stinkyonions

I was wondering if anyone had any tips for rides in the Orange County area leaving from Huntington Beach and not requiring a drive to a place to start. I am riding alot more at home since I graduated school and I miss the hills we had in the Bay Area. So far the closest hill to me I have found is Newport Coast drive, but things get boring after much repition. Even after going up it on my fixed gear a few times I want a new hill to climb. I am trying to find some new longer/hilly rides to throw into the mix. Things have been plain so far.

Rides I Usually Do:
1. Santa Ana River Trail - meh.
2. PCH to Long Beach to Newport Coast Drive to HB
3. Along PCH North (as far as Long Beach) and south (as far as Dana Point)
4. HB to Santiago Canyon via Jamboree to PCH via El Toro/Laguna Canyon - That ride was a total nightmare since I didn't know that Jamboree turns into the 73 for short stretch.

I know there are maps at the LBS but sometimes they are just beach bike paths etc... and I would prefer other rides. Are there any nice rides south towards Laguna Beach and then up in the canyons? Someone I rode with the other day mentioned a nice climb out by Cook's Corner but just riding my bike that way was a nightmare.

Likewise, if anyone wants to ride, PM me.

cjbruin

Hey! I'm on a business trip right now but when I get home I can e-mail you a map with good routes through the county. Park & Thalia in Laguna Beach are good climbs as is Imperial Hwy off the Santa Ana River Trail...Another way to get to Santiago Cyn is to take the SART to Chapman or Imperial and cut across. You can also go up Harvard through Irvine and avoid the scary part of Jamboree. There are a ton of options around here.

stinkyonions

Awesome!

I know there is a bunch of options but I haven't ridden with any clubs in the area despite knowing there are a few in Irvine that have group rides. A map would be really spiffy and help me switch things up a bit more. Plus I miss my hills.

jim24

Get to Harbor, go north. Eventually, you'll wind up in the Diamond Bar hills. Lotsa nice hilly stuff in there. Pathfinder Road, Colima, Fullerton Road, Brea Canyon hwy (although I think it's under construction right now)

I guess this is technically LA county, but the southmost part of it.

Jim

1955

Harbor Blvd. sucks, very heavy traffic and a major truck route.

1955

Take the SA River Trail to Imperial and go south into Santiago Canyon area or from there head west and ride in the Anaheim Hills...roads with hills everywhere. Get to Carbon Canyon from the Brea end for a nice ride also.

Ralph

OC Roadie

Hey, I'm right around the corner from you in Fountain Valley. I feel your pain, in regards to finding hills and then getting bored of the same ones. Newport Coast Drive is the closest one, and the easiest way to get in a good climbing to distance ratio if you want to do repeats. Santiago Canyon is good, there's a road in the middle of the canyon called Modjeska Grade that add to the fun and then there's Live Oak if you turn left at Cook's Corner. I've got a couple of good hilly route slips for the area if your interested. On Sundays I normally head out from Fountain Valley on 75-100 mile rides with 5,000 - 10,000' of climbing, you're welcome to join. In fact this Sunday I plan on doing about 80-100 miles through OC. I live right by Costco, PM if you're interested. This time of year I leave around 6:30am and return around noon. I'll send you a couple of route slips in a PM. Take Care...

OC Roadie

PM me when you get back and maybe we can finally hook-up a ride.

CycleFreakLS

You will have to look these up (good climbs in Newport Coast to Dana Point):

Newport Coast (from PCH) to San Joaquin Hills ... ~2 mi
Newport Coast (from Bonita Canyon) to San Joaquin Hills ... ~ 1.8 mi
San Joaquin Hills (from Back Bay) to San Joaquin Hills/Newport Coast ... ~ 5 mi

Vista Ridge and Ridge Park (form a loop) right from San Joaquin Hills/Newport Coast ... short but very steep, < 1 mi but with gradients > 15%

Spyglass Hill to El Capitan (from San Miguel). You can then hop across the asphalt trail to Newport Ridge Dr West ... ~1.1 mi, short but very steep, some small sections > 17%

Turtle Rock, Starcrest, Ridgeline (all in the Turtle Rock community)

Pacific Island Drive (off of Crown Valley Pkwy in Laguna Niguel)

Santiago Canyon ... generally, it is much tougher going E (from Jamboree to El Toro). To get there ...
University bike trail (in Irvine)
til it dumps you onto Barranca
take the first L (light) onto Harvard (going N)
take Harvard to Walnut (L) (now going W)
take Walnut to Tustin Ranch Rd (R) (going N)
take Tustin Ranch Rd to Jamboree (L) and head up to the canyon
You'll bypass all that mess you ran into on Jamboree

