Suggestions for Park&Bike to San Diego Convention Center?
 

Hey gang,

I'm going to the San Diego convention center tomorrow; it's too far to bike round trip from north county, but I was thinking it might be nice to park a little ways out, pull the bike out of the car and ride the rest of the way.

Any suggestions for where to park the car for a nice ride to the convention center and back? I'm thinking maybe about 3-7mi each way. Scenic would be good. Super-city traffic would not be so good. Flatter would be better than hillier, but it's not that important as the destination is at sea level, so the sweating would only be after the meeting. Free parking would be a plus, but it's not that important, as work will reimburse. (But free would save me some paperwork)

Also I've never noticed what the bike parking situation is at the convention center; do they have racks with other bikes, hopefully monitored by security guards? I'm used to rolling my bike into my cube and never having to worry about thieves!

San Diego proper still has a ways to go, to catch up with the rest of this region, especially if you've been spoiled by North SD County.
If you're looking for pleasant over efficient, this is the route I'd take; flat as a pancake and most of it is dedicated bike paths, away from the auto traffic.
It's either a PITA to drive over to Coronado in the mornings when the bridge is covered with traffic, or that might be the best part, because the view is pretty spectacular.
I seem to remember there being a pretty nice little outdoor sandwich shop along a marina around the point of Chula Vista/National City.
But the best part is that you can have seafood & maitais at Peohe's in Coronado, with a view overlooking the SD skyline across the bay, after riding back to your car. Not the most efficient use of your time & gas, but it might be the most pleasurable use of it.

If you're coming from North County, check the Amtrak & Metrolink websites and take your bike on the train! Just be sure to make your reservations, as they're required now (which is probably a good thing IMO.)

Hmm, I thought about maybe parking on Coronado and taking the ferry across in the morning, then riding back clockwise int he afternoon, but 20+mi is a little more than I want to do.

Coastal train is an idea, I'm inland though (poway) so not super convenient. That would be a definite choice though if I did live nearer the coast. They've been working on the trolley line up I-15 lately though, maybe in 5-10 years that will be a viable option...

Unfortunately I found out since I posted I'll be carpooling with a cow-orker, so the bike ride is out anyways. But it is an interesting discussion, I'll keep these ideas in my back pocket for the future.

Another couple ideas I thought of:

Liberty Station; nice and flat and scenic, but fighting cars on Harbor drive or joggers on the harbor drive sidewalk is not ideal.

Zoo: come down by the VA and Pershing, that could be nice. Good stiff hill to end with after.

Move outta the sticks gentlemen...
http://movieimage1.tripod.com/pulpfiction/pulp25.jpg

Dude, I just moved to Poway so I could bike commute to work!

That's cool, I was just shuckin' & jivin' with ya, ol' hoss. Just trolling about, looking for any excuse to slip in a Pulp reference.

You could always ride your bike along the Ted Williams MUP to the Solana Beach Train station--to downtown SD, then just coast down the hill to the convention center? Cut the traffic right out of the equation. Not the most direct route, but the most direct route between Poway & downtown is pretty unpleasant IMO.

Interesting idea. Before I moved I used to (rarely!) ride from San Carlos to Rancho Bernardo via Qualcomm Murphy Canyon/Kearny Villa/Black Mountain. That was no picnic, but to get from Poway to dowtown I think I'd have to take that and then from the stadium work my way down into the city -- uphill on Texas? Ugh! Probably better to flow down mission gorge and try to huff it up Bachman into Hillcrest, or just go all the way to PCH. But yes, no real good options for a complete route.

This is starting to sound like an episode of The Californians...

Dude, they totally sound like those weirdos from that umm, Fargo movie about that place in American Siberia where Asian people cry and that one funny lookin' guy got put in the woodchippar.

Fargo, is that when you take the 15, and shoot across on the 40 to the 80, and then once you're through Wyoming, you take the 85 to the 94?

Well the Host (is that Josh Brolin?) does a bad job, but the cast is better at nailing Hyper-Valley.

ESRI convention? Ill be there Thursday :) For what its worth there have been a ton of bike thefts in "Central" Division (where the Convention Center is).