Sunday Road Riders Report: Lake Murray Loop (15 Dec 2013)

Although it's often very pleasant to sleep in on Sundays, I have a standing ride date with a group of awesome friends out of Cal Coast Bicycles in University Heights at 8am that trumps even the temptation to stay under the warm cover on a cold morning! The group is called the Sunday Road Riders, and it is open to all riders fast and slow, new and old to road cycling.

Rolling east on Adams Ave in Kensington.

Anyhow, this morning we didn't have many riders and so went out in one intermediate pace group instead of the usual three. Hugo, our intermediate group ride leader had came up with a new route to Lake Murray and back, which we were all eager to check it out. The ride started, as always, at Cal Coast Bicycles on Adams Ave just east of 30th St, of course. We rolled east on Adams to Aldine and shot down to the valley on Fairmount Ave.

Stretched out a bit down perilous Fairmount Ave descent.

The Blue Boys Josh & Rick in Allied Gardens.

Terri, Hugo & Mark in Allied Gardens.

After regrouping at the bottom, the group hooked right on Twain Rd and made our way up the gentle climbs through the side streets of Allied Gardens on our way to Navajo Rd. Traffic was pretty mild and the clearing sky gave quite a nice view of Cowles, Pyle and Kwaay Paay mountains as we climbed up to Park Ridge Blvd.

Ed, Adriana & Josh.

Mark M, Terri & Alex on Park Ridge Blvd.

Lake Murray from its northern tip.

Turning south on Park Ridge Blvd and then another side street detour for a safer crossing of Murray Park Dr brought us to beautiful Lake Murray, where we split off to have a bit of fun on the paved multi-use trail.

Tim & Alex on Lake Murray trail.

Terri on Lake Murray trail.

Josh & Rick.

Most of the gang minus Mark & Stephen (AKA the fast guys).

Not keen on taking a group through the usually busy (with hikers and joggers) lake trail, Hugo opted for a road detour around the lake via the much less trafficky Murray Park Dr, Lakeshore Dr/Baltimore Dr and Lake Murray Blvd. We briefly lost Mark and Stephen, who had gone off to explore the south side of the lake and were out of holler range, but they caught back up as we turned onto Baltimore Dr and the group was nice and tight as we navigated the intersections to the bottom of the 70th St bump.

Terri & Hugo heading west on University Ave in Rolando.

We climbed back up to the mesa on 70th St and turned west on University Avenue (a much nicer cycling route through Rolando area than El Cajon Blvd is), enjoying some new stretches of buffered (and sometimes even green painted) bike lane until they all disappeared just east of Euclid Ave.

All together again in time for coffee at Twiggs!

I'm afraid the group scattered a bit heading back to University Heights, but as the streets were all in grid by then it was easy for everyone to fine their way to our usual finish line, Twiggs Bakery on Adams and Idaho. It was a nice 21 miler with lots of gentle rolling hills and a ton of view!

Forbidden San Miguel Mountain (and less than forbidden Mt Helix) by road bike

One mountain dominates the skyline of San Diego; antennae-topped Mt San Miguel. Rising to only 2567 ft (783m) at its peak, San Miguel's lack of vertical intimidation is well offset by its beautiful symmetry and proximity to the coast... and, of course, to road cyclist me, the smoothly paved access road that goes all the way to the top!

Mt San Miguel from Poe St in Pt Loma. The paler pyramid peak behind its left flank is Lyons Peak.

I had been lusting after this climb for a long while now, but kept on putting it off for various reasons (not the least of which has to do with all the 'no trespassing' signs around). A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to have a go at it, thanks very much to my friend Hippy who agreed to come along with me. Two is braver than one, and so we met up at the trolley station in Old Town on Saturday morning and rode the green line to El Cajon station to begin our journey.

Catching a ride in on the green line trolley at Old Town Transit Ctr

It had rained the night before, so the morning was of the damp and overcast variety, perfect for going up mountains, though a bit dirtying to the newly washed and lubed bikes. From El Cajon we rode south over the Avocado Blvd hump before furiously descending down to Rancho San Diego on Fury Ln to find Jamacha Rd delightfully nearly free of car traffic. A quick turn south on Campo Rd/Hwy 94 to enjoy the last bit of level pavement before the right turn onto Millar Ranch Rd, just after the old Sweetwater River Bridge (we didn't stop to see the bridge, though, as there were a bunch of hikers massed around on the near end of it, and I had already visited a few days before while scouting out the lower bit of the route).

