torero310

I've never done over 4 hours of riding in a day, let alone in a gut shot. And I'm new in town XD, but anyone familiar with routes from San Diego to Temecula? I'm considering going up this weekend (not sure if I want to try Friday or Saturday) but if you have any suggestions or experience, or want to join me, let me know I should be flexible.

jsigone

a few you can chop up that ride. Are you going one way or doing a loop? Where are you starting from?

PCH to Via Del La Valle up to Escondido and 395( Center City Blvd)

go thru Circle R/ Couser Canyon/Rice Canyon/395 to Temec

Can got PCH to Oside bike trails, head east on 76 when it ends and Left on Mission Ave in Fall brook. Up about 30-40mins to the top and
Go thru Del Luz Canyon and come back with above route


Starting at the Esco Mall, the loop using both that canyons will be roughly 90 miles and 8k vertical. There are more direct routes. If going one way, Point loma is like 50miles away from Esco Mall + 40-50 miles north of that. Still fun routes!!

GP

There's a route sheet from La Jolla to Rainbow here - https://www.sdrandos.com/brevets/2017/Rainbow_reg.html

Once you get to the Rainbow control go toward Temecula instead of turning around.

diphthong

earlyish-8am or before-friday or saturday i can do. gotta be back to the starting point by 12:15pm at the latest.

torero310

I haven't decided yet, but it looks like it'd have to be a loop unless one of my new "friends" lets me stay which I doubt... or I take a train or something back. As for where I'm starting... I'll start my ride at the University of San Diego

torero310

If we start at 8am, does that mean that we'll be smashing it at 30mph? I wish I could go that fast (I can but not 30mph constant uphill) Maybe another time

jsigone

here's what I came up with that I think is doable and fun

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26259497


last water is at the camp ground 395/Circle R intersection at Mile 46 until you get to mile 64
another dry water area is mile 71 to mile mile 94, pocket a 3rd 20oz gatoraid for del luz as it can get really warm in that canyon and lots of lil steep bits and paved creek crossing (watch for moss and don't make sudden turns in the water)

Take the train/uber back from Carlsbad or oside.

I'm busy the next two weekends

Gallo

USD to Temecula would be more than 4 hours on its own to most mortals. If you are looking for climbing the GWL or Great Western Loop is closer. There are lots of options but riding up PCH you can hit Soledad twice there and back the climb from the pier to UCSD and Torrey on the way back in a reasonable ride

glengallo's Profile

Gallo

I think I would go inland

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MikeEckhaus

Hi all, I'm from the OC, but I am going to be in San Diego for a day on Thurs and have the afternoon free. Looking for a 40-50 (ish) mile ride. Some climbing is ok. I've done a bunch of coastal stuff in SD, so can anyone recommend a nice inland ride that would be pretty safe for a solo cyclist who doesn't really know his way around? If anyone has time and wants to join me, that's certainly welcome.

McBTC

Going to law school? You've got a couple of good rides along the coast from there--e.g., you take the bike route on the south side of Sea World to the coast then, (1) go north up the coast to La Jolla, through Torrey Pines Park and onto Oceanside via the coast route; (2) make a left to OB and on your way to Sunset Cliffs, take any steep hill on left up to Pt. Loma and continue out to the Pt. Loma Lighthouse--or--take Nimitz just before OB and go past Pt. Loma on Harbor Drive to Harbor Island or further south to Seaport Village.

McBTC

Start in Poway and go east to the highway and make a left to Ramona... keep going to San Isabele ... keep going onto Julian (which is where you fuel up on a piece of apple pie). You can make it a sort of loop by taking Wynola Road in or out of Julian and Old Julian Highway in or out of Ramona.

diphthong

i guess it depends on exactly where in san diego you're gonna start from, whether rolling out the front door
or driving a bit to the start. forecast is averaging in the low 70's with a slight (10%) chance of rain in the foothills
from escondido area south to poway then further south to alpine. should be a nice day.

also depends on your comfort level riding foothill roads. some are really narrow and have that siren song of heavy/fast traffic and scenery (looking at you-
wildcat canyon road and hwy 78). others actually have a bike lane! (scripps-poway parkway and valley center road). others are just plain desolate and challenging
(lyons valley road and highland valley road).

if all else fails, you can always hit the rancho santa fe area. some good, winding, rolling roads with (generally) lower speed traffic. easy to get temporarily lost but you'll eventually
run into the 78 fwy to the north, the 15 fwy to the east, the 56 fwy to the south and the 5 fwy to the west and can reorient from there.

MikeEckhaus

Thanks, that's really helpful. I would love to ride out towards Julian, but I don't want to get squished on some narrow, busy road. I wouldn't mind a narrow, not busy road.

MikeEckhaus

Viewing San Elijo Hills Chris Cool Bridge Loop | MapMyRide


I did find this one just hunting around on mapmyride.com Seems to be quite doable.

McBTC

Start in Ramona instead of Poway-- the Old Julian Highway there's zero traffic driving by the turkey farms and beyond Ramona, there's not a lot of cars going by the Pine Valley Egg Ranch or buying pastry at Dudley's in San Ysabel on the way to Julian Pie Company if you go on a weekday and by taking Wynola Road you may never see a car, especially when descending.

MikeEckhaus

So, is that just Old Julian Hwy until it hits 78, then take 78/79 to Wynola Road until it hits 78 again and take Banner Road into Julian? Can I just take 79 back out of Julian to Old Julian Hwy? The loop I drew out was about 48 miles that way. Is it tons of climbing or not too much? Not too much for me means 3-4k feet.


