It was a wet and cold morning as we started our SART Birthday ride
In the rain on Saturday morning, Tim, Dan, Weyland & I headed out to Angelus Oaks for Tim’s birthday Santa Ana River Trail (SART) ride. The day started off a little weird for me as my alarm clock decided to set itself back 1 hour overnight. When Dan showed up at my house he noted that there were no lights on. When he texted me, my phone told me it was 5:55am (we were supposed to meet at 6:00) but my alarm clock said 4:55am. Doh, my alarm wasn’t going to ring for another 30 minutes!
Tim, enjoying his birthday ride
We ended up getting out on the road at the appropriate time but I wasn’t able to “take the browns to the super bowl” prior to departure. When we arrived at Angelus Oaks, it was still raining and, not surprisingly, really cold. After a little bit of cajoling and a quick bathroom visit, we set off in the rain for the Post Office Loop and SART.
Siren’s glamour shot… Weyland’s Siren sang to us and we followed
The Post Office Loop starts off with a 1 mile fireroad climb gaining about 600 feet in elevation before dropping into some great singletrack: tight, exposed and slightly downhill. I was grinning from ear to ear! We got our little group going at a pretty good clip in the rain. Our brakes sang to each other whenever we applied them. It was great fun. The rain and cold were not as much a nuisance once we got going… a little bit of numb fingers and glasses that were difficult to see out of, but truly the rain & cold just added adventure to our ride.
As the clouds moved out, it showed us a beautiful view of the valley and the mountains on the far side
After a fireroad climb out of the Post Office Loop, we took another short fireroad to connect us to SART. SART is about a ten mile out and back that is all singletrack. We were able to do about 6 miles in before we decided to break for coffee and turn around.
Jeremy, stream crossing
After an hour and a half of riding in the rain the sun broke through the rain clouds and shined its warm rays on us. It was amazing to see the valley go from being under cloud cover to having the clouds lifted away and seeing the mountains. The trails were in PRIMO condition with the rain making hero dirt for us all. Threading in and out amongst the trees, splashing through stream crossings, taking in the beautiful views of the valley and flora all around us and riding mile after mile of sweet, secluded singletrack was seriously grin inducing.
Weyland emptying water from the bladder into the pot to make coffee
Coffee on SART was a sweet experience literally as I had a Starbucks Caramel Via, yum. Weyland brought his little stove and warmed up the water for us and we enjoyed some snacks at the turn around point.
Dan, Jeremy, Weyland and Tim
No visit to SART would be complete without a stop at the Oaks restaurant. Interestingly enough, when we took our bathroom visit at the Oaks before the ride, one of the proprietors commented that she thought there wouldn’t be any bikers today due to the rain (subtly hinting that we were idiots to brave the wet weather). Her words proved to be true as we rode without seeing another biker on the trail, a rarity in the mountain biking Mecca that is Southern California. Riding, hanging out with good friends and talking bikes… great way to do SART.
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