# Road biking routes in Griffith Park?



## w.e.dane

I will be visiting LA in Mid-August and am interested in training in the hills of Griffith Park. Is that a good place for road biking? Can anyone recommend some nice hilly routes in that area, 40-60 miles?

Thanks!


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## Hollywood

w.e.dane said:


> I will be visiting LA in Mid-August and am interested in training in the hills of Griffith Park. Is that a good place for road biking? Can anyone recommend some nice hilly routes in that area, 40-60 miles?
> 
> Thanks!


there are plenty of hills there, however they are relatively short. If you want to incorporate GP into a longer ride you can, but you'd be doing lots of laps to get to 60 miles if you just stayed within the park.

otherwise, its a great place to ride - very popular with cyclists.

Do GP, then ride N towards the Verdugos, or out to Pasadena to add up the miles.


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## il sogno

You can ride to Travel Town in Griff Park then do the climb all the way up to the Observatory. 

Or do like H-wood said and head up to the Verdugos. You can do the climb up Chevy Chase or the climb up La Tuna Canyon or Big Tujunga or Hwy 2.


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## tlite48

For climbing rides of that length, consider Angeles Crest Highway/Tujunga Canyon. Avoid weekends, too many motorized road racers. The grade is not too steep, but it is very long.


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## calrider

Stay off of Los Feliz Blvd - no shoulder -


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## Hollywood

calrider said:


> Stay off of Los Feliz Blvd - no shoulder -


or take the lane.


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## calrider

Hollywood - you know the problem on the weekend is that the traffic is bumper to bumper from Western to the 5. Is there a side route east from Franklin?


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## nagatahawk

you can cut up to the observatory after a couple of blocks on Los Feliz. 

Weekdays I usually transport in car and park in the zoo parking near the 5 entrance, you can catch a short ride on the river/bike path. in the park you can do the climb to the observatory or loop around, you'll see the riders once your there. nothing really long. but the climb to the obvservatory can be a challenge. for me anyway.

I have seen riders taking almost any east west streets to western then north to Los Feliz. Go early Sunday morning, traffic is light until about 10 am. watch out for beverly near the golf course. blind mans curve going west. but I have seen groups early in the am take this route

Early Sundays I like to head south from Larchmont, 3rd to Rimpau south to Pico cross over to Venice, to the bike path or streets to LAX. the loop can be a 40+ miles. You can start at 8:30 and finish by 11:00 ish. 

so far Griffith Park is a local convenience, for riding near home. I wish there was a connection from Burbank to the Long beach river bike path. I tried, but it dissapears until you reach the LB river.

Oh yeah, I knew riders that took Santa Monica Blvd west to the beach bike path early Sunday mornings. 

I work in Century City so I take my bike to work then to the beach afterwork for some quick evening rides from MDR to Redondo


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## magicant

Here's a route to the Observatory from the Zoo, with only one block on Los Feliz (and even that you could ride up on the sidewalk if you wanted - I often do).

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Griffith-Park-Observatory

Definitely not 40 - 60 miles. More like 12, but a fair amount of climbing for 12 miles.

But i concur with riding Big Tujunga to Angeles Forest. I've never had vehicle issues on that stretch other than motorcycles on Angeles Crest, but even those are mild compared to other motorcycle routes like Mulholland Highway.

If you have specific dates you're going to be here there are a number of group rides in the area on any given weekend day.


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## w.e.dane

magicant, I would be interested in doing group rides, Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th. Do you know of any on those days?


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## magicant

Tough weekend - most people I know are doing the Cool Breeze Century up in Ventura.

But there are a couple rides with the San Fernando Valley Bike Club, if you want to check them out. The Saturday rides may not be heavily attended because of Cool Breeze.

http://www.sfvbc.org/rides.php


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## w.e.dane

magicant, thanks for the link. My brother's going to let me borrow his car so I can head to Northridge on Sunday morning. Looking forward to it.


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## AvantDale

Lol...thread resurrection...

I'm going to be in the Griffith area pretty early Wednesday morning.

Can anybody suggest a loop? Maybe roughly 20 miles?

Thanks!


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## nagatahawk

AvantDale said:


> Lol...thread resurrection...
> 
> I'm going to be in the Griffith area pretty early Wednesday morning.
> 
> Can anybody suggest a loop? Maybe roughly 20 miles?
> 
> Thanks!


I usually start at the Griffith Park Zoo North Parking Lot, you'll see all the bikers.
I take the zoo drive south to the first right which leads to a small hill and will take you back to the parking lot if you keep left at the bottom of the hill. about 4 mlles. I usually do about 3 of those then take al left at the bottom of the hill toward Forest Lawn along Forrest Lawn Dr. this will add another 6 flat miles out and back. for about 18 miles. 
or you can ride up to the observatory and back from the Zoo parking
same route but at the top of the small hill there a gated road. just step over the barrier and ride to the top and down to the Observatory. about 14 mile loop. mild climb but no cars! and very scenic. this is my favorite ride.


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## milky

Hi there,

Do you guys have any recommendations for which route to take to get from griffith park to chevy chase or la tuna canyon as mentioned above. I am planning to ride through the park and then over to the verdugos as you suggested. Thanks for any help!


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