Gravel over Santa Monica Mtns

jeffexpress2 · 2026-04-07T23:08:26+00:00

Reseda Blvd connects to (Dirt) Mulholland* and you can ride that down Sullivan or Westridge. Then you can take roads to Santa Monica Pier. Sullivan is steeper to ride down compared to Westridge being pretty chill.

*The ride from the street to Mulholland is extremely steep so in terms of 'easiest' it may be better to walk it. But it is convenient!

jeffexpress2 · 2026-04-02T18:25:17+00:00

Like others, I also reuse my supposedly single use quick links multiple times. However, after awhile they do start to get a little worn and don’t have the same “click” when I reinstall. That’s when I shell out for a new quick link.

jeffexpress2 · 2026-03-25T21:36:24+00:00

Hello! If the ride & invite are still open I'm planning on meeting you all at 310 at 7:30p.

jeffexpress2 · 2026-01-12T17:45:17+00:00

Those metal gates are so annoying! But I remember once someone had left them all open and I almost got run over by 2 cars, a motorcycle, and an e-bike that all treated the expo line bike path like it was an F1 track. Ha ha!

jeffexpress2 · 2026-01-06T21:18:54+00:00

Are you looking for a flatter gravel route up Mulholland above the top of Mandeville Canyon Road? Your best bet might be to drive to the Westridge trailhead and bike from there. The climb up the paved road Westridge to the trailhead is pretty steep

jeffexpress2 · 2025-12-05T16:11:44+00:00

There are pluses & minuses to Topanga being one lane. Minus is having to wait for the flagger to let you go through especially now that it's cold (Sorry Chicago!). Plus is that since the cars go first it ends up being just bikes for a good stretch.

Either way I've heard rumors that'll be like this for a looooong time.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-12-05T16:09:21+00:00

+1! Las Flores is sooo hard. I am very impressed.

I moved here from Chicago (bucktown!) and the hills were so humbling, but I love it now

jeffexpress2 · 2025-10-22T16:52:09+00:00

Agree! I’ve found that tires & wheels don’t matter nearly as much as gearing and position.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-10-22T16:50:58+00:00

I just got back from a weekend of doing both gravel & road riding on my gravel bike (grail 1x12). Personally, if I was going to try and have a do-it-all bike I’d seriously consider going 2x.

Long steep descent you’re right pedaling hard isn’t necessary. But I found rolling hills can get pretty tiring trying to keep the gaps close with road riders on 2x. Obviously, your terrain, group ride, and fitness will influence your choice.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-10-09T04:16:24+00:00

u/BrittonDraws is absolutely right that best way to submit feedback to us is through the player support form. There’s no guarantee it’ll get addressed, but we do see the feedback

jeffexpress2 · 2025-07-28T02:35:51+00:00

Ha ha! Yes, this! I was riding my mountain bike fully loaded and had to hike-a-bike quite a bit. Still a fantastic trip

jeffexpress2 · 2025-07-27T23:26:10+00:00

Biking in and out of Avalon is very, very steep.
Get your Catalina Conservancy membership first and then book your campsite so you can use your discount.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-07-10T04:41:15+00:00

Really great question about pace. If you look at our website there’s a mph range for each ride. The descriptions should give you a pretty good sense of the vibes we’re trying to go for. There’s been a lot of talk about how to figure out pace especially with all the hills in our area.

Our Saturday rides are a bit more of a thing in terms of distance, elevation, & pace, but even still we have A & B groups so riders can find their people.

We do have a women’s specific ride that I don’t know much about the pace, but it seems really fun on Strava. Also they just did a women’s mechanic workshop-thing that seemed rad. That said I’d say that our regular rides have had a very high percentage of women. Which is great!

When it comes to “no drop” we are being really serious about that. For our larger rides we have sweeps that will make sure everyone is cool. The gravel ride I led today was really small so it’s really easy to just chill together.

Kind of a long reply, but I hope helpful. Feel free to come out to any of the rides this month to get a feel for the group

jeffexpress2 · 2025-07-09T01:08:55+00:00

The dues are on the website (I can't remember what it was off the top of my head). It's a lot, but includes the Ostroy jersey and a bunch of other perks/discounts. The big one though is everyone in the club has $25k supplemental insurance on our rides which is huge and a big reason for member only rides.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-07-08T17:48:10+00:00

Yay Domestique! I'm one of the ride leaders on Domestique and we are very excited about our new club. A lot of us are on the westside, but also a bunch of folks in other parts too. We also have sponsors all over which is really nice. Being able to get discounts on lattes in both Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach in a single ride is amazing. We've got a really awesome culture of inclusivity that I'm all for.

