Dave says: For the last four months, I have been preparing for my comprehensive exams. This is a mega-test that lasts for two days from 9 am until 6 pm. The exam covers all the material in all the classes I have taken over the last few years which is over 10,000 pages in total. Mike Mai and I studied together and created comprehensive outlines for each topic. After making it through the exam, I had intentionally scheduled a vacation to a remote part of California where Alisha and I could camp out and ride bikes for a few days.
We already live in perhaps the best winter cycling city in the USA so it was a bit hard to decide where we else we could go to do some riding this time of year. The town we selected is Borrego Springs, California (population 4,000). Borrego Springs is like that hole-in-the-wall restaurant that your buddy tells you about but that looks pretty questionable when you arrive. However, this desolate location provides warm desert camping and access to some awesome cycling in the hills to the west of town. Borrego Springs is located between I-8 and I-10 and is about an hour and a half east of San Diego where the mountains divide the coast from the rest of California. Thus, Borrego Springs is a warm desert with a few palm trees and ocotillo but the hills 10 miles west are lush and green from winds blowing moisture from the ocean.
On day 1, we climbed the 10 mile Montezuma Grade which is like doing 10 miles of Mt. Lemmon to start our 5 hour ride. There was a headwind the whole way, but once we got to the top into the windy town of Ranchita we were headed downhill into the rolling green countryside that looked a bit like how I imagine rural Ireland. After arriving in the small town of San Ysabel, we started climbing up into the pines towards Julian. We started the day at 500 feet above sea level and ate lunch in Julian at 5,000 feet. We had sandwiches and pie at the Julian Pie Co. which was really good. Next, we did the best descent of the trip down a tight winding road outside of Julian and back into the desert. We had a roaring tailwind that pushed us all the way back to the campsite. In the evening, we hung out with some retired travelers in the campground, one of whom was a fire spinner and did dancing with twirling balls of fire and fans of flames.
On day 2, much to Alisha's disapproval, we skipped the hard part up Montezuma and parked at the top of the hill. We started out in the same direction but soon turned to the west and headed past a big reservoir to a long climb up Mt. Palomar. We climbed up the gradually-sloping East Grade Road and saw less than 5 cars in 2 hours. Every once in awhile, Alisha would get bored with my slow pace and ride off to the next mile sign. At the top, we stopped to check out the famous Hale Telescope. We had lunch in a small nearby restaurant and then rolled back down for another 5 hour day in the saddle. In the evening, it was windy in the campground and we even had to move our tent behind a giant bush for fear that the wind would snap the poles. I was tired and ready for a nice 8:30 pm bedtime.
Day 3 was also epic riding. We drove to the small town of Pine Valley and started a long climb up Mt. Laguna on a rarely-traveled scenic byway. We came over the summit and rode on a road that traversed the spine of the mountain with the lush coast to the west and the hot desert to the east. Eventually, we made it to the town of Julian for lunch. It was a Saturday and the quiet town that we visited two days earlier was now bustling with tourists. Once again we had a big lunch that included pie and then rolled down another scenic route to complete the loop. Surprisingly, I probably felt the strongest on Day 3 of the whole trip.
The campground was full that night so we had planned for a hotel in the town of Calpatria which is between Borrego Springs and I-8 near the Salton Sea. This dying town is another victim of the Salton Sea which apparently was once pretty but is now polluted with tons of dead fish. We drove the road past the sea and stopped on the seashore which is covered in bones and dead fish. We learned that at some times of year, several million fish die in the lake in a single day and wash up on shore. Fortunately, we were not there for this. Our trip past the Salton Sea took us up to I-10 and we stopped briefly and Joshua Tree National Park for a bike ride. I was pretty cooked for cycling though and thought that the park (at least the south side) was desolate and overrated. On the way home, we stopped in Phoenix for dinner with my family.
Climbing up Palomar
Campground in Borrego Springs
This place seriously stinks
Dead fish
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