snowman40

I almost took my head off at the bridge near the golf course and one of the churches near Harvard and Michelson. So don't get to crazy when riding the San Diego Creek Trail. Bigger problem are ninjas if you don't have lights and are riding near a dark area, Irvine City Hall has a dark spot, I'm sure there are others but the 'light pollution' is enough that you can get by with a cheapish light.

Pamestique 

That's a good question... I assume there are probably some rules about riding through Shady Canyon at night. Obviously you can just go around any gate closed at Quail Hill but my concern would be upsetting the residents of Shady Canyon... right now they allow us to ride through there... I hate for them to take away the privilege. The City of Irvine should be able to answer your question...

toolbear

@@@

My MagicShine lights up the trail just fine. I wear a Princeton Tec headlight on the helmet - it points where I look.

BTW - there is bollard lighting on many of the Irvine trails. I have photos of bollards on the Peters Canyon and Hicks Trails, to name a few. I keep meaning to get over there and see what they look like at night. Watch out for the dog walkers in the dark.

CritEastwood

let us know what you come up with

urbanknight

Don't argue with Crit. He just says things looking for a fight.

CritEastwood

Fight?

I don't like wasting energy on e-guments anymore.

Check Usenet's alt.mountain-bike from about 1999-2005 for some primetime e-guments.

FTR, I stopped posting up (most) MTB trail names in about 2001 after coming to the conclusion that forum/'net lurkers/non-participants don't deserve anything for free.

cjbruin

People, please don't feed Jerome.

To clear up some possible misinformation. I cannot find any reference regarding the Mountain to Sea Trail being closed at 6 PM. It's certainly possible but I could not find any information about that through the Irvine & Newport Beach websites or anywhere else with Google searches. That said...it is still possible but I find it unlikely that it would ever be enforced. There is essentially no way to close the San Diego Creek Trail and while there are two gates along the Back Bay Trail, I believe they are for motor vehicles as I have gone around them on my bicycle in front of a police officer who said nothing except, "hello".

With respect to Santiago Cyn. I have wondered many times while riding through there during the day, "What must go on here at night." There are a lot of broken bottles and debris in the bike lane...no guarantee that happens at night but I think it's likely.

In the end, there are hazards no matter when or where you ride. There is the potential for someone jumping out of the bushes along the Class I bikeways, drunk drivers, texters, etc. Do what makes you feel the most comfortable.

Accordion

Highly doubt it. I ride it four times a week at night and have never had a problem. I do pass people that are obviously going to/from UCI or to work. Must be an urban myth.

cjbruin

Pam, I'm reasonably certain the residents have no say in this. I seem to recall that public access to this trail/bikeway was a condition of allowing development of Shady Canyon.

CritEastwood

Make sure to let us know how that goes.

That's because it's a county Class I facility and Irvine Company land. I'm sure IPD and NBPD would find riding it at night PC for contact if they wanted to.

cjbruin

Translation...Jerome can't find any information to support his statement.

CritEastwood

how's that workin' out for ya?

cjbruin

Pretty good, as long as I can help others sort through the B.S.

Rick@OCRR

We had a great night-time Rebel ride last night, with Darren (from this forum) and Peter (from another forum) joining us. I loaned Darren a NiteRider Blow-Torch, which worked well for him, and Lois loaned Peter a flashing tail light when his light's batteries ran down, but other than that, no problems!

We rode up from Windrow Park in Irvine, into Santa Ana / Tustin to Lemon Heights then up the steep climbs to Vista Panorama and Circular Panorama for an excellent night-time view of the valleys below.

David (WU on this forum) was setting the pace, even though he was on his heavy bike, Lou Ann was riding very well (much improved); Darren was quite fast, then Peter with Lois and me bringing up the rear.

After the ride we had dinner at El Cholo, which was excellent as well.

Next Rebel night ride 6:00PM depart from Windrow Park Thur. Nov. 18.

Rick / OCRR

idoru2005

Hi Rick, I really had a great time on the ride last night. Thanks for the invite and the light! The group really made me feel welcome. Not sure if I can make it to the Thursday ride yet. But I'll definitely be there next Tuesday.

-Darren

azncarbos

Hey Rick! I'm actually on this forums too!

Had great ride with you guys last night!

I can't make it out on Thursday night. See you next Tuesday.

Great meeting you Darren!

SpecialJohnnyG

Hey Rick - I tried to find you guys at 6PM in the park last night, but couldn't so I rode solo to end of back bay and back. Was I just a little too late? (Darn traffic). Maybe I can join you next time.

Rick@OCRR

Yes Johnny, Probably just a little too late! We started right at 6:00 PM, but we didn't see you, sorry about that!

And try to join us Thur. It's good if you can get there a bit earlier so that you're ready to ride at 6:00.

Rick / OCRR

SpecialJohnnyG

That's kinda what I figured. My fault for sure. I'll try to join again sometime in the next couple weeks.

Genaro

Do you recommend any particular 16-20 mile loops in your area ?

Rick@OCRR

Well Genaro,

It's like this . . . we come prepared with a general area in which we're going to ride, sometimes someone has an exact route in mind, but nothing is for sure.

Starting from Windrow we either go towards the beach, or north towards Tustin or Jamboree area, or east towards Mission Viejo . . . it really bounces around so we can keep it fresh and not get into any ruts.

That said, we do have some routes we do fairly often, yet almost always there are variations on the theme, i.e. bonus climbs added or new roads explored.

Since it's difficult to read a route sheet in the dark, we re-group fairly often and/or check to make sure no one has been dropped.

Alternately, we have a fast group off the front and a slower group off the back (which really depends on who shows up on a given night). In that case, the sub-groups stay together but the fast riders don't regroup with slow ones if there are two separate speed/groups.

I know that sounds a bit dis-organized, but it all goes back to the Rebel saying, "A route sheet is just a suggestion."

Ah, okay . . . any questions?

Rick / OCRR

Genaro

Thanks for your response, I really do appreciate it, but I was asking socalrider since he's in the Inland Empire. Don't get out to OC much, except for my weeky SART ride.

rooftest

I saw several riders (all riding separately) on the back bay trail last night. That's a real "safe" ride for those of you afraid of cars. (especially on the bike path after Jamboree.)

I'd ride it if I still lived in Orange County...

tFUnK

Is this a weekly thing? If I can beat traffic I will meet up with you guys.

Rick@OCRR

Yes tFUnk,

Every Tues. and Thur. unless there's a holiday or some other major cycling event. We get more riders when it's all in daylight, but several of us ride all through the winter. If we're not having a ride on a particular Tues. or Thur. we post it on the Rebel site: www.ocrebles.com

The last time I remember this happening is when we went to see the Leadville 100 race movie at The District in Irvine, which I think was on a Thur. night.

Rick / OCRR