Hi and welcome to Mountain Bike LA. Today I'm starting at Old Dirt Mulholland and I'm
going to be heading up to Sullivan Ridge Fire Trail. Come on along!
At the start you'll have one full mile of uphill on the fire road. You can park
farther up the trail but I like to start at the bottom as it gives me a good warm
up and a nice long downhill stretch at the end.
If you've never been up here before, when you get to the top you're sure to
notice two things. Below you is a large body of water that's the Encino Reservoir
and above you is a large steel structure. We'll take a closer look at that on the
way back but for now just think Cold War.
Now we're heading over to Sullivan Fire Road passing through San Vicente
Mountain Park. The great thing about this trail is
that it gives you choices. There are single track trails that will diverge
from the fire road and then rejoin it later. I'm going to try one of these
trails now. You can see it to your left.
Once you get up to the top of the single track you get a great 365 degree view
of the valley and the west side and downtown and right behind me is downtown
which on a clear day you can see very nicely but unfortunately today's not a
clear day and if you look back this way on a clear day you can see the ocean
but too bad we're not here on a clear day. Still it's just great to be out in the
wilderness and to realize what incredible open spaces LA really has.
And now for the descent but not before I lower my seat.
A lower center of gravity really helps on steep descents like this one.
This way. This way. This way.
This way. This way.
This way. This way.
This way.
There are more single tracks along this road but I'm sticking to the fire road
as I head down to the other trailhead.
On the way down I ran into a couple buddies of mine coming the other way.
Bobby riding the three-wheeler used to be an avid mountain biker before health
problems sidelined him but I guess you can't keep a true mountain biker down.
I finally reached the other trailhead.
There's a small parking lot there as well as street parking.
From this end it's called the Westbridge Trailhead.
The ride back is almost all uphill and I like to take a break under the only real
shade tree on the road and take in some of the scenery.
We're finally back to this big steel structure.
During the Cold War this was a radar platform for the anti-aircraft Nike
missile system. In operation from 1956 to 1968 this site housed the radar unit.
If needed to use them the actual missiles would have been launched from nearby
suppovative basin. It now provides great views of the whole area on a clear day.
And now for the final reward. A full mile of downhill bringing the total
mileage for this ride to about nine and a half.
Thanks for joining me. See you next time on Mountain Bike LA.
