eggnumber41679

Going to be down in Brea this weekend visiting the in-laws and was wondering if there are any race-focused training rides leaving from Brea, or thereabouts. I'm looking for about 2-3hrs, climbing or flat. For those of you familiar with NorCal group rides, I'd be looking for something approximating the House of Pain that leaves from Danville Peet's.

I've done SART out to Huntington Beach and back a few times, but after reading the sticky post about riders getting robbed (still wondering about the logistics of that), I'm a bit weary of doing it alone. Anyway, it's more fun in a pack.

Thanks in advance!

TrojanHorse

I don't know of anything organized, but from Brea you can hop on Birch street (turns into Rose and then Tustin) and get on SART and motor down to the beach and back. Flat and fast, likely windy one way. I don't worry about muggings personally but I also tend to ride in the mornings.

If you want hills, drive up to Glendora Mountain Road and relive stage 7 of the TOC. Park by the big ol' tree in the middle here: https://maps.google.com/?ll=34.147511...04128&t=h&z=19 and just ride north and up. Go as far as you like but it's about 9 miles to where the KOM marker was (just pack the shack like structure) and then you get onto Glendora Ridge Road and eventually Baldy Village. There are sure to be zillions of cyclists on that road on any given weekend. Create your own pain.

mwandaw

Bicycle Club of Irvine rides start half an hour's drive south of Brea. If that's OK with you, go to their website https://bikeirvine.org/ and click on Saturday Rides or Sunday Rides on the left side of the home page. Look for the Long or Long Plus rides, and you'll have a good, time-tested routes. You can ride the route any time you want, and you can ride right past the rest stop location if you want.

mwandaw

Go to https://RideWithGPS.com and search for Brea, Anaheim Hills, etc. Here's one that looked interesting: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/518034 It includes East Canyon Rim, which would be a good challenge. Hmmm... I just realized some of it is on a dirt road, so you may need to change the route.

jimxyz

Santiago Cycles in Tustin - maybe 20 mins from Brea (by car) has a ride Saturday mornings at 730, one group is pretty fast. But the ride is shorter, 60 to 90 mins, some hills. Bannings Bikes, I think it is now called East West Bikes, in Fullerton had a ride Saturday around 8 am, which is also a pretty fast paced ride. As far as taking SART south to the beach and then riding out from there, the path is pretty busy on weekends, so you are unlikely to have any issues. That can be a fast paced ride, but there is very little vertical to it.

ZippyThePinhead

You probably should check out Team Velocity, which rides from the Fullerton area on Saturday mornings. It looks like their Web site is down ATM, but they are on Facebook and Yahoo Groups. I have several friends who ride with them, but I don't. I think you can also call East-West Bikes for more info. They roll starting around 7 on Saturday mornings from Fullerton.

ninevictor

Taking Lambert west to Colima then north to Turnbull Canyon Road is a nice start to a ride with a bunch of climbs in the Whittier / La Habra / Hacienda Heights area.

You should be able to knock out 3K - 4K feet of climbing within a 30-40 mile ride pretty easily if that's your cup of tea.

After you're done playing in the hills you can either take Lambert back to Brea if you're on the south side of the hills or Colima to Brea Canyon Cutoff Road to Brea Canyon (careful here, drivers get stupid on this road) back to Brea.

Some noteworthy climbs in the area:

• Colima northbound from Whittier Blvd
• Turnbull Canyon Road (east or westbound)
• Eastridge Drive
• Belle River Drive
• Oak Canyon Drive to Descending Drive
• Avocado Crest Road

There are easily 6-8 short but sweet climbs in the neighborhood bordered by Colima on the west, Hacienda on the east and Whitter to the south.

If you want some GPS tracks of some of the rides I've done in the area, let me know.

ninevictor

If you want a race pace, try Como Street leaving from the Red Robin parking lot at the Irvine Marketplace Sunday mornings at 8AM. The short loop of that ride is only about 1.5 hours though.

https://app.strava.com/activities/4788900

There is usually a group that breaks off and does a longer loop but I've never done that one.

eggnumber41679

Thanks all for the suggestions. Trying to decide between the Como ride and Mt Baldy via GMR.

Anyone go up Baldy recently? What's the temperature like? I was looking up weather forecasts, and they seem to vary between low-30s to high-60s...

CF