Ham-Hock Trail

Modified Ham-Hock Route I rode today

Last minute ride. Thought and thought about doing the Nate Harrison Century Trail instead. After my poor recovery from Tuesday's easier ride, I decided differently.

Left Mule Hill Chevron at 8:00 and proceeded the big climb towards Poway. Sun was up and it got warm real fast. Powerline trail was very rutted going downhill to the bridge-out portage. I did a downhill slide-crash and reddened up things a bit. Needed to find ice quick! Not to be as I re-tried the after bridge climb several times. Almost was good enough today and I followed the route down to the park and the following 7-Eleven. I thought about bailing as I iced down the knee and golf size bump on my right ankle.Filled my bottles with ice and headed out on the Poway Creek Trail.

No respite trying to climb the $5 hill. No way up that except walking, just like the coyotes do! Met 2 lady hikers on the top of Poway Trail. "Good job" was the refrain. Must not be yelling at me. Nice ride over to the Los Penasquitos Preserve Park. Tried to wash up with a paper towel. Had lost my uni-rag along the trail somewhere. Met with man-wife combo riders in the parking lot. Rode with them as we headed westward. Both had nice new carbon full suspension MTB's. Nice! I wanted to do some exploring so I headed up the canyon northward. Wet slippery trail under the elevated SR-56 Bike Path. Hiked up the dead end and proceeded over to the Circle K for water and rest up. Several older roadies there, so we chatted a bit.

Crash slide on this nice easy looking downhill to bridge-out

Proceeded northward on Camino Del Sur and then off on Bryn Glen Way. Back on dirt trails again as the sewer cleaning crew was blocking one trail near the bridge detour route. Took the straight shot up to the Black Mtn. sign trailhead and then off down the sonic Lusardi Loop Trail. Looks like more housing development edging up on the grasslands. Too bad. Followed the Loop over and up to the power lines, then down, cross the water and onto Artesian Road. Note: At the Coast To Crest sign, there is a small trail off to the right, which is supposed to go around the hill and end up at the water crossing. Looks interesting and challenging. If I had the nads, I would have tried it. Maybe next trip.

Next up was the 34 or so downhill switchbacks. Never did figure out how to do those quickly, unless I did the dirt slide around them. Devin says it tears up the trail too much. Correcto. Guess the toe down method will have to work for now. Garmin read mid 90's as I climbed along the Del Dios Gorge Trail to the Lake Hodges Dam. Nice ride along Hodges on the single track trail. It's smoothed out a lot from last spring. Did chat with one rider who was getting ready to try his new hammock in the trees and enjoy his lunch! Nice. Said he got it at Sports Authority instead of the higher priced REI.

Cruised along the Hodges access road trail. Got to John's spot and had the wrong gear for the short climb. Hike-A-Bike in effect. What else is new today. Weed trimming along the trail using correction workers. A few joggers along the trail as I quickly moved along back to the Chevron finish. Not a bad day with the blood loss, crash out and other stuff. Not feeling too bad today, with a few scratches and redness. Also can't raise my left leg to put on socks! Soaked in the Epson Salts, helped a little.

-randorides

Bike Path X Two Permanent Populaire

Recovery ride today... from last Saturday's dirt ride. Started late at 8:00 and rode a reverse route.
Rode the put back together SOMA rando bike with 700x35 street tires on. Still needs some handlebar adjustment and also rear cheapo ALX-200 wheel is out of true. Need to re-center it. Without a real truing stand it's tough to know if it really is centered or not? When I flip the wheel over and tighten it up, it's almost perfectly centered in the rear stays. So... must be the wheel and not the frame. Rear brakes aren't set right also. Keep working on it.

Supposed to warm up, and it looked like it till I hit the coast. Overcast and a bit of headwind from the NW. Stopped by Nytro Multisports to see Joe. He was fitting a new Cervelo TT bike with a lady. Not to disturb, I headed to Swami's for my sandwich and handlebar adjustment. After a brief respite, headed north to Oceanside and over to San Marcos to finish up under overcast skies. Temps in the mid-70's F.

Need to remove the SOMA new bar tape and move the brake hoops back about .75". Which means I'll also rotate the bars down for more level riding in the drops. Bike felt good at the start, but after 60 miles was more of a slug with the set-up.

_randorides

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

Coffee At Peet's Permanent

Mish-mash route today. I called it Coffee At Peet's!

Basic ride today, except I stopped by Dale Pfremmer house and gave him some things Zaharah made upfor them. Lap blanket for Dale, matching scarf and hat for Cloys. Very nice chat with Dale and he looks like he is recovering well. Back on the bike next month! Good for him.

Rode around and finally went over to Swami's and met the OFR at 9:15. Chatted a while and rode with them past Del Mar, then returned to Nytro to see Joe Morgan around 10:30. Ordered 2-Mavic Open Pro 32-hole rims for SOMA replacement. Also ordered a Velocity Deep V for the rear Velo-Max hub. If all works out well, I'll have 2 decent sets of wheels for $120. I have to lace them up, but what the heck. Also, Joe is working on getting me a Parks spoke tension guage, used or new. Need one to do wheels. Can't handle the nice Park truing stand. Too expensive, almost $265 now.. just basic stuff.

Rode back south and around to Escondido and then over to San Marcos to finish up the day. Got real warm, mid-80's. Nice November weather around here.

Posted up dirt ride for Saturday.. Last minute... John only let me know late today he was coming. Looks like nice weather for Saturday too! Yip-pee!