Millar Ranch Rd, climbing to Millar Anita.

The proper climb (4.6 miles at 9.2% average grade per Strava) starts about 100 ft onto Millar Ranch Rd, after the icky gravel river-crossing segment (remember this on the way down and scrub all speed at the last right turn before the pavement goes poof on you!). The first 1.5 miles on Millar Ranch Rd is relatively mellow. There's the first kick (about 8.5% grade) for half a mile or so before a nice and mellow false flat before the second kick starts (depends on which line you take, the right hand bend could be as steep as 18% before dropping off to around 9%).

Millar Ranch Rd ends at the three-way junction at the top where we turned right onto gravely dirt Millar Anita Rd through a row of ranch houses. Sneaked in some gels and water as I slowly rolled over the bumpy road before turning left at the emus and speeding down the dippy base of Miller Ranch Rd (yup, different name. The Millar Ranch Rd that we rode up to Millar Anita does continue southeast down the other side of Mt Miguel as a dirt tract that eventually hooks up with Proctor Valley Rd, connecting Jamul to the Eastlake neighborhood of Chula Vista), the forbidden paved access to the top of San Miguel Mountain.

The gate completely blocks the road.

Hello 14% grade ramp with speed bump garnish. There are loads of (both of) these on the whole length of Miller Ranch Rd.

Let me just say that it wouldn't pay to be on a heavy steel touring bike trying to access Miller Ranch Rd from its base. You need something you can easily lift and maneuver. Once you hit the pavement again, though, you are in for a rather enchanting time on a 'remote' mountain road within easy sight of the city and coastline! I saw nobody but my buddy Hippy on my way up the mountain, and a whole lot of coyote doodoos (apparently the road is choiced toilet ground for the local four-legged population!). Just me on my creaky aluminum bike on the slick damp and extremely narrow road, occasional birds chirping from nearby brushes, and a quite solitude punctuated by Hippy's occasional yodeling from somewhere up the road (being more keen on filming my way up the mountain I had lost sight of my speedy companion soon after the first curve/ramp).

The mountain is less than 3000 ft tall, so the road can't keep on climbing steeply forever... can it??

Dude, it's gonna be something hairy on the way down this narrow twisty thing!

Mt San Miguel on a road bike is a strenuous climb of a very different variety than the long grind of Palomar South Grade route. It is a series of false flats interrupted by icky steep ramps that ranges anything from 12-20% grade, which, truth be told, is much better suited to my physiology than Palomar's 12 miles at near constant 6-8%. I like really steep ramps, as long as I get a decent recovery stretch on top of them.

About 2/3 of the way up the mountain a red dirt mountain bike/hiking trail intercept Miller Ranch Rd at a curve. It is quite a sight to see from further up the slope.

The prettiest mountain roads in the county (well, aside from Cam del Aguilar, perhaps) in my book!

After I had taken that pretty shot of the road from a switchback above it the road turned left in another switchback and Hippy reappeared. He had already gone to the top, had a long nap, taken in more view and chilly mountain air before deciding to come back to escort slow slug me up the last bit of the climb. You would never know how touched I was that he would endure another trip up the last 1/2 mile of Miller Ranch Rd until you've experienced it yourself. That nasty b*st*@# of a road had saved the ickiest surprise for last in the form of a long drawn out ramp that starts at 12% before mellowing out the wrong way to a 21% pitch, only to very slowly drop off as it nears the first set of tv antennae.

(Almost) Top!

We made it up the mountain's last fight without stopping, though, and got to enjoy quite a view from the television antennae complex... even in low-visibility weather! A few minutes after we topped out (well, my first and Hippy's second), a local hiker turned up. It had taken him an hour and a quarter to top the peak from a trail... really quite fast considering that it took me around 50 minutes on my road bike. The road ends on the antennae's west side, so the sweeping view from the top is from Otay Mountains (and Otay Lakes) north to Sweetwater Reservoir and Dictionary Hills. It was quite spectacular... though one that should be properly topped by another ascent on a clearer winter morning!

