Robbed and Beaten on SART 2/04/12 at 2:30 PM

[snowman40]

That's good to know. Google Maps has that trail titled "Peters Canyon Trail" from Jamboree (southern end) to Alton (northern end). That's where I got the name for that portion of the trail.

To clarify, this is what my alternative to SART is: http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Pe...&z=13&lci=bike

Yes, Google has it wrong. The official name is Mountains To Sea Trail, it goes from Back Bay all the way to Portola and towards the Spectrum. San Diego Creek is the southern portion (Back Bay to park near Irvine PD HQ/City Hall) and then goes along Barranca towards the Spectrum. It terminates over there someplace...

Peters Canyon is in two parts and goes from the bridge behind hockey rink, up to the RR tracks. Lennar is currently doing construction on this portion. It continues from the other side of the tracks all the way to Portola.

[snowman40]

The writer may have been referring to the San Diego Creek trail which takes you through Irvine down to Back Bay (It's part of the Mountains To Sea Trail that starts below Peters Canyon at Citrus Ranch Park and yes for now, you have to ride out on Harvard for about 3 miles). I ride that almost every weekend and it remains (thank goodness) very safe. It's a great alternative to SART plus you can add and detract climbs and other bike trails as needed.

I know, I was calling it what Google calls it.

[ninevictor]

Yes, Google has it wrong. The official name is Mountains To Sea Trail, it goes from Back Bay all the way to Portola and towards the Spectrum. San Diego Creek is the southern portion (Back Bay to park near Irvine PD HQ/City Hall) and then goes along Barranca towards the Spectrum. It terminates over there someplace...

Peters Canyon is in two parts and goes from the bridge behind hockey rink, up to the RR tracks. Lennar is currently doing construction on this portion. It continues from the other side of the tracks all the way to Portola.

Whatever it's called, it's a nice route. =)

[P4D]

Whatever it's called, it's a nice route. =)

+1 Going to have to give this one a try. From Cannon/Santiago Canyon down to Back Bay, how is the traffic?

[ninevictor]

+1 Going to have to give this one a try. From Cannon/Santiago Canyon down to Back Bay, how is the traffic?

I've only done this from south to north, so I can't comment specifically on the safety of turning east from Jamboree, but I do know anything on Jamboree south of Irvine Blvd gets pretty busy because of the Irvine Marketplace.

I imagine if you were able to get onto the trail via Portola or the "Hicks Canyon Trail" (disclaimer, I'm relying on Google Maps again) it'd be safer than trying to turn left from Jamboree onto Irvine or Bryan.

[LOGICK ONE]

A little bird told me that they caught a few of the thugs responsible for these heinous crimes!

[Jed19]

A little bird told me that they caught a few of the thugs responsible for these heinous crimes!

Can you share the details of this convo with the little bird?

[LOGICK ONE]

A person on LAFixed who was also a victim just wrote he was contacted by an officer of the SAPD that arrests were made and apparently they found a couple of the bikes from this past weekend.

[sweetpea]

How hard would it be to set up a spot south and a spot north of the bad stretch where solo riders could wait until they have 3 or 4 others and then the group could ride together?

[ZippyThePinhead]

A little bird told me that they caught a few of the thugs responsible for these heinous crimes!

Yeah, I just heard that SAPD arrested three guys for bike muggings on SART. I got an email from someone who knows...

[CbadRider]

A person on LAFixed who was also a victim just wrote he was contacted by an officer of the SAPD that arrests were made and apparently they found a couple of the bikes from this past weekend.

Yeah, I just heard that SAPD arrested three guys for bike muggings on SART. I got an email from someone who knows...

[CoronaRider]

It is sad to see such a beautiful bike trail with such an unsafe condition. I often ride from Yorba Linda all the way to HB PCH and back on the weekend. A few weeks ago, as a family member of mine was riding under a bridge, a homeless man threw a one gallon bottle of urine(?) from under the bridge hideout right into his pass. He was lucky to avoid the object then. Otherwise we would got hurt and/or his nice bike would be robbed. I suggest mjclarklmc and those who encountered trouble contact our local news agencies immediately so that they will do a special report on the trail. This will get the local police attention. It will only then they will take the situation seriously and "clean-up" the trail. I guess I won't be riding in that part of the neighborhood until things get better. What a waste!

