Southbay Father’s Day Ride

Bright and early on Father’s Day, I jumped into the truck and headed down to the Southbay area of the county.   Jamul would be the closest town for a Father’s Day ride with some of the Bonita Biker’s crew.    We met up at the 1,000 trails RV park on Otay Lakes Road.

There were lots of folks I had not meet before.   Ali, “Mr Izi, Jose, James, Gil, Rob were some of the name I caught.  Forgive me (and contact me) if I missed your name.  The ride today was billed as a social ride on some of the fireroads in the and Jamul Mountains.  Having not spent much time in this area I was interested.   We started off north and worked our way through some valleys until we came to a bit of San Diego history.

This is the remenants of the Jamul Cement Works factory which first started making cement in March of 1891.   Jose knew the history of this place quite  well and was quite the cultural tourguide here.    The San Diego Historical Society has a good article on the history of this place that is well worth a read.    Don’t miss the link to the period photographs of the plant.

A couple of barn owls call this place home and we spooked them off as we approached.  At the bottom of the kilns were lots of scat and bones of small rodents.   It was quite the little killing field these nocturnal birds of prey had going.

A view from the inside looking out.

Once back to rolling we had a bit of climbing to do.  It was not long but it had some steepness to it.  Rob made it look almost easy with the Big Hit.

Another view of some uphillage

Israel trying to break a sweat.

After the climbing section we dumped off all of the elevation rather quickly.  There were some mighty  silty sections on the fireroad descent that made following someone really interesting.  I wanted to call the descent “Powder Puff” hill.   Once back down the valley floor we did bit of untrammeled trail riding to connect back to the 1,000 trails RV park.  I thought a section of the California Riding and Hiking Trail went through here, but it may have been destoryed in the fires that went through here a few years back.   Something to investigate later.

A handful of folks had to split at this point for some early Father’s Day commitments.   The rest of us set out to do a loop to the south of Otay Lakes Road.   It was a  fireroad affair, but it was still pretty cool being new dirt for me.   Before we started climbing in earnest we enjoyed the shade of some large oaks which were just past the line were the 2007 wildfire was stopped in this area.   Once we turned up hill there were some mild grinding to to for a bit as we worked up out of a valley.

On a climb.

Along the way we went by an old well.  It had older wooden parts down below and somewhat newer stone work up near the top.  There was still water in the well.

We would do a bit more of ridgeline climbing before turning the bikes back down for another fast and silty descent followed by a quick road connect back to the 1,000 trails RV park and some waiting refreshements.   All together it was about a 16-17 miles jaunt.   Not a big ride but plenty interesting with good folks to boot.  A good time indeed that had me home with plenty of time to enjoy Father’s Day with the family.

Bonita “Locals” Tour

Today I had the pleasure of riding with the Sunday regulars down in Bonita in the south bay area of San Diego.   Boy what a great time I had.   I would be hard pressed to try and describe any kind of route.  It was one of those just follow along and enjoy yourself kind of day.   The trail network is pretty extensive with stuff everywhere.    I could easily take a aerial shot of the area, hang it on a wall and then throw a saucy plate of spagetti  on it and be pretty close to the actual trail layout.  

There were some pretty interesting descents here and there over the course of the day

bowl

We got in a little bowl action as well.  I was told the record is seven bikers in the bowl at once.  This is pretty tricky when you are zipping around and another rider gets into the bowl.  It is even more fun when one person goes opposite direction!    I have to get back here with the video camera. 

Bridge Action

A little bridge action.   I forget how many of these things we crossed.

Bushy

There were some bushy spots on most of the trails.  The branches are a lot stronger than they look.   I tried to moose my way through one of them and it stopped me dead in my tracks and pushed me backwards.  (I could hear it laughing at me)

Into the G

There were a few G-Outs to contend with.   This was the most interesting one.

Gout

This was not an uncommon exit of the G-Out (Myself included)

Smiles

Nobody got hurt and snickers and laughs all-around was the result of any G-Out flubs.

2nd time

Of course second time around was usually the charm.

Karen

There was some double teeter-tooter action to be had as well.   The guys sure seemed eager to help when Karen wanted a spotter. 🙂

single teeter

Pete on Single teeter

There was some single teeter action as well. 

Diving Board

Even got to play around on a diving board (some creative trail-building material)

Da Group

This was a hell of a fun group of folks to ride.  I guess we did around 20 miles or so, but it sure feels like more.    There is some nice as well as challenging trails in the area.  I stopped counting my dabs early on and I even managed to take a soil sample or two to add to my collection.   It had been at least a couple of years since I last caught the 8AM Sunday morning group ride out of the Bonita Performance Bike parking lot.  I don’t think I will be waiting that long again. 

Here are the rest of the pictures from the day.