# Griffith Park, what's a good route?



## otter (Jul 19, 2007)

I'm looking for a ride in Griffith Park that I can do on my lunch hour. I've done the basic loop around the park, starting from Riverside Dr., past the trains, around Griffith Park Dr. to Los Feliz Blvd. and back to work, but I would like to add more hills to the ride. I was thinking that Mt Hollywood Dr. would be perfect, but there was a sign that said it was closed to the public. Where is Trash Truck Hill? Thanks for the help.


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## cwg_at_opc (Oct 20, 2005)

trash truck hill(aka TT hill) is the hill that starts at one end by travel town,
gos up and over and then down to the golf course(the driving range, putting
green, etc.) if you take the immediate right hander just before the top of
TT, you're heading up towards the helipad and Mt Hollywood.

i work at disney, so i only have about an hour too; here's one of my
routes:

- starting at disney, west on riverside, south on barham, east on
forest lawn, enter GP at travel town, turn rt and take TT hill, go past
the golf course, heading back towards the zoo parking lot, go up and
over the 5, get on the bike path, go all the way to the end, turn around,
exit the path at los feliz, go on los feliz and go back into the park. take
crystal springs go back up past the golf course and do TT hill again
in the other direction, go past travel town, exit GP at victory blvd, return
on riverside drive.


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## otter (Jul 19, 2007)

Thanks, that sounds perfect.


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

cwg_at_opc said:


> - starting at disney, west on riverside, south on barham, east on
> forest lawn, enter GP at travel town, turn rt and take TT hill, go past
> the golf course, heading back towards the zoo parking lot, go up and
> over the 5, get on the bike path, go all the way to the end, turn around,
> ...


Do you ever night ride? A group of us from So Cal used to ride from Pick Wick on Riverside, over to Victory, into the park and either up the canyon side (Mt. Hollywood) or over to Los Feliz and up through the neigborhoods to the Observatory and back down. It is about 1.5 hours total and it's stunning up there at night. Of course, this was before the fire, so I'm not sure how easy it is to get back up there.


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

It's not a problem riding up to the observatory from any direction now. In fact, I'm heading up there around 5pm later today. (7/19)


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

roadfix said:


> It's not a problem riding up to the observatory from any direction now. In fact, I'm heading up there around 5pm later today. (7/19)


Are you ever going to do the night ride with me again?


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

LolaLeatherHips said:


> Are you ever going to do the night ride with me again?


Sure! Put one on. It should be a sizable group with warm evening temps.


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## cwg_at_opc (Oct 20, 2005)

if i didn't live in thousand oaks, i'd do one of these night rides.
guess i gotta be happy with GP at lunch and the hills near my
home on the weekends.

Otter: note that i've deliberately chosen to ride forest lawn in
that direction to avoid traffic and the usual killer headwind.
heading towards the park that way is also good time-trial
practice; i can sustain ~26-28mph from the traffic light at
warner all the way to the entrance to the park. the river bike
path is also good for time trial practice, but you have to watch
for oncoming bike/skate/pedestrian traffic.


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

George - I'm going to start those back up I think next week. 

CWG - I ride over at GP all the time. There isn't a route I haven't taken! I like the bike path as generally there isn't too much traffic out there. Forest Lawn is my least favorite with the traffic.


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## cwg_at_opc (Oct 20, 2005)

LolaLeatherHips said:


> George - I'm going to start those back up I think next week.
> 
> CWG - I ride over at GP all the time. There isn't a route I haven't taken! I like the bike path as generally there isn't too much traffic out there. Forest Lawn is my least favorite with the traffic.


there are definately times when forest lawn is thick with boneheaded
cagers flying around not paying attention. the short section of barham
from riverside past warners and the smoke house can be a bit dicey
too, but i keep to the right and take the lane when i need to. as for
traffic on the bike path, there's more now that upper crystal springs is
still closed for fire-repairs. needless to say, i'm not afraid of cars or
traffic having grown up in NY and ridden in manhattan a good number
of years.


