Psychopasta

Hi,

When I lived in Seattle, I used the Seattle-Portland two day, 200 mile event as the goal for my fitness training. I've now moved to sunny San Diego (yay!). What would be an equivalent ride to use as a fitness goal?

- Mark

jsigone

Santa Barbara to San Diego is 200+ miles . There is an Amtrack station there as well.

skidder

If you want a round trip you can go San Diego to Orange County (Anaheim or Huntington Beach would be good goals) and back over two days. Only issue might be getting through the Camp Pendleton Marine Base, you'd have to check with the base public information office on the current rules/regs for bicycle riders.

If going one way and taking the Amtrak back to San Diego make sure its running through south Orange County/San Clemente. The line was damaged by ocean swells in December and (last I heard) the repairs were not going to be completed before the end of February - check Amtrak's website for specifics.

diphthong

there is currently a bus connection between the train stations in irvine and oceanside while the amtrak tracks are being worked on/repaired. don’t know how it affects loading a bicycle into/out of bus luggage/storage but sounds like a hassle. will wait till repairs are complete before taking the train up from san diego to la/orange county.

to ride through camp pendleton, you must have and show the yearly pass (free) to the marine guard at the entrance on the northern las pulgas gate or main southern gate. apply at the trailers next to the southern gate. bring id/passport. takes about 30 mins on average.

mackgoo

Belgian waffle ride

joesch

BWR is a race with lots of climbing https://belgianwaffleride.bike/pages/event-info
Riding SD to SB may have more urban challenges than you like compared to Seattle to Portland

mackgoo

The guy talks about a two day event which to me implies some sort of organized event. I guess I could look that specific one he references up, but the premier event in San Diego is the BWR. This surely would give him a gauge of his fitness.

diphthong

yah…riding south from the eastern edge of malibu into santa monica is a definite wake-up alarm. rolling from the san pedro area through and past the harbor area into the city of long beach is gauntlet #2. riding the 8 mile stretch of interstate 5 (because you don’t have the camp pendleton pass) is the third installment of the trilogy.

Psychopasta

Thanks guys. The Belgian Waffle Ride looks a little too hard-core for me. Got anything easier?
The Seattle to Portland was two days, organized, with rest stops along the way and it attracted several thousand bikers.

jsigone

nothing 2 days....but Planet Ultra is good host to longer than Century stuff

https://planetultra.com/solvang/ is coming up in March.

Psychopasta

I checked that out, thanks. They describe it as 'niche, ultra-tough'. Got anything 'mainstream, doable'?

jsigone

nothing is easy in socal.....

HelpSingularity 

Which is kinda ironic considering the supreme year-round cycling weather we have.