Pizza Port is a long beloved pizza and beer business in San Diego. May 18, 2024 we’re going to be riding bikes to hit all 6 locations and enjoy the beautiful SD coastline. Map link below, if you’d like to join please email or text me. Cheers!
Pace will be in the 10-15 miles an hour range, below is the estimated timing for each stop, based on Google Maps projection (which is about 10 mph pace).
Approx. 100 miles, maybe a bit more or less. Will take all day and plan to stay in San Clemente or have a ride back home from there. Hopefully train will be operating to SD at that point in time, but I wouldn’t bank on it.
We’ll start in North Park at 6:30 AM then head south to Imperial Beach before turning North and ending at San Clemente. Note: We may not be able to access Camp Pendleton and if so would be riding on the freeway shoulder for approx. 12 miles to end the day.
I live in San Diego and often bike in the local area – Mount Helix, Bayshore Bikeway, Mount Soledad are some frequent rides – but had been wanting to venture a bit further. My friend Dylan and I decided to bike from Santa Barbara back to San Diego to take in part of the California coastline. It was a very fun weekend and I wanted to share some photos and notes from the trip for others interested in biking in Southern California.
Just south of Carpinteria, CA near the Rincon surf break and Mussel Shoals
Trip Overview
We took the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to Santa Barbara leaving San Diego (Old Town) at 4:10 PM on a Friday. It was scheduled for about 6 hours and ended up about 15 minutes longer than that. It cost $44.20 a person and bicycles were included in the cost. The train was pretty full and standing room only in basic class for about half the trip. We ended up sitting in the dining car which was awesome as it had tables and couches facing the ocean. It also had overhead windows so there was a lot of light.
We arrived in Santa Barbara at 10:25 PM and biked about 10 miles South to Carpinteria. Although we would have liked to have a morning in beautiful Santa Barbara the hotel rates were huge and we could get a small start on our estimated 230 mile trip ahead. The ride from Santa Barbara to Carpinteria was really chill – very little traffic and riding on a frontage road along Highway 1.
We stayed overnight in Carpinteria and our next hotel stays were in Torrance and Oceanside. We had considered camping but couldn’t locate solid information on campgrounds that offered hike / bike sites we could bank on. Hopefully we can do that in future at the many state parks along the coastline. It was nice staying in hotels for an evening pool and hot tub, as well as a nice shower and comfortable bed.
Highlights
Los Angeles Bike Paths – From Santa Monica to Redondo Beach in Los Angeles was awesome. Really wide bike path right on the beach and has recently been doubled in size on the north end. Awesome.
Seal Beach to Newport Beach – another great section of bike paths right on the water. Very low stress and enjoyable. Tons of people walking, biking, etc.
Lots of good coffee and pastries – a must for any morning bike ride. Prospect Coffee in Ventura was really good.
Century Club – I ride a decent amount but had never done 100 miles in a day. Got that done on day one. Nice accomplishment.
Lowlights
Malibu – just really not fun. North of Malibu is low traffic Highway 1 with a wide shoulder / bike lane. Lots of other bikers too which was fun to chat a bit. One group was going from San Francisco to Los Angeles and camping along the way, sounded really fun. When you hit Malibu you go to 5 + lanes and lose the shoulder, plus have a lot of sports cars zooming around. 25 miles or so of gritting teeth and intensity. Not recommended but not a good way around it if you want to stay coastal.
Suggestions and Tips
North to South – we originally planned on going from San Diego to Santa Barbara and train home, but on input from others took the train first and rode South. Good for two main reasons – less headwind typically as you are going South and East, and you are also on the coastal side of the road going South so have a bit better view and more breezes.
Backup gear – as with any longer bike ride having spare tubes, pump, multi-tool, etc. is a must. We had two flats on the trip but not a big deal with supplies in hand.
Early starts – We left about 6:30 AM each morning which was nice, cool weather and also quieter on the roadways. We ended most days about 4 PM so had some time to relax and enjoy a good dinner.
Dozens of people throughout San Diego had their lifestyle influenced by the coronavirus, a sickness that is leaving destruction in its wake at it moves rapidly around the world. People are going into chaos when the coronavirus hits their country, state, city, or community. New rules are popping up all over countries to keep people safe. The coronavirus epidemic is becoming a world wide struggle. New things that are happening, such as the closing of shops, are going on because people don’t need the things inside the shop, plus when people gather, like to shop or play, germs get on to other people, causing them to become sick. The coronavirus is a contagious disease, which means that if someone else gets the germ that person will get the same sickness. Therefore, shops are closing. Rules such as only ten people in the supermarket at a time are being made world wide to prevent the spreading of germs. Supermarkets are pretty much the only kind of stores open nowadays. Schools have been closed so me and my brother Ambrose have been doing home school to keep up on our learning progress. I can tell you that these changes have been affecting people I know, such as my classmates, teacher (Mrs. Bobier), and my around the block friend Sophie have all had to make many changes in order to adjust to this new lifestyle. Public parks (or at least their parking lots) have been closing due to these changes.
