Santa Monica Mtns.

Is it fun to muni on these trails?

Been riding them for ~3 1/2 years on a mtn bike but I’m not sure how they would be for muni, since I dont have one yet.

Dont want to spend all the $$ on a muni if I cant ride it anywhere…

I’ve never ridden there but assuming you’ve been riding for a while it’s probably safe to do it on the one you have now and then if you’re having trouble with getting over bumps then go ahead and order a 24’’ or bigger. But if you enjoy it then go ahead and get a muni.

There’s some interesting stuff in Sullivan Canyon. There’s also a good conditioning trail in Malibu Canyon. John Long (vivalargo) knows best, that’s his local area.

oh no I dont have a muni right now.

Been mtn biking with 2 wheels for a few years. Cant unicycle yet.

Yeah I rode sullivan canyon this morning and was looking around to see how it would possibly fare on a muni. Seems like the best bet in the area, since the only other place I can think of is the backbone, and that seems kind of long on a 24" wheel.
Malibu Creek now after the rains is relativey rocky and technical, so seems fun to do in a few years when I can actually balance on a muni.
I know that this is looking pretty far ahead, but I dont want to spend $200 for nothing…

BTW anyone ridden the backbone on a muni (will rogers section)?

I live nearby so pleeeease tell me where the good technical trails are in SM. Thanks!:smiley:

The technical rides in the SM mountains rarely involve rocky terrain, rather steep dirt and shale. The Sullivan Ridge fire road takes off from the top of Ridgeway, which is just off Sunset Blvd (Mapquest it). There’s a single track descending to the right of the long (3 miles) fire road and it has some steep and interesting dirt ramps (rutted). I usually try and grind this out once a week and then take the Mullholland Drive fire road over to another fire road descending down to Sullivan Canyon, which is non-technical but a fun training run with some drop practice off stuff beside the main trail. The whole loop is about six or seven miles and is a good fittness drill.

You can also keep going (on Mullholland) past (1/4 mile) the descent into Sullivan and blast down Caballero Canyon foot paths but these (two side by side single tracks) are horrendous, steep shale/dirt and dump out in the Valley, meaning you have a 15 mile shuttle to get back to SM. There’s also a super steep dirt single track above Will Rodgers State Park that ends close to Sunset Blvd., as well as the dreadfull “Elevator Shaft,” which pitches down the mountain (to the left) after a 1/4 mile up the Sullivan Ridge fire road. There’s some semi-technical stuff further toward The Hub, but it’s a long way to get there (like eight miles) for little pay off. There’s a big rock slab up there that would be good if it wasn’t so far. Little Moab and other trails in that area are mostly moderate MB paths, not worth bothering with (I think I’ve done most all of them). The Malibu stream bed is a “baby head” rock garden that develops hard tractoring skills but is basically dead ass flat–and exhausting. And boring.

If technical muni is your thing, I suggest driving 30 minutes and do the trails in Agora (Suicide Connector) or up in East Simi (G-Spot, Hummingbird, Devil’s Slide, et al). Those will keep you busy for years.

JL

Hi,

I have an old MUni that I can loan you to try out. It works well as a starter MUni.

I am in the West Valley. I assume your somewhere around Santa Monica.

Contact me at teachndad (att) gmail (dott) com

Cheers.