wikipedia.com
I’ve only lived in North Park for a couple of months but have been working on finding the best route to get from here to Ocean Beach, my favorite San Diego beach, since I moved in. The biggest issue is finding a good route from the mesa that North Park is on down into Mission Valley. Once in Mission Valley the very solid path along the San Diego River takes you comfortably and quickly directly west to the Pacific Ocean.
I’ve tried various routes into Mission Valley – Texas Street in North Park, Fairmount Avenue between Kensington and City Heights, Bachman Place in Hillcrest – but found them all lacking. Fairmount is very, very intense (read: dangerous) on a bike and Texas only slightly less so. Bachman Place is a much better alternative although it is a meandering windy road down the hill, not bad for cruising down but quite a long haul back up. Recently I was informed of a path through Old Town and it is my favorite by far. After a couple of practice runs I took this trip “in earnest” this week.
“In earnest” refers to my hybrid bike with trailer, two-year-old, and beach accoutrements behind. It’s a good distance (a little over eight miles) from North Park to Ocean Beach and I wanted to make sure I had a good route in hand before taking the journey with Eva being towed behind me.
Below is a map of my route or you can check out this version on Google Maps.
Turn by turn, the route (basically) is:
- From 30th Street and University Avenue in North Park, head west on University toward and through Hillcrest
- After going through Hillcrest, turn right onto Goldfinch
- Turn left onto Lewis Street (take a gander into the canyon below as you turn – gorgeous)
- Lewis Street ends and becomes Fort Stockton via a slight right turn
- Fort Stockton ends, turn right onto Arista Street
- Take a right onto Presidio Drive
- Just as you are entering Presidio Park take a sharp left onto Cosoy Way which quickly becomes Jackson Street and sharply descends
- Take a left onto Mason Street then a right onto Juan Street on the edge of Old Town
- Take a left on Taylor Street then a right onto Pacific Highway
- Just after you ride under Interstate 8 take the right entrance onto the San Diego river bike path
- Straight on until morning (also known as Dog Beach in Ocean Beach)
- If you prefer the main Ocean Beach surf scene, take a left onto Bacon Street at the end of Robb Field, then turn right on Saratoga followed by a left on Abbott Street to end up at the foot of Newport Avenue aka paradise itself in San Diego.
Why is this my favorite route to Ocean Beach? There is little vehicle traffic other than on University Avenue and the steep part up Juan and Jackson in Old Town is short and sweet. Lewis Street and Fort Stockton Drive in Mission Hills are beautiful with large trees and historic homes all around. Even University Avenue isn’t bad – but would be much better with bike lanes.
Looking at the elevation map below you can see the tough part (at least on the way back to North Park) is just the hill heading up from Old Town to Mission Hills. I prefer a short, hard ride up rather than a longer, gradual incline and this route fits that bill. If you prefer a longer, slightly more gradual ride Bachman Place gets my second place vote.
If you’re hungry at the end of your ride you can find the best fish tacos in San Diego (maybe the world?) at South Beach Bar & Grille (5059 Newport Avenue, 92107), a great beer selection at Pizza Port Ocean Beach (1956 Bacon Street, 92107), or a wide variety of high quality produce and other goods at the Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market (4765 Voltaire Street, 92107) before making the return trip.
Enjoy the ride and I hope to see you cycling on the street, and relaxing at the beach, soon. Take care.
John P. Anderson
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Gee, that happens to be my favorite route to OB too! ;-)
I like to go down Washington St. (El Cajon Blvd) though, although the 163 overpass can tend to be a bit sketchy. University gets very narrow past 6th.
And I bet to differ with you about the Juan St. climb…..it’s a BITCH!!! Maybe not as long as some of the others (North Torrey Pines Rd. in La Jolla comes to mind, or Texas St.), but it is much steeper than most of the others. Or maybe I’m just not in that great of shape, even when I’m riding regularly (which is entirely possible…likely even).
At any rate, I do sometimes wish that SD could be more like Orange County when it comes to biking. They have a pretty extensive network of bike only paths that puts San Diego to absolute SHAME! Too bad there’s not much else to like about The OC….
Washington Street is nice – can also cruise all the way down to Pacific Highway and then up. Some nice eating and drinking options at the foot of Washington just before the 5.
Going up Juan is definitely steep – no joke. I like steep and short so definitely a preference thing.
I’m not really familiar with OC cycling but there are a lot of places that put us to shame. Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago are doing really good things. Even LA is putting us to shame recently. Hopefully that will start to change soon . . . .
Cool! Thanks for taking the time to chronicle your journey. This kind of advice is exactly what I needed when I first moved to SD and would get ensnared in freeway/big box land (Mission Valley).
Alison – thanks for reading and glad you liked the topic. Even with better tools than in the past (Google Maps, etc.) it’s still hard to find a route that’s both enjoyable and efficient. I have (very) limited knowledge of the favorite routes in SD so I’m going to be talking with local cyclists on a regular basis to document some of their top picks.
First up is from OB to National City with Jamie Ortiz – should be within the next month. Maybe you’d like to do a spotlight route in the future as well?
Hear, hear! Getting off the hill is something I’ve experimented a lot with. I’m assuming you’ve tried Presidio and Jackson as well? They’re narrow, but if you ride them during low-traffic times they’re quite pleasant.
Nice to hear someone say something about Fairmount, too. I rode that once and was afraid for my life. I can’t believe they advertise it as a bike lane! San Diego needs a dose of reality about a minimum level of safety to count something as bike infrastructure.
It seems that most people I’ve heard from prefer Presidio to Juan. I like Juan (to Jackson) better because I like steeper, shorter climbs. I’m going to give Presidio another few tries since I haven’t heard much love for Juan.
Fairmount – I don’t even know what to say. It appears to be a central spoke in the long-term biking plans for the city and hopefully that means some major changes.
Hiya, John – thanks very much for this post! Hubby and I have really gotten into biking from North Park (32nd and Univ) thru downtown to the harbor and then out to Point Loma seafood (biking is closely related to the quest for food), or ferry over to Coronado etc. But, we’ve been stymied by getting down the hill to Mission Valley to go to the beaches. Until now! Can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks again — glad I found you!
Sheryl – hope you enjoy the ride. :) I’ve had a few visitors the past couple of weeks that were new to San Diego and took this route from NP to OB, seemed to go fine for them. Food is definitely critical to longer distance riding. I look at it as my ‘gym membership’ cost – burn some calories, eat some delicious food, and have fun to boot.
I like your tip about fish tacos at the end; South Beach is definitely the best in town! My wife and I were disappointed, however, when we went there for our taco fix one afternoon after the birth of our daughter—we were turned away! They have a no-kids policy (or at least they did; haven’t been back since). Yes, it can get loud and rowdy in there, not the most kid-friendly eating/watering hole. But we were there early in the day when it was quite mellow. Bummer!
Mike – agreed on both points. Great fish tacos (my favorite are the grilled options) but definitely a 21 and up only place. I’ve heard many stories of people turned away – infants, elderly people, celebrities without an ID, etc. At least they’re consistent.