Urymoto

Hi all.
I'll be staying in Coronado in mid March. Hoping to squeeze in 2 nice rides I n my 3 days there and it seems like there is some sick riding there.
Is it cold in the morning? Is it hard to reach the mountains? Looking for advice thanks.

U

Aubergine 

From Coronado, you have a couple choices for rides. You can take the water taxi over to San Diego and start there, or you can ride south along the Silver Strand to Imperial Beach and then head wherever you want to go.

Frankly, San Diego's bike infrastructure is not the best, and it can be a bit tricky to find a pleasant route from the harbor. If I were heading to the mountains from Coronado, I'd start riding south along the Strand (there is an excellent bike path) and then head north for a bit after you round the bottom of the bay. When you reach Palomar Street, head east. This will turn into Orange Ave and then into the Olympic Parkway. Keep going east and you will reach Otay Lake. Go north and east around the lake and you'll be riding through beautiful semi-desert country towards the mountains.

f4rrest

Here's a couple rides I started very near to Coronado to give you some ideas, depending on how far you want to go.

Ride to Fiesta Island and Mt Soledad and back
https://www.strava.com/activities/363545100

To Laguna Beach (1-way)
https://www.strava.com/activities/365368528

Urymoto

Wow. So you can ride along the ocean? Gee really? Man, the idea of riding along the coast is totally alien to a Canadian. Looks amazing. Is there a bike path? Or it's a road?

diphthong

it's about a 35 mile ride to the start of the real mountains from coronado.
march is typically warm enough that you can ride in the mountains (which
top out around 6,000 feet) or hit the desert (usually around 80 degrees
then).

given your proximity to the coast, i'd take the ferry across san diego
bay and head north to oceanside pier and back which would be about 85
miles or so. the coast highway is a must do and clearly defined north of
la jolla/university of california-san diego (ucsd) all the way to oceanside.
plenty of bike shops, restos/pubs and picture opportunities. don't miss riding
torrey pines state reserve on the way back. a little steep for the first half-mile
but worth it. there isn't a dedicated bike path up/down the coast but there are
bike lanes between ucsd and oceanside and the entire length of that coastal
route is extremely popular with cyclists.

another ride i would do is taking the ferry once again and starting downtown
san diego. head west around the bay to point loma and cabrillo national monument
then north to mount soledad for some climbing then back south again to balboa
park and back to the ferry-about a 40 mile ride.

if you want flat and easy, you can toodle around coronado and head south along
the "silver strand" to imperial beach and back-about 15 to 20 miles.

supposed to be a rainy year for us so bring the rain gear if you've got it.
happy visiting!

tyrion

It's a mix. There are parts with bike/pedestrian paths and parts on the road. One ride I'd recommend is to take the ferry from Coronado (or loop around the bay) to the San Diego waterfront, then go west to Point Loma coast (Sunset Cliffs area), go south along the coast, then when the coast route ends go inland a little to get on Catalina Blvd., then go south to the Old Point Loma Lighthouse - nice view from up there.

Or you can head north along the coast, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach have a bike/walking path along the beach (you can't go very fast there) hit the Torrey Pines glider port, the Salk Institute, the little coast towns of Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, etc.

If you want a fast flat circuit head to Fiesta Island, about a 4 mile loop where bikes have right-away.

Aubergine 

the road north to Oceanside is along highway 101. It usually has a decent shoulder but there will be a lot of traffic and crossroads.

As as I mentioned before, there is a paved bike path from Coronado south towards Imperial Beach. The path continues around the bay and goes north again towards San Diego.