LA area rides?

[gonzo]

Anyone know any good LA area trails? My bro just got his bike out there and I'll be visiting him a bunch this summer. If anyone knows any info or good resources/books/sites, I would be psyched to get my hands on 'em.

aaaaaawesome.

[Arty50]

Where is he in LA? I know of some rides in Pasadena, but that might be far depending on where he is.

[gonzo]

He lives downtown-ish...apparently there are decent trails in a park right near his house that he has been able to get out on, but doesn't know where the goods are to hit on a day trip/weekend/day off close to the city.

I'm not really sure where Pasadena is in relation to him, but I think he would be psyched to know about anything in driving distance.

What are the rides like you know of there?

[CS]

What kind of riding are you looking for?

this:


or this:

[gonzo]

good question sweet pics!

he is on a hardtail, so looking for more of the latter, although i wouldn't kick the former out of bed!

[gonzo]

bummmmmp!

anyone have any ideas? websites?

CS, you gotta tell me where that burn is!

[Telephil]

Hey CS, what about road rides?

[CS]

Gonz, the ride is in Simi Valley, about 45 min out of L.A. Fun ride, just not real long. Gets warm in the summer. Commish and tuffy know about some rides in the Santa Monica mountains. I should, but I spent way more time in my big ring last year. Let me know when you're coming out and I can show you some fun rides.

Roadiephil, that combination of words is foreign to me.

[Arty50]

Pasadena isn't that far from Downtown. Just jump on the 110 and you're there. Here's a site with ride info. Click on the different rides for beta.

http://www.singletrackmind.com/Mount...dex%20Page.htm

Brown Mtn:

I'd have him try Brown Mtn. first. This ride has several options. You can climb the Brown fireroad and then bomb back down it (be careful of other riders, hikers, and especially horses). Option 2 involves hitting the first major flat, and diverging right (along a minor fireroad) towards the Loma Prieta singletrack. Option 3 involves passing the flat and going all the way up the Brown fireroad and then hitting the Ken Burton singletrack. I've never done option 3 so I don't know much about it. I've just ridden to the first flat and then either bombed back down or hit Loma Prieta. The site listed above lists option 3 and it looks like you don't hit Loma Prieta if you go that way.

If you're running short on light take the fireroad back down. If you have plenty left then hit Loma Prieta. It's a pretty famous trail down there. Most people down there think it's fairly technical; but after riding the Christmas Valley downhill and Mr. Toad's in Tahoe, I'd say it's not that bad. Still, it has some tight switchbacks (my nemesis), a really tight off camber sandy spot or two, and near the end there's a pretty interesting rocky section. It's a friggen great ride. Plus the climb up Brown really gets you in shape.


Mt. Wilson:

It's the highest mountain in SoCal and the climb appears to be insane (5,900 vertical feet). You can car shuttle it if you want. The singletrack down looks gnarly too. I've never done this ride, but I've worked on an upper section of the trail. It was super tight with some very tight and technical switchbacks. In other words, there were small drops and rocks in the middle of some of the switchbacks. I will ride this trail one day. And yes, I'll even climb the damn thing too. I just need to allocate a whole day for this sufferfest.

???:

Finally, there's one other trail I've ridden in the area. I can't remember the name. It involves parking on Angeles Crest Highway, a moderate climb, a really fun singletrack, a short climb, and then an insane bomb run back down Angeles Crest Hwy to your car. I was hauling so much ass on this last road downhill that I even passed a couple of cars.

One more note, be VERY aware of horses. There is a very tenuous balance between the mtb'ers and horseback riders in the area. Please slow down and sometimes even stop when approaching a horse. The horseback riders are very vocal and very politically motivated. If you don't respect them, they'll cause serious trouble for you and other mtb'ers. Frankly, I think they're a bunch of sallys who overly pamper their animals. Train your horse to deal with it. If police officers can train their horses to deal with pedestrians and cars and ranchers can do the same with cows, tractors, and guns; then why can't some city slicker equestrian manage to train their animals for a couple of bikes. This issue wouldn't bother me so much if one side was willing to compromise. You train your animals and we'll be more than happy to slow down. Then you have give and take on both sides, and we could all share our trails in peace. Instead, you MUST yield or stop for these stupid horses. I've been yelled at for slowly rolling by; and I mean slowly. There have been some ugly incidents involving bikers and horseback riders down there. I've even seen riders get mad at hikers. In my experience, a decent number of the horseback riders are complete assholes even if you approach their animals with the utmost care. I don't mean to indite them all, several horseback riders have been kind and thankful when I stopped. But a large number of them have also thrown me dirty looks and made offhand comments that made me want to get off my bike and kill them. It sucks, but it's the way it is. So my advice is to be the better man, stop, and avoid the problem.

Note also that my experience with this has mostly been limited to Brown. I don't know what kind of horse traffic the other trails get, but I do know that the same rules apply. I hope I haven't made it seem like a big deal also. There aren't a ton of horses, and it won't ruin your riding experience unless you let it. Just be aware of it.

