"Swampy" Needs Good L.A. Loop -- HELP!

[vguy]

This reply from Swampy came from my Ride Report "California Canyon Craming" http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,16320.0.html

"Nice report -
Wife and I are planning a trip to LA area last week of Novemeber. I am renting a C14 (connie) for the week. Can you recommend a nice 200-250 mile loop for us to take? We love the mountains and have toured the Alps, SanFran, Smokies, and NH a bunch. Never had a bike in LA area. We will be starting out in Santa Monica.
any ideas appreciated - email me if you prefer."
Cheers!
Swampy

My Reply
First thing in Santa Monica...
go to AAA and get the maps "Los Angeles County Mountains and Deserts" and the "Los Angeles Area Freeway System."
They will give you a good overview of the County and how to get around -- As there will be slab at times getting from one area to the other.

And, since you'll be in Santa Monica I would also recommend renting bicycles near the Pier and doing the Santa Monica - Venice Beach thing -- it's fun.

I'm going to move this to another thread in Region 1 so that others can advise too.

Idea #1:
From Santa Monica you'll want to do "The Rock Store" just to say you've been there and get it out of the way...
Inch your way up the Coast Highway to Topanga Canyon (27) and left on Mulholland Highway to near Cornell and the Rock Store.
Then I would advise getting to the "real" roads...

From Mulholland you could take 23 north to Moorpark and do viffer vern's route:

Moorpark:
Take Hwy 23 out of town and catch some back roads (23 to Broadway Rd., Stockton Rd, Balcon Canyon Rd, South Mountain Rd,) and come into Santa Paula.
From Santa Paula hit Hwy 150 through Ojai and on to Carpinteria, and then back to Ojai for fuel.
We'll head out of Ojai up 33 to Lockwood Valley and into Frazier Park and fuel.
From Frazier Park we go over to N2 to Three Points and down to Lake Hughes Rd.
We'll take Lake Hughes Rd to Castaic, down the 5 and back out San Francisquito Canyon Rd to Spunky Canyon Rd.
From Spunky we hit Bouquet, Vasquez and Sand Canyons with a fuel stop at the 14.
The 14 will take you back to the 5 then 405 and the 10 back to S.M.

Someone else might have a another idea starting from Santa Monica.

[vguy]

Someone else might have a another idea starting from Santa Monica.

[Viffer Vern]

Regarding the route that we did yesterday:  I would skip 150 out to Carpinteria and back.  Lots of traffic and your time would be better spent going up 33 and over to Lockwood Valley.  If you have the time take 33 all the way up to 166.  Take a right on 166 and head over to Cerro Noroeste and head back to Frazier Park.  Either way it's great scenery and great roads with little traffic.  

Do you have MS Streets and Trips 07, or better yet a Garmin GPS?  If so I'll send you the route.

[Swampy]

Yes I have MS streets and maps but the only garmin I own is on my boat. I use tomtom on a small Treo phone for on board gps (probably doesnt help) ... map routes would be appreciated....let me know if you need my email address

Thanks all!

[Viffer Vern]

Yes I have MS streets and maps but the only garmin I own is on my boat. I use tomtom on a small Treo phone for on board gps (probably doesnt help) ... map routes would be appreciated....let me know if you need my email address

Thanks all!

Pm me your address and I'll send some stuff your way.  Where exactly are you starting from?

[eatpasta]

Regarding the route that we did yesterday:  I would skip 150 out to Carpinteria and back.  Lots of traffic and your time would be better spent going up 33 and over to Lockwood Valley.  If you have the time take 33 all the way up to 166.  Take a right on 166 and head over to Cerro Noroeste and head back to Frazier Park.  Either way it's great scenery and great roads with little traffic.  

 YES, but PLEASE dont forget to check out Pine Mtn, Bouquet Cyn, and Little T!!

 

[GTS_Rider]

Here's my suggested route. It's 290 miles if you do the whole thing, but if you cut it off at Frazier Park and slab it back to Santa Monica its about 260.

This is a good tourist route if your looking to see some sights and don't mind some serious twisties. I picked Fernwood Pacific/Saddle Peak turn off of Topanga Cyn. because those roads provide some great views of the city. There's great views off the right-side of Saddle Peak near the top, of the L.A. Basin with Wilshire district high rises in the foreground and downtown L.A. visible on a really clear day. A few more miles up the road at Saddle Peak/Stunt Road/Schueren intersection, there's a wide pull-off to view the West end of the San Fernando valley on one side of the road, and the Santa Monica bay on the other side of the road all the way to the Palos Verdes Peninsula on a clear day. There's a couple of left-side road turn-offs on Piuma where you can see Malibu Cyn decending down to the coast and all the great burn area of our recent fires. Plus, you'll still go by the world-famous Rock-Store on the Santa Monica Alps portion of the ride.

The Ojai and beyond section includes a slightly less complicated route to Balcom Cyn and S. Mountain Rd. on the way to 150. Though if your up for the more complicated route it's more backroad action for you (I gather you're already getting maps for that). Finally, I still believe that Cerro Noroeste is one of the Crown Jewels of S. Cal moto roads and not to be missed, so my map skips Lockwood Valley in favor of Cerro. I really don't think you'll complete much beyond that for twisties in tourist mode, but I included a few beyond that if your still game...

