Santa Monica Mountains – Deer Creek, Yerba Buena, Decker (& Decker Edison), Encinal (aka lots of steep climbing)
Posted: June 3, 2009 at 1:16 am | Tags: Decker, Deer Creek, Encinal, Santa Monica Mountains, Yerba BuenaFinally made it out to the Santa Monica mountains for some climbing. Amazing area; I need to to some more climbing out there! Started by heading up PCH, then up Deer Creek. Really steep all in all, but pretty short so more than doable. Amazing views too – you immediately start climbing hard, so within a few tenths of a mile, you get great views of the Pacific.
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
After the two miles of hard climbing, it eases up and you even get some small descents (and a cute one lane road too).
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
Descended down Yerba Buena…was slightly concerned about that after reading reports about the road surface sucking…was not actually that bad. Take the lane, watch your line and all is good. I actually quite enjoyed it. Was able to maintain 25-30 mph on this descent, so I can’t complain!
After getting back to PCH, headed down to Decker for some more punishment. After heading up a mile or so, I took a detour onto Decker Edison to the end of that road (about 0.7 miles long). Why? Because it was even steeper. Makes it more fun 
The first few feet are quite steep:
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
And, there is a longer steep section after a couple tenths of a mile that will hurt a bit! But, the views are definitely worth it:
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
And, of course, Decker itself has some nice views:
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
Finally, hitting Encinal Canyon, I headed on down. Encinal was a nice, sweeping descent:
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| From 2009-05-27 – Malibu Cycling (Deer Creek, Decker, etc) |
Anyway, great ride with some steep climbing (Deer Creek is 12%ish, with Decker being not too far behind), but short enough that it won’t kill you. 30 miles total riding for the day. I need to get out there some more..wish Long Beach to Deer Creek wasn’t an hour plus drive!
All the pictures from the ride are here.
Want to punish yourself with this ride? Here you go (click View Full for a nice, big version of the map):
