Hi all, East coast transplant here; I just moved out to LA about a month ago. I come mostly from a road/CX background, but I'm hoping to get into a bit more dirt now that I'm out on the west coast. I just picked up a hardtail 29er last week and spent this weekend exploring the trails up in the Santa Monica mountains. Looking forward to seeing some of you guys out there! In the meantime: What are the trails/rides that I absolutely need to do now that I'm here?
Welcome Anthony. This board will help you with mountain bike trails in the Santa Monica area. One of the trail gurus I know on this board is dstepper. I am amazed at the number of trails he know and can tell you the uniqueness of each and how to get there; not only here in CA but also outside CA. Look up some of his Ride Reports.
whatz yur skillz level? What do you like to do? Ie: climb, drop? The closest to you is off Sunset: Sulli Cyn, simple and fast. Next is Rogers Road. More technical, mostly single trac. You can loop those together. After that heading west: up Topanga is Chenney, which is much more technical. All three of these connect in the back country and numerous options are available. Ie, Westridge, sulli ridge, Farmers Rd. In general the more east the easier, west harder, all in your backyard. Happy plunges in the SMMNRA
I like climbing, and I like flowy single track. Less into the really heavy technical downhill stuff, but I'm not afraid of a few drops and such here and there. I did a shop ride out of Topanga Creek Bicycles, and we went down the Serrania Ridge Trail, which was about as technical as I'd want to handle. That said, I'd definitely like to improve my technique on the bike.
I'm in Marina Del Rey (when I'm not traveling). We ought to get together. To ride. I'll be back in early December.