Ambrose Anderson riding his bike
My morning routine has changed as well. Instead of going to school in the morning me and my dad have been teaching Ambrose to ride his bike and we’ve been going on rides throughout San Diego (although he complains about hills a lot). Today we rode to South Park and back. My dad spray painted Ambrose’s bike red and black. I have heard that in Italy people are not allowed to leave their house except to get food. My family bikes every morning to get fresh air and exercise because those two things are very important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, which is important to have due to circumstances beyond our control – the coronavirus.
Eva Anderson pulls Ambrose and Oliver AndersonThe author riding on her bike
I use my bike mostly for function – getting to and from places, shopping, going to dinner, etc. One of the best purchases I’ve made was getting pannier bags, which make it easy to carry items and more comfortable than using a backpack or handheld bag. Pannier bags attach to a basic bike rack (front or rear) and are a convenient way to carry goods, or to carry camping supplies if going for a long recreational trip.
A couple of years ago I bought a used set of Avenir pannier bags for $10 a piece. They have some nice features like:
Reflective trim to increase visibility
Two bottle holders
One large pouch for large items (I’m usually carrying a laptop or papers) with clip straps to secure and expand or shrink height
Small zippered pouch for easy access to wallet, keys, etc.
Clips to secure bag to bike rack and reduce chances of falling off
Waterproof with drawstring tie on opening
One of my set of pannier bags
I went to the grocery store the other day and took some photos to show what a shopping trip by bike looks like. I sometimes see newspaper articles or comments online about how non-functional it is to buy food items on a bicycle. I strongly disagree – the parking is usually much easier, it’s cheaper than driving, and with a couple of good bags carrying your items home is a breeze.
Here’s my bike with two pannier bags full of groceries – I didn’t put the chips in the pannier bags for fear of crushing them although there was room in the expanded upper portion if I wanted to use it.
On returning home, I unpacked the bags on our table and took this photo to show the amount of food that can easily fit in a pair of bags. We were cooking for a get-together so some of the items are in bigger quantities than usual but overall a pretty good idea of an average grocery shopping trip for me by bicycle.
We’re fortunate to live in an area with a number of grocery stores within a mile. I often walk instead of biking, but often pick up a couple of items in other areas when I’m coming home from work or other activities. Pannier bags are a great addition to any bike and I highly recommend getting a pair.
2017 marks the 6th Annual Ride for the River Park, benefiting the San Diego River Park Foundation (SDRPF). This 2 day, 1 night tour begins at the Pacific Ocean in the neighborhood of Ocean Beach, and follows the path of the San Diego River from the ocean to the headwaters in the mountains near Julian. This is a challenging ride of 70 miles each direction, with about a mile of elevation climb on the first day. At the end of the first day we’ll enjoy camping at Lake Cuyamaca and a beautiful night’s sleep. The return trip on Sunday, October 22 is all downhill – a well deserved easier return trip.
2017 ride map
All participants are strongly encouraged to make a donation to the SDRPF at http://sandiegoriver.org/give.html. Please also send an email to organizer John Anderson at john.patrick.anderson.com. The event organizer and volunteers will provide snacks and water along the way and a support vehicle for carrying small overnight bags and gear. Food and drink are the responsibility of each participant as is accommodation in Julian on Saturday night. Julian is a popular tourist destination so reservations are recommended as soon as possible. There are a variety of hotels and other accommodations and many options on VRBO or Airbnb. There are also nice campgrounds nearby like Heise County Park and Lake Cuyamaca**. Please note that the campgrounds are a few miles from Nickel Beer Company where we will end the first day’s ride.
This ride is challenging and is on open roads, some with fast-moving automobile traffic. We welcome participants of all skill levels but please be aware that this will be a difficult ride for those not used to elevation gains or long-distance riding (more than 50 miles). Please note that the average group pace for the first day is 10 mph and 15 mph for the second day. If you’re not comfortable with this pace for a long day’s ride please bring a friend to ride along – we don’t want to leave anyone riding alone.
