Rancho La Costa Preserve
We are back in Carlsbad, CA visiting family and friends. After an almost 7 hour drive the day before, we needed to stretch our riding legs. Not far from Derek’s mom’s house are the trails at La Costa Preserve. Riding almost every way up and down, we put together 14 miles with 2160′ of climbing.
Rancho La Costa Preserve is nearly 1500 acres and protects many native plant and animal species. We rode in from the South on some singletrack and then picked up our loops on Denk Mountain. The singletrack all flows very well, with the climbs all rideable as long as you pick good lines and mind the ruts. It’s a fun couple hours of climbing, then descending on repeat.
San Luis Rey Carlsbad Loop
Last time we were here in Carlsbad I went out on my own and road a big loop up through Oceanside and down the coast. This time Derek joined me! Our loop was 41 miles with 2580′ climbing and took us through Carlsbad, parts of Vista, and Oceanside. Along the way, we stopped at the Mission San Luis Rey to look around.
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, is the largest of the California Missions and was founded in 1798. The mission was named for King Luis IX of France, who led crusades to the Holy Land in the 13th century. We walked around the cemetery and gardens admiring EVERYTHING! The garden boasts the oldest Pepper Tree in California, planted in 1830 from seeds brought up from Peru by a sailor.
There is a high surf advisory happening in the area and we witnessed some pretty big waves as we rode along the coast up in Oceanside. After turning inland, we took the San Luis Rey bike path east for 9 miles before winding back on roads. Since we have our gravel bikes, it was no problem for us to cut through Calavera Preserve on some dirt and singletrack to connect to Cannon Rd to get us back. What a great day.
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