Growing up in Northern Michigan you get a lot of opportunity to experience the great outdoors. One very common outdoor activity is mountain biking. During highschool Tyler had had discovered his love for mountain biking and freshman year of college I decided to try it out myself. Ever since that first day of getting mud on my tires I have fallen in love with it. It allows me to get my adrenaline kick, be competitive, while having an awesome time. Mountain biking was not only a new thing for me, but was a new thing for Ty and I. Having hobbies with your best friend/significant other I think makes the relationship so much stronger.
Living in Chicago the last three years I wasn’t able to mountain bike at all. So when we made the jump to San Diego I was nervous I might not be able to get my cadence back.
My first bike ride in San diego was E-Ticket in the Mission Trails Regional Park. Let me just start by saying California mountain biking is nothing like Michigan mountain biking. Both are fun and challenging, but San Diego has actual mountains and actual rocks. Now E-ticket is really designed as a one way path, maybe two ways if walking, but biking definitely a one way trail. This trail is designed to go downhill, there are switchbacks, drops, sand, rocks, bridges, all the fun stuff. Uphill, all that fun stuff becomes pain, misery, and a lot of pushing your bike.
To get to this trail we enter at the Calle de Vida entrance. It’s usually not as busy and I can always find parking. The pictures above show what the trail head looks like, if you see this you’re in the right spot! Once you go past this sign you make your way up the mountain. Next time I go out I will try and get the exact names of these connector trails (it usually takes about a half hour to climb to the top of E-ticket).
Yesterday Ty and I loaded up the bikes and made our way out to E-ticket (we try and get out there about three times a week). This time we made sure we woke up early enough to get a hour and a half bike ride in. Getting up at 6am can be quite the struggle when you’ve been used to waking up closer to 8-8:30. So naturally Tyler had to push me out of bed.
The drive there is never dissapoints, the sun is rising, people are bustling around, and I feel productive. Once we got to the trail we did our usual pre-check (this includes: checking air pressure, tuning suspension, making sure we have spare tubes, and oil our chains). Once all systems are a go we can hit the trails. Ideally I would like to have a nice long warmup, but when riding to E-ticket you don’t get that luxury. It basically starts with a steep incline and doesn’t really plateau that much until you get to the top. Thus forcing your body to wake up much faster.
This morning we had decided to ride the entire trail without stopping. Since Ty is much faster than myself he usually goes ahead and then waits at most of the intersections. This time we wanted to see how fast we could go. Ty goes first and crushes it. I go next and since were not stopping I really push myself to go faster, which I do right into a bush. I took a turn too fast and slipped on the dirt into some lovely bushes. After getting up and brushing off the dirt I made my way down the rest of the trail. I definitely recommend going down the hill in one swoop, so much fun, and can really build up some speed, but just be careful.
My love for mountain biking has only continued to grow in San Diego. I just need to take it one pedal at a time.
Claire Genevieve 