riceowls

I have a work-related trip to San Diego planned mid-May and I have to be in SD on Sunday night for that. I am thinking about flying in 3 day in-advance to LAX and then fedexing my bags and riding to San Diego and doing 3-day credit card tour of sSCA. It will be Fri/Sat/Sunday trip.
Here are my questions:
1) Is it worth it - will it be a pleasant ride in the weekend traffic? Will the route be scenic enough and provide worthwhile stops on the way?
2) Which route to take - I assume ACA pacific route is the best choice? Any detours?
3) What are the good towns for overnight stop (I will not be camping).

adablduya

greetings: first, LA to SD is a 2-day ride, 3 if you go slooooow. you're only route to take, without going WAAAAAY out of your way, is south on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Traffic on PCH isn't so bad thsi tiem of year, EXCEPT for going thru Laguna Beach; no shoulders and busy traffic. on places to stop, take your pick. Dana Point is roughly halfway to SD from LA, anywhere sooner than that is a really short day from LA..... then there is San Clements, then Oceanside. have a good ride.

riceowls

-I usually like to limit my touring to 50 miles per day to allow plenty of stops, 1-2 local attractions and free afternoon at each destination. Goog's direction is 143 miles but it suggest to detour from HWY1 through Irvine between Hungtinfron beach and San Juan Creek, perhaps to avoid Laguna beach segment you are talking about.

jimincalif

I don't know that I'd avoid Laguna, just avoid PCH thru the worst of it. Southbound on PCH, R on Cliff (the second one), then cross PCH on Cliff, bear R to stay on Cliff, then R on Beach. R on Broadway, L on Beach, R on Forest, L on Glenneyre. Take Glenneyre all the way to Nyes, then rejoin PCH. You miss the worst of it. PCH N of Cliff and S of Nyes is reasonable for bikes.

WaveyGravey

Is the PCH safe from Redondo Beach to the first turn at Cliff? Also, is PCH safe when you resume at Nyes and on to San Diego? Thanks

jimincalif

From Redondo to the LA River in Long Beach, I don't know. The LA/LB harbor area and Wilmington is kind of rough, I have not ridden it. Once you get to the LA River and Shoreline Village in Long Beach, I recommend the beach path all the way to 54th Place down by Alamitos Bay where the trail ends. Hang a L onto the street adjacent to the bay, then R on 2nd Street, the over the bay and R on E Marina Dr. The L to stay on Marina Dr and cross over the San Gabriel river, R on First, L on Ocean Ave, bear L and continue onto Seal Beach Blvd, the R on PCH. Cross over Anaheim Bay, then R on Anderson, L on S Pacific. When you get to Warner you can circle around the roundabout and get on the Huntington Beach Path, or go L on Warner then R on PCH. From Warner S all the way to Route 55 in Newport Beach, PCH is "pretty good" with shoulder/bike path. Just depends it you want to make speed or cruise along the beach trail with pedestrians. If on PCH you will need to take the lane thru a short stretch of downtown Huntington Beach where there is street parking. traffic is usually slow enough thorugh there it is not a big deal. the beach trail ends at the Santa Ana River, continue on PCH into Newport Beach. You can get over the Seashore Dr in Newport but I've not done it, with all the cross traffic, etc, I feel safer on PCH. You will probably need to take a lane to cross under 55/Newport Blvd and all the way past Tustin Ave where it widens up a bit. After crossing over Back Bay bridge in Newport, turn R on Bayside Dr. Take it to a R on Fernleaf (short steep hill to get your heart pumping). then L on Ocean Ave overlooking the ocean, take it to the end, bear L onto Poppy, then R on PCH all the way to the 2nd Cliff St in Laguna.

Going this way is pretty safe, lots of riders do these streets including our club where I was ride coordinator for 2 years, I have personally ridden all of the above. Nothing's perfect of course, riders have been hit in various places along this route, just like anywhere else.

skidder

One hiccup might be getting through the Camp Pendalton MArine Base just south of San Clemente/north of Oceanside. Last time I investigated you had to get an ID at base HQ (Oceanside) to go through along the coastal roads. It might just be better to take Amtrak's Surfliner train through there since you're not a local who could use the ID card a few times each year.

Back up to L.A. with an option to Pacific Coast Hwy through the LA/Long Beach Harbor area (both options are not that good, but ya gotta choose one). There's a bike route along the coast south of LAX. Take that down to the very south end, then up the hill where it ends in Redondo Beach and get on South Catalina (a main road), go south and it'll connect with Palos Verdes Drive. Take PV Drive EAST and you'll eventually get to East Anaheim Blvd and the L.A./Long Beach Harbor area (yuck!) - from there its an ugly 4.5 mile ride along Anaheim Blvd through a gritty industrial area from Hwy 110 (Harbor Freeway) to the Long Beach Freeway (710) and the Los Angeles River; suck-it-up and you'll make it through, carry extra tubes, too as the raods are dirty in this area. If you go through on Friday you'll get the full brunt of the truck traffic going to/from the harbor's terminals. Once to the LA River take the levee-top bike trail (on the east side of the River) that goes south to Long Beach's nice Shoreline Village then south along the coast/beach bike path as explained above. Only change I'd make going through Long Beach is to turn off of 2nd Street directly on to Pacific Coast Highway and go south through the City of Seal Beach. There's more than enough shoulder to ride on through Seal Beach.

