San Pasquel loop

A few years back I bought a book that details different cycling areas and trips all around the San Diego area.

This is a great book.  It's been around in various editions for a long time now.  It describes the rides in great detail, including pretty accurate maps and elevation information.  The text description of each ride is in good order as well.

I've used this book several times to plan out routes.  Sometimes I ride the routes exactly as describes, and other times I use this mainly for information about part of the routes to plan out my overall ride(s).


It's been a good investment and well worth the small price I paid. 

http://www.amazon.com/Cycling-San-Diego-Nelson-Copp/dp/0932653529/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319946216&sr=8-1



Last night I decided to run a route that I noticed earlier, but have never gotten around to yet.  It circles around the San Pasquel area.  20 miles for the loop, 30 total including getting up there from where I live. 

I should have paid more attention to the elevation changes for this route befrehand.  There were some short, steep hills that I had some difficulty on.  But overall this was a very good route and very picturesque.  A few farms, a pine tree seller, and even a milk cow pasture was noticed.  There is also a battlefield memorial for the battle of San Pasquel  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pasqual_Battlefield_State_Historic_Park

This site has a lot of pictures that are on the same route or very close to - http://www.miriameaglemon.com/Birding%20Pages/San%20Diego%20Birding%20Pages/By%20Site/Highland%20Valley%20Road.html since I didn't bring my camera with me on this ride. 

The graph below shows the quick changes in elevation that I experienced.

The first sharp drop was at Bandy Canyon Road.  It had a lot of switchbacks.  Not having traveled on this road before and taking sharp turns at a high speed, I rode on the brakes a lot.  Not until the switchbacks stops did I let go of the brakes. 

A great ride for certain.  I just didn't appreciate the sharp increase in elevations that made climbing difficult.  But I'll definitely hit this route again in the future.