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Need to decide a city to live in

Old 09-28-13, 01:27 PM
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Need to decide a city to live in

My company is going to be moving to Paramount, CA so I need to decide on a city to live in. For awhile I'll be living in Northridge but that commute is going to get old pretty quick.

I need to decide on a city to live in, preferably close to climbs and decent riding. I also would like to be close'ish to an area where I can hammer without stoplights/redlights for 20mins so I can do intervals. I'm thinking Pasadena? All the beaches are super flat!

PS: I'm from SoCal.

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Old 09-28-13, 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by ovoleg
My company is going to be moving to long beach so I need to decide on a city to live in. For awhile I'll be living in Northridge but that commute is going to get old pretty quick.

I need to decide on a city to live in, preferably close to climbs and decent riding. I also would like to be close'ish to an area where I can hammer without stoplights/redlights for 20mins so I can do intervals. I'm thinking Pasadena? All the beaches are super flat!

PS: I'm from SoCal.
I think Pasadena is one of the best cycling cities in the Los Angeles area. It is right next to some of the best climbs around, and check out the Sat AM Montrose Ride or the Rose Bowl Peloton for that hammerfest.

Commute to Long Beach would be a little long, but you'd be against traffic on either the 605 or 710, so not completely hellish.
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Old 09-28-13, 02:27 PM
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That's what I was thinking too, I've never commuted from that direction, but I used to commute over the 405 and that was super painful(south in the morning, north in the afternoon). The 605 and 710 are pretty clear in the morning? I'm going to check out traffic on Google maps on Monday morning just to get a feel for things.
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Old 09-28-13, 02:28 PM
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Beats me if it's possible (I don't know the area), but I'd go live somewhere where I could ride to work. You may or may not make it to that training race but you always need to get to work.
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Old 09-28-13, 02:38 PM
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Move next door to SoCal Cycling and call him out every morning.
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Old 09-28-13, 02:55 PM
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The area of around Tustin/Villa Park/City of Orange in Orange County. All are near the NW corner of the Santa Ana Mountains so you'll ahve access to Santiago Canyon Road, Jamboree (above Irvine), and few fire roads if you do some MTBing. For flat interval work you could always use the Santa Ana River path; its crowded mid-day on the weekends, but pretty vacant on weekend mornings (before 9AM). I would NOT recommed South Orange County (from Irvine southward, south of Hwy 55 on either I5 or I405). Traffic between there and Long Beach is a nightmare both in the morning and evening; from the Tustin area to Long Beach is crowded, but a lot easier than the South OC traffic bottlenecks.

What part of Long Beach is your employer going to move to? That could influence whether to look in Pasadena/LA County or Oorange County.

And maybe someone could chime in on the South Bay area? Torrance/Palo Verde/Hermosa Beach/Redondo Beach?
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Old 09-28-13, 06:35 PM
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Personally I think the commute from Pasadena to Long Beach would suck. I'd look at the South Bay or northwest Orange County to keep the commute reasonable. In the south bay (where I ride a lot) you can do intervals along the beach trail during the week (or early morning on weekends.) The vertical climb up Palos Verdes isn't that high (about 750ft according to Strava) but you can do a few hill repeats to get that up. Palso Verdes is pretty big and offers many different routes to climb the same hill. You could always go north to climb the Santa Monica mountains too.
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Old 09-28-13, 06:43 PM
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A lot of the traffic is going to depend on the hours you work. The Brea, La Habra area could work, it would give you access to Turnbull, Carbon Canyon and lots of hills in Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda.
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Old 09-28-13, 07:10 PM
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I'd just live as close to work as possible, the further the commute, the less daylight you have to ride.
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Old 09-28-13, 08:07 PM
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Originally Posted by furiousferret
I'd just live as close to work as possible, the further the commute, the less daylight you have to ride.
Long Beach is flat as a pancake, plus I think I could maybe get some riding in the morning hours or just ride in the evening with a light.

Also I need legit training time, cant really do that on the commute to/from work.
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Old 09-28-13, 09:59 PM
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Irvine/Santa Ana/Orange/Anaheim
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Old 09-28-13, 10:01 PM
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Bike to North Hollywood Red Line, catch the Blue Line ot Long Beach. For the commute home you can take the San Gabriel River path. Doesn't give you much in the way of hills, but the Blue Line can be rather entertaining. The Metrolink from Northridge to Downtown is faster, and you can catch up on sleep. I commute from North San Diego County to Santa Ana, bike-train-bike, and other than getting up at the butcrack of dawn, it doesn't suck.

