Los Angeles

Griffith Park bike lane. A good place to start is from the North Zoo parking lot. For classical it's up and back a little over 2k each way, with lots of gradual upgrades. More adventurous skaters can ski the whole park loop, which is about 3-4 miles.

Santa Monica ( West LA.)

There are a few streets in good condition wide and long enough and without much traffic between Montana and San Vicente Blvd. Not the best but workable. Wear a reflective vest. G.G.

Truckee / Tahoe Area: Truckee River Bike Path : Start 1/2 mile south of Squaw Valley Turn- off on Highway 89. Ski to Tahoe City and back, or even farther South along the West shore of Lake Tahoe to Blackwood Canyon. ( Note that the traffic and hill danger increases South of Tahoe City).

Frontage Road north of Interstate 80 between Kingvale & Soda Springs exits. Excellent! Little traffic brand new pavement, some hills. Enjoy! Rick Eckert.

Blackwood Canyon: 5 miles South of Tahoe City on Highway 89. 2.5 miles of good road with little traffic. Gradual uphill.

Boca Reservoir: 5 mile East of Truckee, take Hirchdale exit from Interstate 80. Follow signs to Boca / Stampede. Great pavement, very rolling terrain for 8 miles with some steeper hills.

Fresno: We recommend the path on the San Joaquin River Parkway. This path starts in Woodward Park and runs 3- 4 miles north. There are some challenging hills so bring skis with speed reducers. As far as I know there are no official restrictions against roller skis, other than the odd looks. So, be a good ambassador for the sport. ( John and Gayle Smith )

San Francisco Bay Area: Berkeley: Tilden Park. Wildcat Canyon Road, start at top of Spruce Ave. and ski to Inspiration Point. For extra miles, take the bike path (some steeper narrower hills) from Inspiration Point North. M.D.

San Francisco Bay Area: The Presidio, near Golden Gate Park. (Old Military Installation.) Bring your speed reducers. B.T.

Peninsula (Bay Area ): Kings Mt.. Rd., Page Mill Rd, early AM when traffic is going in the other way. Spot car at top. 1500 - 2000 vertical.

* Canada Rd. on Sundays (closed to cars )

* Woodside / Portola Valley

* Golden Gate Park ( SF ) on Sundays when roads are closed. B.T.

Irvine: First of all Irvine has fantastic bike paths everywhere, but then there's those pesky intersections to deal with.

For uninterrupted training I ski the Bike path parallel to the 405 Freeway (also known as the San Diego Freeway ) between Jeffrey Rd. and Culver in Irvine. The bike path is well placed in the extremely wide right of way to the 405: it's like your own prarie in there, with the path well back from the road. The cars are just there as background and sometimes entertainment.... It is well groomed, and access to it is easily made to it on a protected path if you park in the small shopping center at the corner of Jeffrey and Alton. This particular stretch is about a mile long, great for laps, and it has a nice elevation change for some grade training.

Newport Beach / Back Bay bike Path : But by far the best route for training is the Newport Beach / Back Bay bike Path that starts somewhere near where I live and I pick it up where it underpasses Main St. heading West out of Irvine. The protected path runs South to the ocean passing by the UC Irvine campus and more or less ending in a Newport RV. park ( i.e. turning into not very good street paths). The path is six miles long of perfect new asphalt, changing to poured concrete under the bridges .(some regularly scheduled leg technique is how I look at it). I recommend stopping where the trail enters the Back Bay (crossing under a bridge and turning left , with the Bay at your right). At this point there are two serious grade hazards approaching that are best left for something with brakes on it, and that ain't you...

Yale Loop Irvine: If like me, you're comfortable with the occasional passing car, then I highly recommend Yale loop in Irvine. I live on yale Loop, which is a remarkable feature of city planning -a 4.5 mile long loop with a very wide bike path along it. The intersections are infrequent going clockwise. since most roads to Yale Loop do not pass through . So one can keep going through a T intersection within the bike path. Yale Loop circumnavigates Irvine's two man made lakes, North Lake and South Lake and it's quite a nice place to train. Keep your eyes peeled for Barranca. If you get tired and need a burger there's a Ruby's (a 50 ' s era burger counter restaurant chain... very well done ) in the middle of Barranca at the edge of North Lake. J.E.

Marina Del Rey: Starting from Marina Del Rey, on the West side of Los Angeles, there are three good roller skiing routes ranging from 8.5 to 12 miles and varying from flat roads along the beach to rolling terrain to strenuous hill climbing. Go early and bike / car traffic will be minimal.

Enter the bike path at the West end of Fiji Way, heading down the jetty towards the ocean, cross the bridge, then go straight onto Pacific Ave., continuing on to Culver Blvd. From here, there are three routes. 1) Zigzag to the right onto Trolley way , continuing to the end where a gate opens onto a service Rd. that parallels the beach . If you follow the service road until it ends in an RV parking lot, you'll get roughly 8.5 mile round trip. 2) Or turn left onto Culver, then veer right onto Pershing , climbing a gentle hill. Numerous side streets lead from Pershing into hills where you can get in all sorts of hill climbing workouts. But be sure you have the resistance wheels or speed reducers for the downhills! 3) Alternatively, if you bypass the hills and continue on Pershing , turning left onto Westchester Parkway, you'll find a huge roadway with 3 car lanes and one bike lane in each direction.- but with virtually no traffic on weekend mornings !( Avoid it on the weekdays though). Westchester undulates gently for about 3 miles . the asphalt is very good. That makes for a roughly 12 mile out - and - back course. It's possible to mix it up and combine these routes for a longer workout. You can also add a mile to the course by including a circuit up and down Fiji way, which is flat and has pretty good asphalt and a bike lane. B.T.

Mountain View: Stevens Creek Trail - Shoreline Park in Mountain View.

San Mateo: Sawyer Camp Trail - San Mateo County.

Sancramento: American River Trail ( Nimbus Hatchery at Folsom Lake to Discovery Park in Sacramento ) Mark Smallhouse

FORT BRAGG: The Ten Mile Coastal Trail starts near Fort Bragg Mackerricher State Park and runs north of town along the Mendocino Coast ( Town of Mendocino is south of Fort Bragg). The trail provides seven miles of asphalt of variable quality, the remains of a lumber company road which ran parallel to Highway 101. The corridor began life as as railroad line to bring lumber to the to the mill in Fort Bragg. ( Don't miss the Fort Bragg Redwood Company store in town). One middle section of of something under a mile was was washed out and has become an unpaved foot trail, but the V2 Aero Skates managed it. Some pockets of loose sand were annoying, but the dunes are beautiful as well as the juxtaposition of crashing surf on the west, and coastal range hills on the east. The trail has it's own website http//www.mcn.org/1/10milecoastaltrail/ Henry Laughlin