The weather forecast called for a relatively cool day, so a couple of friends and I went riding to El Capitan Reservoir via Grantville, Santee and Lakeside this
morning. I guess the warmer and more humid climate that San Diego has been acquiring is throwing the meteorologists off a bit since it felt quite warmer than the forecast called for.
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| 'Hello Gorgeous!' You decide who said it... |
It was still a nice day for a ride, however. The ostriches were out at
Hilliker's Egg Ranch on the south side of El Nopal in Lakeside, so we
stopped for a while to visit and were quite mesmerized by the smooth-walking long-legged birds and their impossibly elastic long neck. One curious ostrich boy came over to socialize a bit and ended up flirting with one of my friends... He gave us a bit of a dance in between fits of wings-grooming. We never quite imagined that the big bird wears no underwear
under his feathery wings!!
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| Lindo Lake in Lakeside. July 2013. |
We cut through Lakeside via
Lindo Lake... which we shall now call Lindo
half-lake, since about half of its water has apparently gone off on
vacation somewhere (probably Florida). A few confused looking ducks were spotted
loitering about... waddling around as if wondering which one of their mates had drank
up all the water!
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| Lots of freebies being given on El Monte Rd... |
A
farmer along El Monte Rd is still trying to give off free horse sh*t to
unsuspecting travelers. No taker, still... that sign's been there for
months (his farm must now really stink!)!
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| The little 1/2 mile climb up to El Capitan Dam. |
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| El Capitan Reservoir. July 2013. |
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| Coasting back down El Monte Rd. So much view for so little climbing! |
I'm happy to report that there
is still water in
El Capitan Reservoir, of course. The locals are onto
it, though, as we were passed by about 13 speeding boat-towing trucks
riding on that wiggly road to the lake. Weirdly enough, there weren't
more than 10 boats in the lake once we got there... Maybe a few got
abducted by aliens along the way (one can always hope!)!
I ride this road 2-3 times per week and have videos with scenery you'll probably recognize. Go on to Youtube and look up the BAII training series of vids (about 7 set to music) good luck riding and I'll see you out there
ReplyDeleteI had a scary moment this past week. I was heading back into Lakeside and I was near the abandoned grain silo when a ragged red early 80's
ReplyDeleteCamaro was passing up another vehicle headed toward El Monte park. The idiot missed me by a hair-whisker. It was about 11am. I had on a red, long sleeved jersey, over black, full length bibs. I didn't have my helmet cam on that day but I wish I had.
Hi Anon 1,
ReplyDeleteFound the Youtube clips. Quite very cool indeed. Thanks! :D
Hi Anon 2,
Arggh! Glad to hear you didn't get hit. :( I'm afraid what little traffic there is on El Monte Rd tend to be fast, unusually long (dragging a boat), and don't give cyclists much room when they pass indeed. Weird how some folks turn almost homicidal when they get in the car... but are nice enough when they're out of it, being as vulnerable as others!