Some shots of the after-work ride on Thursday up in the Laguna Mountains with Steve. The toes are still a bit of distraction but things are better than last week. The weather was pretty freaking awesome with low-mid 70’s and a nice breeze.
Category: San Diego
San Diego Trails
Toe Bone is connected to the …
The toe bone is connected to your leg bone. Your legbone is connected to your hip bone… After gimping around for a week and being mighty gentle with my stride for a couple more weeks on a work trip, I got on the bike this morning. It was good to be back on a trail but man could I tell I have been slacking. My left toes were doing okay until I got into sections that required some mashing on the pedals. In the techincal bits I was surprised how just about any body english move made me unpleasantly aware that my toes play a role in executing that. I think I will need to be a bit more selective about where I ride for the next couple of weeks. But yeah its good to be riding!
Laguna Mountains Soul Ride
I am such a fan of the Laguna Mountains. There is a good variety trails and routes to choose from. Steve and I refer to our time our here as Soul Rides paying homage to wildly popular book “Chicken Soup for the Soul”
Shaking off some jet lag
After another work trip to Bahrain, it was time to shake off some jet lag.
Local goodness.
Yes I stopped to smell the flowers
I was still dragging from jetlag but decided to get my butt on the bike anyway for what should have been a mild to moderate loop. I have been off the bike for six weeks and man did I feel it. The trail pretty much kicked my ass 31 ways from Sunday. It was quite a pathetic showing on my part. I’m glad it was a solo event. It was miserably great. It was a good reminder that I would rather suffer outdoors than thrive inside.
Stowe Trail Now Open
For those of you have ride out at Sycamore Canyon and have been dealing with all the hub-bub about the USMC base, the Stowe Trail is now open for those that get a permit from the USMC base. Check out the info here.
Cruising through the Cuyamacas
This past weekend, I got out into the Cuyamaca Mountains. Main this place has some nice scenery and trails. We started from the San Diego River staging area just off of HWY-79 and took the west side single track up to the visitor center and then took the Green Valley fire road to the Upper Green Valley single track for a climb up to the La Cima trail by Sunrise Highway. We then looped over to the California Riding and Hiking Trail. From there we took Soapstone Fireroad over to Cold Springs trail and then loopback on the west side trail. We were a bit past the greenest time of the year but there were still plenty of blooming flora. Good Stuff!
Steve and Rodney climbing the Upper Green Valley Singletrack
The board members of the Pacific Crest Trail Association were seen out and about in Green Valley.
Plenty of water to cross on the west side trail.
The Cold Springs Trail
Bloom along the entire hillside
Rodney on California Riding and Hiking Trail. This is one of my favorite sections of this trail in the county.
Steve working his way up to the “Oak Trees”.
Lake Cuyamaca has both a upper and lower dam to help keep the “normal” water contained in the south end. You can see the upper dam as the thin line of land in the middle of the picture. There is water in the entire upper valley which is just incredible.
I believe Steve is trying to convey that this trail is the #1/Ichiban Trail 🙂
I am overdue for an update to my Cuyamaca Mountains page. I think I am going to split it up into two different pages to cover several of the routes you can take out here better.
Local Wanderings In San Diego
In addition to all of the rain we are getting here in San Diego this winter (Which is a good thing) life has been busy over the month. Nichol and I bought a house and we have been pretty well occupied with closing that deal and then moving in and setting up shop so to say.
Most of rides during this time frame has been what I would categorize as local “maintenance” rides. I have been out to Anderson Truck Trail a few times.
Daley Ranch has spent a good bit of time in the rotation as it is one of the more rain tolerant riding areas around the area. I have also hit up La Costa a time or two.
Now MTB Life has not been all about just the same ole same ole. I revisited some old places that have had a new batch of trail gnomes out doing to good things. I’m not a liberty at this point to provide details but don’t be afraid to look around near your own backyard.
There are is plenty of green out and about right now, and so should you. Ride On!
