The Long San Juan and Fullerton Loop Ride Report
This whole week a few of us planned on riding a gnarly trail called San Juan. Its near San Juan Capistrano in South Orange County…beautiful place. So Jeremy was our tour guide, his friends Wayland, Dave and Dave along with Joe Solancho, Priscilla and I, drove about an hour to get to this trail head. Just to give you some background of this trail…its tough! 12 miles of switchback climbing and exposure…meaning if you were to fall, you could fall off the edge of the mountain, seriously.
The drive.
Here’s the last time I saw Dave and Dave…
Last time I saw Jeremy.
You see, Jeremy is a rather fast rider and sometimes lacks patience for us slower folk. I was tending to Priscilla who was having a hard time making it up the mountain because she felt scared of the exposure, so I let the 2 Dave’s and Jeremy ahead because I didn’t want to slow them down. Joe and I were on big bikes, we each had forks that has over 6 inches of travel and 35 lbs rigs, this meant that when we came to the narrow switch backs, we would sometimes get stuck and get off our bikes. Of course, doing all that slowed us down big time. On occasion we would see Jeremy and his pals traversing the mountain.
You can see Jeremy and the 2 Dave’s in the picture, just look at the red, white and blue specs.
Joe was cool enough to hang with Priscilla and I.
This is the why Priscilla didn’t like this trail…the trail was pretty narrow.
At mile 2…about an hour into the ride, my knee was starting to act up and Priscilla wasn’t feeling good about going up any further because the trail was getting more technical. We told Joe to go ahead and let the rest of the guys know that we turned back. We said our goodbyes and Priscilla and I got on our bikes to head back down. But all of a sudden, Joe showed up again. He decided to go down with us since he wasn’t having fun either.
Joe went ahead of us since I wanted to keep an eye out on Priscilla. But she knows how much I love descents so she said for me to ride ahead and get my thrills and if I hear her scream, that was her signal that she got hurt. I got a few shots of Joe riding down some of the switch backs…looks pretty cool.
You can see Joe on the top single track…he’s that itty bitty spec.
Once I got down the mountain, I get to my car, and Joe was already packing up. Then I noticed there was a forest ranger that was giving out tickets to all the cars that didn’t have an Adventure Pass. Since I didn’t have one, I quickly loaded up my car with my gear, threw the bike on top and drove away! Oh by the way, Priscilla was still up on the mountain making her way down. As I drive away, I yell out the window to Joe in Tagalog (Filipino talk) that I’ll be right back. I said it in our language because the ranger had just finished giving Joe a ticket.
I drove up the road and pulled over hoping that the ranger would leave. But since there were over 30 cars there, I figured he’d be busy for a while. As I sat in my car, Joe in his car and Priscilla on her bike roll up. Apparently Joe told Priscilla that I just got up and left her. But she didn’t realize that all I really wanted to do was avoid getting a ticket! Aye…that’s all I need…another expense.
Priscilla and I stopped at her favorite Messican Restaurant called Las Golindrinas for some tamales and a breakfast burrito. Once we were done we decided to drive out to the Fullerton Loop for a quick jaunt.
Here we are at the Loop.
Oh by the way, for those of you that don’t know, I have this fetish for eye wear. I LOVE SUNGLASSES! So I’ve been craving a pair of aviator glasses for a while and when I saw them at the dollar store, I scooped these up…how you like em?
One of the things I’ve learned in mountain biking is, when you see horses, you pull over and stop. Why? Well for one thing, they’re way bigger than me, they have big ole’ feet that can kick my face back to the Philippines…and its just courtesy. So I take this picture of Priscilla practicing proper trail etiquette, and as soon as I snap the photo, this chump behind us rides through and startles the horses…dork.
To cap off our ride, Priscilla wanted to play… so she had me turn around and then she ran into the mustard plants and hid. Can you guess where she is?
Anyhow that’s our ride report. It was a pretty neat day, we didn’t have fun at San Juan, it just wasn’t my kind of trail…I still hate climbing, but we did get a ride in at the Loop, so that was pretty cool. Oh by the way, Jeremy, I told the ranger that you left us behind and when he heard that, he asked me which was your car and when I pointed to your Pilot, he walked right over and started writing your ticket…sorry dude!
