use this thread to ask about the best routes around town.

Im a big fan of Linda Vista RD. for some reason it's just a fun climb. it's also cool once you're at the top to cruise around the college campus.

thats a fun route, i rode something similar to that last week. though we made a stop in OB on the way.

Some pretty good sized commutes guys! Kudos!
I've been really slacking on riding and my commute is a breeze.
Most days its Adams Ave to South Park via side streets that run parallel to 30th.

I ride public transit with my bike with frequency. Trolley's are easy, as long as you hold on tight enough since you have to stand with your bike in the back of the sometimes very rock 'n rolly cars.

The most annoying thing is waiting for a bus when you are attempting to get somewhere in a set amount of time only to have the whopping TWO bike slots are occupied. Then you're SOL until the next one comes.

I worry about this constantly. I always try to sit somewhere that I can see my bike from the inside of the bus. It would be extremely easy to do if someone was so inclined.

who knows the best way between Clairmont and North park?

[quote][cite] Mhotai:[/cite]who knows the best way between Clairmont and North park?[/quote]

Check out danarels' commute (he works over by Aladdin Cafe and lives a couple blocks from Velo)

Looking for the best route linda vista to miramar

Thanks

[quote][cite] Protorio:[/cite]I live/work in Linda Vista, but head to University Heights/North Park/Normal Heights all the time for errands and taking work to cafes. I usually head up Bachman, up University, over Washington St. on the bridge, then through University Heights to 30th, etc. (Mhotai - you can do this too if you head down to Morena, over to Friars and behind Fashion Valley - or just head up Washington since they *finally* resurfaced the bike lane).

I don't drive much at all, and enjoy riding everywhere around town for transportation. I take a folder on the Trolley sometimes. When I have more time, I like riding 1) the Cliffs, up through Pt. Loma College, out to the lighthouse, and back via Harbor/downtown/Balboa Park; 2) up the coast to Encinitas or Carlsbad and back. I can post routes if anyone new to town doesn't understand this.

Building a mountain bike right now - I'll probably be riding more of East County when that's done. Haven't doe that since college.[/quote]

I take that route thru Linda Vista when I ride to work. To get to Kearny Mesa, I bomb Bachman and up Ulric St which spits me out on Linda Vista Rd.. Ride that all the way till it turns into Convoy, then right on Balboa. All in all its about 11 miles one way. My favorite part is bombing Ulric st on the way back..

[quote][cite] smashtown:[/cite]Does anyone know a good route returning from Point Loma (Sporta Arena area) back to South Park? I have to commute there for work, and getting there is easy because India/San Diego Blvd, but they are one way North bound and I'm not too sure about taking that section of PCH coming back South... I've been taking the Trolley and that gets kinda frustrating. Any suggestions? I'm not quite sure about Harbor Drive either, I would be coming from Midway and Sports Arena, where they intersect...

Any suggestions would be totally appreciated![/quote]

if im down that way, i usually ride up Presidio, then through hillcrest into NP/SP.

or, you can fly down harbor and take broadway back. broadway has a steep hill near the beginning when leaving downtown, but is not to bad. if you dont like harbor, just ride until you can jump on a side st like india.

I'd say your best bet from Mission Hills to South Park is University to 30th. If you don't like that, you can go South to Upas once you East of Florida. Upas is much less busy than University, and will take you East. But you pretty much have to take 30th/Fern to get to South Park.

I'll try to make this short. I just started commuting from Clairemont Mesa to SDSU. My current route is roughly Balboa-Kearney Villa-Aero-Murphy Canyon bike trail-Camino Del Rio-Mission Gorge-Montezuma. I think the climb up Montezuma is unavoidable (although the trolley stop at 24-hour fitness is awfully tempting), but is there a better route for my return commute? After coming down Montezuma, I was thinking of the stadium to Mission Village-Ruffin, or stadium to Mission Village-Gramercy-Sandrock.....all to end up going west on Aero. I realize the climb is ultimately to the same elevation, but anything that has more flats in between climbs and/or less/slower traffic is good for me. Any experience/opinions with this route? Thanks, folks.

smashtown:Does anyone know a good route returning from Point Loma (Sporta Arena area) back to South Park? I have to commute there for work, and getting there is easy because India/San Diego Blvd, but they are one way North bound and I'm not too sure about taking that section of PCH coming back South... I've been taking the Trolley and that gets kinda frustrating. Any suggestions? I'm not quite sure about Harbor Drive either, I would be coming from Midway and Sports Arena, where they intersect...

