John’s River Ride (Long)

Distance: 61 miles and 1800 feet of elevation gain (barometric)

As mentioned in the overview, all three routes head directly over to the Santa Ana River Trail and head south to Huntington Beach. This long and the medium continue all the way to the coast and then head over to Balboa Island. After riding across the island, they head around the Back Bay and then pick up the San Diego Creek Trail. They get off the creek trail to have lunch together in Irvine. After lunch the two routes continue north to Tustin. Here the two routes split at about the 39 mile mark. This long makes a loop taking you up and over the Tustin Hills. From there, the long loops through Villa Park and back to the Santa Ana River. It picks this up and rides it back south a few miles back to the start. As you can see by the profile, the only significant climb is the one over the Tustin Hills. But, after coming down out of those hills, there is another memorable climb (the spike at about mile 44) which I found a little disheartening the last time I rode this route.  This long is only a few miles more than the medium, but the medium skips the Tustin Hills climb.

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