# road route recommendations in San Diego CA?



## Bob Ross (Apr 18, 2006)

The missus and I will be taking a vacation in March to San Diego CA (staying in the Mission Hills area) and bringing our road bikes. Any suggestions for Must Do routes in the area? Anything from ~30-70 miles distance, 0-100' elevation gain per mile (...although, since it's supposed to be a vacation, maybe more towards the 0'/mile end of the scale than the 100'/mile). Thanks.


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## azpeterb (Jun 1, 2006)

Bob Ross said:


> The missus and I will be taking a vacation in March to San Diego CA (staying in the Mission Hills area) and bringing our road bikes. Any suggestions for Must Do routes in the area? Anything from ~30-70 miles distance, 0-100' elevation gain per mile (...although, since it's supposed to be a vacation, maybe more towards the 0'/mile end of the scale than the 100'/mile). Thanks.


My wife and I used to visit the SD area from Tucson. We liked the Bayshore Bikeway but you had to watch for car traffic coming off of the highway that parallels the route. My favorite spot was Fiesta Island…just a short loop but it was kind of like a TT….go as fast as you can with minimal traffic, in circles. One thing we did for fun was watch the track races at the Balboa Park velodrome. That was a blast. Love SD 🙂


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## lesliewong (Jul 16, 2009)

When I stayed with a friend in Solana Beach, I would ride south on Torrey Pines Road down to La Jolla and wind my way to Pacific Beach, which is just north of Mission Hills and back as far north as Oceanside.

Torrey Pines Rd, Camino del Mar and Old Highway 101 go from La Jolla to Oceanside, ~35 miles. It's the route where I saw "serious" riders training. It has a bike lane most of the way but some stretches where cars are passing you at >45 mph.

If you're interested in a slower ride from Mission Beach to get a feel of the area, I would go north then west on Grand Ave in Pacific Beach and just try to stay on roads close to the ocean. Use the Google Maps biking overlay.

In La Jolla, Coast Blvd goes past Point Mencinger (touristy, where there are seals on the beach) and then through the main street of La Jolla. I'd get on Torrey Pines Rd for a mile and then cut over to La Jolla Shores Drive. That takes you up a hill (maybe 8% for 1/2 mile) past the Scripps Institute then when you're by UCSD, you're on a plateau that goes by UCSD and Torrey Pines Golf Course. Then you ride the hill down Torrey Pines Road and up into Del Mar (may 5% for 1/2 mile) where it becomes Camino del Mar and then Old Highway 101, north to the other towns.


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