Chicks that ride inner city trails

Oh how we've missed our twice weekly rides.   We've been trying to get some miles on the weekend, but there is just something about that evening after work, de-stressing ride that can't be replaced.  We hear Becky has been doing spin classes and Theresa is trying to hit the pool but without the camaraderie of the chicks it's hard to get through the work day.

The group of us from Scantron decided perhaps there is still some light left before the time change to squeeze in a ride.  If we leave from the office instead of spending the precious time in the car fighting traffic getting to the park starting point, and if we leave on time.    Trouble is the office is right smack dab in middle of very busy streets in South Santa Ana, nothing like the Irvine streets with marked bike lanes.  

With inspiration from the Trek Breast Cancer Awareness ride from Two Wheels One Planet where the group rode through the Pizza place parking lot, we decided to attempt it.  The plan was take the short trip through the neighboring office parking lots, to the back side of Burger King and then go north on Holiday to Goetz where we met up with the off road bike trail paralleling the railroad tracks.  This should take us almost all the way to the familiar Santa Ana River Trail.

Since we were fighting impending darkness and wandering around some "iffy" neighborhoods we kept an eye on the time and decided upon a turnaround time no matter how far we got.  It's always an adventure on a chicks ride.

The first part of our ride was on a nicely paved path although some local residents were setting up camp for the night.  We also were treated to some interesting mural artwork, OK some call it graffiti.   Then the path turned into a morning glory lined pretty area backing up industrial buildings.   With each street crossing, we needed to push a button and wait for a cross light.  When we got to MacArthur the bike path rode along the sidewalk where we wound our way to the river trail. 

Parts of the trail along Alton was very rough and obviously hadn't been serviced in quite some time.  Several of us wished we had our more forgiving mountain bike tires, but we made good time and were able to get a 10 mile ride in.   As we got within 1/2 mile office, Stacy noticed a flat on the front tire.  We were in the local "camping" area and it seemed to be getting dark fast, so we didn't want her to attempt to walk it. 

Theresa pulled off the wheel, found a thorn in the tire and changed the tube while everyone else checked their tires for thorns since we had all ridden along the same path.  Karen paid close attention so she could do her own flat change next time.   We returned to the office before dark and were off in our cars almost about the time we normally leave work for the day.    Shall we try it again next week?