bikeme

I want to do a midweek out and back ride on PCH from Malibu heading to Oxnard. Where's a good place to park in Malibu? I've heard from Malibu north is a great stretch of PCH to ride.

ooga-booga

usually park in the point dume area on the ocean side of pch with attention paid to local parking signs. point dume itself has a nice, scenic stretch and a sweet ascending/descending switchback.
nw of point dume, pch is a little more open and a little less crowded with businesses, beach traffic and parked cars. point dume is also close to the epic, must do ascent/descent of latigo canyon rd
and the climbs of encinal, decker canyon (ca hwy 23), mulholland, yerba buena and deer creek are all within a flattish, 10-mile warmup. east end of the sammos are great and pretty compact but do
carry most of the sammos traffic. west-end sammos is more chill but still as challenging as you wanna make it. the two drawbacks for me doing the west end are that it's farther from the freeway and adds
another hour of driving (w/o traffic) and that the support (convenience stores, restos, etc) is limited nearly exclusively to point dume and trancas canyon (a few miles nw of point dume on pch). the neptune's net
resto is at the intersection of pch/yerba buena and there is the dedicated water faucet out front of the decker canyon fire station just downhill from the decker canyon/lechusa rd intersection. i never depend on
water availability at the circle x ranch area most of the way up the yerba buena ascent. if you're desperado, may hafta try the leo carrillo or el matador state beaches in the area (zuma beach would be near the start)
to see if there's a "snack shack." even if there is/are, likely only open during summer and/or weekends. can be a bit desolate over there so pack an extra bottle and power bar/munchie for your first ride over there
if wanting to hit the climbs vs just rolling to port hueneme/oxnard and back. problem is...some of those climbs are among the best in all of socal. happy riding!

Tycho Brahe 

Point Dume is one of my preferred spots as well. Even on a hot summer weekend day, I have no issues finding parking if getting there before 9am. I like the spot because the bathroom has a changing room, but it has been closed since the pandemic. Have not been in many months, no clue if it is open. Not a fan of the beach there since the beach faces northwards and the waves are especially choppy.

Everywhere should be fine mid-week, and even on weekends outside the summer. Surf spots will be busy. North of Latigo is the best.

roadcrankr

I periodically rode along PCH during the warmest days inland.
My preference was to park around the Point Mugu area, generally on the north side of PCH.
By finding a place that hugged the hillside, my car stayed out of the sun.
Then I rode toward Pacific Palisades, turning around when the moment felt right.
My chief reason for selecting such a westerly spot, resulted from me coming off the 101 after going thru Thousand Oaks.

urbanknight

Malibu Bluffs Park (parking lot) or the corner of PCH and Topanga Cyn (street parking).