Having just invested in a mountain bike (I haven’t rode a bike much in my life so I picked
one up from Wal Mart) I hit a local trail with Zac, who is an avid biker. The trail was called Skyline Trail and it was located in the Cleveland National Forest, only 30 minutes from where we live. We headed out there in the early afternoon and hit the trails. There was trails as far as the eye could see, everything from small, one bike all terrain trails to cut out fire roads that vehicles can off road on. While we were riding we saw at least ten other bikers taking in the scenery, which was a mix of brush and trees, not typically seen in our area of California. There is over 460,00 acres of trails, paths and land in this area so you can always experience something new around the bends. There have been more than the occasional mountain lion sighting as well.
After riding for over 3 hours the sun was going down so we headed back, but we plan to hit up some biking here again in a month and also tackle one of the peaks during the same trip. Check out Zac’s panorama from the top below. 
Are any of you bikers? Have any recommendations for paths we can take in Southern California?
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you should try the santa ana river trail. it starts way up in the mentone area up hwy 38. you’ll want to shuttle a car to the bottom. pretty much all downhill from there. box springs mtn is also fun.
I’ve driven Skyline Drive from Black Star Canyon Road a few times. It’s popular with the mountain bikers. A few years ago I hiked the Santiago Truck Trail out of Modjeska and that trail was packed with bikes. Same was true of the San Juan Trail out of San Juan Capistrano. (Here’s a link to a map showing mountain bike trails in the Trabucco Ranger Disitrict – http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/cleveland/recreation/trails/non-wild-trails.pdf .)
As a hiker, I found it nice when the mountain bikers would where jingle bells (sounds silly typing that) to warn me to get out of their way. I’ve had some close calls with fast downhill bikers coming around a corner not knowing to expect me. Each time I would run into the poison oak as fast as I could to avoid a collision. I’d wear bells too if I thought the bikers would hear them.
Have fun with your new found sport! One of these days I just might hit the trails on my bike. Looks a heck of a lot harder than hiking, though.
Thanks for the recommendations Ryan and Niki!
@Ryan I would love trail that is all downhill as I am still getting used to the uphill battle (way different then hiking! haha)
@Niki Thank you for the map, I will have to check out some of those trails. I think you should definitely try mountain biking. It is a whole different rush then hiking and lets you cover more distance in a day! I also like the bells idea, if I every get hardcore I will have to get some for my bike!
Sounds like you really enjoyed mountain biking. Did you hit anything cool on the trails like a creek crossing or some small jumps?