Here's a map-link to google maps which you should be able to zoom and pan...

http://tinyurl.com/38t2hu

 

[Swampy]

Very greatful guys - thanks

[Lawn Dart]

Hmmm, do we need to schedule a SoCal group ride here?  

The longer rides would take you through Frazier, Cerro Noreste, Ojai...  Prolly around 325 miles...

Angeles Crest is near enough to Santa Monica...

[miles]

I know- we can do a group ride on the 24th!  That'll fit great in my schedule- how about the rest of you?


miles

[vguy]

I might do Rick's route this weekend -- sounds interesting.

[GTS_Rider]

I just took a look at my google map on a more zoomed view and it looks like my initial post sneaked right around the the Rock Store by picking up a piece of Kanan Rd. The basic idea is to do Mulholland till you hit 23/Decker Cyn., I think this map reflects the correct route. The Rock Store is on Mulholland right around where you see Seminole Hot Springs on the map.

http://tinyurl.com/375ecg

[Viffer Vern]

I know- we can do a group ride on the 24th!  That'll fit great in my schedule- how about the rest of you?


miles

If this look like it's for real, I'll check with the wife.  Robert, any possibility of moving your 23rd ride to the 24Th?

[Lawn Dart]

If this look like it's for real, I'll check with the wife.  Robert, any possibility of moving your 23rd ride to the 24Th?

Everything is possible...Heck, might just be an excuse to do TWO rides!

[Viffer Vern]

Swampy, you might be getting a tour from a contingent of SoCal STN'ers  You up for that?

[Swampy]

Wow - I am not worthy - thanks for all the info and such ... I just checked out the maps - SWEET!

Could be fun riding in a group with you folks - the more the merrier IMO as long as the pace is sane for us two up riders...

[Swampy]

Holy Crap that connie is FAST compared to my old iron (89 Kanotuna 1100 - ported/jetted) but where it really shines is brakes and suspension.....wow. It is a grey rental with 3300 miles - hard bags are excellent - one key does everything from seat to bags to gas cap - nice! FOB thing is ok = not sure it makes sense in the long run though. Battery is forward and right which makes it hard to connect vests to...but really like having a cigarrette type plug on the dash - cool!

First impressions - compared to my more drag bike-like KAT.....I feel like I am sitting way up high - wierd to be seeing way over cars...also, the bars are fugly to me and I would prefer a little more forward lean. The seat seems comfy but frankly slides me forward into the tank a bunch - wife not thrilled with the back seat either for the same reason. Bags hinder where here boots can go too which is a bit of an issue.

The bike is very smooth - shifts beautifully up or down, no false nuetrals, and I tent to go clutchless once I get going and the shaft doesnt mind one bit (much nicer than a BMW shaft)....the motor is like silky smooth and then just pulls like I have never experienced before - what a beast! Brakes are one finger only- any more and it could get scary....of course this has ABS and I have not gone nuts with it riding two up. Feels light and flicks well though there is some dead time at the point of transition from one lean to other....takes some getting used to. Might just be setup.

Took a tour of the typical LA/Holywood stuff and then headed into the Los Angeles Forest but of course by then it was 4-ish and the sun and temps were dropping. Electric vest really helped the spouse....great roads. The motor absolutely cooks the shins in traffic (and it's only 70 here) In S FL this would be really unbearable. Upside is it keeps your feet warm in the mountains but man- there should be an adjustment or something.....my air and oil cooled motor runs cool in comarison. Looking forward to a few days of canyon heaven.

[Swampy]

Had a great time with Swampette and the C14. No drops or scrateches - no mechanical issues - nice low mileage rental bike....sweet.

Got pulled over for doing a questionale turn off the highway to check my maps ... got let go by the CHP. Also got stopped coming around a corner is the mountains cause they closed the road to film something...otherwise no legal issues. This is actually amazing considerring the 900 miles of riding much of it was at 2X the speed limits.

I'd post some pics but they are too large and I cant figure out how to shrink them....anyone know- shoot me pm and I'll post..

[vguy]

Glad it all work out, and you two had a ride ride.

Maybe you mentioned it, but where did you rent the Connie?

[1moreroad]

Had a great time with Swampette and the C14. No drops or scrateches - no mechanical issues - nice low mileage rental bike....sweet.

Got pulled over for doing a questionale turn off the highway to check my maps ... got let go by the CHP. Also got stopped coming around a corner is the mountains cause they closed the road to film something...otherwise no legal issues. This is actually amazing considerring the 900 miles of riding much of it was at 2X the speed limits.

I'd post some pics but they are too large and I cant figure out how to shrink them....anyone know- shoot me pm and I'll post..

Glad you had such a good time.  Where did you end up?  Easiest way to upload them is to post them to flickr.com or a similar site then follow the link to post from there.

[Swampy]

We rented at Eagle in Santa Monica - they were great people - no hassles, quick 20 minute check out and check in. No BS and the  bike had very miles on it...they also had an ST1100 and goldwing to rent

We ended up in Pasadena and had to stay close by so we ran up the mountains a number of times - taking various routes throughout the hills and hit some nice food venues out in the middle of the mountains - nice! Got cold though - glad we brought electric vests.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to send me loops - next time we know where to go