Coach Rays Top 3 Favorite Places to Mountain Bike in San Diego

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I am excited to start up some weekly blogs again! Hope everyone is having a great week so far and can use some of this info to get out and ride our beautiful trail system in San Diego.

Number 3 - Lake Hodges

This was a great trail for me to start my mountain biking days on. Fairly easy trails with some technical/steep sections to work on your balance on the bike. There are about 47 miles of trails around it with mostly beginner/intermediate difficulty. Parking is easy and there are bathrooms around the lake. If you are looking for a more difficult uphill/downhill switchback trail, Raptor Ridge is right next to Lake Hodges.

Number 2 - Los Peñasquitos Canyon

When my friends and I started looking for harder trails, this was the one to go to. We especially liked the trail called' “Tunnels” which was an awesome downhill with the trees and brush surrounding you overhead making the effect like a tunnel haha. There are so many places to explore here with more intermediate to hard difficulty on the climbs and technical sections. I recommend getting an app that can guide you on the trail. I usually use trailforks, MTB project, or Alltrails.

Number 1 - Mission Trails

I might be biased to this trail because its in my backyard in Tierrasanta. The trail quickly became a favorite of ours because it is all over the spectrum of easy to hard difficulty. If you wanted to take it easy, theres a trail for that. If you wanted to climb and bomb down hill, there is a trail for that. I especially like the trail called “E-ticket”. It has an awesome flow with some small jump features. My wife and I like to compete with each other to see who can PR their time to finish this section.

There are so many amazing trails in San Diego but these are my top 3 at the top of my head. If you are looking to test your fitness and get outside, you have to give mountain biking a try. Here are a few tips to prepare yourself for the rides.

  1. Map your route and let someone know where you are going. The apps I mentioned are great tools to help guide you on the trail, but in case you don’t have service make sure to let someone know where you are going.

  2. Bring lots of water especially on longer rides. Consider electrolyte supplements and snacks as well.

  3. Check your bike to make sure everything is in working order before going out. Brakes, chain, tires are a few things to check on. Bring tools to be able to fix these if needed on the trail.

  4. If you encounter a snake, let it do its thing. Don’t try to aggravate it. If you do get bit, move away from it as far as possible and call 911. Don’t try to ride or walk up the trail. It will move the venom through your bloodstream faster. Stay calm and either call for help on the trail or 911 if you have service.