Haskell Cyn open space…

Yet another piece of land in Santa Clarita that has been made into Open Space for the public to use.  The 526 acres of Open Space can be used for walking, running or mountain biking. This trail head is off of Copper Hill and Near Haskell Canyon Road.

High above the homes in the area one has a great view of the entire Santa Clarita Valley. 

For the mountain biking I like the rolling terrain on the fire road. Very peaceful and wide open views. There is a tiny bit of single track but not much. This is mostly fire road up and down stuff.

Back in the day … “The Haskell family homesteaded this canyon for their cattle ranch in the early 1900’s.  Later, the Agajanian family raised hogs here until the 1950’s“. – credit to the hikesantaclarita.com website for this piece of history.

Trail ratings are gentle, moderate and steep as seen on the map legend below from the hikesantaclarita.com website.

Click to access Haskell_Canyon_Trail.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quigley Canyon

Nestled in the corner of Newhall near The Masters College and multi-use with the local horses is a “woodsy like” trail called Quigley Canyon Open Space. Yet another great open space trail in Santa Clarita.

It’s seldom I see more then one horse on the trail but when I do I give full courtesy to them as I don’t want to spoke the horses or the dogs.

There are two trail heads that you can come in from. One is off of Placerita Cyn Road with  Sierra Hwy being the cross street. The other entrance is near Master’s College. Quigley Cyn Rd. and Cleardale Street are the crossroads.

The trails are marked from easy to difficult.  Also if you follow the map (attached) you should be fine.

Click to access Quigley_Canyon_Trail.pdf

 

 

Tapia

Tapia is the local main mtb spot to go to in Santa Clarita. Many trails of all different levels. There are fire roads and single track. With such trail names as Charlie Canyon, Kona, Burn Victim, Junkyard, Wayside and Karl’s 2.0…There are many others. G – out is a popular one for the fast and furious!

There are a few ways into the Tapia area but the most common is from around the Castaic Animal Shelter. Either up Charlie Canyon or on the other side is Wayside. Do NOT take Tapia all the way up as at the bottom there is a home owner who is very much against mountain bikers and has been known to yell and scare people. I’ve heard of him following a first time female rider out the her car at the Castaic Sports Complex and yelling at her enough to scare her where she called the police. Be real careful on Tapia.

I’ve known a few riders who have hurt themselves deep in off the trails, so be sure to tell someone where you go each and every time you ride. Most of the time I’ve seen other riders in there.

Doing loops around the trails at Tapia is lot’s of fun. Give Tapia a try if you have not ridden there. It can be for a beginner rider to advanced.

View of some of the trails around Tapia

The famous phone at the towers.

 

 

Mtb in Central Park

Central Park is a multi-use park here in (Saugus) Santa Clarita, off of Bouquet Canyon Road. It has been for quite a few years and hardly used for mountain bikes. It has mostly been used for such activities as:  running, walking dogs, hiking, field sports,  and the free summer concerts along with many other events. There is even an 18 hole disc golf course, and two dog only areas.

Mountain biking came to life this summer with the Pedalfest Race Series. This was an eight week race series for all classes of racers from beginner to pro. From young to old(er). There was fun to be had by all! The racing itself was great and the fun around the Start/Finish line with bicycle vendors, food trucks and some cycling clubs/teams setting up their tents and having social time!

 

Pedalfest race series:

 

 

 

 

There is mountain biking in  Central Park all year long. Follow the fire-road course around  the park and have a great ride!

Please be respectful for the walkers, runners, dogs, etc. or this privilege might be taken away.

Here is a map of Central Park created by the city of Santa Clarita.

 

 

Wet or Dry it’s still – The Beast

It was raining today when I got to the parking lot of Whitney Canyon Park for “The Beast” and it was looking real cloudy and wet up in the mountains. I waited about 20 minutes in the car deciding what to do and then the rain went away! I decided to do the ride after all. I proceeded up The Beast, the dirt was compacted and the clouds were low and the air was misty. I was socked in and loving it! It was perfect for mountain bike riding!