Iron In My Diet!
It was nice to get back out to Iron Mountain. I had not been out here since what seemed like ages. It did not disappoint.
Views from the top.
We even managed to get the band back together! Steve back at doing stupid human tricks. The last time I was out there the city of Poway had been doing a bunch of trail work that was sanitizing many sections of the trail. The good news is that they were basically throwing dirt over the rocks and not really “fixing” the water flow issue. The good news in all of this is that after a few seasons all of that dirt has away and much of the trail is back to the way it was.
Hey I can see my truck from here.
I need to work on my trail face.
Brian showing both of us how it is done.
Tough December!
Man are we having a tough December! After working in Philadelphia for a week it makes you appreciate the weather goodness we have here in San Diego.
I have been working on getting back in shape after a pretty dismal summer from a fitness perspective. La Costa has been the main trail system in the rotation.
Catalina Island (pictured above) has been easily seen on most of the outings. San Clemente Island has been seen as well.
Ready to head back down the hill. Yep December is tough in SoCal!
Black Mountain & SYTT
Last weekend I managed to get back out to the Santa Ysabel Truck and the Black Mountain near Ramona.
(Along the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail)
The weather guessers were call in for a storm to hit the area in the afternoon, so I packed up the rain gear before heading out. Typically I do about a 29 mile loop that includes Santa Ysabel Truck Trail, Black Mountain, Pamo Valley and a bit dirt road and pavement interconnects. Today I was going to be doing an out-and-back variant of the ride.
(A section of the area spared from the 2007 wildfires)
I parked at the east end of the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail near the bridge on Black Canyon Road and headed out west. The climbing is very mild but considering how much of a slacker I had been as of late I could tell there was some rust in the legs. The last time I had here was when I did this as a section of the Coast-to-Crest trail.
(Pamo Valley from the lower parts of the Black Mountain Truck Trail)
Once I hooked up with the Black Mountain Truck Truck, I turned uphill and started the sizable climb.
(Climbing Climbing Climbing, Pamo Valley getting smaller)
I was not sure if I was going to go all the way to the top or not. I planned on turning around if the legs cried uncle or if I got caught in a sustained pummeling of rain.
The weather was starting to deteriorate around me as I continued climbing. I could see it raining in the distance on either side of me but my little patch of the world was dry. About 3/4ths of the way up my legs were getting to wank but I was able to keep going. It was also getting colder and the wind was kicking up. I was too hot with the wind breaker on and my chest was a bit cold without it and just the short sleeve jersey. I always keep a bandana in my pack and it came in pretty handy in this case. I unfolded it about halfway and stuff inside my jersey as an additional layer in the front.
Now most of Black Mountain has been covered in scrub in the past put the top of the mountain has some pine trees. These pines were originally planted as part of the ongoing Penny Pines program that started in California in 1941. Some of those pines were burned in the 2007 wildfire but a patch of the them at the very top were spared.
(View from the summit with Lake Sutherland in the background)
It was a bit chilly up on the summit and the wind was whipping pretty good. I typically enjoying hanging out up here and enjoying lunch but the wind made it pretty uncomfortable so after snapping some shots I made my way over to spot back along the trail that offered some shelter from the wind to have my lunch. While taking those pictures, it came pretty clear to me that my luck with the rain was going to run out soon. I hurried up with the snacks and then headed back down the mountain. It was quick work back down to the Santa Ysabel Truck Trail. There is some climbing to be done on the way back along that truck trail and my legs were pretty shot at this point. With about 15 minutes left in the ride a steady light rain started. My windbreaker/raincoat was doing its job quite nicely and I spun my way back to truck. About 30 seconds after I was all packed up and sitting in my truck the “bottom fell out” and a pounding rain last for most of my drive back into Ramona. I felt pretty lucky to have snuck in a ride before the storm and was happy to get back out this little corner of the county. A great day to be out on a bike!