Howdy all- I'm sure this may have been asked before but but I was unable to find a thread on this board.
Considering a relocation to the San Diego area from Richmond, Va. If you had to choose one neighborhood to live in that you could ride a few times a week without driving where would it be?
The Richmond area has a great urban 18+ mile loop in the heart of the city that I will dearly miss as well as access to imba epic riding in Harrisonburg, VA 2 hrs away. What I have found in researching the area is possibly lake hodges / Santa luz area? Looking for some suggestions and honest feedback. Skill wise Cat 1 35+ xc racer but love going out to the mountains for some epic long day rides. Thanks for the help and suggestions in advance.

Hi - anything along the 56 freeway between the 5 and 15 freeways would give you access to 50+ miles of trails. Not all legal but you can string together a lot of canyons via fire roads and single track. Trail systems include Los penesquitos canyon, mcgongle canyon, lasardi, black mountain, San dieguito river trail, lake hodges all to the north. You can also connect to the trans county trail and go east into sycamore canyon from Los penesquitos canyon. Do a search on strava for "archipelago" in San Diego and it will give you some ideas for areas and how they loosely connect to one another.

^^^^ +1 what he wrote.
Rancho Penasquitos, Carmel Valley, 4S Ranch, Poway areas are nice.

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Thanks. Appreciate the advice.

I live in the area and part of my (ahem, I mean, my family's) decision was based on the surrounding trails. Since then, the local trail volume has grown quite a bit.

Maybe we can say "welcome to the neighborhood" soon?

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"New York City is a mismanaged carnival of stupidity that is desperate for revenue and anxious to criminalize behavior once thought benign."
--Alex Baldwin, unknowingly describing his socialist utopia.

I live around the corner from dirtrider and slowgrind.

50+ miles of trails 2 minutes from my door. I could not ask for a better location. Rancho Penasquitos is a perfect location for me.

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Yup, riding this after work tonight.

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"New York City is a mismanaged carnival of stupidity that is desperate for revenue and anxious to criminalize behavior once thought benign."
--Alex Baldwin, unknowingly describing his socialist utopia.

Man forget anything near the 56! It's all crap.

Carlsbad is where you want to live. I only need to ride one mile to Calavera Lake for riding that makes Penis-quitos canyon look like the bike path it really is and then just put the surfboard on the beach cruiser and ride two miles for some sweet surfing. Way better nite life too!

Crank out a ride, surf some waves, then head to Pizza Port for some Pizza, Micro-brew, and tramps with tats.

Screw that 56 shit!

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Code 347

Again thanks so much for the advice... There are some things i wont waiver in and access to trails is one of then.
Got my mind thinking on Carslbad now. I will reach out if I get the relo for some riding for sure. Going to check out the 56 corridor out to 15.

You had me at tramps with tats

If affordability isn't an issue, I would second Carlsbad. You won't find XC racing there, but some really good riding. Either Calavera or La Costa can be connected into a loop (including Penasquitos) to get 60+ mile rides. Search for archipelago on mountainbikebill.com for additional info.

Wildomar between Lake Elsinore and Murrieta will put you in the middle of great riding not only at the Farm, but phantom canyon, to the Santa Rosa Plateau, to Tenaja and beyond all the way to both ridges of the Santa Anas. Depends on your riding styles Wildomar has it all, and you will earn your reward to even meet international pros.

Good Luck!

One more plug for Carmel Valley. This house is for sale viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13836

It's owned by one of our *favorite* families in the area. They've been so great for us with regard to trail access in the area. </sarcasm>

Seriously though, housing is pretty high here. I'm not sure how it compares to VA...

But, Carmel Valley is pretty much in the middle of everything. The Zoo, Balboa Park, Legoland, the Carlsbad outlets, trail systems, places of employment... I have had jobs in Carlsbad and Sorrento Valley, and I rarely deal with traffic as I'm opposite of typical traffic flows. When I work in Sorrento Valley, I can do a LPQ commute through 2 of my favorite trails (Lopez Canyon and Little Waimea).

Night life? Well... maybe that's our weak point, but there are 3 great places to get awesome beer here.


Edit: oops! Clews' house is Pending...