Riding in Downtown San Diego
 

I'm going to be spending a few days in San Diego at the Marriott Marina in March. Does anyone know if there is any riding (1-1.5 hr max training/interval rides) from down there that would make it worth taking a bike vs. just getting on a gym bike for a few days and spinning my legs?

Tmonk lives there and can provide more details.

And that's a nice hotel. I spent a week there about a year and a half ago.

I avoid riding in the city of San Diego - traffic, rough roads, debris and lots of traffic lights. From your hotel, you can ride south and then east and get on the east side of Highway 5 and ride frontage roads / bike paths until you get south of the bay and connect with the strand. Going north on the strand takes you to Coronado Island where you can take a ferry back to SD. However, that is not a 1 to 1.5 hour interval ride. Theoretically, one could ride south and get out of the downtown area and get in some harder efforts and then ride back to the hotel. I would not consider the terrain, paths, obstacles and etc. good for interval work.

The preferred option would be to have a car that you can put the bike in, drive to Fiesta Island (about 15 minutes) and do the intervals on the island and then drive back.

And everyone has a different idea on what is acceptable for riding intervals and etc. Maybe TMonk will have some other ideas.

I'd second Hermes ' sentiment. The riding from downtown itself is pretty poor, it will take you a while to get to open roads. I find going north to be much more scenic and you have access to Fiesta Island and Mt. Soledad which are great for interval work, but it will take you ~20 min of riding (prob 25 elapsed b/c of intersections) just to get up there. If you can increase your ride time a bit I think it would be worth it, otherwise I'd stick to the hotel bike.

Thanks all. I'll be there for a conference and my time will be limited, so it looks like gym bike for me.

I always like to get out and ride in areas I visit, especially beautiful spots like SD.
I recommend renting a bike, take ferry to Coronado Island (close to hotel) and riding the Silver Strand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Strand_(San_Diego)
Nice 7+ miles you can ride at speed to Imperial Beach area and then return.
Do a few intervals, I found it pretty fun and look forward to riding it again.
For hill training, you really want a car to drive up the coast, Mt. Soledad would be fun.
A few other challenges ...

San Diego's Toughest Road Climbs

https://smorgcycle.blogspot.com/2014...bs-little.html

Soledad and fiesta were awesome last year. Highly recomend