Southern California, Day 1, San Diego to Pine Valley

I first rode the American Youth Hostels San Diego Christmas Bike Ride in 2009 and have participated every year since then. In 2009, there were about 60 riders. By last year that number had swelled to 125 and unfortunately the support/facilities had not grown to keep up with the increased needs of a group that large. The ride fee had increased from $250 in 2009 to $550 this year (day of ride registration). I offered a few suggestions to organizers on how to make this trip more enjoyable but it fell on deaf ears.

Last year I left San Diego saying that I could do this ride on my own cheaper and provide better support.

It was time to put up or shut up.

This year I invited friends to join me on a "credit card camping" trip that would for the most part follow the same route as the official event. I had predicted that we could do this trip for about $65/day (per person,double occupancy). We would have a support car to carry supplies to our nightly stops. I had scoped out lodging in each of our intended overnight stops and knew exactly what that would cost, my guess work came with food. We would be eating all meals in restaurants and I had to estimate what the bills would be.

I chose the extended Veteran's Day weekend for our time frame.

4 of us pedaled from Hotel Circle San Diego this morning under beautiful warm blue skies.

We began riding up Mission Gorge to the Father Junipero Serra trail. There were some comments about an "urban assault ride" but it really wasn't that bad. We were after all riding in the 8th most populous city in the U.S!

My riding partners were pushing a fast pace. They rode right through Mission Trails Regional Park without stopping. I've spent time there before so it wasn't as critical that I stop today, but thought that my friends were missing out.

Our group did make a brief stop for a photo.

After exiting the park we made a donut stop. :-)

Julie, our support car driver, was planning to meet us in Alpine for lunch. It had been an uphill ride all morning and our lunch stop was a welcome chance to rest and refuel.

After our lunch stop we took Tavern Rd/Japutal Rd, normally one of the optional routes for the official ride. It kept us from having to ride along the shoulder of the I-8 freeway...in exchange we rode a bit more elevation.
Soon we looked back on Alpine.

As we continued to climb, my riding partners kept up a fast pace. I just couldn't justify expending that much energy. I knew our check-in time for lodging was 3PM, and if we arrived early we'd just be sitting around waiting anyway.

Our first night was in Pine Valley. I pulled in right at 3PM, with just over a 15 mph moving average. Not bad for an out of shape old man on 54 mile route with 5800 ft of climbing. It wasn't bad, but I was the lanterne rouge.

...............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............54...........0................0............0.............54 Jan..................93..............0...............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0..........0.............411 March.............653.............0..............0.........0................653 April..............696..............0...............0.........0................696 May...............900...............0...............0.........0...............900
June..............484...............0..............0............0..............484
July..............1300................0...............0..........0.............1300
Aug................638.............0.................0..........0.............638
Sept...............232..............0................0...........0............232
Oct...............307...............0................0...........0............307
Nov..............122...............0................0...........0............122 Total...........5592.............0...............0..........0.............5592