Cykilist2

Okay, I *might* be moving there soon. I am currently here, trying to find interesting routes to ride. I am in the southern part of PS, and haven't found anything too exciting yet. Not on the level of San Diego, which is where I'm currently living. There routes that I can take to go somewhere, WITH HILLS
Hills, here in PS are either up and backs up to gated communities that don't allow you passage (not that you can go anywhere, anyway). Then you just go back the way you came.

I randonneur, and I've seen both a 100 & 200K (I hope these aren't the ones with the loose dogs!), which I'll be doing, but looking for local, less mileage routes I can do

Cycling in PS, compared to SD is probably going to bore me to tears, eventually. You can only do the TramWay so many times. Maybe, I could work on my speed work. It needs a little bit of tuning, anyway....

diphthong

yah coachella valley itself is pretty boring for cyclists. flats galore. you already know about the tramway ride...there is 1000 palms road
on the north side of the 10 freeway which is accessible from ramon or washington or dillon. there is the la quinta cove area. there is the mecca hills
ride from indio that eventually connects with the southern entrance of joshua tree national park-pavement had annoying (on the descent) cracks
last time i rode it but it's been 5+ years. there is the short and sweet steep part of frank sinatra south of hwy 111. there is hwy 74 south of hwy 111
which you can ride to your heart's content but it gets pretty dicey once past the bighorn development/art smith trailhead parking.

the good news is that there's plenty of challenging stuff and hour's drive (or slightly less) away. joshua tree national park.
the climbs of hwy 18/hwy 330/hwy 38 into the san bernardino mtns. the oak glen/beaumont/banning/yucaipa area.
the anza/hemet/idyllwild climbs of hwys 79/243/74. the san timoteo road/redlands area.

def not as much variety as san diego.

TrojanHorse

Plus you'll have to ride at 5 am to avoid the heat most of the year, so there's that.

For me, "you can only do the tramway so many times" worked out to 1 time.

Lesper4

Yeah what they said. I used to live down there and loved it but now that I ride so much more I do not want to go back. Just not enough opportunities to climb. I still do the TdPS each year and Joshua Tree Double Century but that is about it.

Garfield Cat

Maybe its time to try something different. Do you have a mountain bike or a cross bike/gravel bike? Then there's some nice places to do hiking. I hear the locals of P.S. drive up the tram and take it to San Jacinto.

travelinhobo

The "challenging stuff" would be avoiding having these crazy car owners from hitting you. Can't believe how bad they are here and I've decided not to venture further west than Palm Desert. The drivers I SD County are sooooo much more respectful of human life.

Cykilist2

travelinhobo: After I wrote this, I took a 51 miler from SPS to La Quinta. ridewithgps had me going the length of Dianah Shore to the 10, hugging the west side of 10, down Portola (wider lanes), Cook (wider all the way to 111). On Dinah S, it was an expressway (55mph), and hardly any space for a bike., I felt like I was in LA-East where car is king. Is there a safer alternative to get to 10, so I could hook up with the bike lanes over near the end of Dinah S.? Riding in Inidian Wells, is like a bike haven, at least on the 111. Then you get to LQ, and it's more of the same insanity. Going back, I followed the path of the 111, without being on it. Ended up riding on all the busy streets because a lot of the side streets (at least the ones that I was routed on) lead to gated communities. I rode a few extra miles that day, but ended up nearly averaging 18mph :-) I stayed awake. Barely
That last mile of Tramway is a ***** and a half. I'd do it again, if given the challenge (but I LOVE hills)
Wouldn't 5am starts be too late, if you're doing a 100K? I would need to start at 3am

I'd probably get a MTB just to jazz things up. Nothing with too many up and downs. My coordination isn't great.

thanks for the tips. Keep em coming if you got em.

diphthong

east< >west through the palm springs to/from indian wells half of the valley limits you to a handful or two of roads. they all have their utility for at least a stretch.

vista chino, ramon, dinah shore, gerald ford, frank sinatra, country club, fred waring and hwy 111. except for the busiest one-hwy 111-the rest all involve heading north or south to connect with another of the mentioned east/west roads. imo, ramon and fred waring are the least cycling friendly but even those have okay stretches. you'll figure out which combo you're most comfy with after riding
them all once or twice.