Article in the OCRegister about Santiago Canyon.
 

It took me 20 minutes to find it (old school tech, real paper), but there is a full page in the OC Register on the back page of the Sports section. I just got to work, and yes, I have to do at least some work first, so I haven’t read it yet.

Just thought I’d bring it to your attention.

enlighten us when you read it - I don't take a paper...

I read the first few chapter and he says he's ridden it some 200 times, and it looked very positive so far. I'll read it at lunch and write something quick.

http://www.ocregister.com/sports/roa...8825-ride-lane

Good article, but he uses the tragedy of a driver drifting into the bike lane and killing a mountain biker as the basis for the advice to stay in the right side of the bike lane. I had heard she didn't have a taillight after dark, but I haven't been able to verify that.

Thanks Brian for the article... of course not impressed; he rode the Canyon the wussy way!

I do have to agree with him in some ways - definitely not a place to do a family ride and definitely the riders need to be aware and concious of their surrounds (like please don't wear iPods!). I started riding the Canyon almost 25 years ago and it was a much different place. Hardly any traffic at all. Now with all the new construction and surrounding development, traffic has increased if nothing else as an alternative to other busier roads. I have been know to take the Canyon to get to South County cause I know the freeway it backed up or to North County for the same reason (I live in Tustin so it's not that far out of the way for me). There have already started building the homes ont he SOuth end nad shortly will begin on the homes on the North end.

Timesa re changing and I guess we need to keep riding the Canyon while it's still wild and wonderful!

Thanks Brian for attaching the link.

The author, David Whiting, sounds like he could fit right in with Socal BF. He sure appears to be a hard core rider and maybe even a racer, but it is an article in a major newspaper, so it's not going to be geared towards us, but instead it is geared towards maybe getting people in their bikes and letting them know there is a place that's worth going for a ride on, where you can feel like you're out in the country. As a "journalist" I'm sure he felt that he needed to put all the disclaimers in, but did a fine job of pointing out what most of us already know, Santiago Canyon is a great place to ride.

Good exposure all in all.

Pam, you got me on this one...which way is the wussy way? I too have been riding this road for 25 years and if you start at one end, go to the other and then come back, haven't you covered all of Santiago Canyon Road?

The wussy way is heading North... because there are only a few hills and they are longer, but not as steep as the Southbound route...

Overall, a good article but he did include the 'right side of the bike lane' too often. There is plenty of times that debris is there and I'll take the lane if the bike lane is unsafe.

Ok, I wasn't sure.

Again, there's that lawyer thing going on, I stay to the left also, because you're right, there can be a lot of carp near the right side.

Here's the thing with the wussy way doing the Canyon... I do have friends who park at the shopping center at Chapman and Jamboree and ride the Canyon out and then turn around and ride back. I generally do a Loop. So I know coming back thru the Canyon South to North is easier but in leaving my house in Tustin, traveling up Irvine Blvd and then having to climb either Bake or El Toro and then from Cooks Corner, I almost just rather climb up Jamboree, do the bigger hills on Santiago North to South and then cruise back home down Irvine Blvd (generally I don't go down to Cook's Corner - instead I take the street, name unknown, half way down to Cook's that climbs up and over to Portola/foothill Ranch and then I go down Bake to Irvine Blvd. ). I don't know it probably washes out in the end.

Oh, I agree, my point was just a minor nit in an otherwise excellent article. I was going to explain more but Phil beat me too it. Then Phil and Pam beat me to it about which way is the "wussy" way.

I live near the intersection of Jamboree and Chapman/Santiago Canyon, so I've been somewhat in the loop on future development in the area. There are plans to build houses along Santiago Canyon between Jamboree and Irvine Lake, although those plans have been scaled back a bit. On the narrowest part between the toll road interchange and the old dump, some well-meaning (non road cycling) neighborhood advocates were pushing for elimination of the shoulders/bike lanes so that there could be room for a two way bike path on one side of the road. Luckily there was some push back on that, so if they do build the path it won't be at the expense of the shoulders/bike lanes.

But like Pam said, enjoy the canyon now, you never know what it's going to look like later!

Hmm I need to start riding the canyon more, but it's just so short. :( So will need to find a way to extend it that doesn't involve seating at every other light.

When at Cooks Corner, you can always turn into Live Oak Canyon. Or go out and back down Silverado Canyon.

We went up Live Oak Canyon the last time out and that's the last time I go up that...NO shoulder on either side at all and a Cadillac, among others, just barely missed us (inches)...scared the crap out of me. However, I love Silverado Canyon, nice grade and the drivers through there so far have been very courteous and since it's in essence a dead end road, there isn't a lot of traffic.

On the way through Santiago Canyon, don't forget to do the loop through Modjeska Canyon... it's not for wussies either way ;)

Jim

No kidding, I had never been that way before, and my buddy said that we were done with the hills and it was all downhill back to the start. I was pretty surprised by the grade on the last half mile just before getting back to Santiago Cyn Rd...wow.

Unless I am thinking of something else isn't the climb pretty short, 5 min max?

Live Oak's not that bad - once you get up and over, you're flying though the trees.

Thanks for posting that story - I refuse to buy a crappy paper like the Register.

That's funny, as if there's a better paper out there.