Thanks for the nostalgic flashback, Curtis. Right out of college I used to live in Manhattan Beach and Belmont Shore and would ride south to Crystal Cove almost every weekend on the original GT Karakoram (with '80's crackle paint!). I think it was a 15 mile loop around Moro complete with some crazy, cactus-lined single track. It was a pretty good local training spot for those early mountain bike races at Big Bear and Arrowhead. Those were some of my fondest memories of cycling back when I could spend an entire day on a mountain bike riding 90+ miles. Nice to hear that it is still a solid cycling location. I'll have to try it again next time I'm down in LA.
John On Sunday, November 30, 2014 8:10:31 AM UTC-8, Curtis wrote: > > After being inspired by Doug’s post on mini-tours I put together a round > trip overnighter out of downtown San Diego. Catching the 8:30 am train for > Irvine and then returning to San Diego at 3 pm the following day. Upon > arrival in Irvine I followed the San Diego River Trail to the coast. While > on the SDRT I had the second of two chance encounters. Doug was riding > east with his Tuesday riding group as I was heading west. After a good > conversation about past, current and future trips we went about our > adventures. I found out later that his riding group ask Doug about the > “homeless” man he was talking to. > > Had lunch along Newport Back Bay and then headed south with the intent of > avoiding as much of PCH as possible. Found some wonderful views of the > ocean as my path wound in and out of neighborhoods west of the PCH. Ran > across a deli on one stretch of the PCH and picked up a sandwich for > dinner. The options for avoiding the PCH diminished as I headed south. > After a few miles Crystal Cove State Park was found a short distance east > of PCH. I got a spot at Lower Moro, one of their primitive environmental > camps. The climb up to Lower Moro was on fire roads. After a few stops I > found myself the only camper at Lower Moro. This was to change after dark > however. After setting up and enjoying dinner and the views the sun set > rapidly. The view was amazing, miles and miles of ocean. There were > several container ships setting just off shore. I guess they were waiting > their turn in the port of Long Beach. Maybe some of the ships had Nitto > parts on board. After sun set I heard voices on the road up to the camp > and in a few minutes five guys showed up. It was fun to watch them set up > their tent for the first time. They were high school seniors, an animal > that I am familiar with, and where out for an overnight. Once the tent was > set up a couple of them called their parents. The kids were quiet and by 7 > pm I was asleep. > > On Wednesday I was up by 6 and ready to ride by 6:45 am. Decided to make > a loop on the fire roads and headed up to Upper Moro. Upper Moro camp has > more sheltered spots, but the view was not a grand. After reaching the > ridge and taking the cut off trail to the canyon road I was back in the day > use area in no time. > > I was to meet the train in Oceanside at 1:30 pm so south I went. The city > of Laguna Beach needs to add some bicycle infrastructure. Absolutely no > bike lanes in Laguna Beach along the PCH. The bike lane resumed once the > PCH enters Dana Point. The rest of the trip was uneventful and at 2:30 I > was back in San Diego. > > This is a trip that would be worth doing again. One change would be to > arrive and leave out of Irvine. The PCH is not much fun. How great that > we have such a great resource here in Southern California. > > Here is a link to some pictures of the trip: > https://www.flickr.com/photos/97010676@N07/sets/72157649080198277/ > > Enjoy > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
