Sepulveda Pass

It’s funny how the weather is so unpredictable in Los Angeles. It’s chilly one minute and it’s hot the next. We started our Shifting Gears ride in 48 degrees weather, but soon the sun was out blazing strong. I was planning on wearing my brand my windvest today, but decided to change back to my long-sleeve jacket at the last minute (just in case). Bad mistake. It ended up being a really hot ride – especially because we did a lot of climbing.

Sam and I met up with about 40 riders at Helen’s Cycles to do our first training ride of the season on the Sepulveda Pass. The ride took us west toward the beach, then north and then back east toward Brentwood to Westwood. We rode past my cousin Hayden’s apartment. (Hi, Hayden!) It was freaking early so I’m sure he was still sleeping. (Sleep sounds good.) Once we got out of Westwood, we continued west on Santa Monica Boulevard, turned north at Century City and headed into Bel Air. Riding through Bel Air was pretty and someone even mentioned the Housewives of Beverly Hills houses. I don’t watch the show, so I wouldn’t know the houses even if I rode past them. When we finally left Bel Air, we rode past UCLA (Go Bruins!!) and headed west to Sepulveda Boulevard. From there, it was one long climb north.

The section we rode is called “The Sepulveda Pass” and runs parallel the 405 freeway. It’s about a 5 mile climb from Westwood to the top where it crosses under Mulholland Drive, then down into Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley. The climb started off with a modest incline. We rode about 3 miles at a 5 to 6 mile-per-hour pace. The climb got steeper in the last couple of miles and we slowed down to a 3 to 4 mile-per-hour pace, but at long last we completed our climb. At the top, we had to ride through a tunnel, underneath Mulholland, to get to the San Fernando Valley side. Tunnels are always scary for bikers since cars might not see them in the dark. We made it through the tunnel okay and then it was a downhill decent to our first pit stop in Sherman Oaks.

Once we had rested, we turned around and climbed Sepulveda again to return to Westwood. Fortunately, the climb on the San Fernando Valley back up toward Mulholland was only about 2 miles, so it wasn’t as bad. I even picked up some steam and rode up at a faster pace than earlier. The downhill decent past the tunnel was fun, but it was also a little scary. I had my hands on my brakes most of the way down just to keep my speed under control. I hit a few red lights along the way down, which was annoying, but otherwise it was a cool ride down. From Westwood, we headed into Brentwood and stopped at our second pit stop. We realized that there were only about three more miles to go from that pit stop, so we decided to just skip the break and continue on our way back. Sam and I just wanted to be done with the ride. I think the Sepulveda climb really kicked our butts and we were absolutely worn out. Needless to say, we were both thrilled when we got back to Helen’s. The ride totaled 35.72 miles.

This ride is dedicated to these awesome sponsors: Chi-Wai A. & Douglas L.; Jury C.; Scott C.; and Steven T.