Cycling in LA vs. Cycling in SF

[friedmikey]

How does the cycling in the Los Angeles area compare to the San Francisco Bay Area? I’m thinking of moving to LA in the near future. But leaving the cycling paradise that is Marin County is tough. Are there plenty of good and convenient places to ride in LA? I typically ride 200-300 miles per week, with at least three days of extensive hill work. Can I do the same down south without getting bored?

How far out of town will I have to drive (if any)?
What’s it like dealing with the drivers down there?
Is the riding season generally longer in Southern CA?

 

[friedmikey]

There's got to be somebody on this board that's from LA...

 

[tanggoman]

There's Solvang where Armstrong's team do their training camps in January of every year. There should be more. Good luck!

http://www.solvangca.com/map1.html

 

[ouo]

Check out this site, it may help.

California Cycling Coalition Links page

 

[friedmikey]

Cool. Thanks for the links. I'll check them out this evening. I see that the CCC page lists coalitions - is there a similar resource to find out about cycling clubs in LA (as well as in SF)?

 

[ouo]

Cool. Thanks for the links. I'll check them out this evening. I see that the CCC page lists coalitions - is there a similar resource to find out about cycling clubs in LA (as well as in SF)?

Trail links for California

This is Canadian but it has American links..



I don't know if those will help, but you never know. The Canadian one probably has the same links as the one I gave in the earlier post.

My last suggestion is to email the LA county coalition and request information on LA cycling. Here

 

[bitingduck]

How does the cycling in the Los Angeles area compare to the San Francisco Bay Area? I’m thinking of moving to LA in the near future. But leaving the cycling paradise that is Marin County is tough. Are there plenty of good and convenient places to ride in LA? I typically ride 200-300 miles per week, with at least three days of extensive hill work. Can I do the same down south without getting bored?

How far out of town will I have to drive (if any)?
What’s it like dealing with the drivers down there?
Is the riding season generally longer in Southern CA?

I don't check this board very often, but here's a shot at a response:

There's lots of riding in LA, but specifics will depend a lot on where you are. There are 3 velodromes (ADT, Encino, and San Diego) within a reasonable distance, there are lots of mountains (San Gabriels, San Bernardinos, Santa Monica, and more) with both road and off-road routes, there are bunches of group rides, and races all the time.

I'm at the north edge of LA county (Altadena, in the San Gabriel valley) and I can bike out my door and within a few minutes be on a couple different fire roads up Mount Wilson (~5500 ft at the top), or several other mountains within a half hour.

On a road bike I can pedal out the door and either head up into the mountains on several different routes, stay in the foothills, or stay pretty flat riding along the bottom of the mountains. I could probably ride to the beach, too, but have never gotten around to that. There are at least 4 (probably more) different group rides per week that I can get to within about a 20 minute ride (Rose Bowl Tues and Thurs, Montrose on Saturday, and Tour of Sierra Madre on Wed), plus other rides if I make plans with people in advance. If I really want, I can pedal out the door and do a century with about 11,000 feet of climbing.

The velodromes require a drive, but I've got carpool partners and we usually get out on them twice a week. They all have good (and very different) programs and are lots of fun, and open to newcomers.

There are bad drivers everywhere, but I've probably had fewer problems here in LA than anywhere else I've been, except maybe San Diego. The roads are mostly pretty wide, and if you are riding in a straight line people will mostly ignore you and pass like you're a car.

I suppose the riding season is longer, if by longer you mean doesn't end. You can ride year round here, even when we get the rains like we had this year-- I spent a lot of time on the nice indoor ADT velodrome, cruising and listening to music on the PA. Even when it's rainy in one area, it tends to be dry in others.

One Saturday recently I woke up and decided it was too gloomy to do the Montrose ride (long and fast, with some power climbs) so I threw the track bike in the car and drove out to Encino to do the Keirin workout. On the way I saw a couple different groups of roadies around here (some headed toward the Montrose ride, some headed other ways) and a few mountain bikers headed up into the hills. When I got off the freeway in Encino, I saw a couple club rides cruising there in the couple miles to get to the track. It turned out that it was wet on the Montrose ride (which has at least 4 different versions every saturday in the winter), but beautiful and sunny in Encino.