View of Otay Lakes from top of Mt San Miguel.

Descending a damp Miller Ranch Rd was something quite less than fun. Not only is this thing super narrow (it has only one lane and no shoulder or railing whatsoever) and winding, all the painted speed bumps seemed designed to purposefully bump a bicycle right off the mountain! The most nerve-wracking bit, of course, was that final long and very damp 12%-21%-12% ramp, taken very slow and still with a bit too generous portion of rear skidding just to stay on the road past the switchbacks before some dry patches started showing up on the pavement (I aimed straight for all of them, of course). The posted speed limit is 15 mph, but it would be folly to go down this thing at anything faster than 10 mph, imho.

On our way back to town Hippy split off for the trolley station as I went scouting the access paved road up to a water tower nearby (only to be foiled by locked fence). The morning was still quite young, though, so I decided to go find another route up Mt Helix instead (after all, that little rocky peak was directly on my way home).

Alto Dr climb up Mt Helix.

It pays to study alternate routes via Google Earth before hand. I found my way through many curvy side roads off Challenge Blvd from Avocado Blvd, and eventually ended up at the base of Beaumont, which climbed steeply up to acquire Alto Dr a little up the hill from Lemon St. Alto Dr is really a most delightfully twisty and well lined climb in the area, and an even better descent (though you always have to be careful coming down that thing with all the private driveways lurking behind blind corners).

A bunch of local kids volunteer-cleaning up trash at the Nature Theater & Yawkey Trail.

The Nature Theater on top of Mt Helix was bustling with people on the gray morning as a team of local youngsters were preparing to spread out to collect trash that some inconsiderate visitors had littered the area with.

Second climb of Mt Helix, this time from Vivera to Mt Helix Dr.

Mt San Miguel from Yawkey Trailhead on Mt Helix.

I was still feeling pretty good when I got to the top, so I decided to have another spin up the mountain, this time from the more mellow Vivera & Mt Helix Dr.


It was a good morning mountain ride! I was back home in time for a lunch as the clouds broke up and the afternoon turned out perfect beach weather. There's hardly a better place for a cyclist to be this time of year!

Why I Like Riding My Bike Everywhere

Aside from no longer having a car, saving a lot of money while having a very environmentally low-impact travel and helping lessening traffic congestion in the city, you mean. But there are many more reasons to choose to get to places by bicycle even here in car-centric San Diego!

First off, you get to see more of the places you're riding through than you would driving a car. At slower speed and with the ability to just pull off the road at just about anywhere in the city (and not have to look for a parking spot)... just to wallow in views like these:

Shelter Island.

Embarcadero.

Sunset Cliffs.

And while you are stopped to enjoy the view, probably while munching on the delicious ice-cream from the off-street vendor, chances are you'll also run into some interesting people who seem quite more at ease talking to someone stepping off a bicycle than they would to someone stepping out from a car. It is a neat thing. Anne Mustoe, the English school headmistress who went riding her touring bike all the way around the globe and lived to write about it in the excellent book, 'A Bike Ride', observed the same phenomenon;

"I had been embraced into the camaraderie of the road. As the banter was exchanged and the well-meant advice given, I remembered a winter's day in Norfolk. I had pulled up at a similar stall in my Alfa Romeo and smart executive suit, to be cold-shouldered and treated to glances as frosty as the morning. Now, my bicycle had unlocked the first of many doors around the world and I was delighted to find myself so readily and warmly accepted."

I was rolling thru Mission Bay the other day when this cool guy not only chatted with me but also let me handle his magnificent Eclectus parrot!

Not only are pedestrians friendlier to bicyclist me, most drivers I've met along the road are great. Yes, even friendly smile-at-everyone me do draw occasional impatient honks, but those are far outnumbered by the number of times drivers have rolled down their window to cheer me up particularly steep climbs, offering friendly chats while waiting at traffic lights, and wishing me a safe trip as they roll off.

The Mother Grundy dog pack.

This friendliness even transcends species! I can't imagine that the four amazing dogs I ran into on Mother Grundy Truck Trail in Jamul would escort me for miles and try to protect me from other dogs and even the lovely Beacon Hill llamas had I been in a car rather than on a bicycle!

