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2.5 days riding in SoCal suggestions

2K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  PerfectZero 
#1 ·
Friend and I are heading in from Phoenix to ride mid week for 2.5 days last week in February. Looking for recommendations on where to ride. Or even if this is a good time of year to come. We ride everything from cross country to tech. Not into DH runs with lots of big jumps and drops (small ones are fine). Fun trail system is good. 30 mile epic with 2-3k feet of climbing is perfect. Paying for a shuttle is fine for a point to point. Pretty open to location weather near SanDiego or closer to LA (will come in on the 8 or 10). Obviously weather may dictate where we ride. Staying near coast is a big plus (may mix in some ocean kyaking). From just looking at Trailforks looks like clusters around Laguna Beach, and just north of SanDiego.

Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
Friend and I are heading in from Phoenix to ride mid week for 2.5 days last week in February. Looking for recommendations on where to ride. Or even if this is a good time of year to come. We ride everything from cross country to tech. Not into DH runs with lots of big jumps and drops (small ones are fine). Fun trail system is good. 30 mile epic with 2-3k feet of climbing is perfect. Paying for a shuttle is fine for a point to point. Pretty open to location weather near SanDiego or closer to LA (will come in on the 8 or 10). Obviously weather may dictate where we ride. Staying near coast is a big plus (may mix in some ocean kyaking). From just looking at Trailforks looks like clusters around Laguna Beach, and just north of SanDiego.

Thanks in advance!
Paging EvDog :lol:
 
#3 ·
Saw in your AZ post this might be a mid-week trip. That might present traffic problems morning/evening rush hour but could also make some trails attractive due to less mid-week hiker traffic. Are you camping? Or hotel/motel or AirBnb'ing it? If you can move around a bit that might change suggestions too. Everything low elevation should be in play unless it has rained recently.

LA area - Mt Wilson for big vert. No shuttle service weekdays though. But you can climb up Merrils and toll road, descend Merrils, Sunset, El prieto. Or do Browns/Ken Burton loop. Or go up and ride Strawberry Peak loop. Tons of options.

Santa Monica Mtns. Backbone trail, tons of other options. Simi valley. Santa Barbara - big climbs and descents, fun tech trails.

Palm Springs - Palm Canyon epic if you can find someone to shuttle with on a weekday. Can do loops from bottom too. Go up and ride Idyllwild. Or spend a day in Joshua Tree. Ride section 6 on the north side.

OC - Aliso/LCWP has tons of great riding and options. Ideal mid week due to less hiker traffic. Nearby can also ride San Juan trail, Santiago Truck trail/Luge or climb to Santa Anas and ride Joplin to Luge. Chino Hills and Santiago Oaks. Kayaking would be a good bet in Laguna.

SD - Big Laguna might be a bit cold for a full ride. Noble Canyon is our best known trail. Can do as a loop if you can't find someone to shuttle with. Cuyamaca state park is next door and has great riding. Lots of local options in SD. Not what anyone would consider destination riding but you can put rides together with as much mileage as you want. Kayaking options at La Jolla shores. Lots of nice beaches.

Post up which direction you're thinking of heading closer to the date and you can get some more specific recs.
 
#7 ·
In the Santa Monica Mountains, a good ride along the Backbone trail would be to start at Kanan Road (at the T1 tunnel) and ride west to Mishe Mokwa, then ride back. That would be about the distance/amount of climbing you are looking for. Alternatively, you could just ride in Sycamore Canyon, and especially if you climbed up Guadalasca, went down Backbone, then climbed back up Overlook and down Guadalasca, you would get almost 30 miles and maybe 2500' of climbing.
 
#8 ·
Interested in this thread as I'm in a similar boat and heading to SoCal next week. From the Favorite SoCal Rides thread:

What would you guys recommend for a 2ish-3 hr ride? Will be based in the Carlsbad area and only requirement is I need to be back by 4pm. Noble Canyon came to mind but seems that logistically it may not work out with my timing.
 
#13 ·
La Costa and Calaveras will be the closest. Los Penasquitos/Del Mar Mesa is a bit south from there and can be fun and have less climbing than the first two options. Depends on what you want.
 
#9 ·
Thanks everyone!

Palm Canyon looks awesome- but need to find a mid week private shuttle.

My friend was looking to base out of laguna beach and ride from hotel to lAguna cost wilderness park. His thinking was we can hang by beach, kayak, and ride without sitting in traffic. Hard to argue against that.

But perhaps north of LA would be better riding? Is there somewhere there to stay that has food, lodging, interesting places to walk / ride and not sit in too much traffic getting to and from riding?

We will probably bring our gravel bikes to get around town any suggested non dirt riding?
 
#10 ·
Thanks everyone!

Palm Canyon looks awesome- but need to find a mid week private shuttle.

My friend was looking to base out of laguna beach and ride from hotel to lAguna cost wilderness park. His thinking was we can hang by beach, kayak, and ride without sitting in traffic. Hard to argue against that.

But perhaps north of LA would be better riding? Is there somewhere there to stay that has food, lodging, interesting places to walk / ride and not sit in too much traffic getting to and from riding?

We will probably bring our gravel bikes to get around town any suggested non dirt riding?
Sent you a pm. Follow those instructions. Reply to my pm with an email address. I may be able to play tour guide for you. I do a lot of mountain biking in laguna, and a lot of mixed surface gravel rides as well.
 
#14 ·
You might consider Pasadena for access to riding (Mt. Wilson, Sunset, Strawberry, etc) without having to drive too much to get to the trails. Quite a bit to see locally, and close to Downtown LA. Ample hiking/gravel riding around in the Angeles National Forest as well. It's not impossible to get to the other riding spots around LA if you plan around traffic carefully.

Definitely not close to the beach however, and pretty busy compared to, for example, Oxnard.

The riding here is about as good as it gets this time of year.
 
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