RR: Sweetwater Reservoir

I had a chance to do a rare midweek ride tonight that almost didn't happen for a number of reasons. I had been wanting to ride out at Sweetwater reservoir for a while now, and when I heard that World Cycles was hosting a weekly Wednesday afternoon/evening ride there, I decided this was my chance to have someone show me around.

Ironically, circumstances beyond my control conspired to make me almost bail on this ride, but in the end all of the stress and hassle to make it work was all worth it. First of all, after weeks of beautiful weather, a freak summer storm rolled in late this afternoon, and it began to rain around 3:00. It started as just a light drizzle, at least in north county, but as the afternoon rolled on, it began to really rain. I called Billy, who is friends with the folks at World Cycles to make sure they were still riding, and he confirmed that they were. Billy himself, however, did not attend, meaning I didn't know anyone else who was doing this ride.

The rain provided an easy excuse to ask to leave work a little early, and I bailed out at about 4:50. I'll skip the details, but the drive to Rancho San Diego was a horror show. I was in solid traffic from Carmel Mountain all the way to the 8, but after I hit the 8 things got better. I actually changed out of my work clothes and into my riding gear (padded shorts, t-shirt, rain jacket, and MTB shoes) while I was driving in traffic down the 15. I admit this was not the safest choice, but I knew I'd be cutting it close, and I wanted to give myself every chance to make it before the group left the trailhead. Since I had never ridden Sweetwater before, I didn't want to be out there alone in the rain and the pending darkness if possible.

I made it to the trailhead at the Steele bridge at 6:02, and as I pulled in I could see riders pedaling away at the far end of the bridge. It was at this point I was glad I had changed in route.

I quickly pulled the bike off the rack, threw the frame adapter into the car, and pedaled off, trying to catch the group. I saw them off in the distance a few times as I wound my way through the various singletrack trails that mark the early portion of the Sweetwater trail system. I was extraordinarily fortunate to catch brief glimpses of riders way off in the distance most of the times that I was faced with forks in the road, and as a result, didn't get lost.

I was pedaling almost as fast as I could, trying to catch up, but after some elevation changes and sharper turns, lost sight of the group. I decided to keep following the clearest tire tracks I could see and keep trying to catch them. I stayed left at the new wooden bridge, which turned out to be the right choice. About a mile and a half into the ride I spotted some riders ahead of me on the trail, slowing climbing some switchbacks. I called to them, and discovered that one of them was indeed Alex, the owner from World Cycles who had organized the ride. I was relieved to have caught the group, but a little fried from riding as hard as I had to catch up.

From there I rode up the switchbacks, and made my way though some fun, slightly techy up and down sections along the next portion of the trail. The scenery was great, and the trail was a lot of fun. After a mile or two, I came to a flat section of doubletrack that traversed a meadow along the northeast side of the lake. At that point one of the riders behind me caught up, and we chatted a bit as we rode along the flats. The problem was that he was riding at a much faster pace than I could manage, especially while trying to talk. After a mile or so, I was exhausted and eventually just gave up and dropped back.

Pretty soon we came to a small gate, where we regrouped. Several riders took off up the next section, which I realized after a short distance was an extended climb up the mountain. The terrain was mostly ridable for me, and the grade was steep but not horrible, but nonetheless I found myself fatigued about halfway up. I started HABing, and ended up getting passed by all but one of the other riders. It was a little embarrassing, but I am mostly at peace with my relative abilities at this point, and wasn't going to stress too much about it. Plus, there was at least one guy behind me, so I wasn't the anchor.

I finally crested the hill, and was rewarded with a short downhill that wound its way toward the lake. It was a fun section, and I rode it as fast as I could in an effort to catch the rest of the riders who had disappeared off into the distance. Alex was behind me with the other guy playing sweeper, so I wasn't worried about getting lost anymore.

