Urban paths
12-12-11, 01:14 PM
#1
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Urban paths
Can someone recommended some nice urban paths to ride a cruiser around in Los Angeles area (anywheres, really), Ventura, Santa Barbara, or anywheres in between. I got a cruiser and would love to hit the cities. Doesn't even have to be official, even just post your favorite paths to take through the city or cool back roads you have found.
12-12-11, 06:31 PM
#2
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https://www.labikepaths.com/
These are the main ones in the LA area.
https://venturacountytrails.org/Trail.../AreaHome.html
This one is from Ojai to Ventura.
These are the main ones in the LA area.
https://venturacountytrails.org/Trail.../AreaHome.html
This one is from Ojai to Ventura.
12-12-11, 10:28 PM
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Sure. Go to Traillink.com and enter city/state to find paved bike trails in that area.
Santa Barbara has three that I am aware of. One along the shoreline by way of the marina, two out of Goleta. There is a nice beach ride of many miles from Santa Monica down to the airport. Depends how far you want to drive to ride.
Santa Barbara has three that I am aware of. One along the shoreline by way of the marina, two out of Goleta. There is a nice beach ride of many miles from Santa Monica down to the airport. Depends how far you want to drive to ride.
12-13-11, 10:59 AM
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I love the route from Ventura to Ojai. It's a gentle climb up and a great ride down! We usually have breakfast or lunch in Ojai before heading on back to Ventura.
Of course there is the South Bay Strand. You can start anywhere - say Rat Beach in Torrance and cruise all the way up to Santa Monica and back. Lots to see and lots of places to stop. I also like the Strand in Long Beach that goes through Naples.
There are also the LA and San Gabriel River Trails. Start in or near El Dorado Park in Long Beach and cruise down to Seal Beach - once there you can go in either direction along the beach.
There are bike paths everywhere. Check online, check with various city agencies and park departments to find them all. Best way is to just explore...
Of course there is the South Bay Strand. You can start anywhere - say Rat Beach in Torrance and cruise all the way up to Santa Monica and back. Lots to see and lots of places to stop. I also like the Strand in Long Beach that goes through Naples.
There are also the LA and San Gabriel River Trails. Start in or near El Dorado Park in Long Beach and cruise down to Seal Beach - once there you can go in either direction along the beach.
There are bike paths everywhere. Check online, check with various city agencies and park departments to find them all. Best way is to just explore...
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Private docent led mountain bike rides through Limestone Canyon. Go to letsgooutside.org and register today! Also available: hikes, equestrian rides and family events as well as trail maintenance and science study.
______________________________________________________________Private docent led mountain bike rides through Limestone Canyon. Go to letsgooutside.org and register today! Also available: hikes, equestrian rides and family events as well as trail maintenance and science study.
12-13-11, 11:06 AM
#5
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Thanks for the links. I'll check these out, but I'm more interested in ones going through the cities, not by them or around them. If people have preferred paths or know of really bike friendly roads, post them!
12-13-11, 11:57 AM
#6
Senior Member
To clarify, you are interested in rides that are appropriate for a beach cruiser? And you don't mind riding on the road with cars? Is there any preferred distance?
To add, google maps has a function that can pull up preferred bike routes. From what I have seen, it is fairly accurate.
To add, google maps has a function that can pull up preferred bike routes. From what I have seen, it is fairly accurate.
12-13-11, 01:29 PM
#7
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It's more of a hybrid bike. It's 8 gears but is a cruiser, so I can't really do mountain bike trails, but I can hit hills and take long roads.
12-14-11, 05:21 PM
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Do you want to see things? Maybe stop to tour something historic? Or just ride up and down the concrete river beds? Because I find the river trails boring after a while, I've taken to just roaming around wherever. And have stumbled across many interesting things, places I'd never have seen if I'd driven because taking the bike forces me to take different routes. And because riding gives me more time to look around, at its much slower pace.
12-15-11, 10:26 AM
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I've taken to just roaming around wherever. And have stumbled across many interesting things, places I'd never have seen if I'd driven because taking the bike forces me to take different routes. And because riding gives me more time to look around, at its much slower pace.