Good luck everyone and happy biking.

[surfrider]

For those of you who ride SART more frequently is there an area more likely to be dangerous than others? I frequently start at Yorba Regional and at some point exit SART to make a Loop. I used to enjoy riding down to the beach and back and my friends and I have talked about doing it but now I am not so sure. I know more than anything it's the sign of the times. There is a portion of SART that is frequent by homeless and another part near seedy parts of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa where gangs hang out etc. I can remember as a single woman, being able to do a nice ride down to PCH all by my lonesome but I guess no more.

BTW I would hate to see it come down to cyclists carrying guns for protection. If its that bad, let's avoid the area all together. There are many other nicer places to ride in Orange County. Let the thugs have SART. If we don't give them reason to rob, hopefully they will move on.

The area where the reported 'bicyclist beat-downs' are happening is a 1/2 mile section between 1st & McFadden. If you're coming south on the SART from Angel Stadium, its the area between the propane tank yard and the soccer fields at Centennial Park (that's actually about 1-1/2 miles, but it gives you some 'buffer' to raise you're awareness). I've never had any problems with folks on the SART, and I typically ride it between the Stadium and the beach 1 or 2X per week in the mid-morning hours (plenty of people around at that time).

[toobspunk]

Hello all,
I spoke with a detective @ SAPD today. He asked me to be very careful with my wording...

SAPD has arrested 3 suspects for robberies on SART.

Hopefully this puts an end to these robberies out there.

[ninevictor]

It's nice to see them taking these robberies seriously enough to follow through. Thanks for the updates all.

[mjsocal]

Hello all,
I spoke with a detective @ SAPD today. He asked me to be very careful with my wording...

SAPD has arrested 3 suspects for robberies on SART.

Hopefully this puts an end to these robberies out there.

When a detective is nice enough to give you some info...that is good of you to keep it limited. Great news to hear. I had a feeling something would happen given the fact that the victims were not from the neighborhood and were going to put some pressure on the PD.

[trip221]

I'm glad to hear that they may have caught some of the people responsible, but think I'll still avoid the SART for a while. It's really too bad as north OC/south LA county doesn't have the greatest roads or any bike lanes, so when I'm not out early enough to avoid the traffic I go to the river trail.

If anyone hears any more updates please post them for us all.

[Bobsled]

Hello all,
I spoke with a detective @ SAPD today. He asked me to be very careful with my wording...

SAPD has arrested 3 suspects for robberies on SART.

Hopefully this puts an end to these robberies out there.

Good news indeed.

[jimxyz]

Great news, but I doubt I will be very relaxed in the future while riding alone near an overpass where people are standing around - Kind of takes the fun out of a quick ride to the beach and back. Thanks Santa Ana gang losers.

[jmX]

Great news that they're caught. Too bad in a few days they'll be back out on the street.

[mjsocal]

Great news that they're caught. Too bad in a few days they'll be back out on the street.

Geez...good point. But maybe there is hope if they have priors or a probation/parole violation.

[spinerguy]

Hopefully they will locked up long enough to realize assaulting cyclist it's not worth it.

I wish they drop the slippery soap bar at the showers... a lot

[Durockrolly]

There's something to be said about legal CCW!

[CoronaRider]

Good news on the arrest. Thanks for sharing! Can anyone obtain and post pictures of the criminals in our forum?

I have an idea. Let's have a show of unity of SART bike riders. The trail is too beautiful to give up. Let's organize a date where hundreds SART bike riders meet at the Honda Center rest area on a Saturday morning and slow...ly ride south through the trouble neighborhood and back (with signs?). Let's make this event publicly know by the OC Register and SAPD and local news. Anyone volunteer to organize this event? We could start a new thread just for this event.

[papawoody]

6 year member and 1 post ? and I thought I was a low poster ! anyways glad they got some bad guys !

Hi folks,
Damm, I've ridden the SART too many times to count.
Now, I think of this. Let's organize a group or website where we can go online and post when we would like to ride the SART. then, we can put together groups for trips up and down.
For starters, we can use this forum.
Anyone interested in teaming up, to reduce the chance of getting robbed. Write back here. Also, you can email me directly kayaspeed(at)yahoo.com.