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, June 22 – 8:30 a.m.

Start Location: PARADISE PARK in TORRANCE. From San Diego Frwy (405), off & South on Hawthorne 3.5 miles.  R - Torrance Blvd 0.5 mile, L - Anza one block, R - Lee to Park.  We usually park on the West side of the park (on Ellenwood) by the school.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes: 

• Century – 96 miles – 2200 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Metric Century– 63 miles – 1400 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Half Century 47 miles – 600 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Combined Routes

This is our century, metric century and half century of the month for June. Friday was the summer solstice so this is just about the longest day of the year. For that reason, I have set the start time for these routes as the usual 8:30 instead of the earlier times I usually use for our centuries. I figure those who ride the full century are fast enough to complete the ride well before sunset and the later start means the metric and half century rides won’t arrive at lunch too early. As centuries go, today’s routes are very easy. The only significant climb is the trip up Laguna Canyon (which is only on the full century) and it is one of the easiest canyon climbs I know of.  It only gains about 400 feet over 5.5 miles. That’s a grade of about 1.4%. The metric century doesn’t even do the canyon, so it is even easier. These are just pleasant rides down the coast and back. The full century route is fairly straight forward. From Torrance, we head down the coast (picking up PCH in Seal Beach) all the way to Laguna. Then it's up Laguna Canyon and we make our way back north using a more inland route until we reach Huntington Beach. Then we pretty much retrace our steps back to the start. The metric will start with the full century and stay with that route until Huntington Beach. It will then cut inland to pick up the return route of the full century. This is the first time I have added a half century route. It only gets as far as Seal Beach before starting to return, After a short detour to lunch, it picks up the return of the other two routes. All in all, a pleasant way to spend one of the longest days of the year.

 

Sunday,  June 29th – 8:30 a.m.

Start Location: PINE TREE PARK in TUSTIN.  From Santa Ana Frwy (I-5) in Tustin, off & east on Redhill, L- Bryan one block to park.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes:   

• Long – 57 miles – 3500 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Medium – 43 miles – 1800 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Short 37 miles – 1200 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Combined Routes

Summer is upon us so this will probably be the last non-coastal route I schedule for a while. And even if it is warm today, these routes are relatively short so we should be done before the worst of the heat in the afternoon. They are not overly hilly either. My biggest problem with these routes is lunch. Both the long and medium ride through Santiago Canyon where there is no place to stop. By the time we get through the canyon, we are ready to eat, but there really isn’t that much to choose from. There is a small commercial area that has a Subway (as part of a Chevron Station), a Starbucks (which some people think is fine for lunch), a Taco Bell (which it seems no one thinks is fine) and a restaurant called John’s Place (which looks good on the web, but the last time I rode this ride, I couldn’t find it). That really should be enough choices. Well, it will have to do because I don’t see anything else in the area. Personally, I’m, going to make a better search for John’s Place. Google Maps and Yelp both say it’s still there and the pictures of the food look good.  As mentioned, the main feature of today’s routes is a trip through Santiago Canyon which goes both up and down. Both the long and the medium do this, but the long adds trips through Trabuco Canyon and Live Oak Canyon. I’ve always thought the ride through Live Oak Canyon is rather nice and worth the extra miles and extra climbing. The medium route heads fairly directly over to Santiago Canyon while the long makes the extended loop to take in Trabuco Canyon and Live Oak Canyon first. They meet up at Cook’s Corner and continue together through Santiago Canyon before circling around back to the start. Meanwhile, the short makes an easier tour around southern Orange County. So why not join us and together we can find the elusive John’s Place. NOTE: This is another ride that we temporarily moved to El Camino Real Park, but we have now returned the start to Pine Tree Park.