marquhar

SCR=Santiago Canyon Road

By reading this forum I've learned some `big loop` rides that go up through LA County/Whittier and then down into Orange/OC. The mileage is anywhere from 48 to 75 miles whether I do the SART or the SCR

This post is a great source (by TrojanHorse)
https://www.bikeforums.net/southern-c...l#post14819058

So my question: is Tustin Ave still the best way to ride over the 91? Has the construction changed the bridge of choice? Has Kraemer ever been a good bridge for riding?

This kind of ride is very challenging and is great change of pace from the usual PCH/Coast ride that I do.

TrojanHorse

Tustin is a little dicey right now because of construction. I did it most recently on Sunday morning (southbound) but for instance the two lanes turning onto the 91W don't really leave a place for a bicycle on Tustin southbound so you get to play a little frogger, which is OK on a Sunday AM, not so OK during rush hour. Tustin is also under construction north of Orangethorpe and that's not pleasant on a bike either. There's no official bike lane but most of the rest is OK because of the width of the road. Kraemer is slightly better to get over the freeway but I don't like riding on Kraemer north of there for some reason.

Last week I took Lakeview down to SART twice and crossing over the 91 was more pleasant than Tustin is right now. You can get to Lakeview from Tustin/Rose by way of a little bike path just south of bastunchary.

Note that SART is closed between Tustin and Lakeview, so I go Tustin when i want to go south and Lakeview when I want to go north. There is a detour if you want to do that instead.

My kids have soccer games down in San Juan Capistrano from time to time and that's my excuse to commute down there on my bike and meet the family. I did it Sunday Bike Ride Profile | She's playing soccer where? near Whittier | Times and Records | Strava if you want to see the route I took from SART to Santiago and then back down into Mission Viejo (there's a pretty good bike path from Cook's Corner down into Mission Viejo.) I only got lost twice, which isn't bad. I blame my garmin. I intentionally skipped Nohl Ranch Road and Cannon because I was in a hurry to get to my daughter's game. you could alternately go up (after cooks corner) live oak and then take antonio parkway down towards San Clemente... it's tricky working your way back up towards Newport / Costa Mesa though. I'd love a better suggestion than what I did on Sunday (which was mostly Muirlands/Barranca and then a few different roads over to SART)

Rumpled

Can't speak to the 91 crossings, but
Trojan horse - parallel to Barranca is San Diego Creek Trail which you can take to Back Bay and a little PCH takes you to SART. It also now crosses 405 which can be picked up near Irvine Center Drive and Research.

TrojanHorse

You mean perpindicular? It looks like it runs parallel to Harvard for a while, which would have kept me out of santa ana and off a very dingy rail trail.

Nice - I'll have to try that one next time I'm roaming back north.

Rumpled

TH - parallel to Barranca and then turns 90 degrees to be roughly parallel to Harvard and then along University to the Back Bay. Go to OCTA.net and get the bikeway PDF map.

TrojanHorse

Yup, I missed the top part. Nice, thanks for the tip.

marquhar

I never considered to use Lakeview and didn't know about the eastward bike path near Bastanchury. Thanks for this suggestion. I have only ridden this route once since I started my rehab. Its quite an eye-opening ride and I never would have tried it without your Strava post and your route sheet. It looks like Lakeview is better choice to venture up into the Anaheim hills before going to SCR.

TrojanHorse

Perfect! If you cross over the 91 and then turn left on Santa Ana Canyon Road you can ride over to Imperial. Head south on Imperial - it turns into Cannon after turning your legs into jelly. Then just turn left on Santiago Canyon Rd and juke around a little till you get to the regular Santiago Canyon Rd. For your water needs, there is a little subway/gas station/car wash at the southwest corner of Jamboree and Santiago Canyon Rd. I always stop there and top up before riding into the canyon. It's hot and dry even when it's cool.

Elvo

Or you can go up Serrano if you would rather do a 2 mile 9% climb rather than a 1 mile 12%er