Canuck doing a solo training camp In Santa Monica - advice -suggestions welcome
 

So I've decided to switch my solo training camp in Santa Monica instead of Sausalito. Weather mostly.
The rest of my team will be in Cuba, but I can't go there now cause of Zika (going for no2)
If you all have loops or advice you want to share, please go ahead.
I'll be there march 30 to April 5, so if anyone wants to join, you are welcome

Where are you staying? You are looking for solo road routes or group rides? What level are you racing at? How old are you?

Tons of great climbing routes in the nearby Santa Monica mountains. I'm assuming you can drive to a ride start? Is riding the primary purpose of your trip? How long do you want each route to be?

Cat 2-3, 34 years old, 300ftp, 157lbs. Out of shape cause of Canadian winter. Train around 4 hours a week on the turbo, so this is my pre season base training. Im also doing this for pure pleasure of being able to ride all day . I'm solo, but would not mind riding with others. Gonna stay in Santa Monica. Looking at doing around 100km a day. March 30-April 5.
May or may not rent car

Well, the tricky thing for you with no car is getting out of Santa Monica because of the traffic. It can be done, I'm sure, I would just personally typically start in Malibu. I have a friend who rides out of Santa Monica, though and I can ask him how to ride out from Santa Monica to get into the Santa Monica Mtns. He also rides some of the fast group rides mid-week, I think they're early (like 6am). During normal daylight hours, Santa Monica would not be that fun for riding due to traffic. I can get you the scoop of some of those local rides if you are interested, too.


Besides riding up north in the Santa Monica Mtns, another good idea would be to ride down along the beach to Palos Verde. Beautiful and worth doing. I'd have to figure out exactly how to get there from Santa Monica (it would be mostly along a rather crazy bike path that runs along the beach) but could put you together a route.


You really don't need to leave your Santa Monica base to ride for a week, there's tons that would fit the bill for you. However, it you were willing to ride public transport, you could get to three of the best (IMO) SoCal climbs.


The pick of that litter is Glendora Mtn Rd to Glendora Ridge Road to Mt Baldy Rd up the ski lifts (this is the end of a stage of the Tour of California, great climbing ending in a steep finish, very little traffic), then to add more miles, descend partway back down and then climb to Crystal Lake, which is a little longer and steeper climb. You could probably wind up with an 80ish mile route I'm guessing off the top of my head. Take Metro purple line from Santa Monica to downtown LA, then get on Metro yellow line and take it to downtown Asuza. This one is worth the logistics if there's no snow up there.


The other two are Mt Wilson and the surrounding area of the San Gabriel Mtns (out of Sunland-Tujunga) and a loop involving Gibraltar Rd in Santa Barbara. You can get to both via trains, but I don't think these would be worth the trouble, given you have 5-6 days to ride.


Really a good plan for you would be three long climbing rides in the Santa Monica Mtns, one day of riding in Palos Verde, one easy low-climbing day just heading north up the PCH and maybe one day taking the excursion to Glendora Mtn Rd.


I can put you together routes if you tell me what you're looking for. Three to four long routes 60-80 miles with 5000ish feet climbing? And one easier, flatter route? Do you want double digit steep or 6-9% stuff? How many total miles for the week, with how much climbing?


Sorry I can't ride with you that week, I work during the week and have a race that weekend in San Diego. But I'd be too slow for you anyway.

Thanks for the great feedback. Let me put together a decent response.

In the meanwhile i see a lot of routes going alon the pacific highway out of Santa Monica. Is there a path there?

Here is one I built does it make any sense
https://www.strava.com/routes/7787596

if your dates and exact location are flexible, just do this:
California Cycling Camps - Santa Monica Mountains - 2017 Bike Camps

or look at it for route ideas. I did it about 5 years ago, it was great. note that cost is the camp only you have to make your own hotel/food arrangements.

Is the pCh safe to ride? Or do you get buzzed by traffic?

The PCH north of Santa Monica is fine. Look on a map, I'd say from Topanga Canyon north is good. From Malibu north is better, the shoulders are very wide. The PCH getting out of Santa Monica is frankly pretty dangerous though. I messaged my friend who rides out of Santa Monica and his take was that the PCH leaving town is really a group ride thing, safety in numbers.

