Inland Empire Mountain Biking: June 2009

Click the map for directions:

Inland Empire Mountain Biking - Jedi Photoshoot

Van and I set out for a little Jedi photoshoot last night...

Here's a few shots of the tabletop kicker:

A cloned shot of the kicker:

See the rest of the shots on the Flickr Photostream here.

Inland Empire Mountain Biking - Chino Hills State Park

Official Chino Hills Website

Chino Hills State Park is located in Corona, off the 91/71 freeways. This was my first time there, and I decided to enter from the Soquel Canyon entrance.

Apparently, there was a massive fire in November 2008 that really took its toll on the park, so a lot of the trails are still closed. The two different single tracks that we rode seemed like they had not been ridden in ages (either that or I just took trails that everyone knows not to ride!) because they were overgrown with head-high weeds on both sides. Portions of the trail were, to be honest, absolutely ridiculous and I found myself walking the bike through, to avoid the onslaught of weeds to my face!

Overall, it seems like a great place to ride, as it is very well mapped out and there are maps available at the entrance. $4 for day use. Park is open 8AM to SUNSET. They are apparently very strict about this, as our ride went late and we got to the gate after dark. The ranger was there, ready to give me a ticket! After taking my license, he showed us mercy and let us go with only a warning.

Get there early, pay the fee, grab a map for each rider, and have fun. It appears as though most of the single track trails are connected by fire roads.

We rode a very short loop, as it was getting late by the time we got there. Aliso Canyon Trail to Faultline trail to Ranger Ridge trail.

I'll post a few pics and a short view of the weed-fest!

This picture was taken from a break in the weed-ravaged single track named "Faultline Trail". This view is looking south toward Water Canyon.

Another shot from the weeds!

Out of the weeds of the faultline trail, riding down the fire road

Video of the Weed-Fest:

Directions

Inland Empire Mountain Biking - SART Revisited

I was feeling the need for some fresh mountain air, so I decided to take a trip up to the infamous SART trail. I rode a 9 mile loop starting from the Angelus Oaks General Store, and ending with the climb up the fire road back to the "parking lot."

Thanks to CHDK, I have some really cool intervalometer functions on my camera. Here's a time-lapse video of the drive up to the SART (the battery actually ran out while I was buying my forest adventure pass).

Here's some video from the SART: WARNING: I cannot be held responsible if this video causes you to develop an irresistable urge to ride the SART! If you develop symptoms of continual distraction from work or inability to think about anything but single track, I advise you head out to the SART ASAP!

Inland Empire Mountain Biking - Big Laguna Trail - San Diego

This ride may not be in the inland empire, but it is absolutely gorgeous! My wife and I had a day off together, so we made the trek down to the Cleveland National Forest to check out the Big Laguna Trail. There are many options to this ride, but we chose to start at the Penny Pines "kiosk", which means we entered at the north side of the Big Laguna trail. The trail is ALL single track, and starts out by winding through the forest. It eventually leads you out into this gorgeous meadow that you see above. We felt like we were in the movie Jurassic Park!

This is a perfect ride to introduce beginners to the "real trails", as it is all single track, the scenery is amazing, but it is not technical, apart from a few rocks here and there throughout. There are many campsites in the area, so I could see this being a great day trip/mountain bike weekend camping escapade. Take your camera on this ride for sure!