Mountain Biking - Where to find trails

I just got me an entry level bike. I would be new to riding trials but I am proficient in bike riding. I am just looking for something to get my feet wet. I live in Southern California. I have looked online and can;t find a good resource for trails for starters like me.

Any input would be appreciated.

Hello BTW.:)

perhaps if you go to www.google.com and type in the words "mountain bike trails california" you may find results such as:

www.trails.com

www.socalmtb.com

www.singletracks.com

and...hello

I have been to those sites and they seemed outdated or not very intuitive. I was hoping there was something better out there that other people use that are not plugged into the "social pipeline" of mountain biking or was looking for first hand knowledge from people who know the trails as they exist today. That is why I said:


I have looked online and can't find a good resource for trails for starters like me.

Any other suggestions?

Ask your local bike shop

....

Any other suggestions?

go to a good bikeshop whose employees actually ride mountainbikes, buy a GU (or something small, but buy something), and ask for trail info.

word of mouth and local knowledge is what is mainly used.

or explore. seriously. get out there and just ride around and look, sometimes you find really really cool stuff. and even when you don't, you have a fun adventure.

wherever there are powerlines, there are at least large dirt trails...start there.

TY. Better advice than before. That is what I was looking for, kinda.

Thanks again.

So Cal is a big place with LOT's of trails. Where are you?

Los Angeles/Orange County mainly.

Los Angeles/Orange County mainly.

+1 on checking out a bike shop, many of which have organized rides for different skill levels. Local bike club is another resource.

ETA: You may also want to check out the regional forums (ie. LA/SoCal) on this site.

Sounds good y'all. Thanks for the advise.

I found these sites:

http://www.3fbc.com/trails/

Over The Bars

http://www.otbmbc.com/

sounds like my kinda club.

You can also watch for Mountain bikes on cars and then follow them to where they go. Don't follow them home, they might think you are trying to steal their bikes and get protective.

If you have an iPhone, iPad, or I touch you can get the alltrails app from the app store. It's a pretty good app

Thanks for the links and I installed the app.

Thanks again guys.

That app is awesome. Just what I was looking for. TY again.

You might want to try the socal regional forum on mtbr.com also.

singletracks.com has a pretty decent trail database. Most have reviews and directions on there as well which can be quite helpful.

Look behind trailheads.

singletracks.com has a pretty decent trail database. Most have reviews and directions on there as well which can be quite helpful.Wow, this site is freaking awesome. *bookmarks*

go to a good bikeshop whose employees actually ride mountainbikes, buy a GU (or something small, but buy something), and ask for trail info.

word of mouth and local knowledge is what is mainly used.

or explore. seriously. get out there and just ride around and look, sometimes you find really really cool stuff. and even when you don't, you have a fun adventure.

wherever there are powerlines, there are at least large dirt trails...start there.

Excellent advice. My addition is alos look for roads that dead end in the hills. Most of the time there is some trail at the end.

Also keep a mental list of trails yuo liked and ones you did not and why. Sometimes the hardest part of trial finding for off road is finding one hard enough to be interesting and easy enough to not be unrideable. If yuo can tell teh guys at a shop what was good for yuo they can do a much beter job of telling about similar trails.

If you take 39 into the mountians there are lots of roads and trails. If you check a map you will see 39 ends. It used to go through all the way to 2. It was officially a temporary closeure for over 20 years. The road still goes through except for a bit that is a narrow footpath where the sildes took the road. Been years but the guard rail used to hang like a suspension bridge.

Also lower down there is a paved road on the West Fork of the San Gabriel river. It goes 7.1 miles and then goes straight up (well 25% grade perhaps more) to the top of the Damn and I think several options after that.

On the East Fork is Shoemaker canyon Road. It rdead ends at a fire road. Not a lont or difficult ride, but interesting as it once was going to be another route through the mountians.

Near JPL in Pasadena ther is a paved then dirt road that goes well into the mountians.

Not far away is Chaney Truck Trail off W Loma Alta (or perhaps Alta Loma) drive. Take it by car up to hte highest point and then follow the paved road. It eventually becomes dirt. Where it changes is where the old railroad came in. Tiy can take the trail to the right and see the remains of White City and the top of the cable care run or continue up for a long ways.

None of the ones I mentioned are technical, mostly fire roads or similar.

Exploring can be fun.

Thanks for all the input guys. I downloaded the alltrails app and have started bookmarking trails I would like to give a shot.

Very much appreciated everyone.