SurlyRoadRider

Hi Folks
I live in south Orange County in California and recently discovered the Aliso Creek trail, which is a really fun ride. Close to where I live, I hop on it near El Toro and Trabuco roads and ride down to Paseo de Valencia near Los Alisos Blvd. It's a nice twisting, gently uphill and downhill ride, over a couple wood bridges and through some underpasses. Aside from the wood bridges, it's all paved, though there are some patches with branches and leaves on the concrete. I've also gone north on it a bit above Trabuco. I usually ride about an hour or 90 minutes depending on if I take the northern section as well. I'd like to maybe build to longer rides eventually.

I've also ridden from Newport to Huntington Beach which is nice because it's coastal. It's mostly straight so not as fun but still enjoyable.

I'm riding a Surly Midnight Special road bike with 650b x 47 tires, so with those wide tires I can take a little gravel or whatnot if need be, but mostly paved is best.
I try to avoid riding in traffic as much as possible, so not interested if it involves riding on a highway with significant traffic.

I'd like to find some new trails in Orange County or Los Angeles County or elsewhere in So Cal. If you have any suggestions for trails or sources of info, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

jimincalif

Paved - San Diego Creek Trail, From Los Olivos Apartments all the way to Newport Dunes.

Walnut Trail/Como channel trail/Peters Canyon/West Irvine - can continue up Peters Canyon (unpaved) all the way to Irvine Regional Park at Jamboree/Santiago

Aliso Creek trail goes all the way to Cooks Corner at the start of Santiago Canyon.

Dirt - Serrano Creek trail - can pick it up a Trabuco/Peachwood and ride into Whiting Ranch - some serious hills there if you want a workout - Line Shack Rd, Dreaded Hill, etc.

In San Juan Capistrano, the Trabuco/San Juan Creek Trails (paved) run from Avenida de la Vista all the way to Doheny State Beach.

Also There is also a trail out of O'Neill Regional Park that generally follows Trabuco/Tijeras creeks thru RSM/MV. I've never done this so not familiar with it.

TrojanHorse

Don't forget the river trails... Santa Ana River Trail (SART) goes waaaaaaaay inland and if you continue up north to Seal Beach you can hit the San Gabriel River Trail and/or the coyote creek trail from there. The La River Trail is a bit further for you and probably not worth the effort, but it *is* there if you want to hit them all in the interest of completeness.

jimincalif

I didn't notice when I replied yesterday, but you might get more activity on this if it were in the SoCal regional forum. You can ask the mods to move it.

SurlyRoadRider

Thanks Jim. I contacted the site to see if they'll move the thread.

TrojanHorse: I've been on the very first part of the SART from the beach, and saw it last week from above in Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. I'll check it out. Wondering how far it goes straight and level or where it might change up a bit. I'll do a search on it but in the meantime if you have any info on it or opinions about the ride, feel free to post. Thanks..

DrIsotope

You can take the SART uninterrupted from PCH all the way to Green River in Corona. After a 10 mile gap in Corona/Norco, there's 30 more miles of it, (currently) ending at Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino.

dwolsten

I'm surprised you haven't gotten some condescending replies telling you that riding on a trail isn't true road cycling and shouldn't be in this forum, and that you should stay off trails and instead ride alongside 60+mph traffic.

SurlyRoadRider

dwolsten: Anyone who wants to do that is fine with me, but I'll pass thank you. I've seen riders on Pacific Coast Hwy between Newport & Huntington Beach in the bike lane with what is indeed 60mph traffic going by them, with a perfectly good 6 foot wide mostly vacant sidewalk right there up off the road they could be riding on. I guess that's the purist way to go, but it only takes one driver not paying attention for a second or two for someone to lose their life. Not a risk I'm willing to take, maybe because I'm older than the average rider, I don't know.

dwolsten

I agree completely, I'm just giving you a heads-up about the attitude you're likely to encounter here. I've seen it too many times.

Tycho Brahe 

It is so easy to easy traffic if riding in SoCal. Just go up a mountain, the traffic really this out and is slower. Why would anyone ride flats regardless?