12-17-11, 08:25 AM
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Paths or routes?
That Yorba Linda/Placentia/Rose Ave/whatever-it's-called trail is an interesting ride. I started at Rose/Imperial and took it all the way to the end, then followed my hunches down to Orangethorpe. Lots of street crossings, but a worthwhile ride. It winds around behind the property that's associated with some politician (who insisted he was not a crook).
Bellflower PE trail. Lots of stops and starts because of the street crossings, but a nice ride anyway. Old, beautifully restored PE depot in Bellflower.
Whittier Greenwood. I've ridden that one in both directions, and wish they'd (1) connect it to SGRT and (b) extend it as far as it'll go eastward/southward.
Historic Anaheim Colony, if you're into late-Victorian/Craftsman-era residential architecture. There's a well-hidden and very short block of old Victorians, too, if you're interested. They were moved out of the old Downtown area when that went to commercial development. Pioneer Park is now open once a month (that is, the houses are open for touring once a month; tiny little pocket park's open all the time), on West, between Lincoln and Sycamore. The historic cemetery on Sycamore east of East St. Yes, I've ridden the North St/South St/East St/West St boundaries to the extent possible; these are the boundaries of the original German vintners' settlement.
Santa Ana's Floral Park for the same reason, although more Craftsman-era and clearly an upper-middle-class neighborhood. You'll even see the occasional cellar doors-you know, those slanted wooden doors at the side of the house.
Irvine's trails. I used Edinger (among other streets, of course) to get over to that humongous shopping center there on the Irvine/Tustin border and bumbled across a library branch that's in a reconstruction (original lost to fire) of an old Irvine house. Some old farm buildings and a fragment of orange grove there, too.
Tustin Old Town. Old Towne Orange.
There's a historic site (house moved there from elsewhere in Santa Ana) -- Centennial House? -- off Warner and Fairview.
Haven't made it there yet to tour, but there's an old doctor's house in Santa Ana that's been turned into a museum. Website says they're only open on the first Saturday of even-numbered months.
Maple Av trail in Santa Ana, a segment of the PE Right-of-Way. Parts of this can have a creepy feel to them (not exactly upper-middle-class!), but pleasurable nonetheless. The people have always seemed friendly when we've interacted, but I also ride in street clothes (well, I keep my lycra covered with ordinary ol' shorts--that once seen cannot be unseen!), on upright bikes, including at least one pannier (you never know when you might find something to take home with you, and you gotta have a place to carry it!).
Oh yeah: Santiago Creek Trail. Nice woodsy feel to much of it. Western terminus approximately where Main Place shopping center and the Discovery Science Museum's rear-most parking area meet. Eastern terminus currently Tustin Av in Orange, but the segment up to Collins Av in Orange was slated for completion last month, but wasn't open as recently as last Sunday. Nice little nature center near the archery field on the eastern end of Santiago Park in Santa Ana, where it butts up against Orange's Hart Park, but I've seen it open only once (and yes, I stopped!). There is a little nature walk there, which I haven't yet done. The flood-control walls of the creek were a WPA project after the huge floods back in the '30s (which fact I learned that one time I saw the nature center open).
The PE right-of-way in Seal Beach, which even has a Red Car museum in it (which I still haven't seen open!).
That Yorba Linda/Placentia/Rose Ave/whatever-it's-called trail is an interesting ride. I started at Rose/Imperial and took it all the way to the end, then followed my hunches down to Orangethorpe. Lots of street crossings, but a worthwhile ride. It winds around behind the property that's associated with some politician (who insisted he was not a crook).
Bellflower PE trail. Lots of stops and starts because of the street crossings, but a nice ride anyway. Old, beautifully restored PE depot in Bellflower.
Whittier Greenwood. I've ridden that one in both directions, and wish they'd (1) connect it to SGRT and (b) extend it as far as it'll go eastward/southward.
