The Cycling Dude

San Juaquin Hills and Corona Del Mar State Beach

Location: Newport Beach, and Corona Del Mar

Directions to Ride Start:

Various freeways lead south from LA County, Riverside County, and North Orange County to connect with the 55 Frwy. to Costa Mesa, and the 405 frwy comes north as well for anyone traveling from South Orange County.

The 55 becomes Newport Blvd. at 19th Street.

Turn left at 19th. 19th becomes Dover at Irvine Ave.

Turn left at Castaways Lane and take an immediate right into Castaways Park, or a left into Bob Henry Park.

By bus, folks can connect with OCTA 43, south on HARBOR BLVD., anywhere from Brea to Costa Mesa, and transfer to OCTA 55 at Harbor and Wilson, heading south. The 55 stops at Dover & Castaways Lane.

Alternatively folks coming from along the coast, from Long Beach to San Clemente, can take OCTA 1 to Fashion Island, in Newport Beach, and connect with OCTA 55 there.

Castaways is open 6am-11pm.

THE ROUTE:

1. Left on Dover out of the park.
2. Left on PCH.
3. Left on Jamboree.
4. Right on San Juaquin Hills. Rd.
5. Right on Newport Coast Dr.
6. Right on Pacific Coast Highway.
7. Left on Poppy.
8. Right on Ocean blvd.
9. Right on Fernleaf.
10. Left on bayside Dr.
11. Left on PCH.
12. Right on Dover to the park.

Approximate ride distance is 14.50 miles, depending on food stops, beach, and island detours, and bathroom breaks, and while there are some hills, this is an easy ride, the last half of which has a wonderful downhill, and richly rewardling coastal views.

THE RIDE:

I didn't know what to expect of the first part of this ride, when I took it last week, though the Thomas Guide map book showed it was in the hills east of PCH, and was pleasantly suprised.

The ride begins along Pacific Coast Highway, with a glimpse of Newport Bay.

The you begin your 5 mile journey along San Juaquin Hills Rd. by passing the East side of Fashion Island Shopping Center, and San Juaquin Hills Park.

A mile long climb from Marguerite to a hilltop wildlands area brings you to 2 canyon viewing areas known as Harbor Watch and Canyon Watch.

Not long after ward you reach Newport Cove park, and Newport Coast Shopping Center, at Newport Coast Blvd.

Your reward for the hilly ride past empty land, and Gated Communities, is a wonderful 1 1/2 mile downhill that, if you time it right at the 1 light near the bottom, is a 25 mph. coast ( That means NO PEDALING REQUIRED! ) down to PCH that gives you a spectacular view of the ocean, and Crystal Cove.

After a short ride along PCH your reach the outskirts of downtown Corona Del Mar, at Poppy.

A short ride west on Poppy brings you to Inspiration Point at Corona Del Mar State Beach.

The ride along the cliffs on Ocean Blvd. to Fernleaf gives you great views of the beach, Catalina Island, and the entrance to Newport Harbor.

This is a quiet residential area full of fancy homes, and the ride along Bayside brings you to Marine Ave. where, you will be tempted to turn left cross the bridge and explore Balboa Island.

Don't let ME stop you! :-)

Go right ahead! :-)

Back out on PCH it is just a short ride back up Dover to the park.

Circling Turtle Rock

Location: Newport Beach and Irvine, Ca.

Directions to Ride Start:

Various freeways lead south from LA County, Riverside County, and North Orange County to connect with the 55 Frwy. to Costa Mesa, and the 405 frwy comes north as well for anyone traveling from South Orange County.

The 55 becomes Newport Blvd. at 19th Street.

Turn left at 19th. 19th becomes Dover at Irvine Ave.

Turn left at Castaways Lane and take an immediate right into Castaways Park, or a left into Bob Henry Park.

By bus, folks can connect with OCTA 43, south on HARBOR BLVD., anywhere from Brea to Costa Mesa, and transfer to OCTA 55 at Harbor and Wilson, heading south. The 55 stops at Dover & Castaways Lane.

Alternatively folks coming from along the coast, from Long Beach to San Clemente, can take OCTA 1 to Fashion Island, in Newport Beach, and connect with OCTA 55 there.

Castaways is open 6am-11pm.

THE ROUTE:

1. Right on Dover, out of the park
2. Right on Irvine
3. Enter the Bike Trail just beyond Santiago
4. Take the trail around the north side of the Bay, turn right at Jamboree, and a short distance later, a right to go under Jamboree, and on to the San Diego Creek Bike Trail.
5. Ride to Campus, and then cross the street to continue east on University.
6. Right on Ridgeline.
7. Left on Turtle Rock.
8. Left on Campus.
9. Left on Culver/Bonita Canyon/Ford Rd./East Bluff.
10. At Jamboree cross the street and go north on the path to continue back around the North side of the Bay
11. At Santiago, cross the street to continue south on Irvine Ave.
12. Left on Westcliff.
13. Right on Dover.
14. Enter Park.

Aproximate ride distance is 23.50 miles, depending on food stops and bathroom breaks, and while there are some hills, this is an easy ride.

THE RIDE:

Riding around the Upper Newport Back Bay is always a joy. The scenery, and the birds make for great viewing.

The route along University takes you 1st past the UC Irvine Campus.

Next you pass William Mason Regional Park and a huge Wilderness area.

Both have paths for cylists, and walkers, and you can enter the Wilderness paths at University and Golden Glow, and at Yale.

The ride up Ridgeline, past the road to Concordia University, is a mile and a half climb past empty land, and Gated Communities.

