Why this ride
Out of Los Angeles, one way: 159 km, roughly 2 h 04 in the saddle. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Highway 101: Los Angeles to Santa Barbara
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 159 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 04
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Los Angeles
Route 66 does not end in a blaze of glory. After more than three thousand kilometres from Chicago, the old highway frays into the boulevards of Los Angeles, and its last stretch is a patchwork of Foothill Boulevard, Colorado Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, ending officially at the pier in Santa Monica, with the Pacific beyond. The point on the map here is the old centre, where the city began in 1781 as a Spanish pueblo, and a few blocks of adobe buildings and a Mexican market street, Olvera Street, are still standing, near the grand Spanish-style Union Station, which opened in 1939.
Read the complete Los Angeles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Los Angeles is where the day begins. Next is Ventura.
2. Ventura
Mission San Buenaventura, founded in 1782 by Father Junípero Serra, was the last of the missions he established, and its church and garden are a quiet, peaceful corner in the middle of the town. Ventura Pier, built in 1872, is the longest wooden pier in California, a long wooden promenade that pokes out into the Pacific, and fishermen and walkers stroll along it.
Read the complete Ventura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ventura comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is Santa Barbara.
3. Santa Barbara
The Pacific Coast Highway has a way of ending in places that look like film sets, and Santa Barbara is the best of them. The city sits on a narrow shelf of land between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the ocean, facing south, which is unusual on the Californian coast, so the sun seems to hang over the water in the afternoon. The red tile roofs, white stucco walls and arched arcades are not an accident. After an earthquake in 1925 destroyed much of downtown, the city rebuilt in a unified Spanish Colonial Revival style, and the result is a place that feels more like Andalusia than Los Angeles.
Read the complete Santa Barbara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 159 km.
Leg by leg
Los Angeles to Ventura
Los Angeles → Ventura is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ventura to Santa Barbara
Ventura → Santa Barbara is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.