Visiting San Diego - Route Suggestions?

[yummygooey]

I'll be in San Diego for the weekend and am thinking about renting a bike for a morning/day. It'd be cool to ride some place new. Do any of the locals have suggestions for a good 50-75+ mile ride? I'm very ok with climbing, if there are any cool climbs near the city. I'm staying in the Sunset Cliffs neighborhood.

Also, what's a good shop to rent a bike from?

[Ken Robb]

Lots of previous threads in the archives on this but: You can start from Sunset Cliffs and ride up Hill Street (VERY apt name) to Catalina Blvd. and turn right to get to The Cabrillo Monument for spectacular 300 degree views of San Diego and Mexico. You can take the turn off Catalina to get down to the tide pools on the ocean. Then I would head down Catalina to Mission Bay Park and ramble around there including laps around Fiesta Island.

There are mountain rides inland but it's likely to be 75F near the coast and 95F inland so I recommend staying near Sunset Cliffs. There are some interesting restaurants nearby as well.

California Bicycles of La Jolla Blvd is a wonderful shop and I think they rent bikes. Another possibility: UC Cyclery on Villa La Jolla Drive.

[Ken Robb]

What size/type of bike do you need?

[Saint Vitus]

After lapping Fiesta island head up and over Soledad and then catch the coast road to Del Mar or beyond if you want to increase mileage.

[MeatPuppet]

Just a heads up, San Diego is probably a bit behind Seattle in terms of bike friendliness. Keep your head on a swivel when riding on shared use roads, I've got a few scars from tight passes and inattentive lane changers from my time back in SD.

[Ken Robb]

latest weather report: cooling-72F at the coast and only 82F inland. The storms up your way will bring some morning clouds and drizzle to our coast but a guy from the northwest will laugh at it. The inland routes are not too bad when it's only 82F.

[yummygooey]

Thanks for the input everyone!

Are there any good local Saturday AM group rides? That might at least keep me from getting lost. :confused:

What size/type of bike do you need?

Oh nothing special. Road bike, in size 54ish.

[Ken Robb]

Call UC Cyclery 858-452-8842. They have 2-3 rides for different levels of cyclists and that might be where you rent a bike too.

[Saint Vitus]

Thanks for the input everyone!

Are there any good local Saturday AM group rides? That might at least keep me from getting lost. :confused:



That would be the SDBC (http://sdbc.org/saturday/) They have about 5 or 6 different levels and the start point is UC Cyclery.

[ptourkin]

Definitely keep your head on a swivel and an eye on your front wheel if you ride with the lower SDBC groups out of UCC.
Look up the Gitman-Holland ride if you'd like to do something more interesting on Saturday. It rides out in the mountains to the east and you won't see a stoplight, unlike the coastal routes people are discussing. Those are very much stop and go and fairly flat, Soledad notwithstanding.
It's cooling off now so it's time to come out and see Mt. Laguna, etc...

I've got a 53-54ish Lemond Ti Victoire that won't be getting used this weekend.
Also, Tour de Fat San Diego is Saturday.

[Lanternrouge]

After lapping Fiesta island head up and over Soledad and then catch the coast road to Del Mar or beyond if you want to increase mileage.

If doing Mt. Soledad, I would recommend not taking Via Capri/Hidden Valley on the way down unless you particularly enjoy steep/twisty/tight descents. It's also definitely worth heading north until at least Del Mar.

[inlikeflynt]

Nice ride from OB through Mission Bay/PB, take Rose Canyon path N up Gilman to UCSD (make sure you check out the house on top of the building (art?) to the glider port overlooking Blacks Beach. From there you can head south along coast, pass by the Birch Aquarium and LJ Shores, up through LJ restaurant row, near the Cove head along the coast through Wind and Sea back through PB down Mission Blvd through Mission Beach back over towards Quivera Basin to OB. CA has the 3' rule now http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/23/news/la-ol-brown-signs-three-foot-bike-rule-20130923 but ride defensively. Have a safe ride wherever you end up going.

[oldpotatoe]

Been a while since I lived in InsaneDiego but I always liked to park up by Scripps hospital/golf course, ride down the hill, north on PCH, thru the little beach towns, up towards Pendleton/San Onofre area..then back..always something to look at. Used to be shoulder/bike lane the whole way but again, been 20 years.

[Ken Robb]

Been a while since I lived in InsaneDiego but I always liked to park up by Scripps hospital/golf course, ride down the hill, north on PCH, thru the little beach towns, up towards Pendleton/San Onofre area..then back..always something to look at. Used to be shoulder/bike lane the whole way but again, been 20 years.

That is still a good ride. Riders should know that the "inside route" on the old road to the west of the current highway is no longer available to ride DOWN. It is so steep and twisty that there were too many close calls between riders at high speed and pedestrians/cars. We are welcome to ride UP from the beach end to the top. I prefer the inside route. The climb is steeper but shorter and any automobile is going slow on his way to a parking lot at the top where the part of the road open to cars ends.

[bocarider]

Here are a couple of links to rides my wife and I did in SD a year or so ago. One is a long out and back through LaJolla, north along the ocean towards Camp Pendleton (we did not make it all the way), with a stop for some great fish tacos at Rosa's

The other is a loop ride we did that did some climbing outside the city and came back through the canyons. Nice rides for us.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1884846

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1880349

[Saint Vitus]

Curious as to how was your stay here in SD...

[Ken Robb]

Yeah! How about some feedback?