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Date: 21 Jul 2007 11:37:02
From: joseph.santaniello@gmail.com
Subject: Los Angeles area riding/racing scene?
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For various reasons I am considering moving to the LA area for a few
years. A prerequisite is good cycling and racing. Obviously anywhere
that has such nice weather and a huge population is going to have a
well developed racing scene with plenty of races. And velodromes! But
there is always a trade-off I suppose. In doing research I have read a
few forums, some websites, etc. and a few things made me ponder the
state of things there and got me wondering if I might be too
frustrated by these things to enjoy myself. So can someone comment on
the reality of these things:
Group rides: I see mention of riders getting ticketed on group
training rides for going through stop signs. I don't want to get
tickets, but more importantly I don't want there to be stop signs
disrupting training rides. Are there stop signs all over the place, or
what? I live in the sticks now and I may be spoiled by not having to
stop ever. On group rides we routinely ride 2 abreast where it doesn't
cause undue traffic. What's the story with riding 2 abreast?
Crits: It seems from the racing schedules I've seen that virtually all
the races are crits. Only a handful of road races. Are there venues
for circuit races or road race series like those in NYC in Central and
Prospect park? I suppose crits are fun and I guess they are probably
what I would be best at, but I'd like to do some road races. Now I do
about 10 road races per year, no crits.
Centuries: Does anyone ride fast on centuries? In big groups? I see no
reason to go to an organized event if I have to ride single file
putting along by myself. Around here the centuries have motorcycle and
police escorts and start in seeded groups so those who want to go fast
can and the way the intersections are there is no reason to have to
stop. I do about 4-5 organized century type rides per year.
Motorists: How do motorists treat riders out on the roads? Around here
the roads are narrow and while most motorists are pretty good, a few
are real problems and the narrow roads makes that more of an acute
problem. I would rather have incompetent drivers who are accomodating
than competent yet aggresive drivers with a chip on their shoulders.
Joseph
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Date: 22 Jul 2007 14:29:41
From:
Subject: Re: Los Angeles area riding/racing scene?
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On Jul 21, 2:37 pm, "joseph.santanie...@gmail.com"
<joseph.santanie...@gmail.com > wrote:
> For various reasons I am considering moving to the LA area for a few
> years. A prerequisite is good cycling and racing. Obviously anywhere
> that has such nice weather and a huge population is going to have a
> well developed racing scene with plenty of races. And velodromes! But
> there is always a trade-off I suppose. In doing research I have read a
> few forums, some websites, etc. and a few things made me ponder the
> state of things there and got me wondering if I might be too
> frustrated by these things to enjoy myself. So can someone comment on
> the reality of these things:
>
> Group rides: I see mention of riders getting ticketed on group
> training rides for going through stop signs. I don't want to get
> tickets, but more importantly I don't want there to be stop signs
> disrupting training rides. Are there stop signs all over the place, or
> what? I live in the sticks now and I may be spoiled by not having to
> stop ever. On group rides we routinely ride 2 abreast where it doesn't
> cause undue traffic. What's the story with riding 2 abreast?
>
> Crits: It seems from the racing schedules I've seen that virtually all
> the races are crits. Only a handful of road races. Are there venues
> for circuit races or road race series like those in NYC in Central and
> Prospect park? I suppose crits are fun and I guess they are probably
> what I would be best at, but I'd like to do some road races. Now I do
> about 10 road races per year, no crits.
>
> Centuries: Does anyone ride fast on centuries? In big groups? I see no
> reason to go to an organized event if I have to ride single file
> putting along by myself. Around here the centuries have motorcycle and
> police escorts and start in seeded groups so those who want to go fast
> can and the way the intersections are there is no reason to have to
> stop. I do about 4-5 organized century type rides per year.
