# Training Ride report...So Cal. desert and mountains



## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

This Feb. some of my teammates (masters) gathered in the desert east of San Diego for a week of winter riding and training. While the weather didn't really co-operate, we did get in some great riding. I would guess the "Queen Stage" ride was from Borrego Springs to the Palomar Summit and return...about 90 miles with ~9000' of climbing. Two long defined climbs connected across the mid-elevation high country between San Diego and Palm Springs.

See the ride profile from my Garmin. We started in Borrego Springs at about 600' elevation. From the end of main street, the Montezuma Grade starts and holds about 8% average over 11 miles of switchbacks, gaining about 3700' to the Ranchita summit, where there is a single store. Montezuma Grade is called the Glass Elevator by the RAAM riders..and brought back memories for some of our team, who'd ridden in the Race Across the West last season...

We'd planned on riding to the town of Julian, but it was a long holiday (President's Day) and the highway was busy with escapee's from LA headed to the off road areas, etc....so we revised our ride to the summit of Mt. Palomar, via the East Grade route....a less-busy route.

With a brief stop at the Lk. Henshaw store for more fuel, we tackled the East Grade with a nice little tailwind...seeing some leftover snow along the road in the shade, it was still pretty nice. We regrouped at the summit in the parking lot of the Palomar Store...along with all the sport motos and Harleys. The Palomar South Grade road is a popular motorcycle road.

Our HTFU riders went on to the Observatory, while us Whankers reversed our route and headed back to Borrego. It is possible to make a loop of Palomar, but we thought it was too busy given the long weekend traffic and very narrow shoulder on hwy 76(?)

A very nice training ride, one of the few our gang got in what with two storms passing druing their "week in the sun"...


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## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

Can't figure how to get captions near the photos in this post, so here is what you see in the previous post. 

First picture: The lower 1/3 of Montezuma Grade with "town" down below. There is a car on one of the switchbacks. "Glass Elevator" indeed.

2nd picture: From an overlook near the summit on the East Grade road. In the distance is San Diego bay and the Isla Coronado, in Mexican waters.

3rd picture: The top part of the South Grade road on Palomar. You can see why the sportbike crowds like riding it. Waay out in the haze is San Clemente island, about 35 miles out from LA.


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