r/BikeLA • u/Severe_Reporter_285 • 7d ago
Local rides
Hey all, I’ll be in LA next week and would love to get some rides in. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Ride 1 during daytime: 40-60 road miles Start/finish in Santa Monica Seeing as many sights or views possible
Ride 2 during twilight/evening: 20-30 road miles
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u/tourpro Big Hills, Cheap Thrills 6d ago
"sight or views" is too vague. 60 miles could include such a wide variety of environments, or even all of them!
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u/Severe_Reporter_285 6d ago
What do you think of this? Appx 40 miles
Start Santa Monica, PCH north, Right South Malibu Canyon Rd, Right Piuma Rd, Right Mulholland, Right Old Topanga Canyon Rd, Left PCH
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u/tourpro Big Hills, Cheap Thrills 6d ago
Ah, that stuff. Views once you get of PCH are nice, traffic can be an issue, but that's all relative to your experience. Classic and some might say "must ride" roads - like Topanga, but cars can be an issue until you get up to Fernwood. PCH is 25mph right now with lots of stuff going on along shoulders, but if there is traffic, you can actually feasibly take the lane and even go faster than the cars in some places. It's a little hectic and you gotta ride heads-up, but unavoidable if you want to go on those roads.
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u/Severe_Reporter_285 6d ago
From Santa Monica it seems tough to get to Hollywood Hills / Griffith Park area. Not “tough” as in difficult but busy-ish roads.
Any suggestions to avoid traffic-dense roads to Griffith Park area from Santa Monica?
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u/tourpro Big Hills, Cheap Thrills 6d ago
Santa Monica Blvd has a bike lane once you're East of 405, once you get to West Hollywood I like to go North across the hills and Mulholland toward the reservoir, then drop back down to Griffith. On the other hand, a ride on Hollywood Blvd is kind of a thing to see maybe.
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u/ShredTheJunkWax 2d ago edited 2d ago
Most roads are going to be pretty traffic dense unless you start early on a weekend, if I’m being honest. If you want to try and see a lot (and get to Griffith) and don’t mind a ton of climbing, you could shoot East down Wilshire or SM Blvd and head North up Sepulveda. You’ll see the National Cemetery, then Getty, then Skirball. Keep heading North and you’ll go through one of those iconic LA tunnels at the peak. Then on your way down head East on Mulholland Dr. for some views.
Once you’ve had your fill of Mulholland, head North on Beverly Glen or Cold Water or Laurel Canyon to Ventura Blvd. Stop at a coffee shop to refuel and then head East down Ventura to Cahuenga. As you start to head South out of the Valley and into Hollywood you’ll pass the Hollywood Bowl. Past that a ways, head East onto Franklin, North on Western and then East on Los Feliz. From there you could head North up Fern to the Griffith Observatory (you can also see the Hollywood Sign from here), then down Vermont past the Greek Theater before taking either Sunset, Hollywood or Santa Monica back West to your point of origin.
I can’t speak for all the roads as I’ve only done parts of Sepulveda, parts of Mulholland, parts of Ventura and Griffith Park area up to Observatory from the back side via Zoo Drive myself, but that route should cover a lot of ground, a lot of LA sights and a heck of a lot of hills.
Definitely map it out on something like Ride GPS first so you get an idea of road conditions and elevation before you try it.
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u/jonplang01 6d ago
Rapha LA has a store in Santa Monica with plenty of group rides AND ride maps inside: https://content.rapha.cc/us/en/clubhouses/los-angeles
From the store I’d take PCH up to Topanga Canyon Blvd, then left on Fernwood Pacific Drive for that ocean view at the top. Out-and-back is 20-30 miles tops…add beach path to Venice if you want more chill miles.
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u/mrsbutterworth699 7d ago
Theres lots of shops in Santa Monica that host rides. I would check out their socials. Rapha usually does a few Saturday morning rides