Biking 101--a tour north from Encinitas to Carlsbad.

I decided to get back on my Cannondale after a couple of years of putting on about 20 lbs, and starting to look pregnant when I stood sideways to the mirror. So I am trying to take off the excess by putting on about 50 miles a week pumping a bike up or down old Hwy 101. Encinitas is in a great location to head south or north. Alot of the road has a bike path and as they do improvements here and there new bike paths are added.

My standard 20 miler is to head north to Carlsbad. In the first mile there is a funky path/walkway along the road through, naturally, funky Luecadia, with a line of small trees between the road and the path. The city trims the bottom part of the trees that overhang the path so walkers don't have to duck, but if you are on a 60 cm bike, watch your head! That lasts about a block or so then its back onto the road. There is alot of bike traffic on 101 so people are aware of bikers and don't get pushy--but where there is parking on the side, plus traffic, bikers have to stay alert for doors that might open in front of them, and buses and trucks which cause tight passing situations. (A friend of mine a few years ago acquired a number of scars from hitting a door which suddenly opened in his path in Luecadia.)

After the first two miles you'll leave Luecadia and the road opens up to the beach, plus there is bike path almost all the way to Carlsbad from this point. Very scenic, with very moderate rolling hills for the next 6-8 miles. I am a slow rider, so I get to see most of the scenery, check out the beach activity and often stop to scope out the luck of any fishermen I find along the way. Not only that but I see alot of bikers, guys and gals, because they all pass me. I hear alot of "on your left" as they come up on me, and wonder how they can zoom by me like that when it seems to me that I am churning about as good as I can churn. I think it has something to do with age and conditioning! I have decided that it is not the distance that I cover in a given time frame that is important for my purposes. Rather, it is the time I spend pumping away at it. So while I can appreciate the speed and power of most of the bikers who zoom by me, I feel good about the fact that I am out there pumping away for 5 hours a week to get in the 50 miles even though many others might do in half the time.
(The only thing I regret is that it is hard to find people that ride at my speed, so I am the lone rider.)

Now the Carlsbad power plant with its giant smokestack juts into the sky ahead. Sometimes if the time is short--the power plant is the destination--round trip to there is 14-15 miles. There is a nice hill north of the power plant leading down to the lagoon which feeds cooling water to the plant. Its a pretty good place to fish so there are usually 5-10 poles in the water hoping for halibut or bass. There is also a big aqua farm in the lagoon which grows clams which are harvested and shipped to resturants near and far.

Pump across the bridge and up the hill to Carlsbad Village, which also has a unique beach personality, with good tourist facilities, beaches, resturants, and quite a few antique stores and other quaint boutiques.
Sometimes it is worth a spin around the sidestreets, down State Street north, to see whats going on at the train station, or to stop at the local bike shop to see what's new. I usually end up on the north side of town at the Army and Navy Boys Academy and cut over to Pacific, which runs right next to the beach. Although the beach side of the street is built out, there are a number of public accesses if you want to stop and take your bike down the stairs. The end of the street runs right into a small ocean front park at the south end of the village which is a great place to stop, take off your helmut, sit on a bench, watch the surfers, and have some water and a power bar.

Then its back on the bike for the trip home. Fortunately, going south is usually downwind!! There is a fairly short, but steep hill on the street leading to my home. When I first started riding a few years ago, it took me about a month before I could pump up it after riding 20 miles. Today was my fourth time out in the last 10 days--the first three times I walked it. Today I pumped up it. Ahhh, progress!!