By the way, I’m not mad at Jeremy. I can’t get mad at my Boo!
lol. He’s just kidding bout the ticket Jeremy! But that was a scary trail for me. One wrong turn or any mistake with your front wheel and you could kiss your life good bye!! Sad thing is that I wasn’t even tired, I was just terrified. There was a portion of the trail that was almost completely eroded by the rain but you were somehow supposed to ride over the side of the mountain and make it to the other side without falling a 1000 feet to your death?!?! That was my breaking point. I rode down the hill feeling a little bit like a loser but at least I gave it a try. Cheers to Jeremy and the 2 D’s for making it up that mountain!!! 😀
You didn’t have any fun because you went the wrong way on 35lb rigs.
Give it another chance and leave a bike hauler at the bottom and drive to the top and park, then enjoy the endless decent. Finally shuttle back.
Eric,
My original plan was to shuttle it today with a buddy, but he had to cancel so I was subjected to that climbing…
Sorry, RL.
To Jeremy’s credit, he did prompt me/us a few times to stop and wait for you guys. I think he was in a difficult position: baby sitting me and the 2 Dave’s, while trying to be sensitive to you guys. Jer did ask a number of riders that came up past us to see how you guys were doing.
Nice ride report. Ya, thanks for the heads up on the adventure pass 😉 Anyone else get a ticket? That was a fun trail but maybe for a lighter bike; either that or I’m just a wuss. That was funny seeing RL trying to book outta there while the Ranger writing a ticket. I think you bottomed out right before you peeled off LOL.
Btw, Priscilla may have misunderstood me, I didnt just tell her that you just got up and left her. I kinda explained what was going on and you were trying to avoid getting that ticket :).
Anyhow, being that was a short ride for me, I was looking for another ride. After I left San Juan on fumes (needed gas bad) picked up a quick bite then headed off to Santiago Oaks. Lots of people and horses on the trail. At mile #2 (from Albertson), I got a flat tire on my rear tire. Did a quick fix using CO2 cartridges (forgot my pump). Rode up the three Bs then coming down Chutes around 5 miles I got another flat!!! Being that I only had one tube and I already used it and NO pump… I had to walk. No one around for a mile til the bottom of Chutes. Met a guy named Daryl; cool guy helped me patch up my tire and off I went.
Bad day of riding for me – ticket from S.Juan and 2 flats @ S.Oaks 🙁
I feel guilty about having a blast riding TBC…
Pris: I was telling the guys that I knew you wouldn’t have trouble climbing but I’m bummed that the exposure threw you off your game. It was a bit nasty in some parts.
RL: I glad you don’t mind that I smoked you up the hill but it does help when my rig is 10 lbs lighter. Thankfully the adventure pass ticket is only $5. BTW, I didn’t tell you but I’m digging the aviator shades too, Boo. haha
Moe: =P
Joe: I corrected RL after I read his post about ur explanation for him abandoning me like that but he was too lazy to change his post. lol. Sorry to hear about the continued mishaps. 🙁 Totally sucks!!! But thanks 4 ur encouragement out on the trails today. Super helpful!
Jeremy – I am not digging RL’s shades, so stop it! lol. You know last sunday he came to church with those shades on and his camo crocs!?!?! AYE.
Cheap sunglasses are bad for your eyes, anyway…unless they have guaranteed UV protection. Otherwise, dark cheapie shades force your pupils to widen and it lets in more of the bad wavelengths.
That being said, I sort of like those aviator shades…they look a bit out of place on an MTB, but you could pass for a cop!
or a pimp…
Man those trails are awesome! I wish there were trails like that around here!
Yeah! Great!! I love mountain riding…
There is less exposure the closer you get to Cocktail Rock and from what I hear, Old San Juan above Cocktail Rock is pretty awesome and not quite as intense. A shuttle run from Blue Jay to where you guys started is definetly in order, 11 miles of single track bliss.
I feel bad for throw’n the San Juan idea out there to Jer and then some wicked bad food poisoning kept me from going…
To all,
adventure pass is a SCAM perpetrated by our greedy senator Boxer. don’t buy them, don’t pay the ticket (which is also a joke). Read it carefully. It asks you to pay, it does not mandate it. I’ve gotten tons of them and never paid them yet.
paying tickets and buying adventure passes will only further Boxer’s cause eventually turning them into actual law.
If you factor in that Adventure Passes pay for maintenance of national forests, park rangers, etc. it’s always a good idea to buy one. I mean, come on, it’s $35 for an annual pass.
We’re all mountain bikers so we need to chip in and take care of our trails and this is part of it. If you don’t feel like paying the pass solely because it’s not “mandatory” that’s rather childish. It’s the least we can do to take care of gorgeous wilderness like this.
By the way guys, BEAITIFUL pictures. Glad you guys had such a nice ride.