So I am going to comic-con again this year but have decide I will be biking there. Trying to drive/park down there in the chaos of the con just doesn't make sense. I talked to the convention center folks and apparently bag check will hold my bike for two bucks a day. I've not done much ridding down town so I wanted to see if anyone had any tips on the route. Coming from basically the 5 and Clairemont Dr/ Mission Bay Dr. My plan was to take Misson Bay Drive to Pacific Highway then to Harbor to the convention center. Are there any better roads/routes for biking there?

Yeah, those routes after San Diego Avenue going south can still be quite as gnarly because of the Freeway exits(India can be really bad) but they are on surface streets instead of an actual highway like Pacific Coast Highway. PCH does have bike lanes so it might be preferable for some(especially on road bikes).

You can also just ride all the way to Old Town and ride the trolley all the way to downtown for the ultimate in mixed mode transportation.

Shapps (Bryan):I tried this route out today and it worked well going south. Coming back going north I need to find an alternative to hancock/ketner as I did not like going against traffic and that was one way. Thinking India street I suppose.

You can use India, just watch out for the Sassafras exit from 5 north which will be on your right after you go through the India St. tunnel. Luckily very few people actually use this exit, so it's not that much of a problem. You can also use Pacific going north which isn't nearly as gnarly as going north. Just remember to get off and then back on the highway at Washington St.

A bicyclist in Toronto recorded all his bike rides over the period from 2004-2009 - a total of some 5,000 miles at 650 hrs - on his recumbent. He took all these data and created a time-lapse movie of his rides, effectively creating a map of sorts of Toronto.

His movie is published here: Interesting in a nerdy kind of way!

The red "bug" on the map represents 5 minutes of riding.

@manleyadam:

I find that Howard Avenue (which becomes Orange Avenue after the 805 overpass [maybe its the 15]) is much safer than El Cajon or University from North Park to Mid-City. You can catch it at 30th Street by the Vons. Then, if you hang a left at Winona Avenue to El Cajon Blvd, El Cajon is much more chill all the way to College Ave. Watch out for the drunken frat parties!:face-smile:

James P Griffin:

neal_d:@manleyadam:

I find that Howard Avenue (which becomes Orange Avenue after the 805 overpass [maybe its the 15]) is much safer than El Cajon or University from North Park to Mid-City. You can catch it at 30th Street by the Vons. Then, if you hang a left at Winona Avenue to El Cajon Blvd, El Cajon is much more chill all the way to College Ave. Watch out for the drunken frat parties!:face-smile:

If you continue on Winona past El Cajon and turn right on Monroe, it's even more chill. You can then take Monroe to 54th, which is a gentle uphill to Montezuma.

It is a bit of a grind up Montezuma at that point, but college is hard work.

Vaidila and Jordan, the guys behind Ride the City are getting ready to officially launch in San Diego. They want more feedback. Here is what Vaidila said:

The changes include 1) Ride the City now takes elevation into consideration to put bicyclists on less hilly routes and 2) the bike shops are present. We'll improve any other bike lanes/greenways that aren't being routed as we get more feedback. We'd like to get more bicyclists to plug in routes, to try them in the real world, then to come back to Ride the City and (after plugging in the same from/to directions) to hit the "rate the route" button to tell us how it is.

I've tried out all my routes and offered suggestions (North Park to Banker's Hill, North Park to OB, MB, Downtown). It doesn't pick up any of the bike shops and doesn't seem to realize that Bachman is a good option.

beany:I got an email from Vaidila (one of the creators of ridethecity.com) saying this:

One segment I need help with. There's a new route connecting 13th st (imperial beach) to Chula Vista, that's not on the map, can you help me understand from where/to where it goes? Using this map as a reference, (http://www.ridethecity.com/index.php?rid=324890®ion=sandiego) can you talk me through how to draw the connector segment? Feel free to pass this on, if you like. We need some local input here. Thanks.

