Santa Monica (~70 miles; ~2,000 feet elevation gain)
I've always wanted to bike down to the ocean. Two years ago, I did a long ride to Malibu (~110 miles), but when my buddy Lubos decided to go running down at Venice, CA, I decided to meet him in Santa Monica to catch a ride back. The general overview is this - over Goode Hill, down Bouquet Canyon to Santa Clarita, San Fernando Road through Santa Clarita, Sierra Highway to duck under the CA-14/I-5 interchange, Balboa Blvd across the San Fernando valley, Sepulveda over the pass, then Wilshire to the ocean. In retrospect, I think that San Vincente has a bike lane, so maybe Wilshire was not such a good idea. But I had two flat tires and I lost my bike pump (it came loose off my bike and was crushed by traffic), so I can forgive myself. BTW, 04/13/08 was a mighty warm day...it must have been 90 degrees near Van Nuys. I did find a nice Mobil to eat and use the restroom at on the corner of Rinaldi and Balboa.
This ride is really not nearly as scary as it looks. No monster climbs like the San Gabriels...these are just the Sierra Pelonas. It turns out that while Balboa does not have a bike lane, it is three lanes wide and there is not much Sunday traffic, so it rides pretty well. I did need a short dogleg on Ventura Blvd to get to Sepulveda, and Ventura is pretty chewed up! Sepulveda has a neat tunnel at the top and it is pretty steep, but there is a nice bike lane almost all the way to the top. It is mighty fun to descent next to the I-405 and think about how *you* are not stuck in traffic!
Joshua tree and wildflowers on the side of Goode Hill Road
Looking back at the AV past the CA aqueduct - facing north on Goode Hill Road
Those ubiquitous CA poppies off of Elizabeth Lake
This is the turnoff to Bouquet Canyon Road - there's a quick climb to the Lincoln crest then crazy fun twisty canyon roads down to Santa Clarita
Bouquet Reservoir - too bad us triathletes can't swim in it!
The creek was flowing quite nicely - the humidity smelled of...life
Just about finished with the twisty part of Bouquet Canyon road just north of Santa Clarita
Conclusion: Really impress your friends...tell them you biked to the ocean.