Garfield Cat

It's been a while - the ride say, East Chapman Avenue in Orange and then into Santiago Canyon Road to Cook's Corner.

How is Santiago Canyon Road these days?

diphthong

it's been too long. may hafta investigate on monday...

SoSmellyAir

It was extremely windy when I last rode SCR eastbound toward the end of last year. Waiting for diphthong to report back that it is all calm and sunny before I tackle SCR again.

diphthong

looking more like tuesday...

TakingMyTime

I rode it 2 weeks ago (West to East) and I'm actually heading out this morning to do it again. I leave from Cypress Community Park (Jeffrey Rd and 5 fwy), Ride up Jeffrey to Portola and then over to Jamboree and then across SCR to El Toro and then work my way back to the Park. Everything about the last ride was great. The road seemed clean, the hills still had a lot of green to them. And if you can do it on a weekday there's usually very little traffic.

SoSmellyAir

Please let me know about the wind conditions.

TakingMyTime

Change of plans. It was nice and dry down near Long Beach but once I got off the 405 in Irvine it was way too wet to ride. I drove to the park (with my windshield wiper on) but turned around after seeing how wet everything was.

SoSmellyAir

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Yes, Irvine has recently experienced misty mornings that would not show up in the forecast until after the misting starts. It generally clears up for late morning.

2seven0

2 websites- although I'm sure others exist- I use to get wind & temp forecasts for riding (and surfing):

www.windfinder.com
www.windy.com

West

diphthong

generally more of a cross wind/verry slight tailwind heading west/jamboree to east/live oak rd.
in santa ana conditions, a definite cross wind and a maybe tailwind heading east to west mostly downhill but the area around the silverado road junction is a hold onto the bars with both hands recommendation.
don't ask me how i know.

diphthong

rode scr and live oak canyon rd in both directions starting in rancho santa margarita and heading westward. turned around at the start of traffic lights/241 toll road junction. traffic pretty heavy but that was to be expected on a holiday. cook’s corner was ridiculously busy-no surprise there. late start at 3:20pm and finished around 6:30pm. mid-70’s and clear. wind conditions were light and not really an issue (the occasional 4-5 mph zephyr) until just before (heading west) the silverado rd. junction. then, there was an intermittent, 10-12 mph (mostly) headwind until turning around and heading east. went up silverado rd. to grab some water at the little market a few
miles up the road and the intermittent, 10-12 mph headwind was there too. silverado road quality slightly rough but decent. scr and live oak canyon were both very solid. an 8 for scr and a 9 for locr. did come across 2-3 spray-painted/flagged bumps on scr heading east. did not realize there were so many impromptu memorials on the scr/locr route. including the ghost bike on the fence up the hill from the 241/scr junction, i think i counted 11. there were a few traffic cones on the edge of westbound scr before silverado turnoff flagging some smallish dirt piles on the edge of the bike lane but otherwise, no construction. biggest hazard, and it could be a biggie, is that there are two small sections of oak trees on the eastbound scr descent to cook’s corner that definitely need to be trimmed. the foliage is over the entire bike lane and low enough that you need to get your chin down near the handlebars to avoid swerving out of the bike lane or getting clobbered with a face full of branches/leaves. just coasting on the descent, you’ll be doing 30+ easy and (as late as i was riding) definitely shaded so not as easy to pick up if riding after high noon.