Why this ride
Out of Los Angeles and back again: 275 km, roughly 3 h 48 in the saddle. On the way it passes Ojai and Malibu. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ojai and Highway 33 + Mulholland and Malibu Canyons
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 275 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 48
- Journey
- Loop
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.
Scenic road chapters
Historic Route 66
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 75 km this is Historic Route 66, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 75 km
- Named road
- Historic Route 66
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.
2. Ojai
At sunset, the Topatopa Mountains above the Ojai Valley glow pink for a few minutes, a phenomenon locals call the pink moment, and people pause in the streets to watch. It is that kind of town: small, artsy, a little spiritual and very proud of its valley, tucked into the mountains about an hour and a half north-west of Los Angeles. The philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti lived and taught here for decades, and the town still attracts seekers, artists and people looking for a slower pace of life.
3. Malibu
Twenty-one miles of the Pacific Coast Highway pass through Malibu, and most of them are within sight of the sea. The road squeezes between the steep brown slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains and a narrow ribbon of sand, a mix of beach houses, small plazas, surf breaks and sudden gaps with a view over the water. The town itself has about thirteen thousand people, a city of film stars and surfers, and a strong feeling of being at the edge of something. It was once a ranch owned by the Rindge family, who held off development for decades, and the land was divided only in the 1920s, after the state forced a public road through it.
4. Los Angeles
Return visit. Read the place description above.