Rock & Road Trail Permanent

Rock & Road Trail route map

John Mestemacher, Dan Phillips and myself rode this route today. Real cool around Twin Oaks Valley at 39F for the short ride over. Supposed to meet Dan at the San Marcos Sprinter Station. Didn't see him, but he later caught up with me on the Inland Rail Trail. Said he had a conflict with the train uniformed guard and bike placement. He threatened to kick the guards butt, so he got to stay on the train. Fog forecast over by John's house in Carlsbad, he confirmed this at the Albertson's start

We rolled out at 7:30 sharp and the traffic along the Inland Rail Trail was light as the temps quickly warmed up by the time we got over to the Ysabel Creek Control. Horses approaching, so after de-hosing, we hi-tailed it out of there quick to get ahead of them. Another rider joined up on the ride up Raptor Ridge. Regrouped at the top by the picnic table, where there were a group of early hikers checking things out. On the ride down westward we met no riders, horses or hikers. Best that way because that trail is narrow! Short regroup before John led out and picked up the pace for the few miles left on Mule Hill Trail over to the Chevron and a refill. Timing was about right... under 2 hours for the first segment.

Leaving the Control, there were lots of runners on the Lake Hodges North Trail. It was a 1/2 marathon run today for the ladies. These gals were super buff and we met and passed some on our way around the lake. Followed two lady riders for the last part of the trail. They were hammering good with their top dollar rides. Need to get a few of those on our trail rides to show us the way! Mmmmm.

Technical switchbacks... 34 in all!

The next part of the route is on Lake Dr. over to Hernandez Hideaway, where we ride up to Del Dios Hwy. This took us mostly downhill to the fruit stand, where we re-joined the Santa Fe section of the trail. This is a super nice section as it single tracks around the golf course and over several small bridges. Next up is the more technical "switchbacks" taking us up to the top near the power lines. I counted these once at 34 total. The first section is a good warm-up for the steeper, sharper ones after the bridge crossing. I found a hold-the-post slingshot approach seems to work well at getting through these easily. The power-line road took us over to Artesian Way and a few rollers before we were back to the dirt of Lusardi Loop Trail.

We passed by some new homes on a jeep road, before crossing a unique bridge and onto single track climbing. A little side-hill action with a finishing sliding downhill run brought us under Camino Del Sur and it's normal mini-water crossing. Now the long slogging climbing started around Lusardi Trail. There are three options here and we chose the shortest, but steepest section. I believe Dan said his Garmin topped out at 23 degrees on the last climb, as I was having shifting problems. After a few screws on the rear derailleur adjustment, I was good to go again. By then, John's seat was "popping" up and hurting his "package"! So he would stop to adjust it... and on and on like this to the finish. Everytime he would hit a big bump... "pop goes the seat"!

Various options on Lusardi Loop Trail. All equal climbing!

After Black Mtn. Park, it was a nice downhill to the Shell Station Control in R.P. for a stretch out and fluids. After a nice break it was only a 5 minute sonic blast to Los Penasquitos Canyon, where Dan hit the head and we were soon off on the South Trail at a "relaxed" pace westward toward Sorrento Valley. At the Wagon Wheel Crossing, we did meet Rando sign-up Mike Schiller and his two friends. There were riding to meet some friends near Camino Del Sur and opted for some advice. We chatted for 10 minutes and were soon off on a nice single track to finish up this dirt section.

A short ride on hard roads brought us to the dirt section of Roselle Street. This dirt road took us back up to UTC for a short ride down Genesee to the Rose Canyon Bike Trail North. This multi mile dirt route contains some full out downhills rollers which were nice. After another seat adjustment for John, we were off on the Rose Canyon Bike Path toward the ocean via Rose Creek Bike Path. Next up was the Mission Bay Bike Path which follows the shoreline around the bay. Riders need to watch out for walkers and youngsters running around as we wandered around and past Fiesta Island. The route follows various bike paths around Seaworld and eventually crossed San Diego River and onto the Ocean Beach Bike Path. Next stop was the 7-Eleven on Bacon Street.

Ocean Beach Bike Path into headwinds

Lots of car traffic along Bacon Street, as we soon turned off onto Sunset Cliffs Blvd. which follows the ocean shoreline. A few groups were out for photo-ops on the cliffs, with the ocean pounding around them. John mentioned this is where people get stranded and have to be rescued often. No wonder!

Last big climb up aptly named Hill Street. Dan's Garmin read 17% as we finally made it to the top. After a big downhill on Talbot Street, we did a sidewalk shift at the detour sign to stop and glance up at the construction to save the houses from falling onto the roadway. Several homes were just inches from sheer disaster. Next up was following the bike path meandering around the waterfront to downtown San Diego. Not long and we were at the Santa Fe Station with enough time to clean-up, get tickets and board the 3:18 Coaster Train northbound.

Another great weather day, good company and lots to see on this Rock & Road Trail route.

-randorides