Southern California - irvine ranch MTB rides??

I was just perusing the Irvine Ranch land reserve activities.
It seems there is a definite lack of MT Bike rides in May.
Any docents out there know whats up??

I was hoping to find a Saturday Loma Ridge Limstone ride....

Actually there should be alot of rides in Limestone.

Limestone Canyon is closed from February 15 - May 15 due to raptor mating season. But the ridges are open. I thought there were several Hick Haul to Bolero Springs rides and several Loma Ridge to - Limestone Ridge rides on the schedule. Of course we lost all the Weir Canyon rides due to the fire.

I'll go check.

Drew have you also checked out the Bommer Canyon rides? Seems to always be plenty of those to do.

Drew - this is a good one for you to do:

5/5/2007 8:00 AM Mountain Bike Ride to the Tecate Cypress Forest Fremont Canyon Wilderness Strenuous

It's tough but doable with your skills.

Here's another - same ride you did before:

5/20/2007 9:00 AM Mountain Bike Ride to Bolero Springs via Agua Chinon Limestone Canyon Wilderness Area Strenuous

* * *

I guess with Limestone and Weir closed, and we just went through docent renewal, activity is sparse for May. It should pick up in June. New website for everyone is irlrtrust.org. Check out the schedule; lots of cool hikes also coming up. If Ryan still posts he can give you some info on the Bommer rides. I do North County only.

FYI for anyone interested - I'm doing two newbie rides through Limestone May 20 and May 27. Check the schedule or write if you have any questions. I think both are listed as family rides so great if you have any little ones (generally age 7+) you would like to get out and do the bonding mountain bike thing.

Echoing Pam's comments, the interior section of Limstone is closed through May for raptor season and all rides that went through Weir Canyon are closed until further notice because of the fire. However, there are still plenty of rides scheduled in the Limstone area in May and in fact I've signed myself up to lead three of them. The Fremont Canyon loop is the toughest ride around and is definitely NOT for intermediate or below riders. The Tecate Cypress ride is an up and back ride - all climbing on fire roads with a very steep start. So even that one I wouldn't recommend for beginners. But if you're looking for one of the steepest rides around, those two are the ones to check out.

---mark

Drew - you can easily do the Tecate Cypress ride. The crew you did the Aqua Chinon ride is all capable of this one (The Fremont Loop - well another issue - that is the ultimate tough ride) . I can even do it although I am so slow I suually don't do it with a IRLR group. It has a nice challenging climb (after a 1 1/2 mile warm up) that lasts about 3 miles. The Steepest part is right up front in the first climb and then you settle into a nice grindy climb, nice downhill, climb, downhill etc all the way out to the Tecate field. COming back there are again some challegning climbs. It should all be beautiful right now since the area is recovering from the Sierra Fire of last year.

Mark: I couldn't find your Limestone rides on the schedule - maybe you can pinpont the dates and times.

Thursday 5/17 @ 6:30PM Night Ride - Bolero Springs (Advanced Ride)
http://www.3fbc.com/events/eventshow.cfm?id=596

Sunday 5/20 @ 9AM - Bolero Springs (Intermediate Pace)
http://www.3fbc.com/events/eventshow.cfm?id=597

Sunday 5/27 @ 9AM - Limstone (Beginner Pace)
http://www.3fbc.com/events/eventshow.cfm?id=598

Bommer Canyon Rides coming up.

May 5th - Advanced Mtb ride - typically 20 miles

May 8th - Evening Mtb ride - typically 13 - 15 miles

May 19th - Intermediate ride - typically 10+ (usually the group splits into multiple routes)

Jun 2nd - Epic route - 35+ mile traversing Bommer Caynon, Laguna Coast, Crystal Cove, and Aliso Woods

Lots of good riding coming up in all of the areas. www.irvineranchlandreserve.org/activities (http://www.irvineranchlandreserve.org/activities)


See ya on the trails

Note: there are only 2 spots left open for the Epic ride on the 2nd of June, but if there are more interested parties once the ride fills up, just shoot me an e-mail and if the interest is there; I will solicit more Docents and increase the participation limit.

Thanks

Drew - checked the schedule - you are probably busy this weekend but the following ride is listed:

4/29/2007 2:00 PM Afternoon Loma Ridge Mountain Bike Ride to Bolero Springs Limestone Canyon Wilderness Area 3


I think the ride stages at Hick's Haul/St. Augustine off Santiago Canyon. They will go up Hick's Haul to Loma Ridge, climb Loma to Bolero - cross over to Cactus, take the single track back to Spur gate and back to Hick's haul. That way they avoid the crossed areas of the park. Good intermediate to advance ride.

Thanks for all the info!!
I think that parts are closed for "raptor reproduction" explains the missing rides I
was looking for.
How is Bommer canyon?? Any singletrack?
I did ride my road bike into it when I saw the gate was open,
and they politely asked me to finish my snack a go. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there
( a big sign on the gate said so)!

2pm for a ride?? I'm a morning guy, afternoon rides.. need to be relaxed and easy!

Ryan... talk to Drew about Bommer rides...

I think Drew you'll like them. It's the same terrain as Laguna Coast Wildnerness/El Moro/Aliso Woods. Rides can be very challenging but if you did the Limestone Loop without problem youll be OK. The bommer rides are pretty popular. Lots of riders...

The Bommer Canyon rides vary but basically what you can count on for most of the rides are farily steep climbs up a fire roads and some real neat single tracks on the way down. And echoing Pam's comments, it's a lot like Laguna Coast Wildnerness - in fact, it borders that and Crystal Cove State Park. If you happen to do the "Quail Hill" ride, you go up a super nice set of switch backs to get to the ridgeline.

Here are some photos:
http://www.warrick.net/photography/digital/20050716_Bommer_Canyon/

http://www.warrick.net/photography/digital/20060114_Quail_Hill_to_Bommer_Canyon/

http://www.warrick.net/photography/digital/20060129_Bommer_Canyon_to_Quail_Hill/

http://www.warrick.net/photography/digital/20070324_Bommer_Canyon_and_Nix_Nature_Center/