I don't know about that bike path/lane from IB to Chula Vista. Can someone help Vaidila? His email is vaidila (at) ridethecity.com

The new route follows the path that is shown as a railroad track in this:

Google Map.

^Hey Skurvy1,

I do that route a couple times a week. You are only on Harbor for a few minutes but I agree that the bike lane is pretty messed up there. The only spot I've had trouble with is right before 32nd Street where the bike lane ends and cars making the right turn don't leave you much room (I killed a mirror on a Caprice.) After that, it's really not that bad and around Seaport Village you can use the path. But if you want to cut inland to National, you end up around Petco Park. After the bikeway, just stay on Bay Marina until you are on the other side of the 5 and work your way north, then National City Blvd, Main St. and National Ave. leaving you at the Imperial Ave. side of Petco Park. I tried that and just went back to using Harbor.

Of course if you time it right, using the ferry is almost totally bike path and empty streets, you just need to time it to get there on the half hour and spend the $3.25.

na, the ferry costs money to cyclists. maybe you did it on a special promotional day?

Big news last week for those that ride Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and Mission Bay: We got word that federal funding has provided the opportunity to build the Rose Creek Bikeway Path. The bridge will span Rose Creek and provide an off-street link between the east side of Mission Bay and Crown Point. This map shows the current route(s), as well as the new route once the new path is complete.

This path has been planned for a long time - for at least as long as I have lived here (which seems like forever!).

Here is what I found elsewhere about the project:

The Rose Creek Bikeway Bridge-which is a $4 million project slated to begin construction in September 2010, with an expected completion in June 2011. In the past, bike-riders and pedestrians have had to go all around Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach in order to go around  Mission Bay. This new bike path will allow riders to circumnavigate the entire Bay area without too much a departure from the immediate area.

This new Rose Creek Bridge will connect paths along North Mission Bay Drive and Pacific Beach Drive. Planned to span 360 feet-it will be 16 feet wide and adjacent to Mission Bay High School on the south side of Rose Creek and De Anza Trailer Park on the north side.

Now all we need for a complete, round the bay bike path off-street is for Sea World to deliver on its long-time obligation to build a bike path between the amusement park and the bay. This is another project that should have happened a long time ago, but with the recent sale of Sea World to a venture capital group, I am not holding my breath for this one any time soon.

This little sedtion of bike path has to cross Rose Creek on a bridge, and it's the bridge that makes it so expensive. Plus it makes the sections of bike path around it that much more valuable. It will get a lot of use.

good to know. i had no idea.

I've just started my new commute and am looking for alternatives or deviations.

My commute goes from Gilman near UCSD to University and 30th.

So far my route has been:

gilman south - rose canyon bike path - mission bay dr - morena blvd - pacific hwy - juan st (killer hill) - sunset blvd - university blvd

What I don't like is University because of all the traffic lights. Is Robinson better?

I've never ridden up Juan. I always do the steep side of Presidio, residential Mission Hills until you have to kick out onto Washington, bounce over to University before the 163. I'd stay on University to Utah, right on Utah and left on Gunn, cross 30th and get a burrito at Saguaros.

Fairmount's an easy climb. To get to Adams from Fairmount you can take the steep but short Aldine Dr., or continue on Fairmount to Mead, right on Mead and right on Van Dyke.

uno-speedo:

I ride east-west from University and 30th several times a week. I don't like to ride on University either, so I kept looking for my Northwest Passage until I settled upon the route I call "The Great Emancipator". It set me free from University Avenue. However, I ride fairly slowly and just don't like the traffic on University, if you're looking for something faster this probably ain't it.

East to West: go up to Lincoln and go west. Take it all the way to the bitter end (you can cross Texas using cuts in the median for that purpose). Lincoln dead ends into an alley which is a half-block west of Florida. Take the alley south until it dead-ends onto the sidewalk leading up to the Georgia Street overpass. Carefully make a right onto the sidewalk (there are a bunch of obstacles in the pavement here), and go up a very short way (20 yards?) to the top of the hill, which puts you on Georgia.

