Wednesday Town & Country Ride
Monday, February 28, 2011 at 8:34PM Wednesdays
Town to Country Climbing Endurance Ride
Ride Type: Group Endurance Road Ride
Start Location: Pioneer Park, Mission Hills
Start Time: 8:00 AM Arnie time (7:58 AM)
Finish Time: 2:00 PM
Distance: 62 miles
Climbing: 6,000 feet
Difficulty: Moderately hard to very hard
Riders: 8-20
Ride Description:
This ride has been held almost every Wednesday for 25 years.
The rides leaves Pioneer Park (Mission Hills Park) in Missions Hills at 8:00 AM AT (Arnie time, 7:58 AM sharp). Meet at the corner of Washington Place and Randolph. There is good parking and there are restrooms available in the park.
We ride through city streets at an easy pace for about one hour, gathering riders along the way. We pass by the water tower in North Park at 8:16 AM. We ride along Orange Ave., University Ave., and stop at Collier Park on Palm Ave. in La Mesa a little after 9:00 AM.
We then descend highway 94 to Rancho San Diego and begin the 94 climb up to Jamul. At this point the pace quickens.
In its current version, we turn left at Jamul onto Lyons Valley Road, to Skyline, and up Skyline to Lawson Valley Road.
At Lawson Valley some riders sometimes make a left, going North and East for 5 miles until we reach a 1.5 mile dirt-road connector (Wisecarver Lane) back to Skyline. This dirt road section is okay on road bikes.
A couple of miles, mostly downhill, along Skyline to Four Corners, West on Lyons Valley. We regroup at the store one mile from four corners on Lyons Valley Road.
We have a snack at the store.
We descend down the twisty descent of Lyons Valley Road toward Jamul, briefly ride Skyline, and end our descent down Mexican Canyon to Rancho San Diego, sometimes finishing with a sprint.
Finally an easy pace home, though occasionally we are spirited and perform as many as 10 sprints on the way back to Pioneer Park.
Bring at least two waterbottles, snacks, and money for snacks.
We encourage all riders with sufficient fitness who are interested in trying the ride to join us. Guideline: Riders should be able to climb Torrey Pines (the outside route, from the parking lot driveway to flashing lights) in less than 8 minutes to feel comfortable in the group.