LA Training Rides - Mandeville Canyon and the 3 Bitches

Garmin Connect Link

Here is a ride I constructed that takes in several roads that the locals use for training.
Starting in an exclusive part of Santa Monica,  it starts with the wide safety of San Vicente to give access to the nice and gentle 8.4km ave 3.5% climb up Mandeville Canyon Rd.

A diversion on the return takes in the infamous THREE BITCHES.
Three short roads that linked together, give a tough 1.6km ave 9.8% workout,
 with gradients consistently approaching 17%
Check out the segment on Strava 3 bitches

If you think training rides should be all about exploding .... this is the ride for you.
Repeat as required.

Tuna Canyon Rd - First Descent

Exploring the Santa Monica Mountains has its moments. The famous Rock Store is the only cafe.

Water refills have to be pre-planned with precision. Some roads are way too busy with cars.

Paying attention to your road position is essential, as motorcyclists and sports cars abound & play here at speed.

It is way worth putting up with these small issues ...... the roads are almost perfect.

The surfaces are superb, the views spectacular, the climbing endless and the descents .... well, the descents are FAST. 

The Vicroads of this area must know a thing or two about safety. They have a few tricks in place.

Like continuous yellow double lines to tell everyone to stay on their side of the road. They even gorge ripple holes in with the double yellows, so that if you do happen to venture to the line on one of the tighter-than-expected corners, you get a rude awakening. 

The authorities gave up on one road though. It is too steep, too narrow ...... too dangerous for cars going in opposite directions to safely pass. Few guard rails, big drops off some corners.

So they made it into a racers dream, by making it ONE WAY.

Instead of it being one way up, they made it one way DOWN. Whoever approved this, obviously drives a sports car. 

And of course, this road is .....

TUNA CANYON ROAD !

One way downhill, make sure you have good brakes.

Exploring Yerba Buena Road, Santa Monica Mountains

On this LA trip I have set out to expand my riding into new areas that local riders might use for training.

I had a few clues from last time here, so I spent some time setting up new courses on Garmin Connect that I can upload onto my 800.

Now what a wonderful device is the 800. It is easy enough to follow an uploaded map. As long as you can actually get onto the course, because if you don't, it keeps wanting you to turn back to the start !

I have a North American sim for my 800. It gets shared with the car GPS I bring with me and it is an easy swap. Just don't let it ping out when changing over ...... it is spring loaded ....

So .... I wanted to ride Yerba Buena Rd. I knew it had steep sections and was maybe a bit rough, so I decided to attack it from the top and ride DOWN. So I did.

Little Sycamore, comes off Mulholland and leads to Yerba Buena.This sign indicating a name change was not even anywhere near a junction !
Name changes are confusingly common in the SMM, but with my trusty 800,
navigation is made lot easier.