ymee

Hi all,

New to the San Diego area and road biking. I live in the Rancho Penasquitos area and have ridden the route along the 56 and the loop around coronado/silver strip. Are there any other trails that would be fun to do? Willing to travel up to Carlsbad if needed.

Thanks

Chucklehead

what kind of riding do you do, and are you limiting yourself to bike paths/trails only?

jsigone

here's some of my loops, some closer to the 56 then others

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...s-Warm-up-loop

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...pps-Ranch-Loop

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Oside-60

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...ry-Metric-Tour

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...-Back-Pie-Ride

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...aks-Lilac-Loop

Nachoman

https://efgh.com/bike/rides.htm

efficiency

How comfortable are you with hills?

Chaco

If you're willing to go to Carlsbad, Hwy 101 from the north edge of Leucadia to the Oceanside Pier is pretty good. At Oceanside, get off of 101 as soon as you enter the city and get over to Pacific Ave. If you feel like a longer ride, go over to the San Luis Rey trail, and take a nice ride inland for about 7 miles. Great for biking, but make sure you go to the bathroom before, because there's nowhere but the bushes on the trail.

If you really want a nice ride, drive up to Pulgas Road and park in the lot by the start of abandoned Hwy 101. You can take that all the way to San Clemente -- a really nice ride. If you're adventurous, you can follow the bike route thru San Clemente and there's a great trail all the way to Dana Point.

I know -- that's kind of out of San Diego -- but you can start it all in Carlsbad!

schnee

Here's the SDBC Saturday morning ride; it's quite fun.

It starts on Nobel near the freeway, goes through Rancho Santa Fe to Carlsbad, then back down the coast to La Jolla. You can take this as a base route and extend various parts of it.

DaveSANYYZ

Both SR-56 and Silver Strand are around 20 miles for one round-trip. How far do you normally ride?

As Schnee suggested, the SDBC Saturday morning rides are quite fun (8:30am), but it may be a little far for you. You may want to ride with the group first to check out the route, as well as learn how to ride in areas with no bike lanes since you mentioned you're new to road cycling. The SDBC rides are split into different groups according to distance/speed (D group 10 miles, C- 30 miles, C 40, C+ 50; not sure about B and A).

I think there's also another group ride that starts closer to your area (at Black Mountain bike shop?).

ymee

thanks for all the suggestions folks. I am currently riding with three others and we have been riding for a few weeks now, we do the silver strand ride with one 15 minute stop to refill our water bottles, paces is generally around 8-10mph Avg as we were on MTB's until last week. I would be willing to try the D group of SDBC, how fast does that group generally ride?

DaveSANYYZ

I have been on the D group once last year, but forgot what the speed is. I think the target cruising speed is around 14mph (avg will be much lower). Eastbound SR-56 bike path (esp towards Black Mountain with the red brick wall on one side) is quite a bit harder than the D ride.

The C- (minus) group average is around 12-13mph, with target cruising speed of ~16-18mph. The C- ride is very social, no-drop and has many rest stops. The hard part from D to C- is mainly the Torrey Pines hill that's not part of the D route. Also, it takes longer and you won't get back to the start until 12:30pm. I've been riding with the C- group for a year, and the people in there are great!

On SR-56, I bumped into a guy a month ago that suggested a detour on Black Mountain and that was quite fun. Whenever I ride SR-56 now, I would ride down Black Mountain Rd to the park traffic light at the bottom, U-turn in the park, then ride back up to 56. Something that you can try if you start to get bored of 56.

efficiency

Dave,

You should pass the park, turn left on Mercy Road, then ride Scripps/Poway Parkway out to the 67 up to Ramona. You know, if you get bored.

Foovanadil

I am interested in the SDBC ride as well. I can hang with the C- group I think. It sounds like the people are friendly?

I have run in to a few SDBC riders on the road before but they all seemed focused on doing their thing and didn't seem to acknowledge anyone else on the road? Not that they were outwardly rude or anything but they didn't announce their presence when passing anyone (kind of annoying on busy streets)


Anyways, can anyone just show up to one of the rides?

