The Santa Monica Mountains has many different trails, and it's possible to link many of them together on a single ride. Some trails that are closest to SM are Westridge, Sullivan Canyon, Sullivan Ridge, and Will Rogers Backbone trail.
Welcome to the westside. I'm right by you and can show you some trails someday...
I would try Sullivan canyon first since it super easy to access: just type "Queensferry and Bayliss, los angeles, ca" into Gmaps and that's the trail head. 5 mile climb to the top of dirt Mullholland, and then descend. super fun descent!
Kenter jumps/whoops if you're into some trail/dirt jumps. Right by Sullivan at the end of Kenter Rd.
Then i'd hit Backbone trail in the malibu mtns. Good single track and nobody out there.
I'm just getting back in shape after a long medical hiatus, but I ride with PerfectZero on most weekends. We both live right near UCLA and you are more than welcome to join us. We mainly ride the Santa Moncia's and Cheseboro, but we've got a few other routes planned for the future too . . . gotta get back in shape first.
I would consider what we ride to be "aggressive trail riding" . . . we put in our time, grinding up the fire roads but we are rewarded with some speedy descents that include some nice single track and sometimes a few drops/jumps, etc.
There are other trails too that are purely for the scenery that are much more XC oriented (e.g., Kanan-Dume to Circle X). I don't think we are going this weekend (I'm a contestant in the Beverly Hills Chili-Cook off :thumbsup
Next weekend for sure though . . . . I'll post something up here and we can organize something.
The beginning is going down Sullivan Ridge. The main "trail" is a fire road, but there is a singletrack that runs parallel on the left or right for most of the way; this was on the section right before it joins the main trail at the paved road. I haven't ridden that in years, but this really does remind me how much fun it can be!
Then the last part is this rough little singletrack that connects with the Sullivan Canyon trail. It's hard to miss that singletrack - you can see it's pretty inconspicuous, but starts by the telephone pole.
If you haven't done Sullivan Canyon, it's one of the main trails for the Westside. It starts off of Queensferry, by Westridge.
Yup, grind ~5 miles up and bomb back down the singletrack (there are a few short STEEP climbs on the singletrack, but noting extended) . . . and yeah my first trip out, I almost spent the night out there
I ride a lot around the Sullivan area since it's relatively close to my home and work. It's my go to ride if I'm pressed for time, or just need to get a quick ride in.
It offers enough options for rides to make things fun. I can take my mtb up the fire road and go down to the hub and backbone for a loop, or i can just go up to dirt mulholland, and down the side singletrack back down. It's cool.
If I'm on my cross bike, I can go up, to the hub and back and parts beyond.
If I'm doing a quick early morning before work ride, sometimes I'll start at San Vicente Park to skip the climb up Sullivan Fire Rd.
Lots of options. Enough variations to keep things interesting, and if you do get burnt out on Sullivan (as I do sometimes), there are good trails all over the area.
As mentioned the ridge is a great quick afterwork ride. Depending on fitness it's an awesome before/after work ride. I can climb the canyon, hit bent arrow, and descendthe ridge in about 90 minutes. I have frinds that do it much quicker but my clibing sucks. This video shows Bent Arrow, the ridge, Squirrel Trail and Horse Trail. The initial 1500 feet of climbing is not shown.
^^^ I sure as hell couldn't make it up the ridge --> broken arrow (I assume this is where the random car is) --> back to Jedi and down to the car in 90 minutes. That would be more like a 2 hour run for me. I'm sloooow on the climbs.
Yeah it's all personal I think. I raced 27 crits last year before taking this up. MTN biking has been a great cross training tool and to be hinest it's more fun :thumbsup:
Yeah, me too . . . I haven't seen BB since December. Next weekend is looking good for a ride to me. I'm probably going to hit the ridge tomorrow too, but its just going to be a "training" run up the fire road as far as I can get.
I'm going out for a short, easy ride Saturday morning . . . nothing fancy. Probably just do a run from the NIKE missile site out dirt mulholland a ways and back, and will probably hit the farmers loop which is a great, albeit short, section of flowing single track. You are welcome to join, just know in advance that I'm still working up my endurance and speed.
On sunday morning, PerfectZero and I are headed out to Malibu to ride part of Backbone out that way. Again, a shorter easy ride . . . but nice none the less.
You are welcome to join me/us on either ride. Send me a PM if you want to go.
I just moved from san diego to los angeles and have not been riding out here yet. All those trails look awesome. Going to have to try them out this weekend. I'm right by griffith park and sucks you can't ride any trails out there.
Yeah I live nearby in Larchmont. I do grifftith park for training on road bike. park at zoo ride around golf course then up to the Obervatory. its all closed off road to cars. many bikers on Saturday. canopied switchbacks and great views. Its good for training on climbs. its about 7 miles climb to the observatory from the zoo. but I have to drive to the trails usually do Sullivan Canyon once a week.
i want to join in on tomorrow ride if thats cool,
im thinking of driving up to Mammoth for the weekend though, ride sat, camp/hotel ride sunday and drive back. if anyone is interested let me know
wait, you're down to ride Santa Monica ?
ill post on here tonight once i decide if im going to Mammoth or not, then ill be down to ride SM
if we have 2 cars we can shuttle and do backbone trail, super fun
Ya im down to ride santa monica tomorrow morning i ride a Haro X6 Freeride bike not a pro but i love to ride some good trails i need to get back in shape with riding. have not been in 2 months. i have been procrastinating with going riding out here cause i though every thing was so far but santa monica is close and after watching the Sullivan trails it looks awesome.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mountain Bike Reviews Forum
15.4M posts
515.2K members
Since 1990
A forum community dedicated to Mountain Bike owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about bike parts, components, deals, performance, modifications, classifieds, trails, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!