I am curranty living in a Hotel near the Airport in San Diego for the next few months. I have found the bike paths but have yet to find spot to do an outside test/ long efforts.
Thanks
Your best bets are:
- Fiesta Island early in the morning.
- The strand down by Coronado, depending on how fast you are you can do 20-25 min from Swiss Park up to the end of the strand. I do tons of workouts there as do most of my athletes.
- Plenty of open roads out in the mountains of east county, including Honey Springs which is on the end of Otay Lakes road up the 94. That’s probably out of reach for you.
Your best bet is probably Fiesta Island with where you are. You could also just do laps around Harbor or Shelter Island.
Feel free to shoot me a DM or email if you want more. We can chat.
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The multitude of ways up Mount Soledad are usually my go-to for 10-15 minute efforts, which I link up with Fiesta Island if I’m feeling sprightly
For longer efforts I like the Great Western Loop or Mount Palomar (probably going to be a touch chilly on the descent in the next few months)
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Fiesta Island for intervals, sprits, etc.
Yes, My Soledad as well for longer sustained efforts up hill, pretty much all that you need.
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What type of bike are you using btw?
If you’re here for Thanksgiving come and do the Soledad Five Faces Sufferfest
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If you have transportation, spend a day doing repeat climbs of Mt. Palomar. I always did the south approach. Nice and consistent gradient for the most part. Bring something windproof for the descents.
In addition to everything already mentioned,
- Torrey Pines is an iconic climb 1.5mi @ a steady 5-6%
- Scripps is in between Mt Soledad and Torrey, and is another decent training climb from the beach up to the UCSD campus
- La Jolla Farms at the top of the Scripps climb has a pretty fast loop with the visual enjoyment of seeing some of the nicest houses in town, plus there’s the footpath climb up from Black’s Beach
- The best open riding is in North County (Rancho Santa Fe / Olevenhein / Elfin Forrest, etc.) or East County (Great Western Loop, Honey Springs, etc.)
- You could spend a full day exploring Mt Soledad, racking up 10K’+ of climbing, all w great views, and never repeat a section
- Not too far from you is the ride out to the Cabrillo Lighthouse, which is a nice ride but if you want to add some climbing, there’s a road down to the tidepools that’s popular for repeats - if there’s someone at the gate, they’ll want to charge a few bucks for entry but if you get there early enough, you can ride right in and you’ll likely have company on the climb
- And then there’s the coast where you can ride as far north as you want, turn around and come back
If any of the above sounds interesting or you have a specific request, feel free to reach out and I can share some ride files or give suggestions
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Have you tried Strava’s heatmap or routes?
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I’ll be there
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Anyone ridden the path where it goes onto the 5 and beyond (either way)? I’ve always chickened out. I didn’t ride that far south very often when I lived there, and missed the group rides that did it.
Headed north between Genesee and Sorrento Valley Rd, you used to take the 5 shoulder but about 4 years ago, they added the bike path from UCSD to Sorrento Valley making that obsolete. The only other section of the 5 that gets used by bikes is up north going around the Camp Pendleton base. I never enjoy riding near freeway speed vehicles but neither were too sketchy.
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My current set up is a Cervelo Apero in road set up, Ultegra 12, 28mm tires
I have been using Strava routs have been working ok for getting around and finding z2 rides, just have not found spot that I like for intervals
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I will try to make it to the ride if I don’t I will do the route on my own that day.
This is the route that Strava gave me today look like Mt Soledad will be a good place for longer efforts.
Going to try this one tomorrow
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I’ve ridden that a number of times, no issues. I also ride the 125 in south county quite often. Plenty of room in both cases, but it can be somewhat unnerving, especially when the FEDEX trucks down south come screaming past at 60mph.
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Soledad is pretty good, though you do run out of road for longer stuff there depending on which route you take. That said, for an easily accessible climb for hill repeats, it’s pretty sweet, with lots of options for steady/easier grade or “might have to hike-a-bike if I screw it up” grades.
Firt time strave had me go the other way up I was not ready for that and had to walk a few corners
Yep, Via Capri did that to me the first time.