Relo from East Coast

Welp, come on down! (after the shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted)

 

The City of San Diego just announced that the Black Mountain Open Space is opening up effective today. Note that the parking lots will NOT be open. Not exactly the type of riding you seek but it's riding. https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8013961/black-mountain-open-space
X Trails up in Temecula is open since it's not officially managed by any entity. https://www.trailforks.com/trails/trail-x-118519/ It has some of those tight, steeper climbing sections that make me wonder why I do this.....but the tight downs make it worth the effort. It gets HOT up there during the Summer.

Overall, I think you'll enjoy the climbing up the already mentioned San Juan Trail https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7000572/san-juan-lollipop and San Clemente Single Tracks (also known as the Weed Patch) https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/san-clemente-single-tracks.html Keep in mind that if you go ride them on a Friday or Saturday, you will most likely be in gridlock traffic on your way home between Oceanside and Del Mar. The San Juan Trail is a lollipop ride so when you're on your way back down, you'll most likely have to yield to anywhere from 5 to 25 climbers. It's also the best/only place to ride right after it rains. San Clemente Single Tracks is *almost* all fast, flow, hard-pack single track with very, very few actual obstacles but you can climb all day (in smaller 1 mile increments) if you wanted to work your way across the entire area.

As @pperrelle mentioned, the best riding down your way is Pine Valley/Noble Canyon out in East County. You can tie in the rides with the Cuyamaca area and get an all day type epic in. The best part is it's all "backcountry" type riding so crowds will be minimal (non existent on a weekday) and the scenery will be fantastic. https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/noble-canyon.html

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/539389/cuyamaca-to-noble-canyon

https://www.trailforks.com/region/c...vitytype=1&z=10.3&lat=32.96578&lon=-116.53077

 

Hi Lisa, welcome! I didn't see what part of SD you are in. We are pretty spread out so location would be helpful for reco's.

Mike is right, open space parks in City of SD opened today. That was a pleasant surprise. There are still preserves and open space, and some individual trails closed in other cities.

County parks and State Parks were still open as were Forest service and BLM lands.

Trailheads at all of these are still closed.

I'm sure it was posted already but http://www.mountainbikebill.com/ is still one of the best resources for San Diego and Socal. Trailforks and MTB Project are also good resources although they omit some trails and trail systems that aren't legal - and we have a lot of those.

 

Profile says Del Mar

 

Lisa, never ridden in New York but have lived in D.C and NoVA ,twice and if the riding is similar to VA then things are completely different here in SoCal. Now your in for on average between 1200-1500 feet of climbing for every 10 miles. It seems the typical fireroad climb is between 5-8 miles. Then we have fast descents with tight switchbacks, loose sand, some rocks,(more on the boulder side) and exposure. I remember VA, MD and PA being much more technical type of riding then here due to the wet rocks, roots and weaving in and out of trees and other obstacles. I loved riding there. I have raced the Shenandoah 100 and wanted to do Transylvania Epic but didn't make it happen. I have ridden in State College and a lot in Patapasco. If that helps. Your riding style will change a little but you should enjoy it as much. San Diego is awesome both for riding and in general. Welcome to the hooligans!