Tour de los Padres – Tour Route

The Tour de Los Padres has been an unofficial annual self-supported grand depart since 2014. The goal has been raising money, and all riders are encouraged to start their own crowd funding for the charity of their choice. There are two routes offered – the Proper Route (longer and more technical) and the Tour Route (shorter and less technical).

We are excited to partner with the Tour de Los Padres Collective to share the Tour Route to enable riders to plan their own adventure on the route.

Starting in Frazier Park, CA, the route begins with a big high elevation climb up Mount Pinos, then after descending some of the best singletrack in the Los Padres, you will ride rural pavement and resupply in the small mountain town of Pine Mountain Club. Follow a mix of horse trails and moto trails through the trees and then down into the interesting rock formations of Quatal Canyon.

Resupply is available in Ventucopa and New Cuyama. Load up on your food in New Cuyama, this is the last resupply before the route becomes very remote. Another big climb on pavement and narrow singletrack takes you up to the Sierra Madre Mountains. The high meadow and amazing rock formations at Painted Rock which is a sacred area to the Chumash Tribe will inspire you for the next big climb up to Big Pine Mountain, which is the highest peak in Santa Barbara County and has been bikepacked by locals for at least the last 40 years. You have the option to summit Big Pine Mountain on foot (it is located in wilderness), then the riding gets rough and rugged with rock slides, washouts, etc. so please use caution and take your time though this section as you travel mostly downhill.

Enter the San Ynez River watershed with multiple creeks, rivers, and hot springs. The last big climb takes you up to Divide Peak in the Santa Ynez Mountain range and then down Ocean View trail which is a 16 mile historic singletrack which was brought back to life after the last decade by the Get It Done Trail Crew out of Ojai, CA. Get some well deserved resupply in Oak View before riding the paved bike path to the Ventura Pier and finishing with a cold beverage!

• Paved: 32%
• Smooth Gravel: 0%
• Rough Gravel: 45%
• 4×4 Road: 0%
• Singletrack: 23%

• This is a mountain bike route! The route has been completed by a variety of bike types ranging from fat bikes to hard-tails or full suspension mountain bikes. Rigid and gravel bikes are not recommended due to the technical and chunky riding conditions.
• The route is not rideable due to mud during or a few days after a significant storm event. Please don’t try.
• Be sure to check out the POIs in the RideWithGPS file for further information on resupply, camping, and water sources.
• Having a means to treat water is suggested for this route.
• There are limited but adequate services along the route.
  • The last resupply is in New Cuyama where most riders will need to carry about 2 to 3 days of food to reach Ojai.
• There are abundant camping opportunities along the route since much of the route is located on public national forest lands.

• There is free street parking in Frazier Park. Please park in front of non-residential buildings and do not park in front of single-family homes.
• There are ways to connect back to your car from the end of the route by train and bus, but it gets a bit complicated.
• However, if you are looking to access this route from LA, there are relatively easy ways to get to the start and end of the route:
  • Take the Metrolink Antelope Valley Line to the Kern County 130 bus to get to the start of the route.
  • Return to LA from Ventura via the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner.

• Visit www.tourdelospadres.weebly.com for more important information to help you plan a successful trip on this route. This website also contains the Tour de Los Padres blog which has many blog entries from past rides on the route.
• Bikepacking.com also has some great recaps of past events. See the 2024 recap here and search their site for other past write-ups.

The Tour de los Padres (TDLP), originally designed in 2013 by Erin Carroll (Santa Barbara, CA), is one of the longest-held bikepacking events in California.

The route is currently stewarded and coordinated by the TDLP Collective, a group of dedicated bike packers and trail advocates who scout the route annually and also participate in organized trail work to maintain and improve the many trails the route incorporates.

Collaborating with the collective, Ian Graham (Santa Paula, CA) and Ben Van Der Kar (Carpinteria, CA) designed and coordinated the 2024 updates to the TDLP Tour Route.

Drew Raney (Bakersfield, CA) is the leader of the annual group start for the TDLP Tour Route which happens every year around mid-April.

Trail organizations who regularly do trail work on portions of the TDLP routes are Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers, Los Padres Forest Association, Montecito Trails Foundation, Ojai Land Conservancy, The Get It Done Crew, SAGE Trail Alliance and Ventana Wilderness Alliance.

The Tour de los Padres logo and artwork were created by Hallie Silva.

Please get in touch with any updates on route conditions that may be relevant to other riders.

Please submit your questions and comments on the route via the contact form below.

• This route traverses the traditional lands of the Chumash Tribe.