I'm sure there are tons more rides that I don't know about, but you can look for some (including clubs) here: SoCal Cycling

 

[friedmikey]

Awesome reply bitingduck! Thank you very much. Hehe... a century with 11,000 feet of climbing sounds cruelly enticing. I've never been on a velodrome, but I bet is a cool experience. Sounds like there's more than plenty of riding to be had down there. I've just been so spoiled where I'm at right now. I live at the base of Mt. Tamalpais and my office is literally located on the main bike path through Marin County. All I have to do is step outside and I'm on a ride. And thanks again to ouo and tanggoman.

 

[bitingduck]

Yeah, it's pretty good riding down here.

Way back when I came out for a job interview, I was sitting on the shuttle from LAX and one of the other passengers (who had loaded a bagged bike into the shuttle) noticed my shaved legs and proceeded to spend the whole hour ride telling me how great the riding is around Pasadena. That probably influenced me more than the interview.

Being right at the base of the mountains is great-- there are a couple of different groups at work that do lunchtime rides (road and mountain) once or twice a week that I totally forgot about (I like to eat lunch).

In the hot and smoggy times of the year I sometimes ride at night-- there are some paved roads that are usually closed to cars (due to small washouts or slides) and a fair number of mountain trails you can get to easily at night. It's very pleasant, and when there's a full moon you don't really need a light.

Lance was apparently spotted riding up the Angeles Crest Highway a few weeks ago when he was in the area to race. When we had the track World Championships a few months ago, a bunch of the teams started showing up on group rides a month or so in advance-- the Ukrainians were apparently doing the Rose Bowl ride regularly. There are also lots of local pros, as well as top amateurs and pros who live or train around here and inflict pain on the club rides when they show up.

 

[friedmikey]

Okay, here's a theoretical question. If you were to move to LA, what area would you choose? I'm a young guy a couple years into a career in finance. I don't know LA all that well, but I'd probably end up working in downtown, Santa Monica, etc. I have friends and family in Silverlake and Hollywood.

 

[bitingduck]

Someplace where you can get to work without getting on a freeway. Rush hour here is completely insane, and drives that take 20 minutes at night can consistently take 2+ hours at rush hour.

When I came here, my criterion was that I had to be able to bike to work, and I started out about 8 miles from work, now I'm 5 miles (though up to 15 would be ok). Depending on what you like, Pasadena may or may not have night life that you're interested in. Old Pas has lots of restaurants and bars, but is thin on live music.

Silverlake is pretty happening, but I'm not sure how easy it is to bike from there. If I didn't prefer to bike to work, I'd consider living there. As it is I can get there in the evening in about 15 minutes if I want to see some bands. I like going there for music more than Hollywood. The clubs seem friendlier more music oriented, and parking is easy.

Hollywood is pretty nutty-- I try not to go on friday/saturday unless I feel like going to the circus. It's not very convenient to get to from here, but there is a lot to do-- music, theater, food, freaks, etc. I don't think I'd want to live there, but some people seem to.

Santa Monica could be pretty nice--better air than here, near the beach, near mountains. Pretty expensive, but the whole area is getting that way.

I keep thinking about trying to get a job down in the south bay (beach cities-- e.g. Redondo Beach) to be closer to the ADT velodrome. The drive is a real pain on the days when I don't have a carpool partner, and it's still a bit of a drive even when I do. That velodrome just rocks.

Encino is apparently fairly affordable, and there seems to be plenty of biking around there.

It's hard to say, really-- the area is just plain huge, and everyone sort of hates it, but most people seem to like their own areas. I think what people really hate is trying to get around at the bad traffic times. If you can avoid the particularly bad traffic areas in your commute you'll probably be much happier. Going into or out of downtown isn't so horrible, but going through is a huge pain. The 101/405 interchange is pretty bad at rush hour. Going anywhere on the 5 at rush hour seems bad. I've gone to meetings in Redondo Beach in the morning where it would have been faster for me to go to a meeting in Sunnyvale or San Jose (straight shot to Burbank airport, then a short flight, vs 2.5 hours in traffic, one-way)