It’s looking like I’ll be moving to San Clemente sometime fairly soon. The downside of it all is that I will be leaving gorgeous (though rainy today) Marin County, which is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The scenery here is excellent, I have a steady 2500 ft climb just minutes from my door, there’s virtually no smog, and the temps are between 60 and 75 at least 2/3 of the time. There are cycling and tri clubs/teams galore. On any given weekend morning ride, I’ll see hundreds of other riders.
So what should I expect in the southern reaches of Orange County/north county San Diego?
No fear, you’re moving to a great place. As a resident of SoOC, there are tons of great rides, plenty of sunshine, no smog, and hordes of training partners. When you get down here, one of you’re first stops should be Edge Cyclesports in Laguna Hills (about 20 mins north of SC), best bike/tri shop in the area. They can give you info on riding groups, routes, clubs, teams, etc. If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.
What they all said above. Plus, lot’s of great local races:
Pacific Coast Regional Championship
Carlsbad
Newport Beach Kring & Chung
Solana Beach
Imperial Beach
the Bonelli race series
L.A.Triathlon
Long Beach
Malibu Nautica
Ralph’s California Half IM
races at Mission Bay, San Diego
all roughly within an hour drive
Wow, that sounds great. How is car traffic around some of those longer routes? I can escape it here, about 12 miles from home for rolling hills, and the aforementioned mountain has minimal traffic as well. The best part about that one is that when you get about half up, you have ocean view on one side, the bay/suburbs on the other. Gorgeous.
When we looked at homes in SC a few months back, I recall thinking, “my god, these hills are insane… how the hell am I going to FINISH a ride up this to get home???” And then I saw the home prices and my HR had to jump to at least 150bpm… it’s almost as spendy down there as it is up here (again, almost). We should’ve bought a 2nd home two years ago when we first looked. About 1/3 cheaper, which would’ve funded many years of serious goofing off!
I spent a glorious 4 years in San Diego (thus the “Aztec” handle), and am really pumped about coming back down, despite the inevitable sadness of leaving what is the most scenic place I’ve ever lived (I’ll just keep thinking about that “fast flat 45” comment, which is impossible to do here in rolling land).
I DID hear that about the whale. Now THAT would be scary.
Bummer to hear about the traffic issues out there. Doh! On my 20 mile loop here, for about an 8 mile section I can quite possibly have zero cars (this morning), and even on a busy afternoon maybe a car every minute or two at most. I’ll miss that!