The 3 1/2 mile ride around Turtle Rock is a nice one past Gated Communities, and several parks, including Turtle Rock Community Park.

Along Campus you will pass University High School.

Next you will ride through parts of Bonita Canyon and pass more homes, and empty land, and an entrance to Bonita Canyon Bike Trail.

As you continue to MacArthur Blvd. you pass several churches, and the Bonita Canyon Sports Park.

After crossing MacArthur you travel past some Gated Communities, and Corona Del Mar High School.

Before re-connecting with Jamboree you pass the East Bluff Village Shopping Center.

The remainder of the ride takes you back around the Bay.

At Irvine and Westcliff are several eateries if you are so inclined to indulge in the Munchies before returning to Castaways Park.

A Club for Kids

There are a lot of reasons kids should be helped to develope an interest in bicycling, including confidence, exercise, knowledge of safe cycling rules, and skills.
Now, in New Jersey, there is a new organization that apparently has high hopes of helping kids in the Linden area, and beyond, learn about cycling, of both the racing, and recreational varieties.

The group has a website, some sponsors, equipment, a calendar of events, and a Mission Statement:

To help kids achieve a higher level of fitness, keep them out of trouble, from becoming depressed, or over weight, all of which can lead to health problems such as diabetes, to help them from becoming violent from the lack of activity, to keep them away from smoking, and have them do things with their parents.

Give kids a bike to use who can't afford one.
This club is not about cycling alone it's about teaching kids....

The number one goal is to get this program expanded to all schools where we can offer a scholarship to leading kids.

To learn more about the program. and what they hope to instill in youth by teaching them cycling skills, go here:

Cycling Angels

I wish them luck in their endeavor.

Thus Thanks The Cycling Dude

I wish to thank a new blogger, and fellow Anti-Idiotarian, for the suggestion that led to my naming my CATEGORY ARCHIVE. :-)

DARTH MONKEYBONE has shared with his readers 2 delicious recipes that I think I'll try one day after a particularly long bike ride. :-)

Sithmonkey: MMM...Queso

Sithmonkey: Ewokaritos

Dig in! :-)

Training School Kids In London

Here is an interesting story out of Great Britain about training kids to be safe road cyclists:

Jenny Jones, Deputy Mayor of London and Green Party Assembly Member, attends an on road cycling lesson and launches a report which comprehensively demonstrate the effectiveness of on road cycle training.

Several interesting statistics are mentioned from a recent study on the effectiveness of cycle training:

81% of trainees cycle more or more confidently now than they did before training.

After training people cycle further and more frequently:

The number of people cycling average journeys of 3-5 miles are up by 79%.

The number of bike trips people make is up by 144% (from 0.9 to 2.2 trips per week).

The number of people cycling all year round is up by 40%.

Read more in a BIKE CAFE report called: Deputy Mayor of London participates in on road cycle training for school children

About CnN

The Cycling News Network is Huntingport Mesa's leader in the attempt to locate news, info, and stories related to the activity of Recreational Road Bicycling, and Bike Commuting.

Staffed 24 hours, seven days a week by a dedicated individual, and his Trusty Steed, Cleopatra, in CnN's world headquarters in Huntingport Mesa, California, and absolutely nowhere else, CnN hopes that its potential global readership of who knows how many Cyclists will enjoy what they find here, and even share leads to stories, and links to interesting, and relevent information, and organizations, examples of which appear in our various lists of links.

CnN features the latest writings of its Correspondent, The Cycling Dude, and searchable archives of previous entries by him, on his Blog, from January 2003 to the present.

The Cycling Dude is updated occasionally throughout the day, or less frequently, depending on how busy with hisl life CnN'S Correspondent is that week.

READER OPINIONS:

Help make your opinions count.

Use The Cycling Dude's COMMENT Links, on EACH entry, to tell him what you think about his writings, by clicking on the link, and sharing your thoughts.

You can also send him an e-mail with information that you would like to see CONSIDERED for inclusion in the various LINKS Sections, and even pass along a lead to a Cycling story on your local newspaper website, other websites, and blogs.

A word of thanks will be expressed if the info is used.

Happy Trails! :-)

Getting the Word Out

One way for me to spread the word about The Cycling Dude's rebirth is to submit entries, old and new, to weekly efforts at sharing the best wriiting the Bloggerverse has to offer.

One such effort is The Best of Me Symphony, where people submit the best of their archived material for others to enjoy.

This weeks edition is hosted by the blog Practical Penumbra

I would like to welcome all readers of the Symphony to my site, and would encourage you to send me an e-mail if you know of Bike Friendly Mass Transit in your community, or others nearby, and include the website URL.

Know any Advocacy Organizations, or Recreational Bike Clubs, in your area, with an online presence?

Let me know.

I am collecting such info for possible inclusion in the appropriate collection of links as seen on this page.

Riding San Diego County

Riding to San Diego, from San Clemente, sounds like a fun challenge. :-)

If anyone has suggestions for routes that I should explore and write about, send me an e-mail, and let me know.

Riding San Bernardino County

I once rode along a portion of the old Cajon Pass road in San Bernardino, out by Devore, and know one can ride over the pass towards Victorville.

Something to eventually try my hand at. :-)

I also occasionally ride my bike along Highland Ave. from Monclair to Fontana.

If anyone has suggestions for routes that I should explore and write about, send me an e-mail, and let me know.

Riding Riverside County

In 2002, I rode my bike south, from Ontario Mills Mall to Lake Elsinore, in Riverside County.

It was an enjoyable ride of over 40 miles that I plan on taking again, and writing about here.

If anyone has suggestion for routes that I should explore and write about, send me an e-mail, and let me know.