Trail Wanderlust
San Diego Trails
It has been pretty hot as of late so a dawn patrol ride was in order. Lake Hodges was the place.
My sweetie joined me on this ride as well. We pretty must did the north side trails as an out and back.
It is definitely summer with pretty much all the vegetation in dry hot weather mode. There was some surprises. The cacti for example has just recently flowered which I expected that would have happened much earlier in the year.
I have been off the bike for quite a chunk of time with lots of competing interests taking up my time. I have a slew of home projects, a long overdue visit from my parents, some difficult work in town as well as some work travel.
It was not bad, just not mountain biking. I worked in Hawaii for a month which included having my wife out for a week.
I did not doing any mountainbiking in Hawaii on this trip but I did do quite a bit of hiking.
It was however quite nice to get back to San Diego and hit up some hometown dirt again.
What is not to like about this kind of trail action.
Here are some pictures of some playtime with Steve and Rodney on a trail in Santee known as Spaceballs. Don’t go looking for it on official maps.
Spaceballs!
There is still some spring left out one of my local rides here in North County.
I was stoked to have a couple of my Colorado buds roll into town. In addtion giving them a place to shack up and bourbons to sample we got in some riding.
We had some rain to deal with o. The second day so we went out to Anderson Truck Trail
The skys looked ominous as we were driving out to the but the there was a large patches of blue sky to the southwest which was where the wind was coming from so I felt pretty good about our chances. Things looked good early on.
The skys turned pretty quickly and before we knew it we had hail bouncing off our heads. Now we have a bike ride!
Pretty much by the time we got to the top of the trail the hail and light rain was over and we were back in some sunshine. Time to go back down.
I was so stoked to be to return some hospitality back in Kevin and Greg direction.
I spent most of January working in Jacksonville, Florida. Below is a picture from the commute out to the jobsite that seemed out in the sticks.
Once back in town it was time up one my old reliable trails, the Lguna Mountains.
The skys were super clear and we could see Point Loma and the downtown skyline some 40 miles away as a crow files.
We did not do a particularly good job of chasing the sun and pretty much finish the last minutes of the day. There are worse things to be bad at.
So I have not been riding much as of late.
Nichol and I managed to do a traditional vacation that included a handful of days in Hawaii.
Now Nichol and I have been to Oahu numerous times related to work but this was our first time there in a strictly vacation fashion. We have both done most of the “mandatory” tourist things on the island in the past so we were under no pressure or schedule to do anything. It was really nice.
In addition to vacation, there has been lots of house stuff that has been capturing my interests and time as if late. Man caves don’t build themselves!
But that does not mean I have not been riding. I have been hitting my local “off the books” ride here and there along with getting out to the Laguna Mountains. I just have been hitting the trails with as much regularity as I normally do. Pretty sure I’m gonna pay for that later.
This was my kind of way to spend a Monday morning. Taking a spin around at La Costa.
The trail system is bit beat up with braking bumps and braids around obstacles which there is a plethora of rant material to work with on this subject, the biggest one is there is just not enough good legal singletrack in coastal North County. There is good legal singletrack here so it is highly popular and ends up taking a beating.
It has been quite sometime since my last ride out at Anderson Truck Trail. The upper section known as “World Cup” is pretty much gone now (or in major disrepair). It was never an above board system as it was on a combination of USFS, private and Indian Reservation lands. The various groups finally got together to put a kabosh on access.
ATT on its own is a good climb and descent but its just not the same without the challenges of World Cup.
There are still spurs and loops that can be done from four corners. House of Pain, Spicolli 1 and Spicolli 2 (Your trail names may vary) provide some lollipop options before returning down ATT.
No matter what your opinion is on the current situation regarding World Cup, the descent down Anderson Truck Trail is still worth the effort to climb.
Got a in a dawn patrol ride out at Lake Hodges with my sweetie this morning to beat the heat. 
Looking East