i rarely get off my bike and admire things, but gmr, grr, and baldy are some of the best things i've done on a bike

Those are great climbs. But, to be honest, it's still not worth staying in the San Gabriel Valley. You're better off staying in Santa Monica and driving to those routes on the days you want to ride, and otherwise just riding from your room to the Santa Monica Mountains.

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Exp001

you might be right santa monica offers more to see than san gabriel valley but pasadena and san marino are close by if he wants to do some sight seeing. from lets say pasadena-monrovia he could take the 210 and get to the glendale area for some rides as well, but i am not too familiar with the area or turn the other direction and ride hwy 18 to big bear or arrowhead. the thing i do not like about santa monica is the traffic to get in or out. i also think that the comute from pasadena to hollywood is closer or at least faster. if the op is staying or has plans to be in santa monica driving to these routes might be a pain as it would take him anywhere form 90-120 minutes driving x 2 and about a 3 hour ride he would kill about 6 hours at the very least.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Not fussed where I stay other than preference is closer to the riding. Won't have much time at the end of the trip in LA and definitely have no interest in the tourist sights during my stay in LA.

Just want to spend my time riding and relaxing. On my last day still want to get a ride in that morning, find somewhere to shower and pack the bike before driving to LAX dropping off the rental and then wait for my 23:30 flight.

Found some cheaper hotels around Calabasas - close to the riding in the Santa Monica hills and right on a hwy that will get me across to the San Gabriel climbs?

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if you last ride is a saturday, i recomend doing the montrose ride. it is mainly flat at a pretty decent pace on of about 25mph avergae for about 50 miles for the longer ride.

Won't be there on a weekend. I am flying out Thursday night which was the latest day I could leave and give me a few days back home before I have to be back at work on the Monday...

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Since you're staying mid-week then, stay on the Westside (Santa Monica, vicinity). Why?
- If you're jonesin' to drive to go on a San Gabriel Mountain ride you'll miss traffic entirely because you'll be traveling in the opposite direction of traffic both going and returning. Traffic will be most likely a non-issue when you're traveling from the West in the morning or to the West in the evening.
- Easy access to the airport when you do, eventually, have to fly out. Way easier to make it from the Westside compared to the San Gabriel Valley area.
- Consistent mid-week early morning rides to get you warmed up, every day of the week except for Monday.
- Santa Monica Mountains... you can literally spend day(s) exploring the climbs in the area and most of them connect to each other, ridable from your hotel, no driving.
- Hollywood Hills & Bel Air have some variety to offer if you want to mix some steep climbs with ridiculously expensive homes and views of Los Angeles, ridable from your hotel.
- Everything post-ride is really nice out here. Neighborhoods in this area don't "go to sleep" at 19h.

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Exp001

If you are not leaving until 11.30 you will have time to drive up to Santa Barbara if you want some decent climbs or if you want some more rolling stuff and spectacular coast scenery - a little reminiscent of the the GOR you could ride south and down around Lake Casitas.

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Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story......
Argon
CAAD9 6.78Kg
Supersix 6.78Kg

I'm going to be in LA for a long weekend visiting my daughter and son in law and am contemplating bringing my bike. I figure I might be able to get away for a few hours for a couple of rides. They live in Pico-Robertson. Looking at various rides under 50mi on Strava it seems that if you want to ride from there (as opposed to driving somewhere like Malibu to start) you have to traverse some heavily trafficked roads (Wilshire/ Santa Monica Blvd/ Sunset) until you get to the hills. What do you think are the best options?

From the Pico-Robertson area, you have a few choices for the Santa Monica Mountains:
-drive to San Vicente/Ocean (short drive)
-ride to San Vicente/Ocean (add about 30 minutes to your ride each way)

or just ride the Hollywood Hills & Bel Air. Plenty of climbs, occasional views at the tops, "historical" streets.

From that specific area, I'd head North on Robertson, shimmy my way to Sunset, from Sunset take the Sunset Plaza climb (throw in Greenvalley Rd for a brutal wall at the end), to Mulholland... from there you've basically got access to everything, and for kicks you can ride your way to the towers above the famous Hollywood sign.

Send a PM if you'd like some specific points about which roads are easy to navigate with vehicular traffic, which to avoid, and how to get to where you want to be.

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Exp001

Great news. Pikes Peak is now open to bikes year round from the 1st of January 2013! http://www.springsgov.com/News.aspx?NewsID=2375" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Question for the Boulder, CO fans.

I'm thinking of driving up from New Mexico for a long weekend of climbing next year. What's the best time for Boulder? June seems to be ideal in NM, as the weather and roads are dry, the wind is down, and heat is still manageable. I was wondering if this was also the case up there?

Thanks, Scott

June is pretty nice here- probably similar to where you are, but there can still be snow at higher elevations (not really likely around Boulder, but if you are considering riding the Mt. Evans road, it's possible).

Denver's is not what youd think, it's pretty big and sprawling and the mountains are only on one side so you can't just bike from your front door.

Boulder is great but pretty overrated I thought. Again most of the riding is either the mountains to the nw or flatland. Its phenomenal don't get me wrong, it's just been talked up so much I thought it would be better.

The high Rockies like Leadville, bail, Breckinridge and aspen not to mention farther out places like Durango ... Geez everywhere in the mountains in coloeado is great and there's a lot less people than California. Best riding anywhere. Minus the ocean views dammit, then it would be perfect.

While in Reno you can hit 3-4 super soild climbs in one ride, 100 miles and 10000ft of climbing.
Depending on which way you go it will either be
Geiger-Spooner-Mt Rose backside Or Rose(18 miles 4500ft gain from the valley)-spooner-geiger backside

The death ride climbs will take some driving but there are also some super hard climbs in the tahoe area that wont show on a map like the martis valley ranger station climb which averages 12% for 4 miles.