Cycling from Santa Barbara to Leo Carrillo

By Dave Briggs · Published 2009-10-30 · Last updated 2026-07-18

As an Amazon Associate, davestravelpages.com earns from qualifying purchases.

Exiting big cities like Santa Barbara is always a bit of an adventure on a bicycle! Once out, I cycled to Leo Carrillo and stayed there for the night camping.

Cycling out of Santa Barbara

I followed a mass of cycle paths and roads out of Santa Barbara, passing a naval base at Ventura, before returning to my familiar friend the Highway One.

I'd been used to a tailwind these last few days, and its absence, combined with the extra weight I was carrying slowed me down a bit.

I reached Leo Carrillo state park campground where I called it a day, and met Ed, a 60 year old US guy who has been cycling around the states. The campground had a store there, so it only seemed polite to buy a six pack of beer, and chat some of the night away.

Dave Briggs
Dave is a UK travel writer living in Athens since 2015. With 20 years of firsthand travel experience and over 80,000 km of bicycle touring across six continents, he's been blogging at Dave's Travel Pages since 2005. Every guide is based on places he's actually been.

FacebookTwitterPinterestInstagramYouTube