chri_sche

Hi folks,

I will be in San Diego in January/February for a business trip and stay 2 week longer for vacation. I plan to put in ca.1 week of training and I am looking for both, an accommodation and a bike rental (ideally close by each other). I had thought something outside the city center, e.g. Pacific Beach would be nice but I am generally eager to hear locals' opinions and tips. A private airbnb style accommodation would suite me as good as a not too expensive hotel/motel.

I come from cross country mountain biking/ cyclocross racing but I also spend quite some time on my road bike back home in Heidelberg, Germany. Considering the season I plan to put in some longer road rides when I visit SoCal.

It would be awesome to get recommendations for accommodations and bike rentals in or near San Diego.

Big thanks to everyone replying,
Christian

terrymorse 

My personal choice for January/February in the San Diego area is to head east into the desert. It's a great time of year to ride there. Excellent weather and little traffic.

Base camp in Borrego Springs (airbnb). More details from TripAdvisor.

diphthong

not sure if you'll have access to a car which would come in really handy. if you do have access to a car,
my recomendation for a centralized training location is escondido, ca-about a 30 min drive north of downtown san diego.
unfortunately, i don't have any lodging or bike rental pointers for the area but it's large enough that there should be
more than a few options for both.

escondido is approx 15 miles inland with the coast highway being the better part of (or slightly more than ) an hour's ride to reach to the west.

to the south lies the rancho santa fe, rancho bernardo and poway areas which are mostly shortish climbs interspersed with an occasional flat.

to the north, the roads like lilac rd, courser canyon rd, rice canyon rd, cole grade, lake wolford rd and de luz rd beckon. better scenery, low traffic
and some challenging ascents/descents. the (in)famous palomar mtn is close enough to taunt you, with its' south grade rd packed with switchbacks and pain.
its' east grade rd is more sweeping and scenic and still challenging but not as demanding. any route incorporating one of more of these roads will be
at least a 30 mile ride with a combination of a certain several being a century ride.

to the east, there are two low mountain towns-santa ysabel and julian-that are worthy bases to explore from. santa ysabel/julian are a 25/30 min drive from escondido.
from either, you can ride the rolling and quiet mesa grande area and add the east grade rd ascent of palomar mtn and back. or drop down into the anza-borrego desert
state park and conquer montezuma grade or banner grade on the way back.

you can also head south from julian and hit cuyamaca rancho state park and/or the laguna mtns for rollers/climbs/decents.

nearly any ride from either santa ysabel or julian in any direction will be challenging and scenic. some support but not a ton so planning is key. this is where it comes in handy
to have a car as the to/from riding from escondido would add 40-50 miles.

i would recommend staying in julian for the riding but the support is not as good and the weather is not as predictable as in escondido. if the weather is not super favorable while
you're here, you should be able to roll out the door and tough it out heading north, west or south from escondido. from julian at 4,000 ft elevation, could be gorgeous or could be too
windy/cold to ride/enjoy/train properly. daily highs/lows in fahrenheit then could range from 75/58 degrees to 48/32 degrees. if in julian, drop it about 8 fahrenheit degrees on both the highs/lows.

all this said, my fave area to ride in san diego county is the north/south california highway 79 corridor which incorporates (within 15 miles on either side of hwy 79) cuyamaca rancho state park, the laguna mountains, julian, santa ysabel, anza-borrego state park (california's largest state park), mesa grande and palomar mountain. challenging. scenic. easy to construct a 30-mile or a 115 mile one
or something in between. can do the low desert and 6,000 ft. mountains in the same ride.

and as much as i love the desert, i don't feel there are enough roads in the san diego county portion to make it an exclusive destination for an entire week. a complete or portion of a day or two or three...definitely.

Nachoman

.
My all time favorite, semi-local, San Diego ride is Kitchen Creek. If you search for it in Strava or Map My Ride, it comes right up.
Also, here's a bunch of potential rides.
Bicycle Rides in San Diego County, California

chri_sche

Thanks a lot to all of you! I was following the posts and did research on all your recommendations. I am currently considering Escondido as a destination even though it's relatively pricey which surprises me a bit as I expected that the cities directly at the beach are most expensive. I also found a nice accommodation and a bike rental in Pacific Beach and I am thinking about renting a car for individual day trips from there (to e.g. Palomar Mountain or Kitchen Creek which looks awesome by the way).





Even though I understand that the dessert can be a nice destination as well I am currently not considering it as I would like to stay close to the coast.








Thanks a lot everybody replying also with those nice picture - very helpful to plan my trip!





cheers,


Christian

diphthong

for driving reference from the pacific beach area of san diego: palomar mountain, the town of julian, the laguna mountains and cuyamaca rancho state park are all an hour’s drive +/- 10 minutes. the desert (anza-borrego state park) is a two hour drive.

the good about pacific beach (pb) is that mount soledad is adjacent and has some good short climbs with some of them definitely having out of the saddle pitches. cabrillo national monument/point loma is south of pb and worthy as well. if shortish climbs are your thing, you’ll find plenty heading north between the coast and the 15 freeway corridor. the bigger climbs (if that’s your thing) live east of the 15 freeway and that’s where a car will help to reduce ungodly lengthy approaches to the rural, mountainous areas.

escondido will find you 30 minutes driving//2 or 3 hours riding closer to mountain/foothills than pacific beach but there’s not as much to do there when you’re not on the bike. if you don’t mind the driving to/from a few rides like palomar or kitchen creek/laguna mtns, then you’re better off staying in pb.