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

*When I had my office at Warners*

When I had my office at Warner Bros, one of my favorite lunchtime rides was to go from Forest Lawn/Griffith Park Drive to Victory Blvd and then right on Riverside. I'd follow Riverside to where it became Sonora and make my way east to Sunset Canyon. I'd turn left and just ride Sunset Canyon until it petered out (or I petered out). I'd turn around and return via Bel-Air(?) Avenue. Sometimes, if I felt frisky, I'd climb the road to the Castaways Restaurant and eat lunch. Yes, I'd be sweaty as hell, but the food was good. Once you're past Glenoaks, there isn't much traffic, either.

Of course, I was also a regular on Trash Truck. Sometimes I'd climb to the observatory. Other times I'd just toodle along the flats. Sometimes I'd play hooky from my work and do a mid-afternoon ride. Yes, the headwind could be fierce when heading back west to the lot.

Now I work out of my home in Sherman Oaks. My lunchtime rides now take me west, up onto Mulholland or those roads south of Ventura Blvd.


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

Mapei said:


> Sometimes, if I felt frisky, I'd climb the road to the Castaways Restaurant and eat lunch. Yes, I'd be sweaty as hell, but the food was good. Once you're past Glenoaks, there isn't much traffic, either.


I live in SO, and since I've never been up to Castaways, I may have to venture from my house to there just to have a new route.


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

I had a nice ride up to the observatory. While posing on the bench behind the restrooms out by the parking lot I dozed off for a few minutes. That felt good.


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## yarble (Dec 16, 2005)

Mapei said:


> When I had my office at Warner Bros, one of my favorite lunchtime rides was to go from Forest Lawn/Griffith Park Drive to Victory Blvd and then right on Riverside. I'd follow Riverside to where it became Sonora and make my way east to Sunset Canyon. I'd turn left and just ride Sunset Canyon until it petered out (or I petered out). I'd turn around and return via Bel-Air(?) Avenue. Sometimes, if I felt frisky, I'd climb the road to the Castaways Restaurant and eat lunch. Yes, I'd be sweaty as hell, but the food was good. Once you're past Glenoaks, there isn't much traffic, either.
> 
> Of course, I was also a regular on Trash Truck. Sometimes I'd climb to the observatory. Other times I'd just toodle along the flats. Sometimes I'd play hooky from my work and do a mid-afternoon ride. Yes, the headwind could be fierce when heading back west to the lot.
> 
> Now I work out of my home in Sherman Oaks. My lunchtime rides now take me west, up onto Mulholland or those roads south of Ventura Blvd.


i thought i was the only person stupid enough to ride up to castaways! going up is hard, but coming down is really scary with the stop sign right at the bottom. you can really get goin on that hill...

i used to live right there (at the top of walnut). the bad part about that area is the inordinate amount of stop signs,though i guess if you live in la you have to choose between stop lights and stop signs. 

one of my favorite 'not serious' rides takes me from my house to the kenneth village where i eat way too much ice cream before riding home. as an added bonus, old man colnago is known to haunt this area of burbank.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

cwg_at_opc said:


> there are definately times when forest lawn is thick with boneheaded
> cagers flying around not paying attention. the short section of barham
> from riverside past warners and the smoke house can be a bit dicey
> too, but i keep to the right and take the lane when i need to.


I usually ride through Toluca Lake and come on Barham by the Smoke House to avoid all that traffic.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

I'm also in Sherman Oaks. Back when I was in better shape (a few months ago) I would take Riverside Dr. all the way into Burbank and then ride up Sonora to Glenoaks. I would then do Chevy Chase. I'd wind up at Montrose Village and come back via Verdugo and retrace my tracks on Glenoaks. 

I'm all out of shape now and it's hot.


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## Fsharp3 (Aug 30, 2005)

When I was getting ready for my first century a while back, I was riding up to castaways at least three times a week. I would alternate heading up Walnut one day (the steep side) and Harvard the next (the slightly less but still steep side). 

On the weekends I'd do a nice little loop from Burbank, up La Tuna, down through Montrose, passing descanso gardens, up over chevy chase, down to los feliz, through the park and over TT Hill, then back into Burbank. I was going to extend the loop to include the rose bowl (coming back via colorado or Lida to Linda Vista to Chevy Chase) and then climb Griffith via Mt. Hollywood drive, but I never got around to the extension.


