Two days riding back to back on opposite ends of the Santa Ana River Trail was fantastic. It brings out the best of living in the Inland Empire! Luckily a (record) mild summer let me ride to my heart's content. Saturday I had the option of taking a long ride, and planned to ride out the back door to Huntington Beach. That would require a ride home, which was not forthcoming. So I decided to drive half way which is in Corona, and jump on the SART for an out and back ride to the Pacific.
And my was that ride marvelous! The on-shore winds were blowing inland, seriously slowing me down. I averaged about 13 mph going to the beach. Ate there, then turned around for a 19 mph ride back to Corona!
The amazing part was a lack of ITB issues in my knee. It's been plaguing me for the last few years, but I think I might have kicked it to the curb! Not even a tinge of it over the 60 mile ride.
Speaking of 60 miles, discussion on the RBW list has led to the creation of a new group, Les Metriques. It's purpose is to promote metric century rides. 100 kilometers is just a touch over 60 miles. In my opinion (humbly or otherwise) it's a great length for a long ride. It doesn't take up a ton of time 4-7 hours depending on how fast/fit you are, you don't need a bunch of special bags or lights (or bike!) and it really isn't that fatiguing. Just a real great length of a ride!
So that was day one, on to day two: The dirt portion! Past San Bernardino, the SART is non-existent, or at best just dirt road. Then you get up into the San Bernardino Mountains and it turns into wonderful singletrack trail.
You can hike or ride it from Big Bear down the mountains, but there's a marvelous little portion up in Angelus Oaks. It's close by, cool, and wonderful! I drove the 1/2 it takes to get there and hit the trails! The best part was taking the 8 y.o.! His first extensive amount of single track. He was great. Walked a few sections. Crashed another section. Pedaled the whole way out on the road leading back to the car park. Good times were had by all!
The purpose of this is let folks know there is some bike culture in SoCal. They can get to a place that is car free, either a nice MUT but the beach, or glorious singletrack up in the mountains. You can even bring a kid along!
That said, what's the hold up? Get out there and ride!