The Beast is a great hill to climb in the Santa Clarita area. It is straight up and then your reward of course is straight down. You can go either half way which is to “the bathrooms” which is basically at the entrance to what was a great technical single track, Los Pinetos until the fires last year and then the rain storms came through and changed the whole topography of the trail to be more of a hike a bike trail in many spots. From the parking lot of Whitney Canyon Park where I started it’s only about 4.2 miles or so up to the bathrooms. For some more fun, and quite frankly in my opinion the better half, you can climb to the top of that mountain to where Camp 9 is for great views of the Santa Clarita Valley and the San Fernando Valley. Up and back is aprox. 16 miles.

You can take many single track detours of of the fire road but the majority of the ride is the main fire road up and down, which is no easy task. The side trails from the fire road are fun to ride as well. It all depends how much time you have and how much you want to ride.

 

Off the saddle and typing…

…Only for a moment!

Three years ago I was told to start my cycling blog again. So I did. It was one post and then I stopped, again…until now. Why did I stop? I had increased my cycling so much that I didn’t find time to pay any attention to my blog. Writing, adding pictures and making it better. I kept telling myself to get back at it, you actually like to write stories and well yes you like to ride a bicycle so why not bring them together to share with others.

Soooooo here I am… again. Starting the rebirth of my blog, BikeSantaClarita! Yippie! There I said it! WhooHoo! I will have as much fun with this blog as I do riding my bicycle(s).

Here is a synopsis of what has happened in these past three years:

• I have taken many photos and saved them from my rides, weather they were road or mountain bike adventures.
• I began racing mountain bikes again after a 15 year hiatus. I started back up on the very same dirt where I stopped 15 years ago at Castaic Lake.
• I gave time trialing a try at Uncle Tren’s TT in Piru.
• I became more involved in the community pertaining to cycling as a member of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition.
• Met some really cool bicycle people!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was on a ride today and someone said “you used to have a blog”

It got me thinking… I haven’t written in this blog for over 20 months! I can write every excuse in the book down and they are all true but the truth is I just haven’t done it. I will start today and write about all my rides and adventures on a bicycle.

I have been “blogging” on Facebook about my rides and of course Strava but had completely forgotten about my lonely blog.

I am committed to doing this. I want to do this! Why not just do it on this blog as well! Thanks Catherine for the nudge!

So about that ride I did today (11/7). It was a Pedalin’ Posse spin off ride organized by Jeannine. The weather was perfect, in the 80’s! A bunch of us went out and rode a great course consisting of Golden Valley, Sierra Hwy, Wiley Cyn, Old Road, Pico into beautiful Mentryville all the way to the back gate where the runners and mtn bikers go up. We then finished off at Peet’s coffee shop in town for a beverage and a snack. Great ride with great people – Jeannine, Stacey, Mark, Catherine, Laurie, Cathi –  who really enjoy cycling and getting together and having some fun!

Here is some history and pictures on Mentryville.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentryville,_California

see you out on the trails!

 

Buyers are moving to bike friendly areas!

Click the link here to read about how Buyers are moving to bike friendly areas!

This is just great that people are now looking at areas that are more bicycle friendly for work purposes so they can commute!

Enjoy your ride!

This article is courtesy of The Washington Post.com web site

 

I know, I know – I haven’t blogged in a long time…

I haven’t been able to blog for good reasons I guess. I have been so busy with my real estate career that I just couldn’t spend the time to sit down and write a post. I have been so busy showing homes. Some weeks I would show 6-7 different appointments! That’s busy!

This is all coming from the market in my area finally flattening out and making a turn for the better. I really do see the stats all around improving. Multiple offers on everything out there, the stock market is improving, the unemployment numbers are going down. Things are just getting better. Yes slooooowly but better is good. At least it’s not worse!

All this time being spent on taking clients out and showing homes has prevented me from blogging and also doing what the blog is about, cycling! I haven’t been able to ride my bicycle(s) in weeks!

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”

I will make a concentrated effort to post more about what I like to do and that is ride my bicycle!

 

Health Benefits of Commuting by Bike

Here is a great post from a blog I follow that explains the health benefits of riding a bicycle!

http://lovingthebike.com/guest-post/health-benefits-of-commuting-by-bike