Talking about friendly animals, I get to see way more wild life from my bike than I ever did from a car.

Acorn woodpecker in Lyons Valley.

Steller's jay in Pine Valley.

Wild deers in Mesa Grande Reservation.

Ram in Dehesa.

Camels at the farm off Old Julian Highway.

Kestrel on the power line on Palomar Mountain.

Horned lark at Morley Fields.

Home building red-shouldered hawk in De Luz.

And, of course, all the house dogs riding around town in cars' passenger seat really love bicyclists!

California dogs have it made with these joy rides!

Living and riding near the coast, you also run into all sorts of interesting people and touring cyclists. It's good for motivation! Every time I start to get demoralized toward the end of my 120-140 mile ride, I'd remember some cool touring cyclists I've met on the road, like the twin French Canadians I ran into on the road two days in a row who rode from San Francisco all the way down to San Diego, or Mike the young Oregonian who was riding from Vancouver to the tip of Baja California when I caught him riding up Camino Del Mar...

Daniel & Claude Bédard cycled from San Francisco to San Diego in 12 days.

Bike touring is a real adventure!

.. and their mileage and heavy load, and all of the sudden quitting is out of the question. If those guys can suffer all the way to their finish line, then there is no excuse for me not to, too!

Of course, the on-bike suffering is at times very unpleasant, but it always helps when there are friends sharing in it with you.

Cycling friends know what an ordeal making it up that long climb without stopping is. And at the top of the beast, the victory tastes all the sweeter when you can trade hi-fives someone else rather than just silently congratulating yourself.

Then, of course, there are all these wonderful places where cars can't go and they're quite a chore to access on foot!

Well, 4 wheel drive cars can go on Nate Harrison Grade, I suppose.

Encelia Dr on Mt Soledad.

Miller Ranch Rd on Mt San Miguel.

Top of Mt Woodson.

Lake San Marcos Radio Towers trail.

And even in places where cars can also go...

Mesa Grande Rd.

Palomar South Grade Rd (S6).

Lyons Valley Rd.

Well, curvy beauties like these are just so much more fun riding down on a bicycle!

Cyclist hit by a car: the cyclist must have been running red light!

Have you read the comment section of news articles about cyclists who got hit by a car lately? Does it get a bit old how most of these sections quickly deteriorate into a bunch of rants about how cyclists are a bunch of law breakers who routinely run red lights and stop signs, even when the cyclist(s) in the news articles did no such thing? Somehow a few of us are under the impression that a great way of conversing with the rest of the world is by always blaming the cyclists for a crime they may NOT have committed whenever they get hit by a car on an American road. It doesn't seem to matter if it is well established that the cyclist(s) in question didn't commit the crime - if any other cyclists the commenters had ever noticed on the road have ran or rolled through a red light or stop sign, then all cyclists must automatically be guilty of it.

Translate that to drivers; if driver A runs a stop sign, does that automatically make driver B guilty of stop sign running? Why is it so hard for some to hold their tongue/fingers and wait for all the info pertaining to an incident to come out before presuming to act as self-appointed prosecutor, judge and jury and pronounce someone guilty? Especially when there is a fatality involved?

I no longer have a car, but in all the 10 years of 30,000+ miles per year that I drove first a Dodge Caravan then a Toyota Corolla I was a good enough a driver to never earn any sort of ticket. Now that I mainly transport by bicycle, I get along great with most drivers I share the road with, and I don't run red lights or stop signs or do any of the other icky stuff like riding against traffic or on the sidewalk. And yet if I get unlucky and get hit by a car tomorrow, it is a sure bet that some a--holes will pop up on news articles covering my crash to lump me in with lawless red light runners or the amazingly rarely spotted cyclist who ride "4 deep on a narrow road".

So... if you happen to be one of those 'cyclists are all red light runners' folks, here are a couple of videos for you because, you know, cars don't run red lights at all... ever. Uh-uh. Not gonna happen...

 

And cars never cut other cars or bikes off either, or merge without first looking, or getting into the wrong lane, or whatever else thingy. No, drivers never do any of that stuff. Drivers never notice any of that stuff done by other drivers... Do they? Hello???

