Southern California - Hicks Haul Time Trial

It was sortof an experiment but it actually went well. Today we had a TT that started on the South end of Hick's Haul Road (now if you wonder where that is... it's the road that goes from the top of Jeffrey up over Lomas Ridge down to Santiago Canyon Rd. but is behind locked gates, i.e. private) went up and over Loma Ridge down to the Bat Bridge, over that and to the gate at Irvine Lake and then back up Hick's Haul and down again. The road is not in the best shape but the views were awesome and the ride is quite the challenge, 1100' in 8.3 miles.

We will probably have another TT in May. If you are interested check the Irvine Ranch website (irvineranchconservancy.org) and sign up.

This is the view from Loma Ridge overlooking Irvine/Jeffrey:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o288/bcipam/HicksHaulTT.jpg

There is someone in this photo climbing the 15% grade...
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o288/bcipam/TimeTrial1.jpg

The view looking North on Hick's Haul towards Santiago...
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o288/bcipam/Timetrial2.jpg

Cyclist cresting back over Loma Ridge towards the finish...
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o288/bcipam/Timetrial3.jpg

Wildflowers along the course... the poppies are blooming!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o288/bcipam/Timetrial4.jpg

Thanks for the report and photos Pam! Yes, I'm interested if you have it again in May. Please advise the link to the results.

Rick / OCRR

I'd love to see an organized century ride go on that road, it could be a good selling point to use a road closed to traffic that we don't normally have access to.

Do you have a link to the May TT? I'm having a hard time finding on the website.

The ride is not yet scheduled. Events are listed in 3 month sets so April, May and June is niot yet listed. When it is posted - I will link it here. Brian, I don't think the road will ever be opened as you suggested for liability reasons. But there will be opportunities to at least do the climb under IRC supervision. You can do what one of the volunteers did - he rode the Loop and then did the road 4 times. Yes he's a monster!

Cool event Pam! I'd be interested in checking it out in May...hopefully in the early part as I have a race at the end of the month.

That 3rd pic is just awesome contrast. Very nice pics! I might be interested if I don't have any races in May (haven't looked that far ahead yet).

I'll make sure to post the event if and when it is scheduled...

I thought about doing that ride, but it said road bikes only - did they enforce that or would it be alright to do it on MTB with slicks?
Did it start near the old gun range or farther up?
Was it 8.3 miles one way?
From reading the description, I thought it was only going to be ~4 miles one way and stop at Santiago Cyn at the bridge.

I'll look for the event in May, as long as it's the weekend of the 9th as I think that's my only free weekend.

Say, is that the section that is in the OCTA Bike plan as a proposed Class 1 path?

Say, is that the section that is in the OCTA Bike plan as a proposed Class 1 path?

Have no idea. There are no public plans for the road. This is a private road behind locked gates.

The event was set up for road bikes but no one cares what type of bike you ride. You might be alittle slower than the road bikes if on a mountain bike but at least it would be safer.

The route actually started near where the 261 (or is it the 241 I always get confused) crosses over Hick's Haul. This is just inside the Jeffrey gate (near the cement company if you know the road). The riders climbed up the South Side of HH than then down the North side over the Bat Bridge ( across Santiago Canyon) out to the Irvine Lake gate, turned around, and then went back up the North side and down the South. The South side descent is an E-ticket ride!!! I have done it both on road and mountain bike and feel safer on the mountain bike!

This ride was held again this past Saturday, the 23rd. I and 9 others took part.
I was on my hardtail MTB with slicks and was by far the slowest. I did the 8.3 mile roundtrip in 51:01 for a 9.8 mile per hour average. The fastest was somewhere in the 23's for about a 21 average. I think most were around 32 something or so for near 15 mph average.
I left ths start house (chalk line) 9th. It really sucked to be caught in only 5 minutes on a 2 minute gap - oh well.

I uploaded from my Magellan Meridian GPS and got this info
Minimim elevation 600 feet, maximum 1190 feet 4.14 miles one way
Mapmyride has the slope at up to 8% - but I find their data to be pretty inaccurate. GPSvisualizer with the same data says up to 13%. I need to find better ways to get good data on slope.

Here's the one way map
Mapmyride Hicks Haul Road One Way (http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/irvine/804124331615525453)

And the round trip
Mapmyride Hicks Haul Road Round Trip (http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/irvine/638124331621746131)

Here's the topo from my gps with profile of one way
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Hicks_Haul_Road_Ride_05-23-09.JPG

I also have here two profiles from GPSVisualizer for the one way
One with slope and one with elevation. In this, the dip just before mile 2 seems to be some kind of error.

They should be doing this again in August for about a dozen or so people.

Thanks to the volunteers (Jill, Ramone and Alex?) and IRC for putting this on.