Jonesin for a Ride!

Author Archive

Our final day of riding. In the beginning of our ride the pace and days seemed slow at first, the tail end of this ride seemed to pick up. Never thee less, I think we both had mixed emotions on finishing the ride. We both were now accustom to riding every day and it was always fun to explore the coastline at this pace and check out each stop we had.

This morning there was a heavy heavy fog, so we took our time as we climbed Tory hill and made our way to La Jolla, where we had our first stop to let the fog clear and have a breakfast and coffee.

After coffee we continued through Mission Beach the turned and headed to downtown San Diego. There we had to catch the ferry to Coronado Island.

The short ride across the bay was enjoyable and gave a great opportunity to see the war ships in port.

Then the final ride through the strand was a surprise with a nice bike trail through this stretch. This then transition to the last city before the border where we eventually were on smaller remote roads passing small each like areas with horse stables. The area started to remind me more of Mexico.

The road we were riding on came to a dead end and we turned right on Monument road. This was the last stretch of road we were going to ride on to finish which took us the the park.

Fog in the morning to start us off

Stop for another cup of coffee at Starbucks by the roller coaster in Mission Beach

Just about into downtown San Diego looking for the ticket booth for the ferry tickets.

Time to board the ferry in San Diego

View of downtown San Diego as we cross the bay to Coronado.

The bike trail along The Strand.

The bottom end of the bay.

The border fence that runs into the ocean.

Paul at the park – the Arena in the background is on the Mexico side.

Our trusty bikes at the end of the ride.

Roylene met us at the park to bring us back, but had some signs for us.

684.5 mile trip 🙂

Some park rangers patrolling the area stop to chat with us.

A beer to celebrate on completing our trip.

We then loaded up Paul’s truck with our bikes and headed back to San Diego where we had rooms for the weekend in the Gas Lamp district and Paul’s family Kelly, Sammy, Kaden,  Cheryle, Gabrielle and Roylene came down to visit with him too.

The Bulls Lacuba E45 bikes we choose were solid!  No flats as we had wide beefy tires, along with a beefy strong bike, which was comforting as we barreled down some roads at 40 plus mph.  As we rode, we learned our bikes capabilities in range based on terrain – we also learned how to overcome some minor hiccups and reboot some software to reset.

The whole trip was amazing!  Similar to a motorcycle ride, but you only travel 30-70 miles a day, and you have to pedal, and there is no noise except for your surroundings.  You get to hear the ocean waves crash as you ride by, I can’t when on a motorcycle. You also get to travel on bike paths that go through parks or along the beach and you can stop at places that you can’t with a car (such as on a bridge).

Too many favorite places each stop had to offer to name the best – each stop had it’s adventure and a new story behind it.  Although mostly coast oriented, we experienced big city’s, small towns, lots of open space, state parks, farm lands, light houses,  the ocean smells, deer in the morning, fruit stands, great restaurants and hotels, port of LA,  and the people behind each of the area’s – and also some exercise.

I don’t need any gos for this stretch of the route as this is almost standard for me on any given weekend. Day started about 8:30 and it was cool and overcast all the way through Camp Pendleton. The sun broke out at our first stop for coffee and a light breakfast in Oceanside by the marina. Then it a fairly quick ride to Del Mar to just have most of the afternoon to enjoy the town and beach.

A bit of a cloud cover this morning but it is starting to clear up

Going through San Onofre State Beach area

Final stop for the day at the Del Mar Beach Motel. An old 50’s style place but right in the sand and next door to two great places to eat on the beach front.. Jake’s and Poseidon’s

A nice cold beer at Poseidon’s bar

Pablo enjoying a cold one

It was fun to hang out on The Strand in Hermosa Beach. It was game one of the World Series. Lots of Dodgers fans. Next day we would have to leave …

The American Junkie Bar and Grill in Hermosa Beach. Lots of tvs

And great drinks

Enjoying The Beach House Hotel in Hermosa Beach

Unfortunately we would have to leave this morning

Leaving Redondo Beach area – and was deviating from the official route to take a route through Palos Verde instead.

Palos Verde views

I was having issues with my ebike.

I was See the strange warning symbol in the upper right hand corner? I had no power assist. Turns out connections were dirty.

Now that we were rolling again, aback to the views

25 miles later we were in Long Beach

We left Long Beach and continued down the coast. Then we crossed the bridge from Huntington Beach to Newport Beaxh and I hear “JimmyV!” … Big Steve came by on his motorcycle to say hi as we past through his hood.

A stop at Gary’s Deli in CDM for some soup

72 miles later we have a beer at Sunsets in Capistrano Beach

Watching game 2 of the World Series at the Frat house