So my boys were pretty pumped up about the riding at La Costa on Saturday and they were itching to ride again. I had plans to take them to Lake Hodges or Penasquitos Canyon since that would be fairly kid friendly. When I woke up this morning to see that it had rained the night before, I shelved both of those trails since they do not fair well after rains. We hung out around the house until almost 1PM catching one of the new releases on Pay-Per-View. They were still itching to go so I offered up Daley Ranch which is one of the best places to ride in the county when it is wet out. I warned them that there was a bunch of climbing to do at Daley. They were undaunted so we loaded up and headed to Escondido.
The weather looked questionable at the trailhead, but we opted to head out. We took the right out of the parking lot onto the Creek Crossing trail and then out to the Sage trail for the typical (and substantial) starting climb. I was thoroughly impressed with both of them on the climb as they never stopped due to being tired. (They did dab a couple of times, but they did far better than I did when I first came out here some years back) Due to the moisture we opted to skip the Coyote Run and Rattlesnake singletracks and stay on the fireroads. It worked out well as the boys really enjoyed catching bits of air off the rocks in the fireroad on the way down to the meadow. We stopped at the first good view of the meadow and we could hear a pack of coyotes yipping it up below. Will was even keen enough to spot them before they headed off into the trees.
Once down in the meadow we did the Jack Meadow loop starting up the east side. We took a break at a little kicker rock so the boys could get some “mini-air”.
Once we reached the north end of the meadow and headed down the west side it was mostly a gradual downhill affair from there. I reminded them that they had a big ring on thier bike and it was game on after that. With my gearing at 32:18, I had to put on some serious cadence to beat them to the Ranch House.
The damp and cool air kept us from lingering long during our break at the Ranch House. They were trying to talk me into going to Wings and Things after the ride so I made a deal with them. If we took the East Ridge trail back instead of “wimping out” on the road I would take them. (I was going to take them anyway, but they did not need to know that.) The thing about the East Ridge trail is that there is one really nasty steep section and I wanted them to get a taste of some hike-a-biking. I really talked up “The Wall” to them and when they first saw it ahead they both gave a big “Whoa!” They both gave it a good shot making about a third of the way up each.
I got pretty lucky on that climb as the wet weather made the traction like Velcro and I managed to clean it, my first time ever on the SS. After that we connected back up with the Creek Crossing trail and made our way back to the trailhead. I had tired but jazzed kids on my hands who made quick work of their dinner at Wing and Things.
-Bill