A Climb to the Top of PV (50+ miles)
by Matthew on Mar.07, 2009, under Training Ride
I took a drive out to Santa Monica and found some free parking over on 5th Street near Bike Attack. I then went to the starting point for my first ride down to Palos Verdes, and what a ride it was.
We followed the coastline down, using streets most of the time instead of the beach bike path, and headed up into Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes, which has some fairly substantial climbing just to reach that point. After taking a break there, we continued down on Palos Verdes Dr W, and went to Hawthorne Blvd, where I then tacking the longest steep climb I have ever done. Hawthorne Blvd is basically about 4-5 miles of continuous climb up to the top of Palos Verdes. I made it up to the top, albeit slowly, and was very happy when I finally reached the top (especially since it seemed like it was never coming.) Our next rest stop is a Valero gas station at the top of the hill, that has very nice restrooms, especially for a gas station.
After reaching the summit, we had a fun ride back down the hill and finally back up the coastline to Santa Monica. This was a fun ride, and I’m really learning what climbing on a bicycle is about…
Santa Monica to Palos Verdes (click to view detail including mile markers)