Edit. Mapmyride says about 3800 feet. This could be a great ride.
https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/1853077469/

McBTC

That's it... Old Julian Hwy is accessed by making a right off the main drag on 3rd St. in Ramona-- goes for ~ 6 miles before meeting up with 79. It's fairly open country until San Ysabel but it's a bit of a kicker after that. Wynola Rd (which is all wooded) to Farmers Rd (which has a just short but sort of maniacal rise just out of town) is the back door to Julian and once there you can go back via 79 or vice versa. Banner Grade never comes into the picture. I looked at the stats and Romana is apparently at 1,430' and Julian which I always thought of as ~4,000' comes in at 4,226′ according to Google so it's looking at ~3k' of climbing overall. This area is great riding country on a road bike this time of year when it's not too hot and other than Laguna/Cuyamaca and Palomar, Julian is what the mountains are in SD.

McBTC

Ramona to Julian:

diphthong

ramona is roughly a 35-40 minute late morning/early afternoon drive from downtown san diego area.

old julian highway is super low traffic and always recommended vs the comparable/parallel stretch on
adjacent, busy and dicey hwy 78.

after old julian highway ends and deposits you onto hwy 78, hwy 78 is more "open," fewer trees and has better sightlines from ojh/hwy 78 intersection to santa ysabel-roughly 5 miles. no shoulder tho and there's a decent climb after turning onto hwy78 from ojh. a bit of faster traffic as well will spur you on. santa ysabel has both don's market (to resupply) and the julian pie store (larger and more selections than the same, smaller one in julian-yum!). oncepast santa ysabel, hwy 78 up to wynola/julian has good pavement and a surprisingly wide shoulder. as mentioned,both farmers rd and (especially ascending from wynola) wynola rd are a backcountry delight. pavement's good on farmers, generally okay on wynola except for a few spots but if you're ascending it, it won't bother you. you can take wynola past the turnoff for farmers and hit hwy 78 again and turn right heading into julian while doing the upper part of banner grade. adds maybe 3-3.5 miles vs turning on farmers and heading semi-directly into julian. i'd probably take farmers but either way is worthy. from julian back to santa ysabel via hwy 78 is a fun, fast descent except for two flattish stretches and a couple shortish uphill bumps. you've got a shoulder pretty much the entire way.

if you've got time, i'd blow off the ascent from ramona via old julian highway and start in santa ysabel. there's a large gravel/dirt parking lot just north of the julian pie store to stage from.
i'd do the hwy 78/wynola rd/farmers rd/hwy 78 loop and then head north on hwy 79 once back in santa ysabel. head up a shortish climb on 79 and then
a straight descent for a few minutes till the junction with hwy 76. left (west) on hwy 76 and cycle a few miles until you come to mesa grande rd (signed) on your left. make that left and prepare to get your big climb in. yowza! pretty stiff climbing for a mile or so, then it's mostly downhill and gently rolling all the way back to hwy 78. make a right and after about 2 miles, you're back in santa ysabel and having another slice of pie. a figure 8 route with roughly 40 miles with 3,500 feet of climbing. mesa grande, farmers and wynola roads are all a treat with nearly non-existent traffic. and the hwys of 78 and 76 aren't too bad before 3pm on weekdays. santa ysabel is approx an hour drive from downtown san diego.

Gallo

there are many options depending on where you want to start

I love Wynola rd but am not a fan of the 78 between San Ysabel and Julian. I will not ride the 78 between Ramona and San Ysabel myself.

Here is a route from Ramona which is on a dirt path for Black Canyon but very doable on a road bike taking you through Mesa Grande

glengallo's Profile

Here is a route from the 56 going up Highland Valley Rd descending the 67 to Scripps Poway Parkway Mercy Rd and back. Fun ride just over 40 or you can stretch it out by starting on the coast the 56 bike path runs from the Coast to the I-15

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MikeEckhaus

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I did OJH to 78 to Wynola Road to Farmers. Parts of 78 were a bit dicey on the way up, but the cars were really courteous for the most part. Wynola and Farmers were outstanding. Just after I turned onto Farmers, there's was a full grown buck in the middle of the road. Plenty of time to stop safely. We had a staring contest for 10 seconds or so before he bounded off. Really cool. Took no time to get back down to Ramona. I will definitely be riding out that way again.

Edit: I have no idea why the pictures are upside down.

diphthong

fall is (a close) second best. spring is best. was there pie involved?

Gallo

Awesome glad you enjoyed it. Wynola is a great road with spectacular views. Mesa Grande is cool as well with the same old country farm look. Wynola has better views in my opinion. The Mesa Grande Palomar East Grade is a cool ride with more climbing/miles and less traffic. Pie and coffee available at Dudley's at the finish.

MikeEckhaus

Annoyingly, there was no pie involved. I started a little later than I wanted, and I wasn't sure how much time it would take to come back down, so I inhaled a Clif bar in Julian, and rode back. Turns out I would have had plenty of time, because it took no time at all to coast down. Total time was about 3 hours start to finish, including taking pictures and general lollygagging on some of the climb. I have been there by car in the past and have sampled many of the selections of apple flavored calories there, so no big deal if I missed this chance. Small bonus - it's always fun to go somewhere new because every Strava segment is a PR.