# Please help with safe route from Thousand Oaks to Santa Monica



## team_sheepshead (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello. I live in NYC, but grew up in SoCal (Santa Monica, West L.A.). I am looking to stage a charity ride in SoCal next year. Can you recommend a route?

We are going for 50 roadies of various skill levels in groups of six or seven, so safety is No. 1 priority.

We need to start in the Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park area, probably right off the 101. Our goal is to reach Santa Monica.

Some of my NYC folks talked about riding part of the route on the beach. I explained to them that it might not be easy to get to the start of the bike path in Pacific Palisades. If you have any ideas for that, let me know, but I don't really want to be taking i nexperienced riders on PCH or Sunset Blvd.

Thanks in advance.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

team_sheepshead said:


> I don't really want to be taking i nexperienced riders on PCH or Sunset Blvd.


If you don't want to ride on PCH to get to Santa Monica, then you'll have to go through the valley and over Sepulveda. That's going to be far slower, nowhere near as scenic, and I would consider it more dangerous than riding PCH. It presents a lot more risks, exponentially. At least PCH is a reasonable controlled environment with minimal stop lights and almost no cross traffic to worry about. And you can't beat the view.


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## team_sheepshead (Jan 17, 2003)

mohair_chair said:


> If you don't want to ride on PCH to get to Santa Monica, then you'll have to go through the valley and over Sepulveda. That's going to be far slower, nowhere near as scenic, and I would consider it more dangerous than riding PCH. It presents a lot more risks, exponentially. At least PCH is a reasonable controlled environment with minimal stop lights and almost no cross traffic to worry about. And you can't beat the view.


Thanks, that's what I was afraid of. So since I left Cali they have not built that secret paved trail over the SM Mountains past the Getty down into Pacific Palisades? They really need to get on that.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

team_sheepshead said:


> Thanks, that's what I was afraid of. So since I left Cali they have not built that secret paved trail over the SM Mountains past the Getty down into Pacific Palisades? They really need to get on that.


There's Mulholland between roughly Topanga and the 405, but most of it is dirt.


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## team_sheepshead (Jan 17, 2003)

Just in the past hour, the folks here have begun talking about INSTEAD riding from Newbury Park up toward Ojai, Santa Barbara and Thousand Oaks. 

That seems like a better option, yes?


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

team_sheepshead said:


> That seems like a better option, yes?


Yes, much better!

I live in Newbury Park and did the ride to SB as a personal goal a few weeks ago. I more or less retraced the Tour of California route from a few years ago that had started in SB and finished at Amgen. Going trhough Somis, Santa Paula, Ojai, Lake Casitas, Carpenteria, Summerland, and Montecito, it was 75 miles. There is plenty of good climbing without it being too onerous.

If you go straight up the coast it would be about 50 miles and super flat. You'd have to ride on Hwy 101 for a couple of miles between Seacliff and Rincon, wich is generally safe, but has loads of heavy traffic. 

I really had a great time on the ride. The roads are generally pretty quiet and the scenery is outstanding. I finished at the East Beach Grill in SB, which serves sandwiches and salads, and beer if you're so inclined. It's right on the sand and you can keep an eye on your bike.

It's possible to take Amtrak on the return if you start the ride in Moorpark or Camarillo, rather than TO. There is no convenient way to ride from those train stations to TO, but if want to do that Moorpark would be the better choice, plus more trains go to that station anyway.

As mohair_chair said, the best path to SM is along PCH. There's quite a bit of traffic, from Malibu Cyn south, but it's only really tricky between Sunset and the start of the bike path - about 1/2 mi. 

JSR


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

team_sheepshead said:


> That seems like a better option, yes?


It would be great if you could bomb the Conejo Grade.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

mohair_chair said:


> It would be great if you could bomb the Conejo Grade.


I've been riding my MTB all around Mt. Conejo recently. You're absolutely right, a blast down the grade would be, well, a blast!

The decent of Potrero is pretty fun, too.

JSR


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

I did Potrero in the fog once. It was the first time I had ever done it. The road was rough, I was cold, soaking wet, tired, and there were cars on my tail. The only way I got down it was because I went all zen and accepted the fact that I was going to crash and get hurt. The fact that I didn't still amazes me.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

You'll be happy to see this. Fresh pavement and a new guardrail on the Potrero descent. Your TARP dollars at work!

View attachment 182995


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## team_sheepshead (Jan 17, 2003)

Great info, guys. Keep it comin'.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

Here are some pics taken on the road to SB. 

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=0AYtGjJi0YuWTlA&startIndex=0&fid=ed90ba97748ee8ad


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

Looks great. Now if you can only get rid of the cold, wet, misty fog that lightly coats everything like it's oil.


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## cwg_at_opc (Oct 20, 2005)

if you want a relatively safe out-and-back ride, then consider this PCH route:

Bluff Park(bottom of Las Virgennes) up PCH to Las Posas(the cross-over)
and back, it's almost exactly 50 miles, and far enough away from the SM
traffic that it's not scary. if you leave from Zuma, you have to go north on
Las Posas into Camarillo to make the 25. this is also a good choice as Las
Posas goes through farmland so less traffic.


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