Historic Anaheim Colony, if you're into late-Victorian/Craftsman-era residential architecture. There's a well-hidden and very short block of old Victorians, too, if you're interested. They were moved out of the old Downtown area when that went to commercial development. Pioneer Park is now open once a month (that is, the houses are open for touring once a month; tiny little pocket park's open all the time), on West, between Lincoln and Sycamore. The historic cemetery on Sycamore east of East St. Yes, I've ridden the North St/South St/East St/West St boundaries to the extent possible; these are the boundaries of the original German vintners' settlement.
Santa Ana's Floral Park for the same reason, although more Craftsman-era and clearly an upper-middle-class neighborhood. You'll even see the occasional cellar doors-you know, those slanted wooden doors at the side of the house.
Irvine's trails. I used Edinger (among other streets, of course) to get over to that humongous shopping center there on the Irvine/Tustin border and bumbled across a library branch that's in a reconstruction (original lost to fire) of an old Irvine house. Some old farm buildings and a fragment of orange grove there, too.
Tustin Old Town. Old Towne Orange.
There's a historic site (house moved there from elsewhere in Santa Ana) -- Centennial House? -- off Warner and Fairview.
Haven't made it there yet to tour, but there's an old doctor's house in Santa Ana that's been turned into a museum. Website says they're only open on the first Saturday of even-numbered months.
Maple Av trail in Santa Ana, a segment of the PE Right-of-Way. Parts of this can have a creepy feel to them (not exactly upper-middle-class!), but pleasurable nonetheless. The people have always seemed friendly when we've interacted, but I also ride in street clothes (well, I keep my lycra covered with ordinary ol' shorts--that once seen cannot be unseen!), on upright bikes, including at least one pannier (you never know when you might find something to take home with you, and you gotta have a place to carry it!).
Oh yeah: Santiago Creek Trail. Nice woodsy feel to much of it. Western terminus approximately where Main Place shopping center and the Discovery Science Museum's rear-most parking area meet. Eastern terminus currently Tustin Av in Orange, but the segment up to Collins Av in Orange was slated for completion last month, but wasn't open as recently as last Sunday. Nice little nature center near the archery field on the eastern end of Santiago Park in Santa Ana, where it butts up against Orange's Hart Park, but I've seen it open only once (and yes, I stopped!). There is a little nature walk there, which I haven't yet done. The flood-control walls of the creek were a WPA project after the huge floods back in the '30s (which fact I learned that one time I saw the nature center open).
The PE right-of-way in Seal Beach, which even has a Red Car museum in it (which I still haven't seen open!).
Last edited by Condorita; 12-17-11 at 08:34 AM. Reason: additions
12-17-11, 08:33 PM
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Good crusin' in Orange County along the coast: The 8 mile beach bike path in Huntington Beach, stretching from PCH/Warner southward to the Santa Ana River. The only real developed area to stop is downtown HB at the HB Pier. South of the Santa Ana River you can ride the length of the Newport Beach/Balboa Peninnsula, about another 8 miles. Start at the SA River, take Seashore Drive south to about 33rd 36th street area, turn toward the beach and you'll hit the concrete path running along the sand. Stops at the Newport Pier and Balboa Pier (Balboa area is more historic). The path ends not too far south of the Balboa Pier, you get off and can take roads (fairly quiet) down to the end of the penninsula at the Wedge. Both paths are REALLY crowded in mid-summer, but are pretty nice on clear fall-winter-spring days.
12-18-11, 09:58 PM
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IF you google FLYING PIGEON and LOS ANGELES you will see the website for the F.P. bike store and a list of their "shop rides". These are slow group rides 3x a month, all in the City of LOS ANGELES. IF you're looking to ride on city streets this is apropos. I ride on the coast bike path that runs from Malibu to Torrance often, but that is not an urban path it is a beautiful bike path by the beach.
You can also check out midnightridazz.com for group rides in the City of LA, but I dont do these because they usually list the average mph as 16-18 and that is too fast for and probably too fast for you since you are on a hybrid.
You can also check out midnightridazz.com for group rides in the City of LA, but I dont do these because they usually list the average mph as 16-18 and that is too fast for and probably too fast for you since you are on a hybrid.
