Checking out Nate

Last weekend was busy with my kid’s hockey games and honey-dos but I grabbed Sunday afternoon for a ride.  I needed to get in some climbing and since I had not been on Nate Harrison Grade since before the 2007 fires, it was a good time to revisit the place.

It did not take long along the climb to realize that the visibility was exceptional on this day.   As soon as I climbed out of the valley the ocean as well as Catalina and San Clemente Island could be seen.   To the south downtown San Diego could be seen as well as the Coronado Islands.   Simply impressive.

I was a little surprised to see that there was a few sections of the road that had been paved with some rough asphalt but understand the need to do so considering all the erosion issues that existed after the fires.

The views continued to just get better the further up I went.

B&W with Catalina in the distance.

Up near the top there was some remanents of snow here and there.   Not enough for a snowball fight but nice to see none the less.

Just before reaching Boucher Peak view to the north opened up.  San Jacinto in the distance.

The views from Boucher Peak at 5,438 feet were pretty impressive today. I was more than readay to chill for a while after the 4,700 feet of climbing to get here.

It did not take too long before the low angle of the sun urged me to get moving down the mountain.  I knew this was going to be a twilight finish.  About halfway down the mountain I stopped to watch the sunset.

It was simply fantastic.  I even got to see a bit of the green flash thing you hear people talking about.  I did not however have my camera setup to capture it.

After watching the sun finish up it’s march across the sky I released the hounds and enjoyed a blistering descent back down to my truck.  Just another awesome day on a bike in San Diego County.

A Week of Meadows, Lakes and Peaks

I had an exceptional week on the bike.  There was plenty of work, family and riding which did not leave much time for the keyboard.  So here are a few pics from the week.   For the mid-week stoke, I met Steve, Eric and Todd for some fun in the Laguna Mountains on the Big Laguna Trail and surrounding area.  I forgot my camera at  home so these pictures are courtesy of my fellow riders.

Some log riding on the Los Gatos Trail

Some playing was done on the rocks.

Not your average dry and dusty SoCal trail.    We had an exceptionally good ride and clocked in around 17-18 miles of good alpine meadow goodness.  

Friday, I got in a lunch time quickie at La Costa which is always a good place to get in some short but quality mileage.   No Pics

Sunday, I finally got around to doing a ride that I had been curious about for a number of years.  The Highpoint Truck Trail that goes up the north side of Palomar Mountain.   My bud Clayton, with whom I first rode with in Japan in 2004, just moved back to San Diego so he was up for a ride.   I was surprised to see him show you for this ride with his singlespeed.    While I be putting up a page on the site in the coming weeks, the quick numbers on this ride are it is a 12 miles long climb that gains 4,400 feet up to the Highpoint Lookout Tower. Needless to say, Clayton earned major climbage points today as a one-geared wonder. 

Grunt, Grunt, Groan, Groan

Killer Views from the top.

I see the observatory rather often from the various SoCal highpoints I ride to as a small white dot, This time it was a wee-bit closer.

The Highpoint Lookout Tower,  elevation 6,118 feet.   I’m sure there are worse ways to spend a workday.

When it was time to turn the wheels around we enjoyed cashing out the gravity points we had earned.    Some people hate fireroads, but 12 miles of downhill with some sketchy turns is pretty freaking fun.  It was a good way to finish off the weekend, Bring on Monday!