unfortunately allotting the time and dealing with traffic are huge with me.

I'd love to get down there and check those places out. I really prefer trail riding (and running) to being on the street. All the trails by me --Verdugo Mountains (right up the the street from me) and Angeles Forest are pretty much straight up (which I don't mind) and then steep descent (which I don't like).

Pamestique 

I actually am now transitioning to mountain biking about 80% of the time because of traffic concerns. But I am very fortunate within riding distance from my front door are several great areas to ride and in a short distance driving lots of great trails as easy or hard as you like. I personally like to climb so I have alot of options - Blackstar, Maple Springs, Harding Truck Trail, Sierra Peak etc. up to Main Divide (I use to enjoy bombing downhill but now a days take it alittle slower. Problem with going up you have to come down). Its only 1 1/2 hours to Big Bear and 2 hours to Mt. Laguna. Well worth the drive for a great day of trail riding.

Artkansas 

San Diego is the answer. About the best climate, many places to ride and well away from the earthquake faults.

akohekohe

Well, the weather is very nice here in Hawaii. My favorite island for bicycling is Molokai - not a single traffic light on the whole island. Decent road surface and the main roads all have shoulders. Very nice scenery and hill work if you want it and flat stretches along the coast if you don't. Very nice people and generally very well behaved drivers.

Looigi

Having lived and cycled in the North East, Rockies, and the West, I find they all have their charms, but I'd have to say northwestern CA is tough to beat for roadies.

ModeratedUser150120149

On my trips to Hawaii I've tryed to check out the cycling. On Oahu although you do see a few, very few, cyclists there is so much traffic and the roads are so crowded it takes a local who knows the side routes to do it at all. But, there are nuts who do cycle the main roads, even when there is no shoulder and no escape routes. The Big Island has good cycling. I really enjoyed cycling on Maui. The road from just south of the airport to Hanna is really nice. Great scenery on a curvy hilly road and the speed limit is so slow the cars can't go faster than bikes anyway. I got sucked into riding that once. I say sucked because the shop said it was for anyone. In fact, the group I went with were all competition people. Grudgingly the shop sent staff back to ride with me. I still enjoyed the ride though.

Nice to visit and that sort. But, I wouldn't want to live there.

teachme

+1, good plan!