Orange Co., CA

Orange County/Southern California - Information and Rides (Road and Bike Trails)

Orange County is about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles. There are a number of decent road rides here. Okay, so it's not like riding in Oregon or Vermont, but the riding isn't so bad when you consider this is the second largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

I cycle year round here. On the weekends, I get up early to beat the heat in the summertime; in the winter, I wait to ride until after lunch, when the temperature finally gets up to the high 60s/low 70s.

My local bike shop - Switchback Cyclery - in the city of Orange, California

Some of my favorite rides in Orange County:

	Aliso Viejo Rides
	Santiago Canyon Loop

Other information:

	BikeTrails.com
	Dan's So. Cal. Bike Trails
	Ride listings at California Bike Rides On-Line
	Some general bicycling information for the Los Angeles area
	A route from Grand Terrace, CA to Huntington Beach, CA - the directions from Grand Terrace (near San Bernardino) end at Green River Rd. in Corona. However, just continue westbound on Green River to the end and pick up the Santa Ana River Trail to go the rest of the way to Huntington Beach.
	San Diego Bike Paths

Rentals:

	Last time I checked, Team Bicycle was renting Santana tandems and other quality road and mountain bikes. They're at 8964 Indianapolis (at Magnolia), Huntington Beach, (714) 969-5480.
	Mountain bike rentals on my Orange County Mountain Biking page.
	Cruisers and similar bikes are easily rented almost anywhere along the beach.

Some area clubs:

	Bicycle Club of Irvine
	Orange County Wheelmen

Maps:

	The Orange County Transit Authority has an excellent Orange County Bikeways Map on-line, downloadable as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.
	Los Angeles area bike paths
	Mail order for San Diego Region Bike Map.
	Ventura County bike maps are viewable on-line.
	San Luis Obispo County bike maps are also viewable on-line.
	A Riverside trail map can be obtained by calling the Parks and Recreation Department at (909) 782-5301
	I haven't found any bike maps for Los Angeles or San Bernardino Counties. Let me know if you find any.
	Bike Map.com has bike maps for many major metropolitan areas.

A couple of good books for riding in Orange County:

	Touring the Los Angeles Area by Bicycle by Peter Powers (1992, Terragraphics) gives day loops in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties. The highlight of the book is the three dimensional elevation maps of the suggested routes.
	A new book called Mountain Biking Orange County by Randy Vogel and Larry Kuechlin (1996, Chockstone Press) is an excellent comprehensive source for off-road riding in the parks and the Santa Ana mountains.

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