...Too many beverages, as it turned out...Wakeup seemed to come early. I was up in time to get some shots of pre-sunrise. While there was not the heavy marine layer that would have made it spectacular at sunrise, it was awesome all the same.
Sun rising
Views were incredible as the sun rose
Our friend Gil rode up in the morning to meet us. Recounting the prior night's ride...
Pic by Barcy
He showed up far before we were ready to leave, so he rode down to meet billy without us
I think we rode out around 830 or so
Pic by Barcy
Descent off rockhouse was a blast
We descended to Sweetwater Reservoir, then crossed Bonita to the Performance shop. From there we turned south and climbed up Cemetary
We crossed a couple inner canyons towards H Street
And picked up a New to me trail on the south side of H street that took us towards I-805
You never know what you'll get with canyon trails but this one was pretty good
Pic by Barcy
From there we had a 3 mi pavement ride south to Otay Valley Regional Park. I continued due west across the Park to Silver Strand
It took me across to the bike path for Bayshore Bikeway, a path that is to run around the whole length of San Diego Bay. I picked up the Bikeway and followed it up the Silver Strand to Coronado
Coronado is incredibly scenic. While there was some dirt up the Strand next to the paved path it didn't bother me much that the rest of the way was paved
Ride into Coronado was awesome.
A short ride across took me to the ferry terminal where I was just in time to catch the 2:30 ferry. First view across was the USS Carl Vinson at North Island Naval Stn.
Nice view of the bay was next, including Coronado Bridge
Welcome Home? Thanks! (USS Midway Museum)
Nice view of the bay
From downtown I followed bike paths around to Point Loma where I picked up some bonus singletrack next to Canon St, climbing over to Sunset Cliffs
Once at Sunset Cliffs I explored a bunch of short trails and enjoyed the view of the water
Some challenging trail led back to the Ocean Beach Pier where I got back on to pavement for a little over to Dog Beach
Always a favorite
The bike survives! (barely, the v-brakes had worn deeply into the back rim which seems to be cracked)
Proof of arrival
Lots of folks playing in the waves
After a couple beers and some pizza at Pizza Port I had a bit of a spin back home on the bike path
Of course I couldn't resist a slight detour to Tecolote Canyon where I was able to pick up an additional mile of singletrack. I helped maintain this one, so it was extra cool being able to incorporate it into this ride
The most refreshing of beverages waiting for me at the end of the ride.
This trip has got me more stoked on riding than any trip I've done lately. All I have been thinking about lately is how I can turn any ride or trip into a bike pack. Seems like the possibilities are endless... Gooseberry, Tahoe, anywhere in AZ, you name it you could put an epic loop together.
Stats were: 127mi total over 3 days with 10,400ft climbing and 15,600 descent. 1st day was 24mi, 2nd was 51mi, 3rd was 52mi.
I was interested to see totals by surface type since I wanted to maximise dirt:
40mi singletrack
23mi fire road
37mi pavement. Aside from two long stretches most sections were short, didn't seem like 37mi.
8mi dirt path (6-8ft wide smooth DG paths the cities in SoCal like to call "trails")
17mi paved bike path
2mi ferry ride from Coronado to downtown
It should be possible to tweak the route to add more ST and fire road, and eliminate some pavement. Regardless, it was a fun route that took us on some back roads we would never have seen otherwise. Very cool to explore your back yard this way!
