RR: North Lake Hodges

This afternoon Joel and I did a quick ride over at North Lake Hodges. Rachel ran the Carlsbad 5K this morning, and did an awesome job, so she and Nichole stayed home and hung out. Joel had never been to Hodges, and we needed something close and quick so the girls wouldn't get restless, so that was the easy choice.

The ride was pretty standard, actually. We parked at the lot near the self-storage and decided to do the regular route along the lower ridge and around the lake as far as we could go. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we went at a casual social pace. Joel heads off to the CHP Academy in just three weeks, so I enjoyed being able to spend some time with him before he goes.

As we rode up the paved road near the dock and parking lot, we heard sirens and saw a couple of police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck off to the side of the road. We didn't want to be rubber-neckers, so we just rode by, and couldn't really tell what was going on. We continued over toward the west side of the lake along Del Dios, and enjoyed the singletrack that I still say is underrated by the rest of the MTB community. I just wish it was longer, and look forward to the day they re-open the section that goes all the way up to the dam.


I once again was unable to negotiate the steep ditch that I battled last month, much to my frustration. There was no water in it this time, but I still could not figure out how to get through the ditch at the bottom with enough speed to get up the steep side on the way out. I felt pretty lame. Next time I guess. What I need is to see someone do it, so that I can watch their technique and try to mimic them.

As we turned around at the fence and began to ride the singletrack back toward home, we saw two helicopters flying over head. It was hard to be sure from where we were, but it looked like one of them landed over near the lake parking lot. We kept riding, and as we got closer to the parking lot, we saw several more police cars and were stopped by a ranger who had the road blocked off.

The Mercy Air chopper had in fact landed in the road, causing traffic to be stopped in both directions. We were initially informed by the ranger that he didn't know what happened, but that the road was closed and likely would remain so for the next 20 to 60 minutes. He also indicated that he heard that there was a fatality, but wasn't sure.

We didn't think the incident was bike-related, because it occurred in a place where there really wasn't a trail, and we hadn't seen any bikes when we rode by the first time.

After about 7-10 minutes, the chopper took off, and we were allowed to ride along the edge of the road back and back across the parking lot to the main trail.


The officers were not yet letting cars through, however, because emergency vehicles were still on scene. I found out later that the accident at Hodges was a single-car accident, and there was indeed a fatality, which is unfortunate. There were apparently some strange circumstances as well.

From there we made our way back home, making good time on the short climbs and tried to avoid the gnats that had emerged as the day cooled off a little. I took a few nature pictures, as well as a couple of shots of Joel, but nothing Pulitzer winning.



We made it back home before the girls got too restless, and had a nice dinner out in the backyard. I was a little disappointed I wasn't able to get a new trail or longer ride in this weekend, but that's just the way it goes sometimes, and we did have a lot of fun doing other things Saturday and Sunday.

Here are the stats. Pretty close to the ones from a month ago...

Total Distance: 11.66 miles
Total Time: 1:39:41
Ascent: 923 feet
Average Speed: 7.0 mph
Top Speed: 19.4 mph
Bike: Specialized FSR XC Pro
Map:

View Larger Map