Woke up early and got ready to drive down to Shelter Island to meet Charlie for a Fourth of July ride. It was overcast on the way down, and it took just a little longer than I thought it would. There were a bunch of people already camped out on the island for the evening's fireworks over the bay. We met down at the southwest end of the island, and that's where we started from. Headed on Shelter Island Dr to Scott St, turning left, then right onto Canon St, which has a fairly gentle rise until it gets to Catalina Blvd. This climb took us toward Fort Rosecrans, where the road flattened out and took us to the entrance to Cabrillo National Monument. We had a brief stop there, then we rode back down the way we came, to Canon St, where we turned, then took a right onto Talbot St, which has a very steep downhill that took us to Rosecrans St, taking a left there and then a right back onto Canon St to get to Scott St, where we turned left and headed over to Harbor Dr. We stayed on this road for a while, until we got onto the sidewalk/bike path, running parallel to it, around Harbor Island Dr. This is the Bayshore Bikeway, and we were on it for a bit until we got back onto the Harbor Dr bike lane and followed it all the way through town, by the convention center, through Barrio Logan, past the naval base. Eventually, around Civic Center Dr, we got back onto the Bayshore Bikeway, taking it down to Pepper Park (but not stopping there), taking the bike bridge over the Sweetwater River. Around this point, Charlie took over and showed me the new bike path that wound around the massic new Chula Vista Convention Center and Hotel that is being built, through Chula Vista Bayside Park and the Marina View Park, then back onto the Bikeway section that I had ridden before. We took a little detour off the Bikeway but got back on it just before it started heading generally west around the bottom of the bay. Back on a familiar bike path that eventually took us to the stretch running parallel to Silver Strand Blvd. We had the benefit of a slight tailwind on this section, and we generally averaged over 20 mph, slowing occasionally for other pedestrians and cyclists, for about 7 miles until it got more crowded closer to Coronado. We followed the Bikeway, making sure to take the turn onto the path that took us under the Coronado Bridge and dropped us into the park on the north side of the bridge. Slowed way down here because of pedestrians, and we rode over to the ferry. One of the ferry employees said that this is the busiest day of the year for the ferry, and I believed it, since we had to wait about 20 minutes for the ferry to show up. We got on the one that dropped us at the Embarcadero, which ended up being a good choice, since it allowed us to avoid the mess around the Convention Center and Seaport Village. We essentially retraced our route back to the starting point, although we had to cross under the bridge just past Spanish Landing to get over the bridge on the westbound side. Lots of car traffic on Shelter Island, including a guy who almost turned into me as I passed him on the left when he tried to make an unscheduled left turn. I felt strong at the end, having ridden a lot of flat miles in the last couple of weeks. This was a nice little ride, not exactly my preference but a fun one to do with Charlie. I forgot to turn off my ride on my Fitbit, so it logged some car miles as well.
Avg speed = 17.2 mph. Total mileage = 44.1 mi
Avg power = 146 W. Weighted avg power = 165 W
Total elevation gain = 760'
Avg heartrate = 124 bpm (Coospo), 122 (Fitbit)
On the way home, I stopped at Krispy Kreme for my free Independence Day donut. The car in front of me took a long time at the drive-through, not sure what it was all about, but I'm sure it was an interesting story. Then it was home, a light lunch, and a nap in the afternoon, as I was more tired than I thought I would be.
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