# bike vacation in Socal with base in LA.



## Devastazione (Dec 8, 2011)

I'm considering to take a week in october to enjoy the beautiful coastal routes Socal has to offer. I'm pretty familiar with tha area and I was considering to have Santa Monica as a home base for the night. But,there is alway a but of course,I've heard PCH is not the safest road to pedal on. My parents rode it from SF to San Diego few years back and I've seen plenty of bikes in the area between Newport Beach and Santa Monica,it was really one amazing place and did not seem very dangerous,at least not as dangerous as the situation we have here in Italy where road cyclists are actually hated by most motorists.
So,any sugestion ? I may consider to choose another home base of course. What about Santa Barbara ? 2 days out of 7 would probably be dedicated to mountainbike aswell ( Topanga Cyn)


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## desertgeezer (Aug 28, 2011)

I'd choose Santa Barbara over Santa Monica, although if you just want to walk around, Santa Monica is probably more fun for a young person then Santa Barbara. PCH used to be the old Highway 101 and still gets lots of traffic, but for the most part, people who are driving on it are not in a big hurry otherwise they'd be on Highway 5 which is close by. Also, you'd probably find more MTB opportunities in the Santa Barbara area then in the Santa Monica area.

I've never made the ride you're considering but I did grow up in a So. CA. beach town. My favorite parts are north San Diego county areas. The traffic is not as bad in that area and the little beach towns (LaJolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Lucadia, Encinitas, Oceanside) haven't changed all that much since I lived there. 

P.S. I am shocked that Italian drivers hate road cyclists. I would never have guessed that.


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## Devastazione (Dec 8, 2011)

desertgeezer said:


> The traffic is not as bad in that area and the little beach towns (LaJolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Lucadia, Encinitas, Oceanside) haven't changed all that much since I lived there.
> 
> P.S. I am shocked that Italian drivers hate road cyclists. I would never have guessed that.


Yes,it's a mayem my friend,especially in my region ( Sardinia) were we have superb roads and no traffic( BMW comes to test it's prototype cars in winter here),so people tend to speed a lot . Major cities is even worst,cyclists get run over quite often..:cryin:

I'm quite familiar with those areas you've mentioned and I've forgot how beautiful places like Encinitas are. So,for road bike should I consider that area instead ? I may just move to Santa Monica for the last couple of mtb ride days,I don't care about staying there as I will be traveling solo and I just want to pedal pedal and pedal not to miss wifey,we usually visit that area together but no biking involved.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

See these recent threads, which are on topic.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/southern-california/heres-silly-question-277967.html

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/southern-california/santa-barbara-santa-monica-276813.html

JSR


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## Hollywood (Jan 16, 2003)

desertgeezer said:


> Also, you'd probably find more MTB opportunities in the Santa Barbara area then in the Santa Monica area.


there's a LOT of good mtb riding in the Santa Monica Mtns. 

Check in with Chris @ Topanga Creek bikes!


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## jkompa (May 15, 2012)

Great mtb options in Santa Barbara, but sure there are safe options with it being a college town in all.


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## Devastazione (Dec 8, 2011)

Hollywood said:


> there's a LOT of good mtb riding in the Santa Monica Mtns.
> 
> Check in with Chris @ Topanga Creek bikes!



Yes I've been looking those guys www for the last couple of years and I can definitely tell they will be on my list for a rental :thumbsup:


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## mando54 (Jun 6, 2012)

Lots of good riding along PCH from Sunset down to Laguna and if you go inland, there's some decent climbs. Past Laguna you have Dana Point, San Clemente and Camp Pendleton which are fairly safe and nice to ride.


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