Upcoming Rides

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August 18, 2024: Phil's Ride: Whale of a Century

August 11, 2024: Phil's Ride: The Orange Coast Tour

June 30, 2024: Jacques' Ride: Corner - Will Rogers to Mount Holyoke

March 20, 2022 Phil's Ride: Oak Ridge Rides

December 12, 2021: Phil's Ride - Foothill Footsie Century

November 28, 2021: Phil's Ride - Cal Poly By Golly

September 19, 2021: Phil's Ride - Wandering To Whittier 

September 12, 2021: Phil's Ride - The Grand Tour Lite  

April 18, 2021: Phil's Ride - Laguna Canyon Century

August 15, 2021: Phil's Ride - Huntington Beach Go Around 

April 11, 2021: Phil's Ride - Winding Roads of Orange County

November 12, 2020: Phil's Ride - The Triple Dippers

Every Thursday, 8:30 a.m. (unless otherwise specified). 

Start Location: Ballona Creek Bridge.  From I405 exit Culver Blvd and head West or take Rte 90 West and take Culver Blvd exit turn left. Right on Esplanade St, left on Convoy St, and right on Pacific Avenue. Park by the Lagoon on the right. The bridge is about 2 blocks North on Pacific.

For a map and directions to the start, click Start.

Riders usually goes South to Palos Verdes on the bike path and then do some riding on the Peninsula. There are optional climbs including the 3 “dips” which give the ride its name. The group usually stops for a break at the Golden Cove shopping area. Occasionally the group will decide to vary the route and explore specific sites elsewhere in the city. A typical day is 40 - 50 miles but often individual riders either cut the day short or add extra miles as desired.  Contact Lewis Singer lewissinger@nullgmail.com for details.

Check out our weekly newsletter here to get a preview of some of our past rides...Newsletter (http://www.lawheelmen.org/vp-newsletter)

We hope to see you there!

Sunday,  August 10th – 8:30 a.m.

Start Location: EL DORADO PARK in Long Beach.  From San Diego Frwy (405), off & North/East on Studebaker 1 mi. to Park.  Park in Library lot on right just before Spring St.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes:   

• Long – 70 miles – 1100 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Medium – 57 miles – 700 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Short – 38 miles – 500 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Combined Routes

As the name implies, today’s routes do in fact essentially go around Huntington Beach. So I thought I would give a little history of that town here. It was once known as Shell Beach, then the town of Smeltzer and then Gospel Swamp, followed by Fairview and then Pacific City. Finally in 1903 it was changed to Huntington Beach, named for railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington (as are most things with the name Huntington in California). At one time an encyclopedia company gave away free parcels in Huntington Beach with the purchase of a complete set of the encyclopedias. This turned out to be a surprisingly good deal for some when oil was later discovered on the land. Although originally agriculture was the primary business of the area, oil took over when it was discovered. A major sugar processing plant was converted to an oil refinery. Oil has declined in the area but some wells are still in use. The high school teams are known as the Oilers in honor of this history. Today it is largely known as a beach community and tourism has become a major economic factor. All of today’s routes start in Long Beach and head down to Huntington. The long and medium loop around a little in the Long Beach and Seal Beach area before heading to Huntington while the short heads there more directly. The long and the medium go past downtown Huntington and circle back through the town. The long goes all the way down to Newport Beach for a lap around the Back Bay before heading back to Huntington while the medium doesn’t go quite so far. All routes go down to Huntington by an inland route and return back along PCH. This should make for a nice cool return in the heat of the afternoon. These are some of the flattest routes we have with the long of 70 miles climbing only about 1000 feet. How can you pass this up?

 

Sunday, August 17th - 8:30 a.m.

Start Location: START: DEL REY LAGOON in Playa del Rey. From San Diego Frwy off and west on Culver Blvd (or off and west on Jefferson, which runs into Culver) (approx 4 mi). R – Esplanade St. to park.  Meet on the east (inland) side of the lagoon near the bathrooms.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes: 

• Long – 55 miles – 2800 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Medium – 44 miles – 2000 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Short – 36 miles – 1800 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Combined Routes

Wikipedia defines an “Ice Cream Social” as “an informal social event at which the main focus is the serving and eating of ice cream. Ice cream socials typically include multiple ice cream flavors and a variety of toppings.” By that definition, today’s ride certainly includes an ice cream social at the end. We are definitely an informal group and Playa Provisions, where we end our ride today, offers a variety of ice cream flavors as well as toppings. Their covered patio is the perfect place to relax at the end of the ride and enjoy some ice cream with friends. Plenty of bike parking where you can keep an eye on your bike and it’s only a couple of blocks away from where we started the ride, so you don’t have far to go after the ice cream to get back to your car. All of today’s routes start in Playa del Rey and head south to Palos Verdes and back. The long formerly made a complete loop of the peninsula, but with the landslide closure it now makes a shorter loop around and up and over the peninsula. This makes the route shorter but adds in a major climb. The medium simply heads to Golden Cove for lunch where they are joined by the long riders after they come over the top of the peninsula. Both routes then head back to Play del Rey together. The short goes as far as Malaga Cove and stops for lunch in Torrance on the way back. Once back in Playa del Rey, it’s time for our ice cream social. What a nice way to end an August Sunday ride. Bonus: If you really aren’t up for the ride down to Palos Verdes today, there is a CicLAvia event today running between Culver City and Venice. Venice is only a short hop from Playa del Rey, so why not do a leisurely ride with the CicLAvia riders and then come on over to join us at the ice cream social. The rest of us should be there some time in the mid-afternoon.