To all SoCal riders: Tell me about your favorite trails
 

Hello Everyone!

I am a novice rider. I have been riding for about a few months now; I picked up a bike from Craigslists, and it was the best decision I ever made. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now a bike fiend!

I've been riding the Santa Ana River Trail for a while now, and I must say I am a little bored with it now. To all of you SoCal riders (especially in the Orange County area), where are your favorite spots to ride? And why?

Would appreciate any input from anyone here on this forum. HAPPY 4th!:thumb:

Moved from SS/FG.

What kind of trails are you looking for... road or mountain?

Being located in the high desert, it gets a bit warm to ride most summer days. On a nice day when it is expected to hit the high ninety's or triple digits around here, I head to Ventura and ride along the coast to Santa Barbara and back. From the Pacific View Mall in Ventura to downtown Santa Barbara, and back, is a nice metric century with great vistas, cool to moderate temperatures, and no hills of any length or steep gradients. The only places to be wary is on the Rincon during the return ride where inattentive campers will wander out onto the marked bike lane and a short stretch north of that where surfers cross the road to their cars and many times, stand in or right next to the bike lane while loading up their cars or changing their clothes. They usually stay out of the bike lane, but you still need to be aware of what's behind you in case you have to quicky swerve into the car traffic lane. Other that those two spots, it's usually a very uneventful ride. Almost the whole route is either an off street, paved bike route or has a marked bike lane. Pretty safe the times I've ridden the route.

Road definitely

Do you want to limit yourself to paved trails like the SART, or are you OK riding on roads? There are tons of routes in OC, from the southern and eastern end of the county with as much climbing as you'd like, to the flats of the central county out to the beaches. Check out the websites of Bicycle Club of Irvine and OC Wheelmen for example (clubs I ride with). Some my recent rides originating in Lake Forest or Irvine:

Newport Coast, Pelican Hill, Vista Ridge, Turtle Rock, Santiago and Silverado Canyons, Cowan Heights - 85 miles and 5500 feet of climbing:

Downtown Long Beach and return - Main, Sunflower, SART, PCH, Beach trail in Long Beach, 80 miles and just 1,010 feet of climbing.

Irvine Center/Edinger, Red Hill, Santa Clara, SART, PCH, Bayside, Irvine Terrace, San Miguel, Bonita Canyon & Harvard. 42 miles with 900 feet of climbing.

Trabuco, El Toro Road, Santiago Canyon, Jamboree, Portola, Irvine Blvd - 34 miles, 2400 feet.

Hard to get anywhere completely avoiding roads. You can ride all the way from PCH/Bayside out to Irvine Center Drive & Research using the San Diego Creek Trail. You can also exit at Harvard then pick up Peters Canyon Trail to Hicks Canyon and ride it all the way to Portola Parkway near Jeffrey. There is the Aliso Creek trail that runs from Cooks Corner down to Laguna Niguel Regional Park. I haven't tried to ride the trail in a long time so not sure if it is completely offroad.

If you can get to the Palos Verdes area, there is a ton of great road cycling. Good hill climbs, easy rollers along the coat, beautiful ocean and horse country views. You can vary your route from fairly easy to quite demanding.

Some good MTBing in PV, too, if you want to give that a go.

Ride your bike to the train station at Anaheim Stadium, and take your bike on the train! It's the coolest thing ever.
Or you can ride your bike somewhere, like San Diego or to Santa Barbara, and then take the train back.

Here's my ride report from a few years ago when I took my bike on the train up to Santa Barbara and then rode most of the way home back to Carlsbad.

Ride safely and get some blinking lights on your bike. Bicycling on the road amidst cars has become less safe since the advent of the cellphone.

Santiago Canyon Road, Glendora Mountain Road, Hwy 38 up to Big Bear.

you can check out the global strava heat map to see where other people ride here: http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11/-...83/yellow/bike

Santiago Canyon is a nice road from either end, I usually try to go through there when I ride south through orange county.

I second Chris' suggestion to ride your bike somewhere and take the train home. I did that in February or so - rode from anaheim stadium down to Oceanside, had some beer and pizza at pizza port and trained back up.

you did get he is a newbie (he said "novice") and primarily rides, I assume, the Upper SART trail which is flat...lower SART is flat as well. Let's not kill him with a ride up to Big Bear or GMR!

Newbie... you didn't say what area you are riding... if Upper SART then try lower SART (Green River to the Beach and back. Or if you are riding lower SART, do the Upper SART). There is the Mountain to Seas trail which takes you all around Irvine and down to Back Bay. probably one of my favorite rides and scenic as well. Look up bike paths in Irvine - there's miles and miles of paved trail to explore. You might also join some of the casual riding clubs like Bike Club of Irvine (see their website bikeirvine.org) to learn the area. The website also contains lots of route maps.

It would be very helpful if you would indicate: mileage desire, terrain (flat or hilly), bike path or street, etc. Great ride for a novice is Back Bay. Start at Bill Barber Park in Irvine. Take the San Diego Creek Trail south pass UCI to Back Bay. Go over the bridge (so counter-clockwise) and continue on the trail. You will end up in a neighborhood and then eventually connect back to the trail after riding PCH (stay on the sidewalk). You should be able ot ride a strava route for this. Distance is 20 miles. There are some steep but short climbs but very doable for a novice rider.

He said bike fiend! And bored with SART. Throw him in the deep end, sez I. Maybe not as deep as highway 38 to Big Bear though. :lol:

so... many years I met this guy who told me he was also a "bike fiend". So I says "let's do a ride together, I'll take you though the Canyon (Santiago)!". He showed up on a comfort bike wearing tennies and cargo shorts. We did the first climb up Jamboree and then ended at John's (the coffee shop) as he was toast.

This morning, the resident mountain biker was asking me about some trail... I told him it was too technical for me and he said "Technical? What part is technical????" "bike fiend" is relative!!!! :thumb:

But I get you are alittle sadistical at times.... :twitchy:

I love your new avatar!

Thank you I guess... about all I can do right now is shuffle along...at least I am now walking (with a boot). Maybe someday again, I can ride a bike... :(

I'm a big fan of the San Gabriel River Trail. Start at Legg Lake in Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, ride down to River's End Cafe in Seal Beach, then turn around and go back up. About 52 miles...:)

I forgot to mention... check out the "Santiago Creek Trail"... starts just off Cannon and Santiago Rd. All paved but sortof of urban assault... lots of side trails to explore and alittle bit of everything OC has to offer... minimal climbing (if any).