Take Georgia south to Robinson. Take Robinson west to 1st. It's slow between 7th and 4th but after that it's easy. From 1st go up to University, and take that west to Eagle or Falcon, where you can go north to Mission Hills and take your current route to Juan St.

Returning is the opposite.

I know that riding on the sidewalk is frowned upon by some folks, but I just do it carefully and yield to (and say hi to) the occasional pedestrian I've seen. It's only a short ways on a seriously pitched walk, so everyone's alert anyway.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to give all of them a go and see what I like best. Cheers.

beany:How do I bypass Friars Rd in getting from North Park to Mission Gorge Road en route to Mission Trails Regional Park?

Friars is a really awful road...even early on Sunday morning there were quite a bit of distracted drivers and with those curvy roads with on ramps and off ramps and bushes growing into the bike lane, I'd like to avoid riding on Friars as much as I can. I get to Friars by riding down Bachman and then onto Fashion Valley Rd. Also I am not comfortable riding down Texas.

Take Adams to Van Dyke/Aldine to Fairmount. Fairmount to Mission Gorge. Or you can go down Bachman as you are but get on Camino de la Riena (take a right turn after you pass under the freeway) and take that road (which becomes Camino del Rio North after Texas/Qualcomm) to Mission Gorge. There is also a riverside bike trail that parallels Camino de la Riena between the 163 and Qualcomm.

If you go via the College area and Lake Murray, you can bypass all the bad spots in Mission Valley, and hit Mission Gorge easily. I rode back from that area earlier. There is a way, though I still don't have a good way around the Monroe/47th St area. I usually, when clear, go west on Monroe, avoiding Aldine (the catch is that Monroe is ONE WAY eastbound for about 50 feet there.) It is either go that way, or detour a couple blocks south to El Cajon or go on Aldine. Neither are good routes, but I'll take them if I need to.

Just a question out of curiosity:

What route does everyone take to go East-West (in either or both directions) to get around downtown? I always Just end up taking Broadway when I'm down there and/or passing through, but I wondered if anyone has any advice or better streets that they like to ride to get through downtown?

Island is a good route. Watch out at 2nd Ave/Island St though. Cross traffic doesn't stop. North of Broadway I'd recommend Ash St, at least west of 7th. One way roadways seem to be better for me downtown. I also recommend taking the lane in most instances. Especially during peak hours, you're just as fast as everyone else, if not faster. 9th/Market just got a signal, so if anyone needs that to go north, it is now available. Remember, if the light has loops in the road, put your tire along one side of the loop. It needs metal, most bikes do work, yes - Al is a metal, but C is a non-metal. Most lights are timed downtown though.

Good info...it's always interesting to see that different people take so many different routes through the same neighborhood, unless there is one blatantly good route of course.

Stephan:B Street works well for me westbound to Third. Then I usually use Ash down to Harbor, taking the lane .

I usually take B westbound too...I like it.

alright i guess this is where to post this. i'm trying to figure out the easiest (least hills) way from my house near college grove shopping center to velo cult for the ride on the 10th. here is a link to google maps of the main cross streets near me
[[_linker_]]
i'm very comfortable riding near cars and on busy streets so that isn't really a concern for me, but since i'm about 5 miles from the shop i'd rather not hit a lot of uphills before the ride starts. so far my logic tells me to go down 54th to university ave then just down 30th to fern. i'm gonna drive it tonight and see if there might be a better way, unless you guys know a better way. oh and i've ridden the hills between my house and 54th and university ave a million times so i'm used to those. they don't count as hills anymore thanks in advance

i forgot landis went over the 805.
good call
5.7 miles
gonna check out the route tonight (driving) on my way to ob
i also know a back way that doesn't involve university at all, but i think it's got a pretty steep hill