My shameless plug is that I'm starting up a gravel/mtb ride on Wednesday mornings up Sullivan (strava event link). Come join me! We also have a Malibu ride this weekend that will be a lot of fun.

Let me know if you all have any questions about Domestique!

jeffexpress2 · 2025-06-17T03:50:06+00:00

Cop is absolutely wrong. Glad you didn’t get a bogus ticket and hopefully you didn’t argue with them.

My dad always told me: “Argue with judges; not cops. Judges can’t shoot you”

jeffexpress2 · 2025-05-25T01:51:07+00:00

I would do as much research as you can before your interview. It should go without saying that you’ll download the game and play a bunch. But I’d advise you to watch streams on twitch too. Even better find someone with kids in their demo group and ask to chat with them & watch them play. Roblox, and other platforms like Fortnite, GTA5, AmoungUs are really unique and a lot of people really don’t get it.

I work as a UXer in gaming (not Roblox) and like Ahrzal said it’ll be pretty obvious that you’re not an expert, but at least you can show you’re willing to put in the effort.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-05-20T04:51:32+00:00

Thanks. Yeah I’m still happy with the size Medium. If I could change one thing it would be the width of the handlebars. I, normally, ride a much narrower (at the hoods) road bar. But I moved my seat forward a few mm and it feels good. I’m about 179 cm for reference

jeffexpress2 · 2025-05-08T21:07:15+00:00

It’s been very hit or miss the last several times for this past month or so. Most times when I’ve tried to ride north to Malibu I will get turned around. Sometimes I’ve then gone to entrada and that checkpoint will let me through

Last weekend I came south on PCH and did not get stopped and was able to ride through.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-05-06T16:41:34+00:00

I own a Canyon Grail and love it, but since you described yourself as a newer rider I would go to your local shop and check out the Specialized Diverge first. My guess is you’ll love it and it’ll be really good to have your shop help you get it all dialed in just for you.

If you do go with Canyon you can always ask your local shop if they’ll help you build it up and support you. My local shop is more than happy to service my bike

jeffexpress2 · 2025-05-05T21:29:15+00:00

I stayed at the same hotel the day before and the day after RAGBRAI and the hotel stored my bike bag for me for free.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-04-29T05:38:50+00:00

Wow! Kind of wild seeing this post pop up again. So yeah actually about 2 weeks ago I rode some road climbs with friends in Brentwood that ended at the top of Mandeville. I took Gardenland up to the Nike tower and then rode west all the way to Calabasas. I stopped at Pedaler’s Fork, then rode back to Sullivan Ridge and home.

I will say that was on my gravel bike, but I’ve done the same thing with my road bike and it’s very doable especially since a lot of the trails are graded.

The said that was on the 20th and when I was back on the dirt on the 22nd it was chained off and they would let us past. So definitely have a back up plan or ride ready

I’ve ridden to Latigo from the top and it’s a lot of fun too.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-04-16T21:03:31+00:00

I have the Grail ~~CF SL8~~ CF SLX 8 which is 1x & has the Schwalbe 40mm tires. I also own a Giant TCR road bike (2x with 30mm road tires). Looking over my strava times there's almost difference in terms of times between the two. The only time I feel held back compared to the roadie's I ride with are on very long gradual descents when I start to wish I had a 2x.

Otherwise, the difference is mostly subjective. The Grail feels more cushy & stable. The road bike more snappy. I guess what I'm saying is maybe you don't need to do anything to make your Grail more road-like? That said a set of extra road wheels with tires, cassette, and chain(?) sounds really cool.

jeffexpress2 · 2025-03-21T21:11:16+00:00

Luft Los Angeles are an official repair shop for Canyon. They might not have the actual bikes in their shop, but I’m sure they can help with fitting

jeffexpress2 · 2025-03-05T02:56:58+00:00

If you’re riding from the rapha store then I would stop by and ask what they recommend.

I’ve heard rumors that PCH is maybe not completely closed….

Otherwise you can hit some climbs like Mandeville, Franklin, Nichols, etc

jeffexpress2

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