My parents (50+) live in Orange County and just bought some road bikes. They are beginners but in shape. Could anyone recommend nice places for them to start riding, or point me at a useful online resource?

I searched this site and googled, but found mostly information about mountain bike trails in Orange County.

Thank you!

I'm not the best to answer, but the Santa Ana River Trail (SART) is good one to start with. Congrats to your parents for getting bikes! :)

My parents (50+) live in Orange County and just bought some road bikes. They are beginners but in shape. Could anyone recommend nice places for them to start riding, or point me at a useful online resource?

I searched this site and googled, but found mostly information about mountain bike trails in Orange County.

Thank you!


BCI is a real nice group to start with. http://www.bikeirvine.org/ (http://www.bikeirvine.org/)I used to ride with them but I felt kind of young to be with that crowd, mostly 50+. Great people, nice easy rides. Very social.

It also depends which part of Orange County. Back Bay has some really nice bike paths, for all levels ... it's pretty flat.

I used to ride with BCI too ... but long time ago. Nice social crowd, that always seem to find a coffee shop on all their rides.

They are in Cypress.

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Can they transport their Bikes?? If so I live about 3 miles from the Backbay trail and would be more than happy to take them for a spin......it is a very nice paved trail and a nice scenic route...
I'm almost 50 (51 actually but that's almost 50 right) my wife would go too depending on the Day....
Just Google map Backbay Newport Beach...

Ooops....I meant 3 minutes ride...not 3 miles.....

If they are in the Costa Mesa/Newport Beach/Irvine area, as other have said around the Back Bay is a 10 mile loop. They can also continue up the along the San Diego Creek Trail past UC Irvine. Also you can ride along the beach from Santa Ana River trail all the way up to Sunset Beach. Also in Newport you can ride along the beach from 36th street all the way to the wedge, take the Balboa fairy across and end up back on PCH, very "scenic" this time of year.

The Orange county Wheelmen and the Bicycle Club of Irvine are a couple of non-racing groups that should have lots of members willing to give advice. See if Bill and Dev Sellin are still with the BCI.

BCI is a real nice group to start with. http://www.bikeirvine.org/ (http://www.bikeirvine.org/)I used to ride with them but I felt kind of young to be with that crowd, mostly 50+. Great people, nice easy rides. Very social.

+1. The first Saturday of every month BCI has beginner class with a short tutorial on the rules of the road, riding in groups, safety, etc. with a short ride afterwards. And yes, a bit if an older crowd.

Cypress is on Valley View? That turns into Bolsa Chica near Huntington Beach where the beach is about 8.5 miles long with an asphalt multi use path. If they're beginners, then speed will not be important to them, at least for now. No auto traffic.

The other added attraction is the nice ocean air and the colorful mix near the pier and Main Street with plenty of restaurants.

When they get into better conditioning, the Santa Ana River Trail is at the other end of H.B. No auto traffic.

Cypress is on Valley View, yes.

Thanks for these ideas! It's helpful.

Routing newbs down Valley View would be goofy because it's a traffic nightmare with a freeway interchange. What I don't understand is why all of the suggestions are to drive somewhere to ride a bicycle when there are viable Class II and Class III routes through and from Cypress to get to places like Coyote Creek and the San Gabriel River. There seems to be a lot of institutionalized drivers here who ride a bike sometimes. [ ] Think Outside The Box (or cage as it is)

Another good group for beginners can be found at OCRebels.com. They have rides for every level out of a park in Irvine every Saturday and Sunday.

Another good group for beginners can be found at OCRebels.com. They have rides for every level out of a park in Irvine every Saturday and Sunday.

Also check out bikeirvine.org. The first Saturday of each month (so this Saturday) BCI has a "newbie" ride. This is for new riders with some level of riding - can go at least 10 miles and is comfortable on their bike. Before the ride, there is a safety clinic. See the website for more details.

The City of Irvine has many wonderful bike trails to wander. To start, your parents can park at Harvard Athletic Park at the corner of Harvard and Walnut. Right from there they can get onto the Walnut Creek trail or the Portola Trail. If they travel North they go up and connect to Hick's Haul trail which will take them all the way out to Portola and Jeffrey. They can go under Portola turn right onto Portola and go have a nice coffee at the new shopping center on Portola before Jamboree.

If they take the trail South, they go across Harvard and connect to the Walnut Creek trail which goes out to Sand Canyon, they turn right, it goes down and connects to the San Diego Creek trail. They can take that back to the park.

Have them check out the City of Irvine website for trails and parks. I do a ride that's at least 40 miles on bike trails, has few hills (just overpasses) and is quite pretty. If they want a guide some weekend and I am available, I would love to take them out.

The Orange county Wheelmen and the Bicycle Club of Irvine are a couple of non-racing groups that should have lots of members willing to give advice. See if Bill and Dev Sellin are still with the BCI.

And yes Bill and Dev are still very much with BCI!

City of Irvine bikepath website:

http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/depts/pw/projdev/city_of_irvine_bikeways.asp

Pam...that sounds like a good route...I need to get on Google maps when I get home...I have time for a longish ride so I will try it out.....I live close to Harvard so it shouldn't be hard to find the start...

... there are viable Class II and Class III routes through and from Cypress to get to places like Coyote Creek and the San Gabriel River.

I agree... Cypress is mostly east of the San Gabriel River Trail, so it would be a cinch for them to take Crescent, Lincoln, Ball, or Cerritos over to the trail which they could take south into Seal Beach.