If you want to add extra punishment ... once you exit Santiago Canyon ...
stay on El Toro Road
turn L onto Marguerite Pkwy
immediate R (light) onto Los Alisos
take Los Alisos down to Paseo de Valencia (L)
take P d Valencia to Alicia Pkwy (R)
take Alica Pkwy to Crown Valley Pkwy (R)
If you're a real glutton for punishment ...
Pacific Island Drive is right off of Crown Valley Pkwy
Then
take Crown Valley to PCH (R)
take PCH (you're in Laguna Niguel) back up towards Newport (~1000' of rollers here)

Enjoy.

iamtim

Wow. There's a lot of riders in my area -- I'm from La Habra. I'd love to hook up with some riders, but I am relatively new (this time -- many years ago I raced BMX, and rode a Bianchi with full gear after that): I still ride with a cotton t-shirt (no jersey) and toe-clip pedals. Plus, a 25mi. ride is my normal "long distance" ride and I am t3h sux when it comes to climbing.

But I'm getting there! :-)

Tim.

OC Roadie

Hey CycleFreak,
Can you explain this one a little better. I know the general area, but I think I take Spyglass the other direction (From San Joaquin Hill towards Bonita Canyon). I'm glad you mentioned the Vista Ridge/ Ridge Park loop, that's a good one. Do you go up Vista Ridge or Ridge Park, I prefer the steepness of Vista. Take Care...

OC Roadie

Here's a fun one that hits a lot of the climbs in Anaheim Hills. This is starting from Santiago Cycling, but from HB you can take the river trail to Chapman to Cannon and start this route from there. I have this in Excel format as well as some other, if anyone wants them, PM me with your email address. Camino de Bryant and Hidden Hills both have some nice 15-20% stuff.

NORTH COUNTY TOUR OF HILLS
*** DIST. STREET NEXT TURN
DEPARTS SANTIAGO CYCLING
R 0.0 PROSPECT AVE. 0.10
R 0.1 IRVINE BL. 0.60
L 0.7 NEWPORT AVE. 4.90
L 5.6 SANTIAGO CANYON RD. 2.40
R 8.0 CANNON 0.70
R 8.7 SERRANO 5.20
L 13.9 WEIR CANYON 0.60
R 14.5 SANTA ANA CANYON 2.00
L 16.5 GYPSUM CANYON RD. 0.60
R 17.1 LA PALMA 0.30
L 17.4 CAMINO DE BRYANT 1.65
U 19.1 CAMINO DE BRYANT 1.65
R 20.7 LA PALMA 0.80
R 21.5 VIA LOMAS DE YORBA 1.80
R 23.3 LA PALMA 1.10
R 24.4 YORBA LINDA BL. 0.30
R 24.7 NEW RIVER RD. 0.20
L 24.9 ESPERANZA 0.30
BL 25.2 HIDDEN HILLS 2.70
U 27.9 HIDDEN HILLS 2.70
R 30.6 ESPERANZA 0.30
R 30.9 NEW RIVER RD. 0.20
L 31.1 YORBA LINDA BL. 0.90
BR 32.0 WEIR CANYON 0.80
R 32.8 SERRANO 2.90
R 35.7 NOHL RANCH RD. 0.20
L 35.9 CAMINO GRANDE 1.10
BR 37.0 STAGE COACH RD. 0.40
L 37.4 NOHL RANCH RD. 0.30
L 37.7 ANAHEIM HILLS RD. 0.50
R 38.2 SILVER SPUR 0.10
BR 38.3 BRIGHTON LANE 0.30
R 38.6 COVERED WAGON TRAIL 0.10
L 38.7 NOHL RANCH RD. 1.70
L 40.4 MEATS 0.50
L 40.9 VIA ESCOLA 1.10
R 42.0 CANNON 3.60
L 45.6 CHAPMAN 1.60
5300' CLIMBING
R 47.2 NEWPORT AVE. 0.60
R 47.8 CANYON VIEW 0.40
R 48.2 OUTRIDER 0.10
L 48.3 LA CUMBRA 0.40
BL 48.7 CALLE ALTA 0.20
U 48.9 CALLE ALTA 0.20
BR 49.1 LA CUMBRA 0.40
R 49.5 OUTRIDER 0.10
L 49.6 CANYON VIEW 0.50
R 50.1 NEWPORT AVE. 4.10
R 54.2 1st ST. 0.50
R 54.7 PROSPECT AVE. 0.10
R 54.8 INTO BIKE SHOP

iceberg

I don't know if I could ever ride PID... I live right by it, and I just got a bike. My buddy said to check it out... it scares me.

CycleFreakLS

Looks like you'd be going the opposite direction. I'll assume you're on San Miguel (off of Bonita Canyon) heading towards San Joaquin Hills.