--Brad

schnee

Maybe you met the 'A' group? They're on a mission. Before the ride they're very approachable and helpful, but during the ride it's all business. I get the feeling you really have to prove your stuff (and prove you won't kill them on a paceline) to make the cut. I can totally understand that.

C++ (the group I ride) is friendly, but it's getting on the cusp of 'racing development' so during certain stretches of the ride it's pretty focused. That said, I've gotten to know at least one new person each ride, usually more.

The C- group is a rolling party.

Just show up. No pressure, and sometimes they even have coupons for free coffees at Java Depot for first-time riders.

DaveSANYYZ

blue_nose rides with the 'A' group, so you can ask him all about it. He's a really nice guy though, so I don't think the general 'A' group comments apply.

C- is fun and totally non-aggressive. Beginning with the C, you have to be a little more careful to avoid crashes because people tend to ride closer and don't give each other as much room to maneuver. That was the main reason why I kept with the C- for the longest time. The good thing with the C+/C/C- rides is that the routes are initially the same. You can hop onto C+, and if you find it too fast, can start dropping back until the C rolls through and then C-. Once you're at C-, the people there are so friendly they'll wait/help you along that it doesn't really matter even if you can't really keep up.

They all start in front of UC Cyclery at 8:30am. The faster group rolls out first, and C- don't usually roll until 8:50am or so. Coming back, C- will arrive at 12:30pm, C at around 1pm+ and C+ at 12:30pm.

Schnee, I guess I'll bump into you on this week's C++ ride? I've only rode with them ~3 times so far.

Nachoman

I rode with the SDBC group last Sunday. No one announced any A,B,or C group. The more serious riders seemed to congregate at the front of the pack. But it was my first time, so I'm no expert. The pace was fast. But not too fast.

Foovanadil

Could you figure out which group you were in?

At least Fastest, Not so fast, Casual?

What was the pace like 20-23? or like 15-18?

DaveSANYYZ

For the SDBC C+ ride, I know it is 20-23 on the initial flats. This speed is not sustainable on hills, and in the later half of the ride, the flat speed drops down to 18-20. After a hill climb, it takes the main pack a little time to get back up to flat land cruising speed. During (double) pace-lining, it gets to around 20-23.

Note that I'm very lazy when it comes to passing someone (and I'm just slow), so I'm normally riding at the trailing end of the main pack. You will be riding faster if you stay at the front of the pack. However, if you ride like me at the speeds I've mentioned, you'll be part of the main pack without getting dropped.


15-18 is the crusing speed of C-. However, there are many rest stops in C-. I don't mind them because I can just chat with friends, but I have seen some that got impatient and decided to ride ahead instead of continuing on with the C- group.

Foovanadil

I think I would fit in much better with the C- group then. When I want to put the hammer I like to do it solo usually. I want to ride in a group for the fun not the competition. I am trying to find a SD group that has a ride that suits this.


Thanks

Nachoman

I just did the Saturday C+ ride yesterday. It was actually slower than the Sunday "unofficial" ride. The C+ ride regrouped at least 3 or 4 times and there was a "leader" that provided coaching on pacelineing, etc. I enjoyed the ride very much. The people were friendly and it was NOT a hammer fest. The only problem was that some of the riders seemed pretty inexperienced at riding in a pace line. At one point, one guy hit his brakes for no apparent reason, and almost caused a couple other riders to crash. I felt like saying something to him, but didn't think it was my place as the newbie, on day one.

DaveSANYYZ

I rode with the C+ group yesterday too. I think I remembered you/your bike. You were in the slow lane of the paceline when you slam your brakes to avoid the crash, right? I was the guy to the left of you at that time (black jersey, matte silver C'dale).

After the outbound suburb rollers, a friend of mine got a flat at a rest stop, and I dropped off and rode with him the rest of the way. It was a nice and relaxing ride afterwards.

The C+ group normally do double-paceline again on a long stretch of road that lead up to PCH. In that stretch, I remembered the C+ were rolling at ~23mph so I tried to do that myself. Unfortunately I can only top off at 20mph and eventually dropped down to 18mph.

Nachoman

Dave, I'm not sure I'll be there next Saturday, but if I am, I'll look for you. I unexpectedly had my Friday schedule open wide up and I'm considering trying to bang out a solo century.