Vacation road bike renting works...

For a little getaway from Northern Cal where I live, I flew down to my buddy’s house in Seal Beach for the Fourth of July weekend. It was for five days, so I packed my pedals, cleats, helmet and riding kit  so I could rent a road bike while there.

I wanted to try out renting a bike while on a trip, to save the cost of flying my own rig, which is not only a big packing chore, but expensive. I bought a pedal wrench, packed the pedals with everything else and flew down.

I’d called ahead and after asking another friend, a mountain biker who works at a Seal Beach surfboard shop, found a place in nearby Irvine, Road Bikes 4 U, which rents road bikes for $50 for 24 hours. Which I thought was a reasonable price if you got a nice long ride out of it.

My friend said he’d checked with other area bike people in retail he knows, and that was the only shop they recommended for renting a road bike. For some reason, I’d assumed most bike shops, if not every bike shop that sells road bikes, would rent them. But then, there’s probably not enough of a steady market for it for shops to offer it.

When I called the shop a few days before leaving, the guy there assured me I didn’t need to reserve a bike, that they always had plenty. I believed him.

The Friday after the Fourth, my non bike riding buddy drove me about 20 minutes to the Irvine store at its 10 a.m. opening time.

They said they were crunched for bikes to rent. That’s when I realized I should have reserved one. After some shuffling, they said I could rent a Giant road bike, but they needed it back by 8 a.m. the next day. That didn’t sound so great, and asked my buddy if that would work. He said no problem.

Then the couple at the shop said they had a titanium bike available to rent, a Guru, that I could return at the normal 10 a.m. time the next day. It had a smaller frame than mine, but it wasn’t a problem with a seat adjustment. This was a bit of a boutique bike, worth $6K the lady said, about three times the value of the Giant, and it had racing wheels on it. I had a feeling I’d like it!

They said they’d need a credit card that could have a temporary $1,200 charge put on it as security for the bike, in case it didn’t come back. That was news to me, but luckily I could cover it. So that’s something to keep in mind, and a critical detail that didn’t come up when I’d called ahead.

I had brought my filled up water bottles, pump and saddlebag, but the shop supplied a saddlebag containing air cartridges, a valve mount for them and a tube. They had their mechanic put on my pedals, and after I put on my Garmin mount and clicked in the computer, had my seat was adjusted, I was ready to roll.

The lady had me ride around the parking lot to see if the seat was the right height, and when I did, the front tire flatted immediately! Turned out there was a leaky valve on the front tire tube, which they replaced, pronto. Glad it happened there and not way out somewhere deep into the ride!

I rode south toward the Back Bay bike trail east of Newport Beach.

I’d ridden that trail last year on my buddy’s son’s low-end road bike, but compared to my rented Guru, that was like riding a tricycle!

This thing was fast, and I was to find out, very fast on descents. My idea was to ask a local roadie riding on the Back Bay trail for advice on where I might ride. I got on the trail and headed west toward Newport Beach. A couple of miles in I saw a guy who had just locked up his truck, and was in full roadie gear with a nice bike, ready to start riding.

I asked him for a route I might take. He said he was about to go on a 30-mile loop, and that I could tag along with him. That was great! Here I had a local rider who could take me on trails I hadn’t been on.

Victor, by the way, said his bike buddies call his route “Victor’s ride,” because he rides the loop all the time.

But as I found out, for good reason:  It’s a great stretch of riding, with scenery and very little traffic to from cars or other riders.

We looped back down the Back Bay trail, which is on the south side of the Upper Newport Bay Regional Park, a wildlife preserve and marsh, with great views. We headed north along Pacific Coast Highway and turned right on Dover Drive on the other side of the bay, heading east for a few miles. At Irvine Avenue we turned right, and continued on that for a bit til we hit Mesa Drive and turned right, riding over a few mile stretch of long rollers and a long descent. We followed that to Jamboree Road where we made a right and rode uphill a short way, then got on the bike trail connector and headed east again to Irvine. That curved south along Alton Parkway, a nice greenbelt, til we picked up Laguna Canyon Road, which goes by the Irvine Medical and Science Complex.

We continued on that til we took a right on Quail Hill Parkway. There, Victor told me, you can go straight and head south to Laguna Beach, if you want a longer ride. We followed Quail Hill for a short bit, then went left on Shady Canyon Drive, starting us back toward Newport Beach. We flew along that in a mild descent for several miles to Bonita Canyon Drive where we went left and rode along the greenery filled edge of UC Irvine. That changed to Ford Road, then ran into the big wide main street of Jamboree Road. We took a left on that and rode sweeping rollers on its generously wide bike lane the rest of the way back to Pacific Coast Highway.

I said so long to Victor and thanked him for the fine tour. Great guy, provided me with a fun new route. He headed back to his truck, and I rode north 10 miles or so up Pacific Coast Highway back to my buddy’s house in Seal Beach. It ended up being a 50-mile ride on the nose. Except for the clots of traffic along PCH, it was a great ride in the Irvine area, nice scenery, nice workout. If you’re ever in the Newport Beach/Irvine area, it’s well worth trying.

Returned the bike back the next morning, and all told, it was a reasonably inexpensive way to get a good ride in while on vacation. Takes a little planning to set up, but totally worth it.

Think about it as an option wherever you travel, it can be a great way to spend a day or two. I did have to give up my air cartridges to the airport security folks, however. They showed up on the X-ray machine and were considered too ominous looking for me to keep. No worries, they’re cheap!

And now, for something completely different…

We’ve all seen gymnasts do the multi-flip dismounts from a balance beam or horizontal bars, then try to stick the landing. Check out this robot’s landing chops from the horizontal bar. Must have taken a little bit of time at the drawing board to make this happen…

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet whenever you get on the bike, and then…be sure to keep the rubber side down!

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf
His blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/