Upcoming Rides

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August 18, 2024: Phil's Ride: Whale of a Century

August 11, 2024: Phil's Ride: The Orange Coast Tour

June 30, 2024: Jacques' Ride: Corner - Will Rogers to Mount Holyoke

March 20, 2022 Phil's Ride: Oak Ridge Rides

December 12, 2021: Phil's Ride - Foothill Footsie Century

November 28, 2021: Phil's Ride - Cal Poly By Golly

September 19, 2021: Phil's Ride - Wandering To Whittier 

September 12, 2021: Phil's Ride - The Grand Tour Lite  

April 18, 2021: Phil's Ride - Laguna Canyon Century

August 15, 2021: Phil's Ride - Huntington Beach Go Around 

April 11, 2021: Phil's Ride - Winding Roads of Orange County

November 12, 2020: Phil's Ride - The Triple Dippers

Every Thursday, 8:30 a.m. (unless otherwise specified). 

Start Location: Ballona Creek Bridge.  From I405 exit Culver Blvd and head West or take Rte 90 West and take Culver Blvd exit turn left. Right on Esplanade St, left on Convoy St, and right on Pacific Avenue. Park by the Lagoon on the right. The bridge is about 2 blocks North on Pacific.

For a map and directions to the start, click Start.

Riders usually goes South to Palos Verdes on the bike path and then do some riding on the Peninsula. There are optional climbs including the 3 “dips” which give the ride its name. The group usually stops for a break at the Golden Cove shopping area. Occasionally the group will decide to vary the route and explore specific sites elsewhere in the city. A typical day is 40 - 50 miles but often individual riders either cut the day short or add extra miles as desired.  Contact Lewis Singer lewissinger@nullgmail.com for details.

Check out our weekly newsletter here to get a preview of some of our past rides...Newsletter (http://www.lawheelmen.org/vp-newsletter)

We hope to see you there!

Sunday,  January 19 – 7:30 a.m.

START LOCATION:  EL PARQUE DE LA PAZ (CROWLEY HOUSE) in THOUSAND OAKS.  From Ventura Frwy (101), off & north on Hampshire Rd, L - Thousand Oaks Blvd (at T) for  mile, L - Oakview and L - Pleasant Way to Park. Check Parking signs.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes: 

• Century - Counterclockwise – 101 miles – 5100 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Century– Clockwise 101 miles – 5100 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Metric Century - Counterclockwise – 62 miles – 2300 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Metric Century - Clockwise – 65 miles – 2600 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Combined Routes

For over 20 years, each January we have ridden the “Janus Sequential Centuries. They were “sequential” because they were two centuries (or metric centuries) ridden back to back over two successive days (Saturday & Sunday). There was a time when a number of riders would take up the challenge and actually ride both centuries, but it has been quite a few years now since anyone has done that. In the last number of years, riders would ride only one century either on Saturday or Sunday. So this year, rather than split our ridership between two days, I have simply decided to offer all four routes (both centuries and metric centuries) on one day – today.  The centuries were called “Janus” centuries not only because we always ran these rides in January and Janus is the Roman god for whom January is named, but because Janus was a god  who was portrayed as looking both directions – to the past and to the future – and these centuries were essentially the same route ridden in both directions. All routes ride a loop around Ventura County but two routes (full and metric centuries) ride the loop in a counterclockwise manner and the other two ride the loop in a clockwise direction. The counterclockwise full century route is a large loop which starts from Thousand Oaks with a trip over Erbes to Moorpark, then over Grimes Cyn to Santa Paula and then over Dennison Grade to Ojai. Then its down to Ventura for a swing through Oxnard and on to the final climb of the day  Potrero. Finishing with the very steep climb up Potrero probably makes this the most difficult of the routes, but in the last year or two we have offered an option which skips Potrero for a more gentle return climb (but an extra 6 miles). The clockwise full century reverses the route so it starts by going down Potrero and then on to Oxnard, Ventura and up to Ojai. From Ojai it’s over Dennison Grade to Santa Paula and then over Grimes Canyon to Moorpark and a final climb  back to Thousand Oaks. Although you don’t have to climb Potrero on this route, the long grade up from Ventura to the top of Dennison and the late climb over Grimes puts the bulk of the climbing in the second half of the route. The counterclockwise metric route stays with the full century for the first 7 miles over the initial hill but then cuts west to rejoin the full century near Port Hueneme and the final steep climb up Potrero and to the finish. Like the full century, there is a Potrero avoidance option on the route sheet. The clockwise metric route is the easiest of the four routes since it starts with the downhill on Potrero and takes a fairly flat route through Oxnard and Camarillo before doing a relatively easy climb back over to Thousand Oaks. So there you have it – a choice of two centuries and two metric centuries. With over 5000 feet of climbing, the centuries are fairly difficult for centuries so early in the year, but that was always part of the challenge. So pick your poison and come give it a try. NOTE: It is usually very cold at the start, so come prepared.  

Sunday,  January 26 – 8:30 a.m.

START LOCATION:  Paradise Park in Torrance. From San Diego Frwy (405), off & South on Hawthorne 3.5 miles.  R - Torrance Blvd 0.5 mile, L - Anza one block, R - Lee to Park.  We usually park on the West side of the park by the school.

For a map and directions, click Start.

Routes: 

• Long – 68 miles – 1200 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Medium– 41 miles – 800 feet of elevation gain (barometric)
• Short – 27 miles – 900 feet of elevation gain (mapping software)
• Combined Routes

I remember when I first rode this ride. I was riding the long but was new to the club and couldn’t keep up with the other long riders so I was riding alone. I didn’t mind that, but back then the route sheets didn’t have mileage on them and if you weren’t familiar with the route (I wasn’t) you never knew if the next turn was a tenth of a mile away or ten miles away. I made it down to Knott’s Berry Farm and made the turn after that, but then I must have missed the next turn. After riding many miles I ran into a dead end at Disneyland. I backtracked looking for the turn I had missed and could not find it. Not being familiar with the area, I decided the best thing to do was to simply backtrack the entire route since I knew that would at least get me back. And that’s what I did. To this day I  am still not sure what turn I missed or how I missed it, but it was that experience that made my determined to put mileage on all the route sheets when I got the chance. Of course today, if you miss a turn and get lost, you can simply pull out your phone and figure out where you are. Better yet, I load the route into my Garmin and if I miss a turn, it beeps at me and tells me I’m off course right away. My Garmin also counts down the mileage to the next turn so I always know if it is a tenth of mile away or ten miles away. Ain’t technology great?  As for today’s routes, they all head east from the start in Torrance and then cut south to circle back to the start through Long Beach. While the long makes it all the way to Knott’s, the medium and short each cut off a little earlier, rejoining the long route along the way. All of these routes are fairly flat. That is actually the “surprise” of the title since these routes were created by Ralph Boethling who was known for creating hilly routes. The long used to actually stop at Knott’s for their famous fried chicken. However, over the years a few of us have come to believe that, famous or not, the chicken just isn’t that good for the price they charge. So we have added an alternative lunch on the long besides Knott’s. But some still like the stop at Knott’s so you can take your pick.