Starbucks Coffee – 10406 Friars Rd, San Diego, CA 92120 (Grantville)
7-11 – 10195 Riverford Rd, Lakeside, CA 92040 (Just before Highway 67)
Iron Mountain Trailhead / Parking Lot – Intersection of Highway 67 and Poway Road
Thai Time (Lunch Stop) – 2330 Main St, Ramona, CA 92065
Dudley’s Bakery / Santa Ysabel Grocery – 30218 California 78, Santa Ysabel, CA 92070
Lake Cuyamaca Campground (Finish Line!) – 15027 Highway 79, Julian, CA 92036. We’ll grill out for dinner, have some drinks at the lake and enjoy some star-gazing and conversation. I’ve reserved Campground 26 and 27 at the Chambers Park area, which has showers and nice restrooms. Capacity is 8 per site but there are additional spots that we can get the day of event if needed.
Day 2 Stops – Sunday, 10/22/2017
Breakfast – We’ll cook up some coffee and eggs and bacon at the campsite before heading off in the cool morning mist.
7-11 – 10195 Riverford Rd, Lakeside, CA 92040 (Just before Highway 67)
Mission Trails Visitors Center – 1 Father Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego, CA 92119
Finish Line – Pizza Port Ocean Beach – 1956 Bacon St, San Diego, CA 92107. All are welcome (non-riders included) to enjoy some pizza and conversation at Pizza Port at end of ride, estimated arrival time is 3:30 PM on Sunday, Oct 22.
Hope you can join us for this great event and even if you can’t enjoy the ride you can support the work of the SDRPF by learning more and making a tax-deductible donation at: http://sandiegoriver.org/give.html.
A few years ago when I started biking to work it was primarily due to a desire to improve my fitness. I was working a lot of hours and found it difficult to find time to get to the gym. I figured that a little moderate exercise (like walking) to start and end the day would be a good way to ensure at least a nominal amount of physical activity each day.
I’ve continued to bike since that first trial and now bike for most of my daily tasks – groceries, meetings, work, etc. I’ve been pondering the exercise impact of the biking I do and wanted to do a rough estimate.
This online calculator is pretty handy to ballpark the calories burned biking. There are many others but the few I tried out gave similar results.
For a typical 3 mile ride in the city I burn about 200 calories so a round-trip would yield 400 calories burned. For a daily commute and with 2 weeks off for vacation that’d be an even 100,000 calories in a year.
If you’re looking for a way to get a bit of exercise each day, trying out bike commuting might be worth a try. Bonus: it’s really fun.
Recent used bike purchase – hybrid mountain bike purchased for $90.
CORRECTION: After posting this I received feedback from a couple of people with more knowledge than I that calculators like the one used above overestimate the calories burned biking by quite a bit. Per their estimates, including a tracked ride, the rate per mile for biking should be around 25 calories.
Based on this number, the total for the 3 mile ride, 6 miles round trip would yield a total of 150 calories burned and an annual total of 37,500 (not 100,000).
I’m leaving the original post and this edit in case others have a similar issue regarding online calculators for this purpose.
This weekend, Oct 1 & 2, 2016 – hope to see you there! Sign up via following link and please pass on to anyone that might be interested in having a great time this weekend.
2016 marks the 5th Annual Ride for the River Park, benefiting the San Diego River Park Foundation (SDRPF). This 2 day, 1 night tour begins at the Pacific Ocean in the neighborhood of Ocean Beach, and follows the path of the San Diego River from the ocean to the headwaters in the mountains near Julian. This is a challenging ride of 70 miles each direction, with about a mile of elevation climb on the first day. At the summit in Julian we’ll enjoy dinner and craft beers at Nickel Beer Company. The return trip on Sunday, October 2 is all downhill – a well deserved easier return trip.
Registration cost is a $30 donation to the River Park Foundation but please feel free to make a larger donation if you’d like! The event organizer and volunteers will provide snacks and water along the way and a support vehicle for carrying small overnight bags and gear. Food and drink are the responsibility of each participant as is accommodation in Julian on Saturday night. Julian is a popular tourist destination so reservations are recommended as soon as possible. There are a variety of hotels and other accommodations and many options on VRBO or Airbnb. There are also nice campgrounds nearby like Heise County Park and Lake Cuyamaca. Please note that the campgrounds are a few miles from Nickel Beer Company where we will end the first day’s ride.
This ride is challenging and is on open roads, some with fast-moving automobile traffic. We welcome participants of all skill levels but please be aware that this will be a difficult ride for those not used to elevation gains or long-distance riding (more than 50 miles). Please note that the average group pace for the first day is 10 mph and 15 mph for the second day. If you’re not comfortable with this pace for a long day’s ride please bring a friend to ride along – we don’t want to leave anyone riding alone.
