# SoCal Beach Rides



## astroclimb (Aug 7, 2003)

Hi,

Am coming to SoCal this summer for a week of R&R and am wondering if folks could recommend the "best" rides along the beach/oceanfront. I'm pretty familiar w/northern Orange County (Hunt. Bch) area, though looking for rides anywhere btw. say Santa Barbara and San Diego, esp. those that avoid TONS of traffic (I know traffic and So. Cal. are synonyms!). Am from northern New Mex. and have pleanty of mountains to ride here so am especially interested in nice rides or loops, not nec. fast or for training, that include significant portions along beach/ocean.

Thx,

TH


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

*Some caveats and suggestions...*

First, be aware that any beach areas anywhere near "civilization" will not only be swamped with auto traffic, but the pedestrians are a menace, too. There are a number of great bike paths along the beaches here, but you must constantly be watching for people (especially kids) blundering across the path in front of you, because they sure aren't watching for you. Second, the prevailing winds along the coast are northerly, and they pick up in the afternoon, so that might influence your choice of directions. 

You don't say anything about mileage, but I'll throw out a few suggestions.

Santa Barbara is beautiful, and right now it's 20-30 degrees cooler than inland L.A./Ventura counties. You can ride down the beach from Stearns Wharf (at the end of State St.), go down to Carpinteria and return (I'm guessing 20 mi r/t). The route's along or near the beach at least 1/3 of the way.

There's a nice bike path/route in Ventura you can do as an out-and-back and extend as far as 30 mi r/t; this can be combined with a ride inland to Ojai on the excellent bike route that connects to the beach route.

Irvine has a bike path that starts in the NE part of the city and runs all the way to the Back Bay at Newport Beach; from there you can go up or down the coast on PCH (with the TONS of traffic) or go over to Balboa Island.

If any of this sounds interesting, I can give more specifics.


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

Walrus is right about ped. traffic on the bike paths. There's a great path that goes from a little north of Santa Monica, all the way down to Redondo, with a little foray around Marina Del Rey. The whole stretch, one way, is probably about 20-25 miles. If you do that path, I highly recommend doing it on a weekday due to crowds.

For a more challening ride, you can go up Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica all the way to Oxnard. It's longer, and far, far more difficult in terms of hills. But it's a great ride, and you usually (not always) will have a nice shoulder. Beach traffic on the weekends can be tough, however, and on the southbound side you've got at times what seems like miles and miles of parked cars, open doors, etc.

Either way, on any coastal ride, you're looking at it a pretty nasty headwind when travelling north, especially in the afternoons.

Also, depending on your skill, there's a lot of nice climing in the Santa Monica Mountains. You can take virtually any canyon road off PCH and have a heck of a ride. If you watched the Lance Chronicles, then you saw Lance training in those mountains.


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