skidder

A little more on Orange County. You can take the Pacific Coast Highway all the way south, just watch out for a few areas where the road gets skinny and you'll have to deal with traffic:
Though the Sunset Beach area just south of Seal Beach. PCH gets a little narrow through here, but there is a parallel road (North & South Pacific Drive) between PCH and the ocean; look on Google maps.
Though the Mariner's Mile area of Newport Beach,
Through Corona Del Mar in south Newport Beach,
through central Laguna Beach (the option shown on the map above by jimmiclif is good),
and through San Clemente (its called 'El Camino Real' through there).
After that is the Camp Pendelton Marine Base; use Amtrak from San Clemente to OCeanside OR you can ride on the interstate (I-5) for 20 miles to Oceanside (good shoulder but it accumulates trash and the cars whizzing by at 70mph are a little unnerving).

I can't give you much on the San Diego area, maybe someone else will chime in about the route from Oceanside down to the City of San Diego.

diphthong

jimincalif

WaveyGravey

I'm not the OP but thanks for the response.

I visit Redondo frequently, my daughter is living there, I've ridden around the area including the Strand to Santa Monica.

Next time I'm there I would like a greater challenge. May reach out to some of you for more specifics on the rides.


Thanks

mev

Other people are better about the specific roads and routes. However, I will mention I've done this route a few times, most recently at the end of 2015 just prior to the "San Diego Christmas ride". I did something similar, went to a friend's wedding in LA, mailed home my dressy clothes, dropped off a rental car at LAX and then bicycled to San Diego. I made it a two day ride with a stopover at Laguna Beach. Camp Pendleton was still open for cyclists so I didn't end up on I-5.

Since I'm not that familiar with specific roads, I bought the ACA map and followed it after leaving LAX. This worked fine and got me on some bike paths, a few small city roads and then eventually the PCH. It was a few days before Christmas and while there was some traffic it wasn't bad. I like bicycling along the coast and some of these beach towns so as far as scenery goes I enjoyed it. While I didn't use them, there were potential fallback possibilities along the way (e.g. everything from uber to some rail).

diphthong

adjacent palos verdes peninsula is your best bet. close to most of redondo beach (and even the farthest ne reaches of redondo are a 40 min ride to

the edge of "pv." there are flats/flattish here and there but it's mostly hills/climbs).


you can take the coastal bike path north from redondo to playa del rey and hook up with the ballona creek heading nw to culver city which has some fun

places to grub and grog. if you're feeling more adventurous, you can take venice blvd from culver city into the dtown la area and ride around griffith park/elysian park/la river bike path.

the la metro light rail "blue line" can extend your reach. it goes between santa monica and dtown la and is easy to board with a bike unless it's commute time in the morning or afternoon.


love riding the santa monica mtns to the north-especially west of ca hwy 27 topanga canyon rd but it's a long approach (25 miles) from redondo and a long way back and not doable unless

you've got most of the day. it you do have all day and you're into longer rides, it's awesome. even just riding the coast to point dume and back is sweet but would be approx 80+ miles. you

could drive up there and start in santa monica/malibu but the west-side traffic is notoriously horrible unless you're prepared to start at dawn and be finished before 1:30pm. after 2pm, the

santa monica area is a hot mess till 7pm or so.

WaveyGravey

Thanks!!

riceowls

Thanks for the info thus far! Yeah, going by the freeway shoulder is a bummer but perhaps doable for just 8 miles. We can perhaps do it in 2 days but would rather do it in 3 to have more stops, photo-ops etc. Any worthwhile detours inland? Is Irvine wroth visiting for instance?
I am thinking of starting from the hotel not far from the LA river path, spending the first night in Huntington Beach and the scond one in either San Clemente or Oceanside. We may stay in La Jolla or around UCSD so won't be biking all the way to the city. Or could bike to the airport (good idea?) where I will drop my wife to fly back and rent a car for the rest of the trip.

diphthong

no. most of pacific coast highway-aka pch, hwy 1, lincoln blvd (in stretches), sepulveda blvd (in stretches)-from ca hwy 27 topanga canyon road near malibu to the western edge of seal beach

is high speed/volume traffic with minimal or zero bike lanes, narrow and visually difficult for drivers. worst stretch is from eastern torrance to western long beach. this ugly, 10 mile stretch is much worse than

the much feared section thru laguna beach which is both shorter and scenic or the 1.5 mile "pinch" rolling through dtown newport beach.

diphthong

the hotel is near lax (and the marvin braude coastal bike path) or near the la river bike path (that runs from dtown la to long beach)? they're about 20 miles apart and run parallel to each other.


all the fun on this route is on the coast. anything a little inland (old towne orange, san juan capistrano) is trumped by the smallish beach town charms of seal beach, sunset beach, corona del mar, crystal cove state park

(between newport and laguna), laguna beach, dana point, san clemente, carlsbad, leucadia, encinitas, solana beach, del mar and la jolla. would not bike to san diego airport unless you absolutely have to. better off staying

in la jolla area. if you do have access to a car, downtown san diego must-do's would include balboa park/san diego zoo, cabrillo national monument (about a 3.5/4 hr rt ride from la jolla), and walking/riding along the waterfront + taking the

short ferry over to coronado.

fietsbob

Its been 30 years no internet then, Just keep the ocean on your right ?

