# Ventura/Ojai riding?



## lastchild (Jul 4, 2009)

Thinking of heading down south from Northern California and wondering what the roads rides are like in the Ventura/Ojai area.
Primarily looking to climb.
I live in Marin County so I'm used to 4,000+ ft of climbing.

Thanks in advance.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

Channel Islands Bike Club has an excellent list of rides in the area. http://www.cibike.org/

There are two principle loops out of Ventura:

1. Ventura to Santa Paula on Foothil, to Ojai on Hwy 150, to Ventura on Santa Ana Rd. Hwy 150 offers a long, but easy grade and has some traffic.

2. Up the coast to Carpenteria, inland on Hwy 150, return on Santa Ana Rd. Hwy 150 has some good climbing and light traffic.

Many possibilities for climbing can be found in the Santa Monica Mountains, about 25 miles down the coast from Ventura. Yerba Buena is long challenging climb, Mulholland is moderate and about 6 miles long. Encinal is easy and also 6 miles.

HTH,
JSR


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## rcordray (Jul 30, 2006)

Highway 33 north out of Ojai is a fine ride with _lots_ of climbing. You are entering Los Padres National Forest with wilderness bordering either side of the road corridor. The road surface is excellent, albeit with very little extra shoulder room. Traffic is generally light as the road does not lead to any significantly populated destination. I rode there last May and loved the solitude. It's uphill for the first 15 miles or so out of Ojai, then it turns into rollers, but still gradually uphill for another 15 or so. This makes for a pleasant speed run back to Ojai.

Downsides: You are truly on your own. There are no services and cell coverage is spotty to non-existent. Take extra water, even consider a Camelbak if going for a long one.


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## Rage_Cycling (Dec 30, 2009)

You can also do the loop around the lake from Ventura to Ojai lake then drop down and take the 192 to Santa Barbara it's a good climb. Come to Santa Barbara there is a lot of great climbs.


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## lastchild (Jul 4, 2009)

thanks for the replies...doing a little more searching it seems my best bet would be to either head to the santa monica mtns or a little further north to santa barbara.
unfortunately i was planning on doing this next weekend to escape the bay area rain but it looks as though socal is going to get wet as well...


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

lastchild said:


> unfortunately i was planning on doing this next weekend to escape the bay area rain but it looks as though socal is going to get wet as well...


The forecast calls for rain from now until Friday. YMMV.

JR


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