Not many choices coming south there. I'd probably take Midway to Barnett to PCH. It's a little narrow around the bend onto PCH and for about a 150 yards or so until you get past the entrance/exit of the recruitment depot. After that, you've got bike lanes and wide lanes most of the way.

I bike that route frequently and DO NOT ride down into the merge between PCH and Barnett! It's too dangerous! You have a 12 foot wall on your right and cars are flying down the hill from PCH into a confined space that usually has standing water.

Barnett feeds in two lanes, and PCH feeds in two lanes which produces 4 lanes for PCH. It's not like the cars from PCH are coming up behind you (they're two lanes over). The cars on Barnett are, however, which is why I take the lane when I get down near the bend and keep it until I pass the entrance to the recruitment depot. The cars are forced to go around.

Take the sidewalk on the west side of the street.

Riding on the sidewalk is very dangerous if there are any pedestrians. That sidewalk is particularly narrow. You also end up with a conflict with cars at the recruitment depot and a need to jump a curb.

Bicycles belong on the road.

I can't tell you how to ride, but bicyclists have a right to be on the road. If we don't use the road; if we let ourselves be intimidated into hiding on the side walk, then the same old wrong belief that bicycles don't belong on the road is perpetuated.

I highly recommend the Bicycling Street Smarts site for learning where and how to ride in the road. A lot of people think they are riding safer when they are actually riding in very dangerous ways. Appropriately asserting your right to be in the road is usually safer.

i have never heard that although i've never tried. i will say that the most popular bike touring route in the world is the west coast route which goes from Canada to Mexico and all those people go though Camp Pendleton. you need your ID so don't forget that. otherwise you will be riding on highway 5 (which is legal on that stretch).

great map. thanks for posting that.

Having been solidly fed up with the miniscule size of the "official" San Diego bike route map (published by SANDAG/Ridelink, available for free) that I need spectacles to get any information from, I decided to scan the area of town I use the map for the most: Central/Western San Diego, south of I-8, north of I-94 and west of SDSU. This way, I can look at the map on my computer, and magnify it to the print size I need to read it!

Having scanned it I decided I might as well as post it here so that others in my predicament, eyesight wise, can benefit from it, too - here it is (click, and then click again, to magnify in your browser):



Legend (from best to worse):
RED: Bike trail or path
BLUE: Bike Lane
GREEN: Bike Route
YELLOW: Other Recommended Routes

In order to magnify the image - if you need it - copy it to your hard drive, and use an image viewer.

Enjoy!

Sigurd
:face-smile:

Njord Noatun:I would like to ride through Camp Pendleton from the North (San Clemente) side to Oceanside. I read somewhere, however, that the base is only accessible to the public from the South (Oceanside) gate and that the North gate is closed to civilians.

Can anyone confirm that there is no public access to Camp Pendleton from San Clemente (North) for bike riders? Thanks.

Njord, I'm guessing you rode inside the base to the east, rather than down the freeway. I've done the 5 a couple of times and found it to be awesome. If you can ride on a busy street, you can ride the freeway. Next time you go through Pendleton, try it.

oh god no. forget about that route unless you are a animal at climbing. you would be climbing up to Clairmont Mesa and then going up and down through 4 or 5 canyons as you follow Genessee.

re-do your directions this way: head east to Pacific Highway and turn right, that turns into E Mission Bay Dr.

go along Mission Bay dr (fun stretch of road) and then get onto Mission Bay Dr.

turn right on Damon (you will be on here for only a couple hundred yards

turn left on Santa Fe st. after a mile or so this will become a bike path. the bike path is another fun stretch

turn right when the path ends and you'll be on La Jolla Colony Dr.

turn right on Palmilla dr

right on Arriba

Left on Regents

left on Genessee. from there you can follow your directions onto the 5 freeway and onto work.

this will save you a whole crap load of climbing and this way you'll be riding with bike commuters your whole way.

have you ever tried www.mapyourride.com? it's pretty helpful for mapping and also you can see other peoples rides too if you are looking for a route. often those routes are for the spandex crowd though and not always best for commuters as commuters are looking for the easiest way around.

<blockquote><cite> seabass:</cite>I've actually only tried mapmyRUN.com, didn't know about their 'sister' site.

I'll add it to my bookmarks.</blockquote>

It does elevation profiles too.

I think I know the bridge you're talking about, near the Critical Mass fountain. That's a pretty great commute, nothing but Balboa Park in your way. Not many riders in the country are that fortunate.