-randorides

Rock & Road Trail Permanent

Rock & Road route today. Solo

Mixed surface solo ride. Nice day. Left later at 7:30 AM. Replace new tires with old balding WTB ones. Slower pace and climbed backside of Raptor Ridge out of saddle. Met 3 MTB'er resting on picnic table on trail. Trail notice of run this Saturday from 8:00 to 12:00.

Relaxing ride with Los Penasquitos Canyon detour to north trail. Great weather. Did the full around Sea World bike path. Empty Mission Bay bike path, unlike weekends.

Took the 3:45 Coaster back to O'side. Coaster  was packed after Sorrento Valley stop. Took froggies this trip for late ride back home.

 -randorides

Aztec Century Permanent + Recon

Modified Aztec Century route with added recon miles.

Sort of rode the Aztec Century. I started from San Marcos around 8:00 AM instead and rode over to
Escondido, up to Bonsall and then hooked up with the SLR Bike Path to the actual start of the route off Benet Street in Oceanside. Loads of riders on the SLR, doing a local ride. Met a whole lot of NCCC riders on the path and took a few pics. Numbers on the top tube, I rode with a chubby girl on a new TREK. She had her thinner friend helping her to do the 30 mile route today. Looks like she has a good mentor and also has a positive attitude for their planned 50 mile ride next year in Palm Springs!

Tinker Juarez look-alike on the "Ride The Coast"

All the way down the coast to Carmel Valley Road it was lined with cyclists from the "Ride The Coast" ride today! The largest number I saw was 2704 on Tinker
Juarez look-alike bike. Also only saw 2 or 3 of them actually stop at a red light! Did stop at Nytro Sports to check on Joe and pick up a bottle of cold Vitamin Water for only a dollar bill! Same price as Wal-Mart! Good deal. Continued southward among the racers and felt marginal going up Torrey Pines. Plenty of riders to ride with till the turn to Morena Blvd. Light traffic through Mission Gorge and Fashion Valley. Slog up Montezuma Road to the McDonald's control at SDSU.

Joe Morgan (center) looks real busy at Nytro Mulitsports

Ice cream and cookies at McDonald's, with water refull. Not many students there around 1:00 PM either. Slight tailwind over to Friars Road on the return trip. Very unusual for this route! Not enough batteries along for the photo trip of new route I was working on called "University Loop". Had to cut back on photos. Rolled back up to UCSD and down Torrey Pines. Still lots of riders on the road later in the day. Still a slight tailwind going up the coast to Carlsbad. I stopped in Carlsbad for receipt and hit Tamarack over to El Camino Real. Lots of late day climbing through there. Over to San Marcos for the finish as the sun was setting in the west. Rode over to Sprout's and got some dates for reward. A little tired. Hydration problem. Rode the inland rail trail and took the sidewalk home. Should have carried my little "Froggie" lights, just in case.

Oh well, short on batteries, too late a start at 8:00 AM (or too slow a ride with pic stops) and no lights at
sunset . Not a well planned out day, but managed to finish up around 10 hours. Better planned next time.

see ya next trip,
-randorides

Ursa Minor Permanent

Ursa Minor route with OFR gruppo from Magee Park

Freakin' cold out at 5:30 when I left the house to the start. Official temp was 43F, but in the Twin Oaks Valley
it was more like 38F! Had my knee warmers, arm warmers, long glove liners, full under shirt base layer and paper vest. Can't wait for the time change next week.

Stopped at the Solana Donuts just before 7 AM for a check out on what they have. This is the control before the turn north. I ended up with a seventy-five cent buttermilk with chocolate topping. No inside bathrooms. Sun was starting to come up on Coast Hwy. 101 northward. Temp was up to 50F. I was way early for the meet up at Magee Park in Carlsbad, so did some recon work on local roads for another new "University Loop" permanent I'm working on. Rode over to Magee before 8:00 and sat in the sun warming up. A few riders starting arriving, so we chatted about gearing for the PIE ride on the 21st. Left Magee park at 8:40 with a dozen riders.

Nice fast ride through the base as we stopped to check out a Swami's lady rider who had a flat. Of course she didn't carry any tube or such. Paul Nevin stayed back with her and helped her with the fix. We regrouped after the Las Pulgas gate. I saw a racer guy go past and followed him up to San Onofre State Park, bathroom #11. I removed my cool weather stuff and packed it away. The others arrived and hit the water and bathrooms. Nice ride up through San Clemente and on toward Dana Point. I cut off on the San Juan River Trail toward San Juan Capistrano. Detour. I followed the signs  around and soon caught up with the Trail. Nice tailwind! Stopped at McDonalds for water and ice creme cone for receipt.

I usually allow 50 minutes for the regroup near Dana Point. I was running late due to the detour. I only waited 10 minutes and Ben and Paul rode by. Only 2? I chased them down and rode with them to San Clememte. The pack was not far behind. Full regroup by Trestles Path. Bruce was in race mode back to #11. Andrea on her new Specialiazed S-Works and Tom joined in. I left before the group and enjoyed some peaceful cruising time at 15mph to Las Pulgas Gate. Several riders hopped rides back from there. Half of us went through the base: Kiwi Stuart, Steve Ring, new guy Eric, John, and one other. Nice fast pace as Steve did the pulling. We rolled down Harbor Drive and I cut over to the SLR Bike Path. OH oh. Another detour. I did the loop through Oceanside and picked up the Bike Path at Benet Street. Nice tailwind as I wasn't feeling it. I continued straight off the Bike Path onto Santa Fe to Vista and took Mission Road back to San Marcos instead. Still 129 mile for this route. Oh, well. Decent day. I didn't feel that chippy when I got home. Weird food day.

-randorides