If you gotta move, Irvine. It is the gateway to the awsome bike paradise of Sout Orange County, though the drive from there to Long Beach can suck a little.
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Old 09-28-13, 10:04 PM
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Seriously, live close to work, drive to GMR/ACH on the weekends.

Getting to work in nasty traffic will be miserable. Don't do it.
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Old 09-28-13, 10:05 PM
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you know what? Live in PV. beautiful roads, great hills... you can afford it, just do it.
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Old 09-28-13, 11:00 PM
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We live in downtown Long Beach and love it for riding. We (wife and I) commute to northern huntington beach every day but monday and do longer rides on the weekend. I feel that it's central enough to everything amazing in LA/OC.

We ride south on the coast for flat days and will do from 45-100 miles w/ around 2k of elevation gain. We ride north to Palos Verdes and do around 40-60 miles w/ 4-8k of elevation. GMR/Baldy is an easy drive as well as the Santa Monicas. Turnbull and that area is a solid push up the river trail (if you can handle the mess).

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Old 09-29-13, 06:47 AM
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Originally Posted by TrojanHorse
you know what? Live in PV. beautiful roads, great hills... you can afford it, just do it.
+1. That's where I'd live. ...swimmin' pools, movie stars....





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Old 09-29-13, 06:50 AM
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Palos Verde gets my vote as well. I saw some nice climbs during the TdC.
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Old 09-29-13, 07:04 AM
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How much are you wanting to spend a gas per week?

Move as close to work as you can.... you'll have more time to ride.

(I'm currently in a long distance commute.... sucks. Even on a motorcycle.)
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Old 09-29-13, 07:52 AM
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Originally Posted by TrojanHorse
Seriously, live close to work, drive to GMR/ACH on the weekends.

Getting to work in nasty traffic will be miserable. Don't do it.
If you have kids, the school district will be the tipping point. The bike thing is like the rest of So Cal, a distance away.
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Old 09-29-13, 12:53 PM
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Palos Verdes has a reputation for being pretty sleepy. I climb it frequently and it's a quiet oasis from the chaos below (with some amazing views.) I've heard that there isn't much up on "the hill" so you have to drive somewhere else to do almost anything (which can take a while depending on traffic.) Redondo Beach, Torrance and Hermosa Beach are not far away from Palos Verdes and have a younger crowd and more things to do. Just something for the OP to keep in mind.
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Old 09-29-13, 01:08 PM
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I have no kids(in my 20's). I need to commute in from Northridge for a few months while I get things settled and try to find a place of my own(if you have tips on how to get to LBC from Northridge by bike/bus/subway/etc please let me know). I make decent enough money but I wont be buying a house(likely a small apartment).
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Old 09-29-13, 01:11 PM
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Originally Posted by CommuteCommando
The Metrolink from Northridge to Downtown is faster, and you can catch up on sleep. .
I need to seriously explore this!
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Old 09-29-13, 08:23 PM
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Northridge to Longbeach is some of the worst commuting traffic in the country. 101/405 interchange, 405/10 interchange, LAX traffic, South bay curve. You will hate it. Pasadena/longbeach fwy is surface streets through S. Pas, Alhambra and El Sereno. Palos Verdes is your best bet if you can afford it.
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Old 09-29-13, 10:12 PM
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Originally Posted by tinrobot
Commute to Long Beach would be a little long, but you'd be against traffic on either the 605 or 710, so not completely hellish.
That's wrong - traffic heading north is the evening rush hour. Also - I've spent a good deal of time on the 605 recently, (why are all the good hot rod shops down there), and can confirm that nothing is ever against traffic on that freeway.
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Old 09-29-13, 11:27 PM
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palos verdes peninsula is beautiful and the riding is great. lived there for 18 years and go back
to ride it 4x a year. what hasn't been mentioned is san pedro. it's on the south end of the peninsula.
sure, it has some rough parts but there are nice parts too. accesses all the palos verdes routes
and adds quite a few steep climbs as well. commute-wise, it's close to the 110 harbor fwy and the
vincent thomas bridge so you've got 2 ways to get to long beach.
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