Monday, January 6, 2014

Rivendell San Diego mini bump ramble around the bay .


Marine flags a photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flckr
Our good friend Curtis McKenzie put this ride together as many of us have admired this particular ride, I know I was keen to go on a ramble especially when it means doing so around water features that can't be a bad idea.

It's the first Southern California Rivendell ramble of 2014, nothing official just a bunch of fellows on a mellow ride around San Diego Bay stopping and chatting about all manner of things. There was a ferry ride, a salt Mountain or two, a big historic naval ship and of course beers.


Bruce and David a Socalpedalpusher photograph on Flickr
We met at Liberty Station which used to be the San Diego Naval Training Center near the "Recruit" training ship.  The requisite bike geeking commenced...but then it was time to do some rambling.

David's J.P. Weigle fender and reflector a Socalpedalpusher photograph on Flickr
Curtis led us up over our first bump of the day Halsey Rd Bridge as we headed South toward Down Town San Diego via Spanish Landing passing the San Diego International Airport and stopping by the USS Midway and Star of India for photographs and conversation.

David, Curtis, Bruce and USS Midway a photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr
Continuing South we bought our ferry tickets for the return passage and continued past Seaport Village The"Kiss", and a tribute statue of Mr. Entertainer Bob Hope. We passed under the Coronado Bridge skirting the Sweet Water Marsh National Wildlife Refuge traveling along the the Southern boundary of the Bay through Imperial Beach and riding North up the Silver Strand Boulevard to Coronado Island.

Once on Coronado we made our way to the Coronado Brewing Company for quick refreshments there were at least two stupid stout's consumed and a stupid IPA (sorta makes sense doesn't it) and nacho's before catching the Ferry back to San Diego's Broadway Pier. There was talk of wishing another order of nachos had been ordered...hey we worked up an appetite!

The crew at Coronado Brewing Company a Socalpedalpusher photograph on Flickr
We had a short but wonderful ferry ride back which offered fantastic views of San Diego.

Starboard panorama a photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr
Although this was a ramble of 32 miles it seemed to go by way too fast and before we knew it we were parting ways but before doing so there was talk of other ramble locations and S240's. I enjoyed every moment of this ride and know we'll be doing it again in the near future. Thank you Curtis for organizing and being a great tour guide.

And here are the aforementioned Salt Mountains...

The Salt Mountains a photograph by Socalpedalpusher on Flickr
Did I mention that the weather was a fantastic balmy mid 50's at the start of our ride and probably in the mid 60's at the end...I say probably cause here in temperate Southern California you forget to check those statistics as accuracy doesn't really matter...yeah this is for you up there in the North you know who you are.

If you'd like to see other images from our ramble they can be found here and David's are here.

Thanks for reading and keep the rubber side down.



2 comments:

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  2. Thanks for the armchair tour around San Diego bay.
    Looks like it was a lot of fun.

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