In case anyone needs intel on riding in this remote area of California, here's a short narrative of my ride from Olancha to Santa Barbara:
Hwy 395 was outstanding with wide, clean shoulders. There's a rumble strip but no issue with it because the shoulder is very wide. While you are on an interstate, the traffic is not excessive. What was amazing is the overwhelming majority of the big trucks/semis would get in the passing lane when they went around me. They didn't have to as there is sufficient room on the shoulder. I stayed on 395 until about 35 miles south of Olancha and got off using frontage roads until the Hwy 14 junction. Note I had an incredible tailwind the entire day.
Hwy 14 is fine. Good shoulder and less traffic the 395. The shoulder became a bit dodgy through Red Rock Canyon State Park but a great downhill enabled you to get through it fast. I got off 14 after going through the canyon and got on Neuralia Rd. east of the hwy, a wonderful rural road, and road into California City. Google Maps tried to navigate me onto dirt roads into Mojave so I got back onto 14 and finished the day there.
The ride to Ventura the next day started out a mess with Google Maps, again, trying to get me to use dirt roads. Not a significant delay once I looked at the real options and chose Bouquet Canyon Road. A nice ride out of the valley with a healthy climb to the summit before a decent into Santa Clarita. Note, Bouquet Canyon Road is not a great biking road. Cars now use it as a fast alternative to get to Lancaster. One grisly guy in a pick up yelled at me as I was climbing it, "You're going up DEATH ROAD!". Gulp. As it was mid morning, traffic was sparse. Don't go on this road during commute times! Some may even say don't go on it at all.
From Santa Clarita I took 126 all the way into Ventura. People I talked to said it's a popular bike route, even though I didn't run into any bikers??? Great tail wind!
