Azusa and Carbon Canyon rides
This is the ride for a morning rather than a whole day. Carbon Canyon and Chino Hills as a warm-up, then San Gabriel Canyon Road, State Route 39, north out of Azusa toward Crystal Lake.
SR-39 is a genuine mountain road that dead-ends part way up, which keeps the traffic down. DROC has run this pairing five times, usually with two meetups so riders from Orange County and from closer to Azusa can join at the point that suits them.
The roads themselves
Three separate roads get mixed into these plans and they are worth telling apart. Highway 39, San Gabriel Canyon Road, runs north from Azusa. Glendora Mountain Road, GMR to everyone who rides it, climbs from Glendora and joins Glendora Ridge Road across to Mount Baldy. Carbon Canyon, State Route 142, is the short connector between Brea and Chino Hills and is a different kind of road: low, quick and busy.
Highway 39 does not go through. The northern section above Crystal Lake has been closed since 1978 and there is no through-route to Angeles Crest that way, whatever a mapping app suggests. A Caltrans project to reopen a 4.4-mile segment cleared environmental review in 2025, but it is not open.
GMR and Glendora Ridge close on holiday weekends. Los Angeles County Public Works shuts both to all motorised vehicles over Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day weekends to cut wildfire risk. That is the exact weekend a group ride is most likely to be planned, so check the county closure list first. Both roads also spent a long stretch closed after the 2024 Bridge Fire; that order has since lapsed, but burn-scar debris flows still shut them after rain.
How DROC rides it
- Two meetups is the norm: one in Orange early, one at Azusa about ninety minutes later.
- The road surface on SR-39 varies and there is rockfall after rain. Watch the inside lines.
- It works as a half day, which makes it one of the easier rides to say yes to.
- Check the county list before a holiday weekend. GMR and Glendora Ridge are closed over Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.
- Highway 39 is a dead end. Ride it for the canyon, then turn around. There is no link through to ACH.
- Burn scar means debris. The 2024 Bridge Fire went through here, so rain brings rock and mud onto GMR and Glendora Ridge for a long time afterwards.
- Carbon Canyon is the traffic one. Short, quick and heavily policed, with commuter volume at either end. It is a connector, not the good bit.
Every time we have ridden it
- Canyon ride: Azusa+Carbon 2026, October 2026
- Carbon Canyon, Santiago Canyon & Hacienda 2026, July 2026
- Canyon ride: Azusa+Carbon, August 2024
- More canyon riding: Azusa, May 2023
- DROC-DOC – Ride to Crystal Lake via Azusa, November 2021
Route plans
These are the actual route plans DROC has used, with the map for each. Ride leaders pick from these rather than inventing a route every time, which is why the same roads come up again: they work. Nothing stops you riding them on your own.
| Route | Length | Hours | Map |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azusa Water Tower, GMR, Carbon Canyon | Half day | 2.75 | Route |
| Azusa Water Tower, GMR | Half day | 3.5 | Route |
| Azusa, Crystal Lake | Half day | Route | |
| Carbon Canyon, Santiago Canyon, Hacienda | Half day | Route | |
| Carbon Canyon, Santiago Canyon, Vitaly | Half day | Route | |
| Carbon Canyon, Santiago Canyon | Half day | Route | |
| Santiago Canyon | Half day | Route |
Ride it with us
Every DROC ride runs the same way: a safety briefing before we roll, staggered formation, a lead and a sweep, and regroups at every junction that matters. The full ground rules and the hand-signal guide are on the rides page.
See what is coming up, or join DROC. Bike nights are free and open to non-members, so you can also just turn up to one first.