>
> Motorists: How do motorists treat riders out on the roads? Around here
> the roads are narrow and while most motorists are pretty good, a few
> are real problems and the narrow roads makes that more of an acute
> problem. I would rather have incompetent drivers who are accomodating
> than competent yet aggresive drivers with a chip on their shoulders.
>
> Joseph
I lived in the Los Angeles area for 2 years. It was the best place
I've ever lived for riding alone. Basically,
people who live in Los Angeles area stick to the beaten path and as
soon as you take a side road,
it is completely deserted. For example, Highway 1 is incredibly busy,
but the side roads off of it
have very little traffic. Similarly, the San Gabriel mountains have
almost no traffic, and when I was living
there 10 years ago, Glendora Mountain road was a closed road because
of 200m of light dirt in the middle of the climb, so you had
a 9 mile closed road of perfect climbing. Once you got to the top,
there is an almost completely desolate Glendora Ridge road
which takes you to Mt. Baldy. The whole time I lived in LA and climbed
Angeles Crest, and Glendora Mountain, I saw fewer
cyclists than in a single ride up the Berkeley Hills. The Santa Monica
Mountains are a little busier, but not much more. Unlike
many other places, you can climb up the 6000ft mountains all year, I
went up Mt. Wilson in January, where there was only some light snow
near the top.
The group rides are OK, you will have to drive some to get to them. In
general, LA riders are consistent with Southern
California culture and will ride their most expensive equipment on
training rides (except for the pro riders), as opposed to
what you see in Northern California. I also noted that the descending
is not as serious as in Northern California, where I
was just an average descender. In one group ride I did, I could easily
drop the group by a minute on descents. On that ride, there
were also big warnings for the leaders about a bad stretch of dirt and
they all slowed way down for a 20 meter stretch of
very light dirt. This was true for the Redondo Beach ride and also the
Manhattan Beach ride. However, the Simi Valley ride is
about as serious a group ride as you get, nothing at all like that
going on. The Rose Bowl rides consist of 2 traning races
around the Rose Bowl where it is hard to get dropped, and a Saturday
morning ride which goes out West of Pasadena, and
which can be quite hard (it splits up into Cat 3 and Cat 2 groups).
-ilan
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Date: 21 Jul 2007 19:11:23
From: Mark Fennell
Subject: Re: Los Angeles area riding/racing scene?
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joseph.santaniello@gmail.com wrote:
> For various reasons I am considering moving to the LA area
As Colin suggested in his response, "LA" is a huge and diverse place for
riding. It make a big difference where exactly you'll be.
> Group rides:
Great group rides all over LA. The bigger ones can have 100 people or more,
and they're ridden like a race. Sometimes they have trouble with police, but
in my experience and understanding, it's certainly not the majority.
> Crits: It seems from the racing schedules I've seen that virtually all
> the races are crits. Only a handful of road races.
It's a myth that SoCal racing is almost all crits. There are *great* road
races, and some very good stage races too. You can probably do 10-15 quality
road races a year in SoCal, and more than twice that if you're willing to
travel to NorCal. If you like TTs, there are a couple low-key series with
monthly events.
> Centuries: Does anyone ride fast on centuries? In big groups?
Yes. Like little groups that go non-stop and do 4-4.5 hours.
> Motorists: How do motorists treat riders out on the roads?
From what I hear, the motorists in SoCal are much more tolerant than in
many parts of the US.
If you haven't done so already, spend some time looking around:
http://socalcycling.com
and
http://scnca.org
Those are the two primary info sources for racing in SoCal.
Good luck.
Mark
http://marcofanelli.blogspot.com
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Date: 21 Jul 2007 17:04:30
From: Colin Campbell
Subject: Re: Los Angeles area riding/racing scene?