The mountain roads of San Marcos, part 2: Mt Whitney by Coronado Hills, San Marcos Radio Tower & Double Peak

Part 1: Mt Israel, Via Ambiante, Questhaven

Heading east on San Elijo Rd across the San Elijo Hills is a favorite climb amongst local cyclists. From the intersection with Rancho Santa Fe Rd to the top the road rises three consistent miles at 6% grade; good little hill that gets even more sportive if you veer off on Double Peak Dr for a side trip to Double Peak Park. For the extra solid mile of 10% grade climb (it starts out gentle but kicks up to 12% for the last 1/4 mile to the top), the gorgeous mountaintop lookout with a nice parking lot, shaded rest area, outdoor amphitheater and nice restrooms with running water.

Cutting into San Elijo Rd from Questhaven Rd, however, involves shorter climbing at a steeper pitch so that turning onto the last 1/2 mile of San Elijo Rd felt much like a respite. The bike lane on the upper part of San Elijo Rd is quite decent (unlike the lower section of the road in University Commons area where it is more squeezed by the sidewalk and much disputed by bikes-unfriendly cars), then the descent down Twin Oaks Valley Rd to E Barnham is fabulously fast and smooth. I was running pretty low on water and was hoping to find a store or little restaurant on the right side of the road to fill up, but everything was on the left side of the wide road. I didn't feel like foraging for water fountain on the Cal State - San Marcos campus, however, and made the right turn onto La Moree with just a full small water bottle, figuring that I could just turn around on Coronado Hills Dr when I run out and it'd be a downhill coast all the way.

San Elijo Rd, Coronado Hills Dr, Washingtonia Dr.

Coronado Hills Dr, the third major climb of the day, caught me a bit by surprise. From La Moree, it starts out gentle enough until it passes a side road and kicks straight up to 14% grade and just stays there for about 3/4 mile. The gentle s-curves on the road was quite effective at hiding from view just how far out the end of my suffering was. After Mt Israel, Questhaven and San Elijo, my legs and lungs were getting rather fed up with double digit uphill gradient and were no longer keen to shut up on command. I kept telling myself that I only had to get to the next bend and the slope would surely levels out a bit, but Coronado Hills Dr really made a Pinocchio out of me. Mind you, I did make it to the top without stopping, but the process sure wasn't pretty!

Washingtonia - Indian Ridge Rd to the last car gate near top of Mt Whitney.

If you live in San Marcos area and has a sadistic streak when it comes to cycling uphill, Coronado Hills Dr would make a really good hill-repeat site. There is hardly any traffic there, and the descent doesn't abruptly ends at a stop sign or traffic light like so many good climbs around town do. I didn't come for a hill-repeat indulgence, however, but to check out Mt Whitney, so I took the right turn up Washingtonia and followed it to Indian Ridge Rd almost to the radio towers at the top. It's a beautiful narrow lane that hasn't a level stretch to speak of, either going up a steep little roller or down the other side of one, with amazing view peeking out of every corner. Alas, I stopped just short of the top... All the climbing and the last mile spent dodging house-size pot holes and fields of loose gravels on icky 12% grade slope on the narrow pavement, but the maintenance crew had pulled up in their pickup truck just as I whipped out my camera to take a few shots of the car gate to the radio tower, so I figured I had better not pushed my luck and get busted red-footed for trespassing. I'm sure you understand.

Discovery Lake and the trail up the mountain.

I have to say, the only downside to the Mt Whitney climb is that it's an out-and-back deal unless you don't mind trespassing on really private roads. I didn't enjoy the rolling nature of Indian Ridge & Washingtonia on the way down, but the descent of Coronado Hills Dr is a magnificent blast! The pavement is smooth, one car passed me on the way up and none on the way down, and the view is quite amazing. At the bottom I got back west on Barnham and continued onto Discovery Dr, Craven Rd and then took the left onto Foxhall in search for another off-the-main-road local attraction, Discovery Lake.

Morning was getting quite sunny and old, so finding the nice restroom and water fountains on the top side of the parking lot at Discovery Lake was something of a deliverance for yours truly (after all, there was no water stop whatsoever on Mt Whitney, friendly looking local residents not withstanding). There are two paths leading to Discovery Dam, if you are on bike, you're better off taking the upper trail on the left than the lower one that goes straight in from the parking lot, since the planks on the bridge across the causeway run perpendicular rather than parallel to the path. On the far side of the dam the paved trail pitches uphill in a couple of zigzag curves and gives quite a spectacular view of the lake from above. Pedaling up yet another double digit gradient road/trail does get old rather quickly, but every little distractingly beautiful view really help!