[a] L onto Spyglass Hill
[b] L onto El Capitan Dr
El Capitan is a dead end street. You'll see a blocked off asphalt trail that connects to Terrace Ridge. I think only firetrucks/emerg. vehicles can use this access. Bikes can too.
[c] Terrace Ridge T-s into Newport Ridge Drive E, turn L
[d] Newport Ridge Drive E curves around and crosses San Joaquin Hills at the Vons shopping plaza
[e] Follow it around and take either Ridge Park or Vista Ridge

I like either Ridge Park or Vista Ridge. VR is steeper but it has that little "flat" section at the "false" top before it continues around ... where it hits RP. RP is just one long relentless climb. Going DOWN, I only go down VR. RP has too many "blind" turns where cars (even though they're residential tracts) can just plow you over. VR doesn't have those. Also, RP seems to have manhole covers in all the WRONG places.

Another one I forgot to mention is Pelican Hill (off of Newport Coast). Nice, short, brutal climb (depending how fast you take it).

Also, if you start at San Joaquin Hills at the bottom (Back Bay) and take it past the Vons and up VR or RP, you have a nice 5 mi climb.

There's also a slew of very nice climbs in Palos Verdes, and unlike Newport Coast, they're almost all residential (i.e., nobody blowing past you at 50+). But, that would be another thread ...

Best.

CycleFreakLS

Yes, it is scary. Normally I hit it at ~45 mi into my Irvine-Santi Cyn-Laguna Niguel-Irvine loop. I look at it and shudder ... maybe next time. PID is ~1.5 mi from the ocean and ~1.2 mi from the inland. So it is steeper heading towards the ocean from inland. Be warned ... the thing is in like a mini-canyon. I've tried it both directions, once right after coming down PCH (nice coastal Pacific breeze). It felt 15 degrees hotter inside PID which made the suffering all that more enjoyable ... sort of.

Climb it. It is worth it.

CycleFreakLS

Re ... PID

One last thing ... heading towards the ocean, going DOWN ... there is some weird RIPPLE in the asphalt. I've spoken to a number of roadies who have mentioned the same thing. I did the shimy-thing on my Litespeed at 45+ ... and I didn't like it. Be careful of that if you decide to bomb it going towards the ocean.

OC Roadie

I actually grew up in Palos Verdes and moved to Orange County about 15 years ago. My wife and used to take our tandem up Crest and down Hawthorne to the coast. Hawthorne is pretty skechty going 55 on a tandem. Everytime I visit my parents, I wish I had my bike. I really enjoy the switchbacks on PV Drive East. Also some really nasty hills by Granvia Altimera (sp?). Let me know if you ever need a hill partner, be it Orange County or PV. Do you ride to PV or drive?

dahvaio

Yes, Going from Alicia Parkway to Crown Valley...has some ripples and might experience a lot shimmy... SCARY when going 45+

Some Good Hills(not all by the beach - Your limiting yourself by just riding near the beach area)

Pacific Island Drive
Paseo De Colinas
Golden Lantern
Stone Hill
Vista Ridge
Ridge Line
Gas Hill
Newport Coast... both directions are fun...
Live Oak Canyon
Spyglass
La Paz by Marguerite Parkway

Come and ride with OCRR and.. you will have a good time...

stinkyonions

Awesome! So many routes to choose from now.

Maybe an orange county meetup or the such? I know we are always having them in the fixed/ss forum at least.

As already stated about Harbor, I would not want to ride there. It's not that I have a problem riding in traffic. I just don't like large streets like that here that are populated with HUGE vehicles and inattentive drivers. I don't think there is any sort of bike path either.

CycleFreakLS

Drive ... unless you want to ride through the "hood" ( !!! ) then park near Redondo Beach somewhere, warm up, then off to dem hills ...

Some of the routes in PV I like:
[a] Via del Monte, Granvia Altimira
[b] Via Coronel, Via Fernandez, Granvia Altimira
[c] PV Dr E (the switchbacks), Crest Rd
[d] Sunnyridge (off of PV Dr N)
[e] fr Malaga Cove ... Via Campesina, PV Dr N, Silver Spur, Montemalaga, Granvia Altimira
[f] fr Granvia Altimira, Ridgegate, Highridge, Whitley Collins

Roads to avoid Crenshaw and Hawthorne!
Best.

OC Roadie

LMAO
My parents live on top of the hill by what used to be Rolling Hills HS, there's not too many other options from there. The streets you mentioned are all great. I've always wondered about riding to PV from OC. You're right, the hood through Long Beach and Wilmington areas has always kept me from doing this.

sportbiker

Pretty much all of south county is hills, so take your pick. Crown Valley, Marguerite, La Paz, Oso, etc. all qualify. Just break out the Thomas Guide and string them together!

OC Roadie

We all forgot to mention Bluebird Canyon in Laguna Beach, a fun little detour if your crusing PCH in Laguna.

Hawkear

If you make your way inland towards Mission Viejo, try to go up Vista del Lago.

Lots of fun!

dahvaio

Yeah... Vista Del Lago is a tough hill a little over an 11% grade for about a half a mile... Rode it last weekend...