10-22-2026 Ride

This was a good day on the bike with friends. It had started raining the previous evening, and the forecast for Thursday morning called for scattered showers. Because it rained steadily in the night, there was some doubt about whether to do this long ride. I advocated for trying it, and the others - Andy and Charlie - were game. I got up early and packed some stuff in my new bikepacking saddle bag and handlebar bag. Also packed a change of clothes and swapped out the pedals on my Canyon with the MTB pedals. Andy came to the house at 6:40,and we loaded my bike on the carrier and my stuff in the car, then he drove us down to the boat ramp in Shelter Island. Charlie showed up soon after. I put the bags on my bike, geared up withy bike stuff, and we were rolling before before 7:40. I won't describe all the turns we took. Essentially, we took Nimitz Blvd over to a area around the south shore of the San Diego River, took a bridge over the river, then rode out to the end of a quay that split the river from the entrance to Mission Bay. Some guys were fishing at the end of this jetty. Then we rode into Mission Bay Park, essentially skirting along its eastern edge until we got up to the north end of the bay. We rode across there and turned south to head toward Crown Point. Around here, we felt a couple of drops of rain, but the clouds weren't ominous, and no rain fell. Kept going past Crown Point and under the bridge to get to the bike path around the part of the bay that Ann have ridden around. We followed this path all the way around and over by the park by Belmont Park, stopping there for a bio break before continuing over the bridge and then back across the San Diego River. This got us back to Nimitz Blvd, competing our first loop of the ride. We took a route by the airport and on a combination of Harbor Dr and the sidewalks adjacent to it over to the area by the Midway. I had forgotten to transfer my riding food from my backpack, so I was getting hu8by this time. We stopped for high-priced donuts (which were pretty good but greasy) and coffee in Seaport Village before continuing south on Harbor Dr. Eventually we got on the Bayshore Bikeway, then the Sweetwater Bicycle Path by the new Gaylord Pacific Resort, then some surface streets, eventually stopping for another bio break at Chula Vista Marine View Park. Back on the Bayshore Bikeway, which took us around the end of the bay in Imperial Beach before it started to head north along the Silver Strand. Andy was tiring out by this time, so Charlie and I got ahead of him a couple of times. The wind was helping us a bit as we rode north towards Coronado. We stopped for brunch at Miguel's Cocina (decent food, waiter kept trying to upsell us) on Orange St, then rode the fairly short distance from there to the ferry landing. The ferry was just about to launch, so we got on and paid for our tickets on the boat. Short ride over to the Convention Center, where we got off the ferry, rode on some sidewalk paths until we got back to Seaport Village. Cut over to Harbor Dr, and again took it the parking lot driveways, and the sidewalks over to Harbor Island. The wind was starting to kick up, and I was getting concerned that Andy might run out of gas. Charlie had added in an out-and-back on Harbor Island to get us up to 60 miles, and we ended up doing that. We felt a few more rain drops on that stretch, but again they didn't turn into anything. Back to Harbor Dr and over to Scott St to get back to Shelter Island, where we rode to the end of the island again to get up to 61 miles (including the ferry ride) for the day. My legs were a little sore at the end (~150 miles in three days), but I still had some push left in them.

Avg speed = 13.2 mph. Total mileage = 61.1 mi (including ferry across the bay)

Avg power = 83 W. Weighted avg power = 101 W

Total elevation gain = 790'

Avg heartrate = 99 bpm (Coospo)

Relative Effort = 43

Training Load = 112

Intensity = 46%

https://www.strava.com/activities/20693610476

We packed up the bikes and gear, said goodbye to Charlie, then Andy drove me back to our house. It was a long riding day, similar, I expect, to the pace and schedule for our riding days on the bikepacking trip. I was pretty energized by the day, not too tired (had a couple of hits of caffeine as well). Some relaxation time before dinner, watched a little football before settling down for the night (<>).