schnauzers.ws

Ouch! The word RESERVE is on the sign. That’s never a good thing as it
usually means, NO BIKES. Of course, just beyond the gate is the NO
BIKES sign. Oh well. This is a beautiful set of trails. It’s flat, but
it sure would make a fun night ride. I start off walking in and pass a
barefoot hippie talking about the native plants and how good it feels
to have the sand running through your toes. This guy was right out of
the 60’s with the white robes and unruly beard. I walk on by and spot
this fuzzy woodland creature:

The trail neanders on and on and I get to thinking. What is a Torrey Pine? I have not seen many trees.

Is this a Torrey Pine? It was one of five that I saw. Strange to name a park after a tree that is almost non-existent.

I continue my walk and check out the trail, scenery, and the water.

I head up the lookout trail to find that half the hill has fallen down
the cliff due to the heavy rains they had over the winter.

Enough walking. I turn around and heat out nearly stepping on this little guy:

Then I hear a loud engine roar and look up to see to see a bunch of
jets flying over. I think they were F-14s. I am sure someone can tell
from this pic, but they kept coming in wave after wave.
**UPDATE: It’s an F-16**

Now for the riding! On Tuesday I rode over to what I thought was the
cyclocross track at the UCSD campus. It didn’t look like much to me and
was all grown over. I road around the dirt and looked out at the beach
anyway. There was a handgliding launch area, but I didn’t see anyone
doing it.

Wednesday was a planned ride. Right on schedule, at 7:30 Chip picks me
up at the hotel and we head over to Los Penasquitos with his friend’s
Joe and Bear (sorry, I forgot his real name). After looking at the
looming climb, we head out.

I am huffing and puffing at this point. Chip seems to really like the
climbing. I have never seen anyone switch into high speed for a climb,
but he does.
Soon we reach the dry and ducty singletrack and more climbing!!!

Finally, a little greenery and loose stuff, still going uphill here but we did return on it.

We then hit what called the intestines. Some really nice loopy
rollercoaster singletrack. You can carry lots of speed through here.

On the way down and to the other side of the canyon, Chip stops to
annoy a ratllesnake, of which there were many signs of. Note to self:
DON’T ANNOY THE POISONOUS DEADLY WILDLIFE!

A little water (there was very little of it) along the trail:

We finish up and they tell me this is a warm up ride. That’s one hell
of a warm up! Surprisingly, I feel pretty good given the amount of
climbing and on the pig bike, no less. A great ride with some great
people. Thanks for the company and the tour, guys!
Noble Canyon on Saturday whre I am told I will get an ass kicking. I
can’t wait!