[Camilo]

bummmmmp!

anyone have any ideas? websites?

www.socalmtb.com has tons of trails around southern california along with difficulty and quality ratings. That's all he should need.

[comish]

Camilo's website suggestion is great and what I have used.

Great road riding above Malibu. Awesome 2000 foot climbs with very few cars. Latigo, Mulholland, etc, etc. Just don't do Malibu Canyon. There are about 6 good climbs, but I have only done 3 so far as last summer was first here.

I have done a bunch of fire roads in the St. Monica mtns. Wife isn't too into technical stuff, hopefully thats a "yet"...

He is a little farish from the Santa Monica mtns if he is downtown. Prolly the stuff nearer Pasadena is closer, but I like riding above the ocean. Beautiful views and much much better air.

[SkiingBear]

If police officers can train their horses to deal with pedestrians and cars and ranchers can do the same with cows, tractors, and guns; then why can't some city slicker equestrian manage to train their animals for a couple of bikes

FYI...I have heard that horses equate the rattling sound of a rear hub to the rattle of a rattlesnake...don't know how true that is. If true, I can understand why a horse owner in SoCal would not want to break their animal of that fear. Here in Utah I'd be happy if they'd just keep the horse shit off the trail. Nothing quite like rolling through a still steaming heap and 35 mph...yum!!

[Spats]

Horse owners in urban areas are, for the most part, rich trophy wives who have no job, no responsibilities, and nothing better to do than go to every city council meeting and complain about the plebes who DARE to hike or bicycle on public lands.

And they win.

Why? Well, I saw a city council meeting about park land use in the East Bay a month or two ago.

It was at 2:30 PM on a Wednesday.

What mountain biker can make it to that? We have REAL JOBS. But the meeting was full of said trophy wives complaining about the horrible, satanic mountain bikers who, by using the public trails that are rightfully theirs because they are so rich and stylish, scare their high-strung, overbred shit-monsters.

Sigh.

[gonzo]

fuggin sweet! thanks a ton guys. arty, comish, cs: you guys rule.

my bro will be pumped...almost as much as i will be when i visit him and he shows me the goods!

[Arty50]

Edit: rant removed.

I hope you and your bro enjoy the trails down there, gonzo.

[webb]

looks sick. gonz, we're gonna get wrecked this summer!

[Arty50]

www.socalmtb.com has tons of trails around southern california along with difficulty and quality ratings. That's all he should need.

'

Great link Camilo. I just found the ride I did up Angeles Crest.

http://www.socalmtb.com/socal/trails/edison.htm

There are some sick tree tunnels on the ride and a nice technical off camber uphill creek crossing at one point. The tree tunnels are long and like nothing I've ever ridden in. Just remember to hug your bike. My helmet bounced off more than a few branches.

Supposedly Mt. Lowe is a great ride too:
http://www.socalmtb.com/socal/trails/mtlowe.htm

My former brother-in-law once got chased by a mountain lion down that trail. Talk about having someone on your tail.

[HarmonyGrits]

Chino Hills State Park has some good rides and out in Pt. Mugu State Park, the Guadalasco Trail is awesome. Don't know what conditions have been like since all the rain, and I've been too busy riding on the road, try the Montrose ride in the San Gabriel Valley or the Simi ride in Simi Valley - Malibu for many fast miles. Or for Christs sake, go skiing. Have you seen how much snow we just got!

[gonzo]

Webb is my brother, btw. He is psyched! Thanks again dudes!

[pointemstraight]

What kind of riding are you looking for?

CS - is this picture from Chesboro? It looks awfully familiar...

[CS]

CS - is this picture from Chesboro? It looks awfully familiar...

no, Chumash, Simi Valley.

not so burnt anymore, in fact, incredibly green right now, but will be dry and brown come summertime.

[webb]

doods- thanks for the info. I've tried out a few of the runs off of singletrackmind.com, my favorite so far being the kenter fire road/whoop dee trail... rediculously fun.

arty five-oh - I live in echo park, so I'm looking forward to the ride near jpl. that looks sick, I've just got to wait until I have more time.

if there's a town meeting coming up, I would be all for taking time off of schoool/work and petitioning the city council to perminately ban trophy wives from anything ridable in los angeles county. it's clear that while they talk about which mushrooms they prefer, shitake or portabella, that they pose an obvious threat to a mountain biker rocking out on his iPod.

god that would be great. I'd do it just so I could tell the story later.

[Arty50]

arty five-oh - I live in echo park, so I'm looking forward to the ride near jpl. that looks sick, I've just got to wait until I have more time.

Brown/Loma Prieta is one of my favorite rides. I'm jealous. Good to hear you've gotten some good riding in. I have yet to really explore all of the biking options down there.

One more thing, watch out for poison oak. I've never run into it, but plenty of others have. So I guess it's not a big problem, but just watch it when you go in the bushes to take a leak.