Ride Report Big Ride Saturday......Oaks to Blackstar to CHSP to Oaks

Another Saturday.....another big ride.

Been having all these different routes in my mind over the last few months.

Yesterday, I decided to throw a loop through Chino Hills State Park.



Here was my intended ride route: From home, though Santiago Oak, through Santiago Canyon, up Blackstar, down Skyline, up Skyline, out to Sierra Peak, down Coal Canyon, over to Chino Hills and do the big Figure 8 loop, then back through Weir Canyon to Oaks and home.



Got a bit of a later start than usual. Rolled out of the garage at 6:15....sun was just coming up. Cruised through my normal route at the Oaks to get to Champan/Jamboree. Lots of warm and cold spots in the low sections of the park. Popped out and started the smooth ride out to Blackstar. Used to really hate the climb up past the Toll Road...now it is not so bad. Down right frigid dropping down Dump Hill towards Irvine Lake....always seems so slow when it is that cold. Reached Blackstar Canyon trailhead in about my average time.

By now, it was time to lose the windbreaker...the sun was up and it should be warming up. Lots of people out early. Backed off the pace a little on the climb up. Shortly after beginning the climb out of the canyon you are blasted by the sun.....off go the arm warmers....that was quick. Saw a few riders and runners coming down on the way up. Gate to Gate time was pretty slow today. Felt like I was taking forever for the legs to catch up. I thought no problem, this happened last time and I rebounded pretty good and felt better later in the ride.

Got to Beek's and made a judgement call...with the way I was feeling, I figured that doing the Sklyine down/up would kill me. Would later be the right choice. The climb out to Sierra Peak was peaceful and uneventful. Really is a great section of trail. Reached Sierra Peak and took a break for a snack. Woohoo!!!! 5.5 miles of DH in front of me. This should give me some time to recover. Headed on down Coal Canyon and the place to myself. It is really fast, and treacherous in some places. Rolled down to the bottom under the 91 Fwy and turned right on to SART for the short pedal up to Green River Golf Course.

You have to go through the golf course parking lot to get to the back entrance of CHSP. No issues crossing the railroad tracks. At this point, I was in new territory. I had never ridden the back side of the park....at least not this far down. Made the choice to go up Scully Ridge first while I was still fresh.....or as fresh as one could be at 35 miles. Scully Ridge starts out steep and gets steeper before it flattens out. Got up on the ridge and could see my DH, Brush Canyon. Whole lot of runners descending Brush Canyon.....turns out there was a 50k trail run going on. Man most of the looked miserable. Kept pedaling up Lower Aliso to Bane Canyon. Stopped for a breather and snack at the new overlook....was nice the water was cold. Talked to some walkers that were a bit confused at to where they were.

Began the climb up South Ridge, this is always way longer than it seems. Turned off onto Telegraph and continued to the summit. Got down to 4 Corners and saw that they were set up there for an aid station for the run. They were coming down Bovinian. So I headed up, a couple of runners here and there. Gave them the ROW. Once up on South Ridge I was hoping the rollercoaster of a ride would recharge me. Felt ok except for the climb past Rim Crest....it hurt. Rolled through and down Ditmer to Telegraph. Started climbing up. Usually Telegraph is an easy cruise at a descent pace.....not today. Felt like I was climbing a wall. The whole way back to 4 Corners was a struggle. At 4 Corners, I reached 50 miles / 6500' of climbing. Orginal plan was to take Raptor to Sidewinder, but I passed on it. Kept heading up Telegraph to retrace my steps back to Bane Canyon.

Stopped again for a snack and reload my HEED and water. Good thing I climb Scully Ridge earlier, cause I didn't have the legs to do it now. Lower Aliso was a nice gradual descent back to the entrance. Was definately starting to feel better. Back through the golf coure and onto SART up to Gypsum Canyon to Santa Ana Canyon to Weir Canyon. Picked up the horse trails at Serrano Rd.

Crawled up a few of the climbs....was really glad I just upgraded my 1x9 to 1x10. Was thankful for the 36t cog. Did the HAB to get back to Weir Canyon Regional Park. Turned right and continued on. Always get a nice sense of relief when I get to this point. Some climbs, and some DH's and before I knew it I was climbing back up to Barham Ridge. This is when I had the 1st and only issue with cramps. Both legs twitched at the same time about 30' from the top of Anaheim Hills Rd....yes, I had to walk it. As I pedaled up past Coachwhip, I looked at the mileage and realized I was gonna come up short of my 80 mile goal. Reached the top of Barham Ridge and started the fun run down, then down Chutes...even at mile 70 it was hard to not have fun.

Decided I needed to make a loop around Irvine Park to reach my goal. Again climbs that are usually no problem....were a problem. Up Horseshoe Loop across the ridge and down the backside of the park. Figured I would just climb up to the gazeebo and head out. As I apporached the split off, I thought, I'll climb Puma Ridge, it can't be that much harder. It was slow, and it was painful, but I made it to the top. Another fast fun descent back to the park entrance. I knew the climbing was over. Pedaled down Santiago Creek Trail to the dam, dropped the Dam Hill, and rolled around to Sage Ridge, before heading down Wilderness Trail to exit at Mabury Ranch. While on Santiago Creek Trail, my Garmin beeped....Low Battery. Now i am stressing out, don't want to lose my ride. So had no choice but to pick up the pace. Got back on the bike path and pushed the pace. The smooth asphalt was welcomed.

Rolled back into the garage about 45 minutes before dark.

Rode from sunrise to nearly sunset. Turns out not adding in the Skyline portion of the ride was the right call...I wouldn't have made it home before dark.

Ended up with 81 miles / 9600' of climbing and 8:30 of pedalling.
http://www.strava.com/activities/94175323

Good/fun ride for sure.

Sorry no pics.....needed the tunes on my phone more than the pictures.

 

Thats all you got? awesome job bud! Those stats make me tired just reading them. Maybe on day well ride together for like a min untill you fly by and onto your crazy ride. Props!!!

 

Massive! Nice ride--motivating!

 

wow that's crazy

so at the end of sierra peak there is trail going down? sounds so much better than retracing to blackstar

 

I'm exhausted just reading this....think I'll stay on the couch and finish watching the 49'ERS game and not ride like I planned...nice work J!!

 

Amazing ride

 

I feel like such a under achiever reading this ride report. Nice work mtnbikej !

 

That sounds like a great two weeks of riding. Awesome job. Carpe Diem.

 

Wow !

huge ride !

I'm heading to Season Ticket to watch the game and have the Sunday night fish tacos and 29 degree beer. Thats my " epic " for the weekend

 

There is.....but it is a b*tch to climb.....and to descend, puts you so far away from the start of Blackstar. Drops you at the old Coal Canyon off ramp on the 91 Fwy between Gypsum and Weir Canyon.

 

nice! and so your lowest bailout gear is 32x36 ? ouch! no way I could push that on a ride like that. good job.

 

That would be correct.

 

Oy! You put more miles on your bike in a week than I usually drive! Looks like you are enjoying these
long rides but don't blow yourself up! There is still 4 months until CC/VQ!