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joseph.santaniello@gmail.com wrote:
> For various reasons I am considering moving to the LA area for a few
> years. A prerequisite is good cycling and racing. Obviously anywhere
> that has such nice weather and a huge population is going to have a
> well developed racing scene with plenty of races. And velodromes! But
> there is always a trade-off I suppose. In doing research I have read a
> few forums, some websites, etc. and a few things made me ponder the
> state of things there and got me wondering if I might be too
> frustrated by these things to enjoy myself. So can someone comment on
> the reality of these things:
>
> Group rides: I see mention of riders getting ticketed on group
> training rides for going through stop signs. I don't want to get
> tickets, but more importantly I don't want there to be stop signs
> disrupting training rides. Are there stop signs all over the place, or
> what? I live in the sticks now and I may be spoiled by not having to
> stop ever. On group rides we routinely ride 2 abreast where it doesn't
> cause undue traffic. What's the story with riding 2 abreast?
>
> Crits: It seems from the racing schedules I've seen that virtually all
> the races are crits. Only a handful of road races. Are there venues
> for circuit races or road race series like those in NYC in Central and
> Prospect park? I suppose crits are fun and I guess they are probably
> what I would be best at, but I'd like to do some road races. Now I do
> about 10 road races per year, no crits.
>
> Centuries: Does anyone ride fast on centuries? In big groups? I see no
> reason to go to an organized event if I have to ride single file
> putting along by myself. Around here the centuries have motorcycle and
> police escorts and start in seeded groups so those who want to go fast
> can and the way the intersections are there is no reason to have to
> stop. I do about 4-5 organized century type rides per year.
>
> Motorists: How do motorists treat riders out on the roads? Around here
> the roads are narrow and while most motorists are pretty good, a few
> are real problems and the narrow roads makes that more of an acute
> problem. I would rather have incompetent drivers who are accomodating
> than competent yet aggresive drivers with a chip on their shoulders.
>
> Joseph
>
Joseph,
You are not going to be disappointed with riding in Southern California.
From whence are you coming? Do you know more precisely where you may
move? Los Angeles County (which itself is huge, and very diverse, from
beaches to mountains to desert)? Orange County? Ventura County?
I live in Orange County (Fullerton), and my riding takes me into
southeastern LA County and western Riverside County. I have everything
from flat bike trails along what we call rivers, to small hills, to big
hills in easy riding distance from my door. If I'm willing to stuff the
bike into the car and drive a bit, I have access in no more than 30
minutes to big climbs in real mountains.
You can find roads in most areas with marked bike lanes, or with room to
ride (bike routes). There are also congested areas where riding is
going to be tougher.
The drivers are a mixed bag, as I expect they are in most places. Your
own care and caution are your best insurance for surviving.
I'm long out of the racing scene, but you are right, the Criterium is
king, and road races are relatively rare, although we do have some in
early spring, such as the Redlands Bicycle Classic. The occasional time
trial is contested on public roads as well. And, as you mentioned,
there are velodromes in Encino, at the Home Depot Center in Carson
(indoor!), down the road in San Diego, and up in the Bay Area at Hellyer
Park in San Jose.
You can ride a century from my area to San Diego and take the Amtrak
back home. You can also ride out to Palm Springs, though you're on your
own for getting back. You can ride north up the coast and have train
service, too.
There are numerous bicycle clubs, some with more of an emphasis on
racing than others. You might look at teamvelocity.org, veloavanti.com,
or veloallegro.org. These are just clubs I have some familiarity with,
not the best in the area, etc. Look at
thefullcycle.com/Club_Directory.htm for more clubs.
Where I ride, it is too congested for you NOT to see stop signs and
lights, and too congested to ignore them in most cases. On the other
hand, there are 8 - 12 km stretches where you are riding free from such
traffic controls, usually in hilly areas such as Turnbull Canyon or
Carbon Canyon. Glendora Mountain Road / Glendora Ridge Road allows you
to ride for over 20 miles with one intersection, and when you get to Mt
Baldy Road, you can climb to something like 8000 feet altitude, after
getting through a Stop sign.
So I'd say, come on out and get acquainted - you'll likely find what you
want!
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