bikeme

I've never ridden there but put together this loop: https://www.strava.com/routes/2990731129692545352

Any thoughts of my street choices? I added in a few side diversions off Palos Verde Drive to stay closer to the coastal views--good idea? Any good streets you'd add or reroutes you suggest? I'll be riding midweek. Thanks!

diphthong

i’ll post a strava map in a few hours.

diphthong

bikeme,

generally some good street choices. certainly, you can do the pv drive marathon to do the loop and there are some worthy climbs
to access from pv dr north. i'd save pv dr north for another ride tho (and most of pv dr east). pv dr north is actually kinda boring and carries a lot of what constitutes traffic on the pv peninsula. it's not especially scenic. added a 1,000 feet of climbing and 8-9 miles to your original ride while keeping the start/end point approx 500 yards north of your original start/end point because of parking. nothing super steep. you were originally headed up to the "domes" from pv dr east up crest via the pv dr east "switchbacks" so kept that. the "switchbacks" are fun both up and down. steepest part of the climb to the "domes" is the first half-mile from the i-section of crest/pv dr east. otherwise, it's relatively easy for a decent climber. riding through the "slide area" on pv dr south is fun and rolling. not as bad as the signs indicate but it's not the place to pull out your phone to respond to texts/e-mails.
dropped a little cherry sidebar on the west end of the slide area just past abalone cove and the portuguese bend gates on the ocean side. it's a gravel/dirt trail of approx .25 mile that gently climbs, then drops but stop before the trail does a switchback. the view doesn't get any better. feel free to drop down more if you like. one of the best views on the entire peninsula.

your route had you using pv dr west which is fine once to bluff cove but the malaga cove area to bluff cove (either direction) is
tight and plenty of traffic. not a fan. pv dr east downhill (away from the switchbacks) from marymount college/crest dr down to the reservoir (pv dr north) has a buncha tight spots once past the miraleste library area and can't recommend it for a first or second visit to the peninsula. def worth climbing or descending at some point tho.

you could do a lot worse than just hanging out in the city of palos verdes estates and never going past hawthorne blvd at any point. depending on the legs, you can just silly string a few different hillsides and keep most of the la metropolis out of your sights.
relatively easy to forget you're in socal while riding in the area. if you need support, there's malaga cove, lunada bay and golden cove for stops if necessary.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2990817888558961010






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bikeme

ooga-booga Thanks for the great info and map!

bowser29

link did not work for me. planning a PV ride this Sat and can use some guidance. thanks!
edit: hoping for a route that goes to the Korean friendship bell

diphthong

deleted the route a few days ago because my routes were getting kinda full but can recreate one fairly quickly.
where you starting from/ending at? how much/little climbing you want? how many miles? besides the korean friendship bell, any other wants?

bowser29

probably starting at Ernie Howlett Park (for parking) and trying to do at least 3000ft of climbing with 35-40 miles. thanks!

diphthong

you got it. those amounts/distances are kinda the de facto ride in pee vee. since you wanna include the korean bell, it’ll prob bump up the “scenic and climbing” ride to 45 miles/4k+ el gain. i will send a shorter, less scenic ride and a longer ride. give me a few hours. on a beer ride…er…ride currently.

one more question…what’s the steepest % grade you’ll do? some of the exit/traffic circumvention hills in the pedro area are…shall we say…challenging.

diphthong

okay, here's pee vee ii-the quickie version and pee vee i-the more scenic version. pee vee ii does include the de rigueur pee vee climb (up and down) of
via del monte whereas pee vee i only includes most of the descent. pee vee i includes the essential descent of the rpv switchbacks whereas pee vee ii doesn't.
both rides are "off" by 2.5 miles or so and approx 5000 feet el gain because of the area around point fermin/korean friendship bell. so ride 1 is closer to 42 miles and ride 2
is closer to 35 miles. a couple of notes:

1. because of a long-term road closure on paseo del mar in san pedro, strava is not routing road rides properly. when you descend western ave heading towards the ocean,
you bear left and soon come to a road closure. the workaround is to hang a left into the white point nature preserve and then make a right and follow the dirt path (smooth, firm, flat and
approx .25 miles long) along the fence. i've done it on '23's 6-7 x's so it's not an issue for roadies. the dirt path is wide enough to accommodate a passing cyclist or ped but slowly and then deposits you back onto paseo del mar
enroute to point fermin lighthouse/park and the korean friendship bell/fort macarthur area approx .35 miles north on gaffey st. strava is routing it properly on runs/walks/hikes tho so i have included the applicable segment for logistical purposes.

https://www.strava.com/segments/26379707

because on pee vee i, i overcompensated for strava's non-mapping and on pee vee ii under compensated, both rides off +/- 2.5 miles.

2. i have both rides starting from/finishing at rancho vista elementary off of moccasin lane which is just up hawthorne blvd past ernie howlett park and to the left/east.
plenty of parking and a little more tranquilo but no bathrooms so do ernie howlett if you prefer. add an extra .5 mile to the ride if that's how you go.

3. if you decide on pee vee ii (or decide to modify pee vee i), descending palos verdes drive east will require you taking the lane from approx .5 miles north of the miraleste library
(where the road obviously starts to descend) all the way to just before the reservoir area/palos verdes drive north. just coasting will have you in the 20-28 mph neighborhood but there
are precious few places for turnouts nor is there a bike lane so you may hafta blaze that downhill.

4. all the other previous/earlier notes from me in this thread apply. pee vee is one of the few places in socal where the tourists don't crowd the roads on the weekends. over in pedro tho by the bell and the lighthouse,
they do.

pee vee ii/35 miles-3.2k el gain

https://www.strava.com/routes/2997341792917129070


pee vee i/42 miles-4k+ el gain

https://www.strava.com/routes/2997338502669794464

there is plenty of other stuff in the mushpot of the peninsula but it's generally not as nice/scenic. still worth doing as a climbfest but that's another post.
there are four cities on the palos verdes peninsula: palos verdes estates (pve), rancho palos verdes (rpv), rolling hills (rh) and rolling hills estates (rhe).
the first two are where all the action is-esp palos verdes estates. rolling hills is all private/gated but surprisingly boring so you're not missing anything and
rolling hills estates is just...there except for the sunnyridge and eastvale climbs which are decently challenging and semi-shaded but not essential by any means.

as mentioned in an earlier post, you could not cross hawthorne blvd (except to start/finish at ernie howlett or rancho vista) and just stay in palos verdes estates
wandering up and down, out and about on the bike and do a scenic 35 miles just there alone. depending on your intuitive nature as a cyclist, maybe that works better.
hard to get lost using the various palos verdes drives, hawthorne blvd (which neatly bisects the peninsula) and the pacific ocean. use one of the maps or paint your own picture following
your eyes, legs and intuition. either way, you'll have a blast.

bowser29

thank you very much, sir. really appreciate all the details. I'll report back here after the ride. cheers!