Notes and Itinerary:
Ground Rules
Show up early so we can depart on time – we roll out at 7 AM on Saturday, 10/1/2016
Bring needed gear – sunscreen, helmet (if you want), lights, spare tire tubes, WATER, bicycle, human body, snacks, cash, phone. If you have clothes, camping gear, etc. you can put in support van to take for you.
Book your accommodations in Julian in advance of the event or secure a camping site at Cuyamaca
Great attitude, smiles, be ready for a great time!
Route Map – Click image for dynamic Google Maps version.
Day 1 Stops – Saturday, 10/1/2016
Starbucks Coffee – 10406 Friars Rd, San Diego, CA 92120 (Grantville)
7-11 – 10195 Riverford Rd, Lakeside, CA 92040 (Just before Highway 67)
Thai Time (Lunch Stop) – 2330 Main St, Ramona, CA 92065
Dudley’s Bakery / Santa Ysabel Grocery – 30218 California 78, Santa Ysabel, CA 92070
Nickel Beer Company (Finish Line!) – 1485 Hollow Glen Rd, Julian, CA 92036. All are welcome (non-riders included) to enjoy a pint at Nickel Beer Company from 6-8 PM with a portion of each sale going to the River Park Foundation.
Day 2 Stops – Sunday, 10/2/2015
Breakfast – Location TBD – Alpine, CA 91901
7-11 – 10195 Riverford Rd, Lakeside, CA 92040 (Just before Highway 67)
Mission Trails Visitors Center – 1 Father Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego, CA 92119
Finish Line – Mike Hess Brewing (Ocean Beach Tasting Room) – 4893 Suite A Voltaire St, San Diego, CA 92107. All are welcome (non-riders included) to enjoy a pint at Mike Hess Brewing at end of ride, estimated arrival time is 3:30 PM on Sunday, Oct 2.
Hope you can join us for this great event and even if you can’t enjoy the ride you can support the work of the SDRPF by learning more and making a tax-deductible donation at: http://sandiegoriver.org/give.html.
2016 begins with San Diego looking at some pretty major changes. Downtown San Diego is experiencing a building boom and has community groups pushing for it be a walkable, bikeable city center. Awesome. The San Diego City Council recently unanimously voted to adopt a Climate Action Plan to ensure our city is a leader in moving to renewable energy and reducing emissions. The plan includes a goal to make biking 6% of commuter mode share by 2020 and 18% by 2035 (in select “Transit Priority Areas”). Currently the city is around 1% bicycle mode share. Aim high – great. Last week SANDAG held a meeting for public input regarding a bicycle / pedestrian bridge above Florida Street to connect Hillcrest and North Park. This week SANDAG holds a meeting for public comment regarding Pershing Drive and creating a high quality bike route from North Park to Downtown. Good stuff.
Biking is fun.
The tough bit about all these goals and plans – and there are many more great projects being proposed – is in making them a reality and backing up words and PowerPoints with actions and improvements on the ground. Roadway and infrastructure projects changes happen over years, if not decades. It is not a fast nor easy process and without consistent oversight and public pressure many, if not most, changes and projects will be scrapped a few years after being proprosed or passed. To see long-term, meaningful progress in making San Diego a world-leader for bicycling is why I support Bike San Diego.
Today I doubled my existing monthly contribution to the organization and I hope you’ll join me and make a recurring donation today.
I have found no organization in San Diego that more strongly and consistently is pushing for real, positive change on our roadways than Bike San Diego. If you want representation at public meetings, in meetings with elected officials and community groups, and ongoing leadership on the public stage I think you’ll find the same.
2015 was a tough year for biking in San Diego. The SANDAG Regional Bikeway Projects, announced in September 2013 with $200 million of funding, have yet to paint a single foot of bike lane more than 2 years later. The first project under this program, in Uptown, had the most critical portion – an East-West connection from Mission Hills to North Park – gutted despite many hours of meetings, and input from the communities to be improved. I attended many of the meetings for this project, and for a paired project in North Park, and have since wondered why I spent so much time, stress, and effort to see a unanimous vote against bike lanes by the Uptown Planners group. It has left me pondering if my time would be better spent elsewhere – if the “public outreach meetings” seem intentionally designed to give cover to the pre-ordained outcome as being community supported perhaps attendance is even counter-productive. Across the bay Coronado was widely panned for ludicrous commentary regarding bike lanes (video below).
My solace comes from the growing bicycling community in San Diego, and the support and leadership shown by Bike San Diego. We may have lost University Avenue (for now) but we showed up, spoke up, and connected. At the next set of meetings we’ll be bigger, louder, and more insistent on the outcome of public meetings truly reflecting the content of those meetings. When 70% of meeting testimony is strongly in support of a project the outcome should not be unanimous in the other direction. Such disrepect for the public can stand temporarily but over time will not.
