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!

Select from a sample of possible routes below with interactive route maps.

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Sunday, April 27 – 8:00 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 Street.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes: 

• Century – 95 miles – 2500 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Metric Century – 64 miles – 800 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Half Century – 53 miles – 700 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Combined Routes

Today are our century routes for April. I had originally planned different routes for today, thinking Topanga Canyon would surely be open by now, but as I put this schedule together at the end of March, it is looking like it might still be closed on this date. I don’t want to take the chance, so I switched to these routes. Unfortunately, due to the closures along PCH and in Palos Verdes it is hard to find century routes that are still available. So we last rode these routes only last July, but they are pleasant enough that we shouldn’t mind riding them again so soon. As an added inducement, I have added a Half Century route this time. While we often ride the Santa Ana River trail or the San Diego Creek trail in Orange County, these routes are designed to use some of the lesser known bike trails in the county. The principal trail (only on the full century) is the Aliso Creek trail. This is an interesting trail which follows Aliso Creek from near Cook’s Corner down close to the ocean. It winds and twists a lot sometimes going through parks and other times running right down in the channel with the creek. Another oddity is that there is a break in the middle where you would need to get off the path for a short distance and then pick it up again. Today the full century rides most of that trail but in two pieces. After riding the first portion of the Aliso Creek trail from the north down to where there is the break in the trail, we leave Aliso Creek to go do a good climb or two thrown in for variety. Then we get back on the Aliso Creek trail near the southern end and ride up to a point near where we had to get off earlier. The metric version stays with the full century through some of the early bike trails and then cuts off to later meet up with the full century as it makes a 14 mile run back up the coast to the start. The metric century cuts off most of the climbing of the full century. The new half century route starts and ends with the other two routes, but cuts out the middle which means it misses most of the bike trails. It does hit a little bit of bike trail riding however. Besides Aliso Creek, the routes hit several other trails you may not have seen before. With much of the ride on bike trails, the course is relatively flat. The really good news is that you don’t have to drive down to Orange County to do these rides. We start from El Dorado Park in Long Beach – about a half hour drive from West LA.

 

Sunday,  May 4 – 8:30 a.m.

Start Location: Los Angeles Zoo parking lot at the NORTH end. From Ventura (134) Frwy or Golden State Frwy (5), exit near Griffith Park at any exit marked by signs to the Zoo or to the Autry Museum.  Follow signs into the park and to the Zoo lot. We usually park near the “Camel” sign.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes:   

• Long– 37 miles – 3100 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Medium – 31 miles – 2000 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Short – 25 miles – 1500 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Combined Routes

Today all routes eventually get to Descanso Dr – home of Descanso Gardens. In 1937 the property was purchased by E. Manchester Boddy, then the owner of the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News. He operated it as a working ranch which he called Rancho del Descanso. (in Spanish “Descanso” means “rest”) He built a 22 room mansion on the property which  is still within the Gardens property. In 1953 he sold the property to Los Angeles County which now manages the property in conjunction with the Descanso Gardens Guild, Inc., a non-profit corporation formed to operate the Gardens. The Gardens consist of 150 acres containing a wide variety of fruit trees and flowers. We pass the Gardens on a number of rides, but in all the years we have been riding past them, I’ve never know anyone to actually stop and go in. There is a fee, so that might explain it but mostly I think we are just more interested in completing our ride for the day. As I said, all routes go up to Descanso and then on to Montrose for lunch. After lunch all routes return to the start together. It is the ride before reaching Descanso where the 3 routes vary. The long does 3 distinct climbs of increasing difficulty. First up is a relatively easy climb through Elysian Park. Then it is on to a slightly more difficult climb over Mount Washington. Finally it rides the much more difficult climb over Camion San Rafael between Verdugo and Chevy Chase. Then it’s a short trip over to Descanso (which is a climb itself). The medium skips the initial climb in Elysian Park and first does the Mount Washington climb. Then, instead of the difficult climb over Camino San Rafael, it takes Chevy Chase all the way from the bottom to the top where it joins the long on Descanso. The short skips both the Elysian Park and Mount Washington and instead of the Camino San Rafael climb, it simply takes Chevy Chase up to Descanso. No avoiding some climbing no matter which route you choose, but at least the short offers the easiest way to go. Since all routes have lunch together, if you wait for the longer riders to show up, everyone can have lunch together than then ride back together. The return is almost all downhill, so it shouldn’t be hard to stay together.