Mountain Bike Trail Review – Telonics in CA

• Directions to Telonics: Take the 133 to Laguna Beach. Find the “TOP OF THE WORLD)
• Classification: Downhill
• Trail Difficulty: Limb Breaker (hard)
• Trail Traffic: Little Help Here (medium)

Telonics Trail Review

Telonics is a DH shuttle. It is pretty short, but falls well over 800 feet vertical in the short run. On the Fun factor it gets an 11 on a scale of 1-10. It will get you heart pumping more than anything in the area. What I really like is that it is a great DH training trail because it has a little bit of everyting. Hardpack/loose dirt/smooth rock. It is just great.

This Trail has technical rock sections, steep spots with small drops. Fast burmed corners, and sections with ruts that can be difficult due to loose rock and lack of breaking areas. Full face helmet and good brakes/tires are a good idea. I recommend riding with friends here, and play it safe. It is a good idea to ride with someone who knows the in’s and out’s of this area to scout you down. I would also stop and LOOK at the rock sections before FLYING down like a mad man. Recenty I saw signs about an area of the trail being REPAIRED. This should be respected, so don’t ride it before the winter rains or it could be destroyed. It needs alot of love and MORE sand bags. 

There is already alot on information about this trail on the Web. It has been made famous by the RADS and Hans Rey among other local pro MTB guys. This trail is a real gem in the area. Parts of the trail would be impossible and dangerous to ride up, so do not even try. It can be a real pain to shuttle also, as parking is a mess in laguna beach. The best option is to take turns driving the truck up and down.

Starts on the fire road around the “Back” of the TOP OF THE WORLD. You will be facing Laguna Canyon. The fire road gets steep and fast very quickly. Staying of the left side you will VEER slightly off the fire road on single track. The single track then cuts right back over the single track going RIGHT. At this point HOLD ON! This section can be seen here:

CK waterfall feature is next. There is some good video of Brian Lopes FLYING down this section. It is NUTS. There are several routes down. Scope it out first. You will be flying as you approach the smooth rock rollers. Stay to the right of the tree/brush. The last roller is very steep and the landing is FLAT, so don’t air it! ARM PUMP is already burning at this point and we have barley got started. It kind of looks like a mini MOAB here. COOL stuff!!! From here you an go LEFT or RIGHT. Left is A little series of rock step downs that can be fun. RIGHT does slightly up,then down 3 steep rock rollers. it is a real rush. Just don’t look down to your right. It is a steep cliff all the way down to the canyon. What a view!!!!. After these we has a soft right corner to rail, then slight up hill into the brush, and an unmarked RIGHT corner takes us in tight ru t’d single track. After a hard Left the trail opens up to a very steep hardpack section with 2 rock drops. There are very few places to STOP and watch from here, so don’t. Just keep riding and stay out of the way of other riders coming down. They will be moving VERY fast from behind that blind corner you are standing behind. They can be rolled, but it is VERY hard to go that slow on this very steep section. after the first drop, you will hit mach 3. Don’t worry you can brake after the second drop THEN burn a little speed on a right then left burmed series of corners. It is a roller coaster ride thru here, very tight and fast/fun corners under the trees. As the trail gets a little tighter, You will enter the last HARD sections. It has a small drop, then a straight steep shoot thru the nasty stuff. RAIL the right hand corner at the bottom of theis section and you are king for a day! the trail flattens out a bit here, but flows very nice with a few small jumps, then down to the finish in the parking lot.Stay ON the trail here. Don’t turn off.

The first time down you will be scared!
The second time down you will be nervous!
The third time down you will pin it and be hooked!
The fourth time down, you will need you brake pads.

This trail ends on private property, so don’t mess around. Just get back to your car, And go get some pizza for lunch.