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## Hollywood (Jan 16, 2003)

il sogno said:


> I usually ride through Toluca Lake and come on Barham by the Smoke House to avoid all that traffic.


yep, cutting through the Toluca residential area at the "Moorpark Curve" is the way to go. I really wanna poach the TL country club to see what it looks like. I figure if I blow by the guards gate in a mad sprint I'll have a few minutes to enjoy it before I get Taser'd.

when are we meeting at Peets??? Coffee Roaster? We can wear full kit and leave the bikes out front while we sip espresso...y'know, all poseur style like.


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

il sogno said:


> I'm also in Sherman Oaks. Back when I was in better shape (a few months ago) I would take Riverside Dr. all the way into Burbank and then ride up Sonora to Glenoaks. I would then do Chevy Chase. I'd wind up at Montrose Village and come back via Verdugo and retrace my tracks on Glenoaks.
> 
> I'm all out of shape now and it's hot.


That's one of my favorite routes with St. Katherine's thrown in. I can get a 50 miler in that way. If you ever want to meet me and take that route, let me know. You'll get whipped right back into shape in a hurry! :thumbsup:


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## spingineer (Jul 20, 2007)

LolaLeatherHips said:


> That's one of my favorite routes with St. Katherine's thrown in. I can get a 50 miler in that way. If you ever want to meet me and take that route, let me know. You'll get whipped right back into shape in a hurry! :thumbsup:


You are busted !!!! :mad2: 

So everyone desserted that other place and are in here????


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

Not really. This place is deadsville except in cases where BF is down....like right now.:cryin:


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## spingineer (Jul 20, 2007)

It is??? I just checked ... I probably should have hid under a different alias .... see if you could recognize me ...


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## spingineer (Jul 20, 2007)

seems dead now


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

LolaLeatherHips said:


> You'll get whipped right back into shape in a hurry! :thumbsup:


Oh the pain. That's what I'm afraid of! :cryin:


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## cwg_at_opc (Oct 20, 2005)

spingineer said:


> seems dead now


will you guys stop whining already? some of us would rather be
outside on our bikes than in tha intarwebs thingys ;-)


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## LolaLeatherHips (Jul 17, 2007)

cwg_at_opc said:


> will you guys stop whining already? some of us would rather be
> outside on our bikes than in tha intarwebs thingys ;-)


Why don't you come join the cult...um...I mean group over at Bike Forums and come ride with us on bikes? We don't ride that far...relatively speaking.


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## cwg_at_opc (Oct 20, 2005)

ya sure, Ok then, eh?(pretend i said that with a slightly swedish/north
dakotan accent - think _Fargo_)

as soon i kick the arse of this weird bronchitis thing that just cropped up,
i'll be happy to join you lot. better living through modern chemistry.


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## magicant (Apr 22, 2006)

LolaLeatherHips said:


> George - I'm going to start those back up I think next week.


I'm in. Since I work about a half mile from Pickwick now.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Hollywood said:


> when are we meeting at Peets??? Coffee Roaster? We can wear full kit and leave the bikes out front while we sip espresso...y'know, all poseur style like.


I found out a couple of weeks ago that Dick Healy sold the Coffee Roaster a couple of years ago. I had suspected something was up cause in one of my visits there I asked the clerk to recommend something and he said he doesn't drink coffee. 'Scuse me? Ya work at the CR and you don't drink coffee?!?! And the quality of the coffee's gone a little bit downhill in the last coupla years too. 

Anyways I'm sippin' on some Peets Top Blend now. Yeah, I've gone corporate for coffee but what can I say. Peets rocks. 

Do they serve good espresso over there?


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

Hollywood said:


> when are we meeting at Peets??? Coffee Roaster? We can wear full kit and leave the bikes out front while we sip espresso...y'know, all poseur style like.


Speaking of poseurs.....I'm offering a free poser lesson over at The Coffee Bean in Los Feliz this weekend. They have a large outdoor patio where we can display our bikes and to stretch our legs. Most all aspects of posing etiquette will be covered......placement of bikes and your cycling gear, proper form while sitting, cell phone use, your attitude, etc, etc...... 
Time and day TBA...


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