It would be best if you had a car and could drive to ride starts.

Are you staying with friends and therefore locked in to Santa Monica? It's a great place for a vacation but there are better places to stay in SoCal if the goal is to be able to ride out your front door.

I can stay anywhere. I'm airbnbing it and haven't booked yet.
Again thanks for your help. Owe you a huge pint !

The only reason i prefer Santa Monica is that I don't have a car. Don't wanna stay too far away from restaurants and food

Is dining important to you? And being in a beach town? Or do you just need to eat?

If you just need places to eat, look at the towns of Calabasas, Westlake Village, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, and Thousand Oaks. Suburbs so they are not easy to get around like Santa Monica, but there's plenty of places to eat, you could try to find something near to a shopping area- for example, Calabasas has a little "downtown" area with a cycling-oriented restuarant called Pedalers Fork. This would be cycling nirvana but your place to stay would be more of a base camp.

If you want a nice town with good restaurants that's doable on foot, Santa Barbara would probably be better. The climbs are limited in number in Santa Barbara but the town is great and you can ride to Ojai and down the PCH besides just riding in town.

If I just wanted to ride though, I'd go to the Santa Monica Mtns, that's climbing heaven. Just take Über where ever you want to go and ride until you're too tired to do anything else.

Bravo. How many people know to place an umlaut over a U for a German word?

I lived in west LA in Brentwood west of the 405 and a couple of miles north of the Getty Center. Santa Monica is very congested. My observation was that the drivers are always in a hurry to get somewhere and many times distracted.

I would not cycle in west LA and would definitely get out of Dodge to ride somewhere else. And if you are at the ocean in Santa Monica, depending on when you come and go, it may take a lot of time to drive or Über to and from somewhere else. One becomes a slave to the traffic flow.

I liked to drive my Porsche on Topanga Canyon down to Malibu and Mulholland Drive to West Hollywood and wind it out through the curves. I was sane but some who want to do the same are not.

I like @valygrl suggestion of routes and going with a tour operator that knows the ropes. Just my opinion.

Pro teams have camps in central California and for years, the old 7 Eleven team trained in San Diego.

I also agree with Heathpack that the GMR and routes in that area are amazing.

I have ridden PCH from Monterey to the Mexican border. Generally, it is fine to ride but IMO, one has to be experienced, focused and used to fast traffic and be prepared for debris and the potential for flat tires.

Thanks for all the advice. Will take a look at calabasas.

Best

U

What about near or around Pasadena? Mount Wilson looks nuts

Tons of good riding up there but you are more likely to have issues with snow/weather. The Santa Monica Mtns would be better.


The more I think about it, the more I like @valygrl's advice. Pick one of the hotels recommended in the link she provided and just ride all day every day.

You don't have to drive to get out of Santa Monica!!!!

Tons of teams go every year, and they just ride north on Ocean Ave and then north on PCH.

Tons of routes available, no car needed. San Vincente goes across the base of the mountains, with conenctions to Mandeville, Westridge, brentwood, lots of things that connect to Mulholland.

There's the LaGrange rides you can catch.

Plus tons of canyons off the PCH (Topanga to old Topanga etc).

Pretty much all around the Santa Monica mountains is accessible without driving.

If you don't mind driving... you can move off the Santa Monica mountains and there is Mt Baldy, Big Bear Lake, etc.

Use the strava global heatmap and you'll get the idea real quick.

http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11/-...9477/blue/bike

I used to live in Westlake Village and it is very central to all of the major climbs going from PCH to the valleys. It also gives you the option to ride to Ventura and return over the Santa Monica mountains with 100km circuits. By staying in the Thousand Oaks area you would not need a car to get around and could ride from your doorstep without major traffic issues. For instance, all of the arteries in Thousand Oaks will have a wide shoulder to avoid cars. Several years ago I did a solo riding vacation by staying at the Motel 6 in Newbury Park, rode every day, and went on a few recreational rides with the old club (Conejo Valley CC). There's plenty of other things to do in the Conejo Valley during your down time, and an In-&-Out Burger right next to the Motel 6. Look at the planned routes for Cruisin' the Conejo and you will see to range of circuits that can be done.

Seeet thanks

So did you go? How was it?