# 2-3 day tours.



## chiup01 (Jun 14, 2006)

I'm looking for some scenic 2-3 day bike tours around Los Angeles. Anywhere within 3-4 hrs drive as the starting point would be fine. I'm thinking about covering around 50-60 miles a day on road, avoiding major highways. Either camping overnight or staying at a motel will be ok. We won't be supported by van, so it'll have to be a loop or end in somewhere where public transportation (i.e. Amtrak, bus) will be able to take us and our bikes back. I'm thinking LA to San Diego or Santa Barbara, but more inland areas like national parks would be really nice too.

Any ideas?


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

My first impulse would be to suggest L.A. or OC to San Diego, returning on the train. I would begin somewhere like Tustin or Irvine, a) because there are train stations and, b) there's not much that's scenic north of those points. You could ride from Irvine through San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Camp Pendleton and on into Oceanside or Carlsbad on the first leg, or on farther to Encinitas or Leucadia. Push on to San Diego the second day; if you went a bit farther on your first day, you should get to SD with enough time to do some local riding in the afternoon. Do some more local riding the third day, and take the train back in the afternoon or evening. 

Speaking of trains, if you're heading towards Orange County or San Diego, don't restrict yourself to Amtrak. Metrolink has service as far south as Oceanside, and San Diego has an equivalent commuter system called the Coaster, which runs between Oceanside and downtown San Diego. The commuter trains don't have the "amenities" that Amtrak does, e.g., no reclining seats, no food service, but they're much less expensive, probably way less crowded and they're better about on-time performance. Scheduling is geared toward commuter traffic, but it's nothing insurmountable. Metrolink has provisions on each car for two bikes; I'm not sure how it is on the Coaster, but assume it's the same, since they use the same type of coaches. Schedule info at:
www.metrolinktrains.com and
www.gonctd.com.

You could also take Amtrak up to Santa Barbara or Goleta, and then ride down the coast. At Ventura you'd have a choice between either heading inland through the Santa Clara River Valley and the towns of Santa Paula and Fillmore, and on to Santa Clarita, or you could follow the coast to Oxnard or Port Hueneme, then swing up through the Santa Rosa Valley, heading back to L.A. through Moorpark and Simi Valley.

Oh, and if you have a little time before this junket, contact SANDAG (SD Assoc. of Govts) at www.sandag.org and request the San Diego Region Bike Map; I think it covers about the entire county, and has all the formal bike routes/lanes/paths mapped. Pretty useful. :thumbsup:


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

From LA I've taken my loaded tour bike on board the Amtrak to Pismo Beach, camped there, and rode back down the coast, camping at State beaches each night. This was a 4 day, 3 night trip. Fun to do solo or with a small group.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

+1 for the Santa Barbara route. Amtrak trains run between SB and LA about 12 times a day. Santa Barbara itself has good bike lanes and a nice paved off-raod path from Santa Barbara to Goleta.

For the extra miles you mentioned you can go up Highway 150 past Lake Casitas, to Ojai. You can choose to continue on 150 through Santa Paula, or go down the off-highway bike path back to the beach at Ventura - a very nice ride along the Ventura River.

If you were to choose to go beyond SB to Santa Maria there is some dynamite riding in Northern SB county among the wineries near Solvang. Getting back over the pass to SB is a bit of a grind, though.

JSR


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## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

Check out the routes around the eastern edges of San Deigo County, especially now that winter is getting closer. The desert towns are good starting places with loops into the mountains around Palomar, Mt. Laguna, Campo, Julian etc. Borrego Springs could be an overnight they have a nice state park facility and there are plenty of camp areas throughout the Anzio/Borrego desert state park. Lots of campsites in the National 
Forest, up in the mountains..Great riding with bearable traffic, especially if you go during the week..Great terrain, if you can manage hills with your load..Me, I've toured around there with just a credit card, self-supported and had some epic loops. 
Don Hanson


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

Where is this path between Goleta and St. Babs? I always did a combination of surface streets, probably never exactly the same way twice. Is this a recent project? I'd like to check this out....


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

The Walrus said:


> Where is this path between Goleta and St. Babs? I always did a combination of surface streets, probably never exactly the same way twice. Is this a recent project? I'd like to check this out....


No, it's not really new. You will go through some neighborhoods to get to the trail head on the SB end. The other end is at Goleta Beach. It's all pretty well marked. It's a nice trail, even lit in some areas.

Go to this site for on-line versions of the SB bike route maps. Be sure to select the high-resolution images, which will take a while to download. http://trafficsolutions.info/bikemap.htm


JSR


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

:thumbsup: Thanks for the link...ironically, I opened this thread just after finally Googling for the bike path; didn't come across the Trafficsolutions site, but then I wasn't gonna wade through however many thousands of hits there were for "Goleta bike path"  . This'll be a good excuse to hop a train up to Goleta, and then ride back down to Oxnard or Camarillo.


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