Riding Whiting Ranch with the Tucson

I went to Whiting Ranch on Saturday afternoon for a ride. Because my wife was at a baby shower and I was her ride, time was limited so I was only able to get in about 8 miles of riding.

Whiting Ranch is located just south/east of Irvine California. Google maps got me there via toll roads, but I’m sure you can get there without paying tolls. Good thing is that the machine that dolls out parking passes is currently out of order so no $3 fee for parking. I guess that offsets the $1.25 toll (each way).

Most So. Cal mountain bikers know of Whiting Ranch because of two separate mountain lion attacks that occurred in January of 2004. The first attack victim was a mountain bike amateur racer while the second attack victim was a fitness instructor. The first guy died from the attack while the fitness instructor was saved by her friend and other mountain bikers who heard the screams. The mountain lion was tracked, killed and an examintion of its stomach proved the rangers killed the correct mountain lion.

On this Saturday afternoon, there were a TON of people hiking and biking Whiting Ranch. But, the great thing about Whiting is that there are a ton of trails to choose from. After getting off the main drag, Borrego Trail, I passed less and less people and while on some choice singletrack, I passed and was passed by no one.

Fezzari Alta Peak (26″) and KHS Tucson (29″)

I decided to try Cactus Hill as recommended by a random, but nice fellow bike rider. He was familiar with Whiting and was explaining how I could ride Cactus to get in some great singletrack before I hit the fireroad back to the parking lot. I, of course, tuned out all of his directions after hearing about Cactus Hill’s singletrack. It was good, very good. It was tight, technical and not surprisingly, filled with cactus.

I ended up getting a needle stuck in my elbow when I had to unclip. Sorry, I pulled the needle out before I realized I should have taken a picture of it while still in me. Oh, what I’d do for mtnbikeriders.com.

Easier part of Cactus Hill Singletrack, but a Slim Margin for Error

I also got a needle stuck in my Castelli glove. I was severely disappointed because these gloves also tore during my ride. I knew they weren’t going to last much longer as they were starting wear thin at the palm area, but I’m disappointed in them because I bought them only 3 months ago and they were epxensive too, $60 msrp. Argh.

Castelli gloves with Cactus Needle & Hole

By the way, the Tucson faired very well (at least it didn’t get stuck with any needles!). The Kenda Karmas had good bite on the hardpacked dirt and they rolled decently when I had to ride some streets on the way back to the car. I didn’t get lost. I just wanted to uhh… waste more time adding some road miles after my ride, when I was already late to pick up my wife. Yeah, thats it.

The 318 Tora 29er fork performed well. It is definitely a bit heavier than my Reba, but it was still pretty smooth, once I got the right amount of air in it. The lockout was helpful on the climbs, although I still felt some lift.

A quick aside: I’ve been getting compliments on the color of the Tucson. People have been calling it a mix between brown and purple… brople. Whatever it is, it fits in well on the trails.

Brownish-Purple Tucson, Brople

More info on the Tucson, go here.