I have to confess I've never ridden into Pasadena proper from the San Fernando Valley.

Any favorite, bike friendly, scenic routes? How 'bout onwards to the foothills @ Sierra Madre, etc.?

cheers mates,
HW

There's no great way to go.

I've ridden from the Palisades to Pasadena and back, and from Pasadena to Canoga Park (along the foothills). Both routes had their good spots and ugly. When I rode from 'Dena to CP, the majority of the ride was uphill (nothing too hard, though), but it was pretty nice scenery through a lot of it, IIRC.

Here are TOPO printouts of both, to give you a rough idea of how I went:

Palisades-Pasadena (http://www.velocipedia.org/public/rbr/palisades-pasadena.pdf)
Pasadena-Canoga Park (http://www.velocipedia.org/public/rbr/pasadena-canoga.pdf)

Here's the Palisades to Pasadena route:

Sepulveda to Mulholland to Barham to Forest Lawn to Victory, then:
SONORA - R
GLENOAKS - R
GLENOAKS - R
CHEVYCHASE - L
LINDAVISTA - R
LINDAVISTA - R
COLORADO - L
ORANGE GROVE - R
DEL MAR - L

And the Pasadena-Canoga Park route:
DEL MAR - R
SIERRA MADRE - L
NEW YORK - L
ALTADENA - R
MARENGO - L
WOODBURY - R
OAK GROVE - Blend
FOOTHILL - L
TUJUNGA - L
LA TUNA - R
GLENOAKS - R
OSBORNE - R
FOOTHILL - L
BALBOA - L
RINALDI - R
TAMPA - L
ROSCOE - R
OSO - L
LORNE - R

thanks DR - you came to the rescue. I guess no one else here rides that way.

our route was basically

get to Griffith Park > Los Feliz > jog over to Colorado > Colorado all the way up and into Old Town.

Eventually crossed over to Foothill and ended at Peets Coffee near Sierra Madre to see a friend.

Hit up Lucky Baldwins on the way back for fuel (see Lounge thread)

then my buddy led us around the west side of the Rose Bowl, up Linda Vista > Chevy Chase > Descanso Gardens > Verdugo > La Crescenta > Mountain > Kenneth > Sonora > back to Griffith.

not bad. Each way had tons of stop signs/lights, both on Colorado and the Mountain/Kenneth residential routes.

still not a bad day on the bike :) just HOT.

thanks again for the reply.

The only time I rode to Griffith I took Colorado to Glendale to Los Feliz. On the way home I took Los Feliz to Glendale to Chevy Chase to Colorado. I like the route home much better. Seemed to be less traffic on Chevy Chase and I couldn't wait to get off Colorado.

...Each way had tons of stop signs/lights, both on Colorado and the Mountain/Kenneth residential routes...

Yeah, Colorado looks to be trafficky as we considered that route recently. Ended up extending the ride to bypass Pas and doing a Chevy Chase / Linda / Arroyo / Highland Park loop instead. Ended up over by Los Feliz and headed north on the River path. Don't ask me how exactly - I was just following.

Mtn/Kenneth is bread and butter for us when we're finishing the Verdugo Loop (generally Vineland / La Tuna / Honolulu / Verdugo etc). We generally blow through all the signage on Mt/Ken except for the main red light by that cutesy Kenneth neighborhood where the leisure class enjoys tea at the sidewalk cafe.

Summer is an oven in La Tuna so avoid it after 10 a.m.