The steep paved trail from La Plaza to the radio towers on top of San Marcos Hill.

The short trail (only about 1/4 mile, about 14% grade at the bottom, but quickly easing up as you climb) ends at the cul-de-sac on Via Vera Cruz, and gorgeously well-paved (and, as it turned out, very private) road lined by big and brand new houses as it climbs a little more to a little crest before turning right and zooms down the hill. There are a few different combinations of turns that can take you from Via Vera Cruz to La Plaza, where the next bit of icky steep paved climbing is. I took a circuitous route through the well sculpted neighborhood that deposited me on the lake side of La Plaza, and a pretty good uphill kick around a left-hand bend that felt unfriendly steep until I got to the unmarked paved trailhead (the narrow lane next to mailbox # 1520 on the uphill side of the street), and realized that my perception of what constitute a 'steep' climb was about to change.

The first bit of the trail is quite narrow and lined by avocado orchards (which means, of course, sticky fruits on the pavement!). None of that helped with the 14% gradient. A bit after the right elbow turn the path is completely blocked by a heavy gate secured by about a million locks (no, really, look at the photo above!) that I had to half toss the bike over and then squeezed my skinny cyclist body by the little opening on the left side - I swear, the thing is only a little over a foot wide! - recovered my bike and then figured out how to hop on and start pedaling again up a 15% grade slope on a path that was only about 4 ft wide!

The view opens up quite nicely on the right side as I struggled up the steep slope. There were a few pot holes to swerve around along with little patches of loose gravels. After a false summit overlooking Lake San Marcos, the steepest pitch of all came at the last switchback up to the radio towers (it was something quite close to 20% grade), which I labored over only to find no view whatsoever awaiting me at the top! You see, the Cerro de Las Posas where the radio towers are is really a cerro. There was only enough level-ish space for the towers and nothing else, so the entire view to the west (over the lake) is blocked by the towers, and the only way to reap the splendid visage around the place is to... roll back down the hill a bit.

You wouldn't think that would be such a big deal until you see how steep the drop on either side of the radio towers complex is! By this point of my ride my legs were quite shot, it was close to noon and the sun was getting quite maddeningly hot, so I said 'Screw it!' and opted to head east down the Ridge Line Trail toward Double Peak instead.

Cerro de las Posas - Double Peak Ridge Line Trail.

The Ridge Line Trail is quite true to its name and sticks right on the ridge, which means more up and down riding. Some of these up and down runs are quite steep, too. I was very happy to be riding this on a weekday, however, and didn't have to share the trail with anyone. The whole thing is really nicely paved (well, there's a gravel lane running along the north side for the equestrians). Apparently much of the trail was paid by the housing development on the south side of the ridge and there are a few gates at access points where I had to hike-a-bike around.

Ridge Line Trail ends at Double Peak Drive.

Ridge Line Trail ends at a bend 3/4 way up Double Peak Dr... And once you're there, you might as well go up to the top of the peak for a well earned bragging right and spectacular vista before calling it quit for the day when it comes to uphill climb. Yes, the 1/4 mile of 12% grade hurts like heck, but then that was the story of the day, so what's with a few more minutes of torture if you can add the traverse of Cerro de las Posas and the bagging of the range's two highest peaks to your cycling resume?

San Dieguito Heritage Museum, Swami Garden, Torrey Pines Lodge animals.

Needless to say, the 4 downhill miles down Double Peak Dr and San Elijo Rd was a nice reward for all the climbing. There were a few rollers on my way to the coast, of course, and the two moderately steep humps (Torrey Pines inside and Bandini Rd up Mission Hills) to climb over on my way home, but the air got quite cooler along the coast highway and there were many cool places and sights to see. It's the cool thing about riding solo rather than in a group. I didn't have a time limit and didn't have to keep up with anyone else, so I stopped wherever I felt like and had a ball visiting many attractions on my way home.

Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/us/escondido-ca/escondido-mt-israel-mt-whitney-double-pe-route-271991431