i've been road biking more here in so cal... i'm a busy resident so not a lot of time to join cycling clubs but am looking for new routes.

any favorites out there?

i live right by griffith park so do loops around griffith a couple times a week 15-20miles.

for long rides, i've done a loop the shop owner at glendale cyclery (doug?) has pointed out for me...glen oaks, up latuna, around to foothill blvd, back down into glendale. i've done this ride with little extensions quite a few times for mile "long" 50mile ride on weekends.

on the west side i've also ridden up pch for an out and back leaving from the santa monica area.

i've heard people turning in off pch east into the mtns, ie. malibu canyon, kanan dume... do you cut in and then come back out the same way, or is there a loop?

thanks,
john

ps. i'm trying to ride about 400miles/mo, with a long ride each weekend to prepare for solvang. is it really as hard as people say (for us recreational riders)? i'm trying to incorpoate more hills. i've got a triple but as i've gotten into shape i'm using it less and less except at the end of rides and hitting tough hills.

If you're by Griffith Park and want to do some extended climbing, take Glenoaks up to Sunland. Turn right up the hill until you pass the 210 and turn left at Oro Vista, which will take you over to Big Tujunga Canyon. Take Big T to Angeles Forest and turn right. Take Angeles Forest to Angeles Crest, turn right, and take the descent back down to La Canada. It's about 60 miles from my place in Sherman Oaks, so you can probably deduct a few miles from your location.

As far as routes off PCH, the most popular seem to be Kanan and Latigo Canyon. Latigo is one of my favorite climbs from PCH. Also nice is taking PCH all the way up to Mulholland Highway and then taking Mulholland back to the Valley. On any of the climbs from PCH, you can turn your ride into a loop by taking Mulholland Highway back. It empties out near Topanga Canyon. You can then work your way back to the Griffith Park area, taking either Ventura Boulevard or Wells, Dumetz, Valley Vista, and a few other streets that generally parallel Ventura. If you take the residential roads, you'll avoid all the signals and traffic from Ventura Blvd.

If you're up on Foothill and haven't tried it yet, come back down Chevy Chase. It's a fun, winding descent. You can also descend down past the Rose Bowl and make your way to Colorado Boulevard, where you can cross the old bridge and return to Griffith Park through Eagle Rock.

wow, these rides sound great and just what i was looking for! thanks....

back in my college days (berkeley) my roommate and i would ride our mtn bikes in the east bay hills on road and through the preserves/parks, get totally lost but big deal, we didn't have a care in the world. we'd dump out in some one's backyard or some small street and eventually make it back to a main road and find a bart station to get home. ...ah the good'ol days.

now with work, family obligations, etc. i'm lucky to have a 4 hour window to cram in a long ride so having a specific route helps.

happy riding,
john

If you're by Griffith Park and want to do some extended climbing, take Glenoaks up to Sunland. Turn right up the hill until you pass the 210 and turn left at Oro Vista, which will take you over to Big Tujunga Canyon. Take Big T to Angeles Forest and turn right. Take Angeles Forest to Angeles Crest, turn right, and take the descent back down to La Canada. It's about 60 miles from my place in Sherman Oaks, so you can probably deduct a few miles from your location.

As far as routes off PCH, the most popular seem to be Kanan and Latigo Canyon. Latigo is one of my favorite climbs from PCH. Also nice is taking PCH all the way up to Mulholland Highway and then taking Mulholland back to the Valley. On any of the climbs from PCH, you can turn your ride into a loop by taking Mulholland Highway back. It empties out near Topanga Canyon. You can then work your way back to the Griffith Park area, taking either Ventura Boulevard or Wells, Dumetz, Valley Vista, and a few other streets that generally parallel Ventura. If you take the residential roads, you'll avoid all the signals and traffic from Ventura Blvd.

If you're up on Foothill and haven't tried it yet, come back down Chevy Chase. It's a fun, winding descent. You can also descend down past the Rose Bowl and make your way to Colorado Boulevard, where you can cross the old bridge and return to Griffith Park through Eagle Rock.

Mickey Mac has some good ones. What I do when I have the time (I live in Sherman Oaks, too), is to head west on Burbank Blvd until it dumps out onto Ventura Blvd, and then head west to Valley Circle. A left on Valley Circle takes you to Valmar, which takes you to Mulholland Highway. (Double-check this on a map. I might have left out a street or two.) Make a right onto Mullholland Hwy. At this point, you can make a left up Old Topanga Road (which will take you to New Topanga Canyon Blvd, and then to either the ocean or back to the Valley), or else you can just go west on Mulholland Highway until you feel like turning around.

Another time-honored ride is Mullholland Drive through the Hollywood Hills. Do it east to west from Cahuenga if you're macho. Do it west to east from Sepulveda if you're semi-macho.

