[t-moore]

I live in Glendale, and the riding is great. I'm less than 3 miles from Griffith Park, and there are great rides to be had in almost every direction from my home.

What other areas in the San Fernando or San Gabriel Valley have great rides, where I can hop on my bike before work, and knock out some great miles without worrying too much about traffic. There is a good chance that we will be moving out of Glendale...

 

[mickey-mac]

Angeles/Santa Clarita Valley/Thousand Oaks

I live in Glendale, and the riding is great. I'm less than 3 miles from Griffith Park, and there are great rides to be had in almost every direction from my home.

What other areas in the San Fernando or San Gabriel Valley have great rides, where I can hop on my bike before work, and knock out some great miles without worrying too much about traffic. There is a good chance that we will be moving out of Glendale...

I live in Sherman Oaks and ride to Griffith Park on my weekday, pre-work rides. If you're near Griffith, you may want to reverse my morning out and back ride. I take Riverside to Pass Avenue and then cut over to Forest Lawn and into the park. Riverside has a bike lane on most of it. You're not going to find anywhere near Glendale where you won't have to worry about traffic on a weekday morning ride.

The best option for longer rides out of the Glendale area is heading up into the Angeles, by Angeles Crest or Big Tujunga. However, these aren't "pre-work" rides unless you have a few hours to spare. On the weekend, I also head into the Santa Clarita Valley. Although it's getting more congested by the day, the riding is still pretty nice out there. I also head west out to the Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks area and sometimes head farther north, into Newbury Park or Moorpark.

 

[The Walrus]

There's some good riding in the north end of the Valley...

...around Granada Hills, Northridge, Porter Ranch, etc. Porter Ranch is especially good for a quickie loop up Tampa from Rinaldi to Sesnon, west on Sesnon to Porter Ranch Dr, down to Rinaldi and then back to Tampa. These streets are wiii-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ide, generally with bike lanes and good pavement. You get a good dose of climbing and a fast descent, probably not more than 10 miles, but you can expand the ride easily.

I do another quickie loop from Granada Hills east on Rinaldi to San Fernando Rd, north to Polk St, east to Foothill Bl, north to Balboa and then south back to Rinaldi. Again, easy to customize, but traffic's a little more of an issue than in Porter Ranch and the pavement's more of a challenge.

This area is also a good starting point to head out to Valencia, or over Santa Susana Pass to Simi Valley, Moorpark and beyond.

 

[cmuhlstein]

What other areas in the San Fernando or San Gabriel Valley have great rides, where I can hop on my bike before work, and knock out some great miles without worrying too much about traffic. There is a good chance that we will be moving out of Glendale...

Check out membership with the San Fernando Valley Bike Club

http://www.sfvbc.org/

I try to attend their Saturday morning 8 am CSUN rides and have been exposed to many new areas.

Also, if you can drive a little, you can't beat free parking near lot 52 near Fishermans Village and the Coast Guard on Fiji Way (i think?) in Marina Del Rey. You can hop onto the Ballona Creek route and do a 25+ mile round trip south to Torrance Beach and back with only a handful of traffic lights.

Check out Bicycle Rides Los Angeles County 4th edition by Don and Sharon Brundige