Nice day for a mountain bike ride

Since Allie gave me a hall pass this afternoon, I decided to use it to ride my local trail network. Rancho La Costa is on Denk Mountain, on the east side of Carlsbad. They've built a nice network of trails in a relatively compact area.

The best part about this network is that it's "real" mountain biking very close to home (less than ten miles). I am able to get to the trails in about fifteen minutes and can knock off loops in about 30 minutes - it's easy to get in some good climbs and ripping descents in a relatively short amount of time.

my route

Today I did two laps, climbing the fire road and descending down the technically easiest but most fun (thanks to the switchbacks) trail. I have to ride here more with my local friends so I can get a better lay of the land.

The trail has some nice rock outcroppings and is very well maintained. Nothing too sketchy here. Just lots of nice, flowy trails.

Due to some Santa Ana winds, there was excellent visibility at the top of the hill today, the pic above shows Batiquitos lagoon and the ocean, we live just north of the lagoon. I only had my phone with me, so the resolution isn't all that great. But I could see Santa Catalina and San Clemente islands from this vantage point.

Nice cairn, looking south

Ride stats - 7.7 miles, 3.2 miles of climbing a total of 1600' (average grade 9.2%)
Average heart rate - 145 BPM (I gotta get back into shape!)

A great way to spend a total of 90 min from the time I left home to the time I returned.

Freshly-waxed van + dirty mountain bike = a productive day!