You can extend the Griffith Park loops by going down the L.A. River bikeway and/or Riverside Dr to Figueroa, and then heading up to Pasadena and back. Take Figueroa up to Marmion Way and cut to the left along the foot of Mt. Washington, past the Southwest Museum. Marmion becomes Monte Vista where it crosses Ave. 49 (or 50?); continue up to Ave 61, jog right one block and continue north on Piedmont (I think) to Figueroa and head east on York, which becomes Pasadena Rd. You can swing to the left onto Arroyo shortly after crossing the freeway and go up the east side of Arroyo Seco, or continue on Pasadena to Orange Grove; either choice will cross California, which you can take east to Fair Oaks. Follow Fair Oaks down to Mission, head west until Mission curves into Monterey which you take down to Via Marisol, crossing the freeway and turning left on Carlota and left again on Ellen and another left on Ave 52 and recrossing the freeway. You can follow Griffen down to Ave 26, make a right and cut back over to Figueroa which you then follow to the river. It sounds more complicated than it is; whip out the old Thomas Bros Guide and it'll make sense. Not a lot of heavy-duty climbing, but it's a treat (and frustrating as hell) to ride through that neighborhood by the Arroyo with all those old Craftsman-style houses.

Two So. Cal. rides that I like are:

At Griffith Park take the road up above Travel Town about 1/4 miles. Turn right and hop the barrier that the city has put up. BTW this is perfectly legal! Take this road up until it ends just below the Observatory (be sure to stay to the right the entire time. Hop another barrier and turn left then ride thru the tunnel and down the winding road past the Greek Theatre. Make a left on Hillhurst and and another left at Los Feliz Blvd. ride down to the entrance of the Bike path along the LA River. Now ride up the bike path to Victory Blvd. This ride is great for training purposes.

The ride I like for recreation is at the beach from Marina Del Rey to past Rancho Palos Verdes.This ride will take you along the bike path where there are some beautiful woman and into Palos Verdes where you can see some beautiful homes and take in some great views of the ocean. It also takes you past the site of the now defunct amusement park Marineland. I might be doing this ride this weekend if the weather permits. If you want, drop me a line and I'll give you detailed directions.

There is a 30 mile group ride that leaves The LA Zoo parking lot at 830am sun. Pretty moderate pace not many racers, just recreational riders. It goes through burbank to La Tuna Canyon. Regroups at the top of the hill and heads down through la Crecenta where the group splits. Some people go down verdugo to glendale and others head over to La Canada, over Chevy chase and back down to glendale. I'm not really sure how it finishes because I always break off in La Canada to get back to Pasadena.

Glendora Mt. road is a popular climbing route that heads up towards Mt. Baldy.

Do you know about the San Gabriel river trail? It's a bike trail along San Gabriel river that goes from Azusa to Seal beach. No cars, pretty low traffic, fairly flat. I'm not sure where other people park but I take the 605 to arrow HWY and park on the turnout just below the Santa Fe damn. It is something like a 60 mile round trip from here to the beach and back. There is a little restaurant right on the beach at the end of the trail to stop and eat at too. Lots of pelicans, ducks and cormorants down by the ocean. I've also seen osprey on this ride before.

thanks! i actually was in griffith not this past sunday but the sudnay before with my triathalon buddy around 8:30 and ran into this group at the zoo. a bunch of guys from merrill lynch and some others.

it was our first time riding in a big group and it was pretty fun. were you there? i was on the red gunnar roadie, my friend was on a black softride. riding up latuna was a challenge. we ended up following the merrill lynch guys up angeles crest to clear creek. nice day!

john

There is a 30 mile group ride that leaves The LA Zoo parking lot at 830am sun. Pretty moderate pace not many racers, just recreational riders. It goes through burbank to La Tuna Canyon. Regroups at the top of the hill and heads down through la Crecenta where the group splits. Some people go down verdugo to glendale and others head over to La Canada, over Chevy chase and back down to glendale. I'm not really sure how it finishes because I always break off in La Canada to get back to Pasadena.

Glendora Mt. road is a popular climbing route that heads up towards Mt. Baldy.

Do you know about the San Gabriel river trail? It's a bike trail along San Gabriel river that goes from Azusa to Seal beach. No cars, pretty low traffic, fairly flat. I'm not sure where other people park but I take the 605 to arrow HWY and park on the turnout just below the Santa Fe damn. It is something like a 60 mile round trip from here to the beach and back. There is a little restaurant right on the beach at the end of the trail to stop and eat at too. Lots of pelicans, ducks and cormorants down by the ocean. I've also seen osprey on this ride before.

I was riding N on the San Gabriel River Trail on Sunday and came over the Whittier Narrows dam and the section of the bike path just north of the dam was under water for about 50 yards. I did not try to get through it and it was probably at least 3-4 feet under water at its lowest point.

Do you know about the San Gabriel river trail? It's a bike trail along San Gabriel river that goes from Azusa to Seal beach. No cars, pretty low traffic, fairly flat. I'm not sure where other people park but I take the 605 to arrow HWY and park on the turnout just below the Santa Fe damn. It is something like a 60 mile round trip from here to the beach and back. There is a little restaurant right on the beach at the end of the trail to stop and eat at too. Lots of pelicans, ducks and cormorants down by the ocean. I've also seen osprey on this ride before.[/QUOTE]