As I rode the downhill back up a short section, I maintained my speed and kept pedaling through some tight turns. I was enjoying myself, and had the group in front of me back in sight. Then, out of nowhere, my front wheel washed out during a turn and I went down hard on my left side. It happened so fast I didn't have time to unclip, and my knee hit the ground first, followed by my left hand as I tried (foolishly) to brace myself. I skidded to a stop along the singletrack and quickly picked myself up. My shoulder hurt from trying to brace myself, and I could see a little blood on my knee, but I wasn't really hurt. Alex was close behind, and checked on me, but I was fine, if once again a little embarrassed.

From there we rode along some more fun singletrack, with a more gradual uphill that I was able to handle. The trail ran along an upper ridge above the lake for a while, and then turned toward the lake for a bit. As I reached a point of the trail that overlooked the lake, I saw three riders headed back up the trail towards me. Apparently this was the turnaround point for the group that wasn't going to ride down along the lake and up the steep switchbacks to the palapa. Truth be told, I wanted to take the switchback loop, if for no other reason than I don't like backtracking along trails I've already ridden. But I had made a fool of myself enough times for one ride, and decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

I doubled back the way I had came, riding the ups and downs of the trail as fast as I could. I kept up with the riders in front of me this time, and felt pretty good. We rode over to the palapa, where the group that had split off joined us a few minutes later.

We hung around for about 5 minutes, resting and taking in the views. At one point while the group was resting, one of the woman riders turned to one of the men and asked in Spanish if I had fallen. I understood, and responded in English directly to her that I had fallen, but was fine. She seemed a little surprised that I had understood, but was very nice, as were all of the people there.

After the brief rest the group headed down a short steep downhill section away from the palapa down toward the lake. It was a fun and somewhat challenging section, but I didn't have any problems, and actually pulled away from several of the riders behind me. That section continued downward for about a mile, and was the most entertaining portion of the entire ride. At the end of the downhill, we once again regrouped and headed back along the singletrack toward the Steele bridge.

I hung with the main group for the most part on the way back, even through some difficult uphill sections. I actually cleaned several steep ups that I wouldn't have been able to do in the past, and was feeling a little better about myself after my earlier mishaps. I also cleaned a tricky downhill spot that one of the female riders was walking. (As a side note, all of the people on this ride were extremely skilled riders, and all of them were very fast. One of the women in particular had the most impressive cycling legs I've ever seen on any person, male or female. They were hugely muscular and very defined, like a bodybuilder. It was a little scary, but she was very nice.)

We made it back to the cars before dark, and the rain had actually stopped about halfway through the ride. As I got back to my car and took off my helmet, I saw that my face was smudged all over with dirt, presumably from my earlier fall. I looked like a soldier with face paint on, and wondered what everyone else had thought as they saw me on the trail. Oh well. My leg also looked worse than it was.

I said my goodbyes and got ready to drive home. The windbreaker/rain shell I had worn did a nice job of keeping the rain off of me, but was also very insulating, and I had sweat even more than usual. My shirt was soaked, but I didn't want to put my dress shirt back on, so I drove home in a soaked biking shirt.

Despite the stress in getting to the ride and catching up with the group, I had a great time. Usually, factors like traffic, rain, being late, and riding with a group of strangers would make for a miserable riding experience, but I drove all the way home with a smile on my face. (At least until I ran into a ton of traffic near the stadium because of the Mexico/Argentina soccer friendly that was going on. That was a circus.) This was a fun trail, and there were literally dozens of alternate trails and offshoots there to explore that I saw. I can't wait to go back, and am really glad I didn't decide to bail on the way down. I'd like to maybe either start from the Bonita side next time, or just ride all the way to the Bonita trailhead from the Steele bridge in order to do the whole Sweetwater ride.

I also think I realized what had been contributing to my recent MTB funk that I referenced here. I've just gotten a little bored of my local trails, and it was great to ride in a new spot with some different challenges and new scenery and terrain. I was in a bit of a north county rut, and this was just the prescription I needed.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 12.18 miles
Total Time: 1:43:36
Ascent: 1413 feet
Average Speed: 7.1 mph
Top Speed: 24.6 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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