I am going to be house-sitting in Northridge this weekend and was going to try and take advantage of some open roads. Are there any out there?? Anyone familiar w/ the Reservoir and whether there’s a route around there?
Thanks!

...as far as I know; I think all visits still must be made in the company of a docent. The only road that goes around it would be Plummer, going west from Topanga; it becomes Valley Circle at the point that it veers to the southwest, and continues down past the Ventura Fwy into the Woodland Hills/Calabasas area. The stretch alongside the reservoir is narrow, winding, with rough pavement and poor visibility and idiot drivers, none of which deters the remarkable number of riders I see going through there. Once you're past the reservoir (south of Roscoe), though, Valley Circle is wide and very accommodating--it gets a lot of cyclists on the weekend.

I'm not sure how long/challenging a ride you're looking for, but an alternative to Chatsworth Reservoir/Valley Circle would be going west on Rinaldi to Mason, south on Mason to Chatsworth, west on Chatsworth to Topanga and then head north to Santa Susana Pass Rd, which you can take west either to the top of the pass or keep going over the hill into lovely Simi Valley.

Additionally, you can do a loop going up Tampa from Rinaldi to Sesnon, west to Porter Ranch Dr and then back down to Rinaldi. (This could be a detour to get in some extra climbing, going up Tampa, if you don't think Santa Susana Pass would be enough.) These streets are all extremely wide and well-paved, and Tampa and Porter Ranch are steep enough to get in some respectable but not killer climbing/descending. You could also get in a decent ride just working your way west along Devonshire and Rinaldi, using the north/south streets (Reseda, Wilbur, Tampa, Corbin and Mason) to connect them, e.g., south on Reseda, west on Devonshire, north on Wilbur, west on Rinaldi, south on Tampa, etc.

One last idea is going east on Rinaldi to Balboa, then north to Foothill Bl. If you're familiar with local geography, you can make your way north over Newhall Pass to Santa Clarita.

Great! Thanks for all of the info! I will definitely check out some of those routes this weekend.

I know this is an old thread, but for those interested, a challenge is to ride to Veterans Memorial Park and then up from there.

Veterans Memorial Park is near Olive View Hospital. The area is somewhat described in Mountain Biking: Backbone Trail & Farmer's Fire Road (http://www.spannertech.com/biking/bikewilsoncanyon.htm). Note that the description of the trail at the beginning of that article is not as easy to find as it could be and it does require going over Hospital property. Going over Hospital property is not likely to be a problem, but access is more limited on the weekend.

It is much better to go up from Veterans Memorial Park, which is mentioned at the bottom of that article. Veterans Memorial Park is at the end of Sayre, but to get to the road going up the hill, go west of the park. The road is probably either Almetz Street and/or Parkland Circle. I will write something more accurate when I can. The road is May Canyon Truck Trail and is a dirt road that previously was open to cars but now is closed to most motorized vehicles. From that road, it is possible to get to Santa Clarita if you can go far enough.

I have never ridden up from the park, but I did walk up once. It is a long, steady walk; as would be expected for a motor-vehicle road.

The park is called Veterans Memorial County Park because it is the site of the Veterans Hospital that fell over in the 1971 earthquake. The hospital is not there but the park is nice. I experienced the 1971 earthquake; it was my first.