BREEZY BIKE JAUNT : A Ride to Cerritos Park and Back . . . and Then Heavenly Chicken

Bicycle trips are perfect Sunday outings for families, couples and singles, and among the great blessings of this area are the abundant paths and trails that keep riders completely segregated from motorized vehicles and other potentially dangerous road hazards.

One of my favorite short jaunts is up the Coyote Creek Trail from the Seal Beach side of Marina Drive, a breezy, 8 1/2 miles to the sprawling Cerritos County Regional Park. The ride is mostly flat and moderately scenic, making it relatively easy and relaxing. Do it on a weekday, time permitting, and you just about have the bike path to yourselves, except for a few stalwarts who will whiz by you at what seems like light speed.

10 to 11: You’ll start out at the trailhead, the eastern side of the San Gabriel River on Seal Beach’s Marina Drive, entering through an open fence. Behind you, out to sea, you should see walkers on the jetty, or an occasional pleasure craft on her way out to Catalina or San Pedro. The river is high this year thanks to the heavy rains, so the path seems more lush than usual, too.

After about 1 1/2 miles, you’ll hear the heavy whining of giant turbines, as you pass the Haynes Steam Plant, part of the DWP in L.A. County. If you’re lucky, though, you’ll see egrets or other water fowl as you pass under a series of bridges over Westminster Street, the 605 Freeway and other thoroughfares. At the 3-mile point, you’ll notice thick vegetation on the river banks. Enjoy it while it lasts. It gets pretty barren up ahead.

That’s because the river turns into a dry creek around four miles from the trailhead, where you’ll take note of a bridge (don’t cross it, unless you want to stay on the San Gabriel River bed) splitting the path in two. Head up straight another two miles, and the path jogs slightly to the left through a small bridge fenced off with chain link. Another mile brings you past Katella Avenue, Cypress. One more mile and you cross railroad tracks, indicating the park is nigh. That’s it, on the left, your stopping place.

11 to 11:30: Cerritos County Regional Park is vast, the kind of place where its possible to spend all day. The park is filled with sporting venues: a soccer field, a baseball field, complete with scoreboard, several tennis courts, a basketball court and jogging paths. There are also grassy areas to lounge on, barbecue pits available for public use, stone picnic tables, even a tranquil pond to sit by.

Fill that water bottle in one of the public restrooms--there’s no water on this bike trail. The only drawback with the park is a lack of shade. It can get hot sitting too long in the sun here, so it serves a dual purpose to ride with a bicycle helmet.

11:30 to 12:30: If it’s a normal day, you’re going to have to ride a bit harder to arrive back in the same time you came up; the wind currents generally blow up river. It’s also advisable to stay on the eastern side of the path. I didn’t, and ran smack into a fence that required me to either scale it or backtrack more than a mile. (I threw my bike over, and then myself.) Notice all the suburban residences within two or three miles of the park, then the string of nurseries with their long, covered greenhouses.

When you get to PCH, exit the bikeway and head down to Main Street for one of Orange County’s great cheap lunches. You’ve earned it.

12:30 to 1: I love grilled chicken, and few do them better than small Mexican style take-out places like Char-O-Chicken, a great little neighborhood restaurant that I’d really prefer to keep secret.

These guys have a secret marinade that make the chicken crisp and sweet, but after your order comes off the grill it is brushed with your choice of lemon butter, garlic butter or both. (Have both.) Furthermore, sides are sensational. Beans are the healthful kind, a la olla, and not lardy refritos, and the Spanish rice is fluffy and fragrant.

Slop up a hot, house-made tortilla with a bit of crisped skin, some beans, chicken meat and jalapenos, and you’ll think you’re having south of the border-style Peking duck. Mmmm. This food is good enough to inspire you to go right back up the creek.