Biking is critical to the future of San Diego, if we desire to be a city succeeding in the future. Look at world-class cities like London, Paris, New York City, Vancouver, Copenhagen, and others – they are embracing biking and walking and reaping immense economic rewards. The backwaters are not those that walk and bike – they are those that are tripling down on freeways and levelling neighborhoods to pave even more. Would San Francisco be more successful if four freeways were rammed through it or was the city right to demolish the freeway that long blighted the famed waterfront on the bay?
San Diego has no excuse to not be a world-leader in biking. We have the best weather in the United States. We stand to benefit economically, socially, and in health from increased levels of biking (and decreased levels of driving). We are a major city and should stop pretending we’re a congolmeration of suburbs with a mall as a city center. We need to get serious about real change on the ground. Bike San Diego will be there every step of the way but can not do it without support.
This summer I was fortunate to take a bicycle trip across part of Europe, from Budapest to southern Bavaria (just south of Munich). It was the first time I had taken a trip primarily by bicycle and it was great. Unknown to me before our trip, Europe has created a number of cross-continent bicycle routes, named the EuroVelo routes.
We used EuroVelo Route 6, which goes from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea – most of the route is bicycle only with some portions sharing the road through small villages. We were only on a small portion of this route since our journey was much shorter than the route. Here’s an overview of the whole network, it’s amazing.
Europe’s current network of EuroVelo routes. Likely to expand.
The amount of people we encountered while riding was awesome. Groups large and small, single riders, day trippers, and those camping along the way. All enjoying the beautiful Danube River and a peaceful, quiet ride through the countryside and towns both big and small.
One town we stopped in for a night was Tulln, Austria. It was a charming town in central Austria with a well-kept town square. It’s a very old town, first noted in 859, but is making proactive changes to thrive in 21st century and put people first. The center city recently moved to a 20 kph speed limit for their city center. That’s 12.4 mph.
This small town, with cobbled streets and narrow roadways went out of it’s way to actively change in a way that makes people feel safe, valued, and welcome. The EuroVelo system has been created the same way – many people actively choosing to make Europe a place that increasingly values people and is a great place to live. In Tulln, and many of the other places we visited you were far more likely to see people walking, biking, or sitting and enjoying some sun than you were to see cars rushing to and fro. In America it is the opposite nearly everywhere – elementary schools, downtowns, suburbs, office parks. It is this way because we have chosen to build a place that incents and endorses cars above people and community.
The same applies to any community in the world – what it is and what it will become are choices constantly being made. Our roadways, our buildings, our speed limits are all man-made creations. The status quo exists because we continue to choose and support it. Cities like Tulln that are many centuries old have existed through great and terrible periods yet continue to thrive in the 21st century. Economies change, and so do trends – valuing people and creating great places to live and celebrate life are timeless practices.
What happens when you reduce speeds and limit vehicles? You get more people, more money, and a livelier place to live and visit. To Tulln – Prosit!
Road rage is defined as “violent anger caused by the stress and frustration involved in driving a motor vehicle in difficult conditions”. The term has some nice alliteration but a more fitting term would be “car rage”. Perhaps we use road rage because we don’t want to acknowledge the damage and deaths that our passionate and loving embrace of the automobile causes. Tens of thousands of deaths every year, yet rarely a headline in the paper. The deaths are in the paper, just in the small print area inside with some short explanations that will impugn the non-auto parties at every turn. Lots of mentions of crosswalks, lighting conditions, and visibility of clothing but few notes about Big Gulps, radio fiddling, use of phones, makeup application, driving history, or attention paid to road.
If you walk, or ride the bus, or ride a bicycle you don’t experience the same elevation of pulse, stress level, and anger as experienced when driving – especially at high speeds. It seems mostly confined to the experience of driving in an automobile. So perhaps we should retire “road rage” and start using “car rage”. It won’t do much for the victims but it will at least change the conversation a bit and recognize that the most aggressive parties on our roads (which includes in front of our homes, schools, and businesses) are those using motor vehicles.
There is also a definition for “bike rage” and helpfully included in the examples section are all the different attack methods of cyclists. For some reason, in the road rage entry (below) there not similarly prominent categories regarding attacks by car drivers.
Here’s the road rage entry with some bland categories. The mentions of violence included regard shootings: guns = dangerous, cars = Hello Kitty. It’s almost like we don’t take the responsibility and risk of driving a massive vehicle at high speeds seriously.
Drive safe, drive slow, drive less. Avoid car rage.