Researched ACA pacific coast bike route maps can be bought..

And might answer some of your questions


between San Clemente and Oceanside is the Camp Pendleton Army base..
live fire exercises is always a possibility.





...

mev

For what it is worth, I've biked to a few airports including into San Diego and Houston. I found the San Diego airport to be pretty approachable and easier than IAH where I found myself on sometimes busy, sometimes high speed frontage roads of TX 8. In contrast I found San Diego has some busy roads including I-5/I-8 junctions but speeds on those surface roads were less than around the Houston airport.

jimincalif

tinrobot

Irvine is not worth it. Just enjoy the beaches and the cuisine,

LA River trail to Long Beach is a good option. If you have more time, you could take the Expo Line (or ride) to Santa Monica and go down along the beach and through Palos Verdes, which is lovely. It would add some time/mileage/scenery to the route.

I might suggest Newport over Huntington. A little more to do there. Carlsbad/Oceanside over San Clemente for similar reasons.

diphthong

insane diego/sandy eggo has one particular quirk regarding the roads here. there are a few looping on-ramps/off-ramps to the freeways/main arteries designed to facilitate the movement of cars but terrible for cyclists forced to use the same stretches.

some of these examples are near the airport and/or the route dtown sd. they force you to concentrate not only on your line and pavement quality but cars moving at or near freeway speeds on both your left and right sides simultaneously for 50-150 yards.

so you get to sprint for not only for cars entering a freeway/high-speed road, you also get to sprint for cars exiting a freeway/high-speed road. that's a lot to ask of any cyclist, no matter how experienced or fit or vc you are.

pretty much at the mercy of timing, luck and driver's whim. and then there's the east to west route triple exit past the airport on harbor drive for extra credit. yes there's a mup just south of harbor dr through the airport area that's maybe the worst mup ever.

depending on the headwind riding west on harbor dr, ofttimes it's better to just ride through the airport. so no, i don't recommend riding to the airport in san diego unless you have a deathwish, are supremely confident in your abilities,

are overly trusting in your fellow man/woman/machine or any combo above. regardless of how you approach the sd airport by bike, you will encounter at least one wtf point. probably two. this is coming from a guy that doesn't mind
riding in la/sd/sf rush hour traffic and actually likes to for practice and awareness. says a lot about houston but i think most everything that could be said about houston already has been somewhere else at some other time.

jimincalif

mev

For curiosity, I checked my maps and my notes for last times I had cycled through San Diego:
* Adventure Cycling "San Diego C" panel of the Pacific Coast route goes right past the airport using the bike path along Harbor Drive on opposite side from the airport.
* In 2015, I cycled to Mission Valley part of San Diego (Motel 6) but it wasn't peak times, December 24th 2015. My route into San Diego followed the "Christmas Bike Ride" route where the last parts are a mix of Mission Drive and bike paths mostly parallel to I-5. So not quite to the airport, though on December 31st, 2015 I cycled back downtown to take Amtrak the next morning.
* In 2016, I also went via San Diego on my ride across the Americas. On October 21st (Saturday), I came in via the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route and again stayed in the Mission District Hotel Drive loop, though at Days Inn this time. The next morning, October 22nd, I cycled ~3 miles from there to the downtown Motel 6, mostly via 4th Avenue. After that I took Amtrak to Portland/Austin for a short intermission in my Americas trip. I came back just after Thanksgiving. On November 27th (Sunday), I dropped off a rental car at the airport in the morning and then cycled southbound through downtown.

So I wasn't stressing things at peak commuting hours. My last ride to IAH airport in Houston was (Sunday) March 15th, 2015 where I picked up a rental car at IAH in the morning around 11am. That definitely stuck with my recollections as more hectic than San Diego. I had also been through San Diego a few times before including Christmas rides in 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2009 and cycling the Pacific Coast in 1998. Most of those I was arriving/leaving via Amtrak though also one or two at the airport.

stevepusser

The ACA route also follows the coast through La Jolla, which has bike lanes for the most part, except those aren't on the streets right along the water, which are the coolest. If you're tired or pressed for time, it's also faster to go straight through UCSD to Gilman, then parallel I5 on the Rose Canyon bike path and Santa Fe drive, then cross the busy blvd at its end and get on another bike bath to Mission Bay.

Overnight lodgings are going to be quite expensive unless you can hit a few hostels along the way.