Del Mar, California

[Bluetree]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I will certainly go that route and maybe even check out these cinnamon rolls.

Joy

[nicolezoie]

The nice thing about Torrey Pines (if you turn right at the stoplight at the top of the hill and follow the path along the golf course) is that you end up in the park, and there's a large bathroom where you can park your bike inside and not have to worry about getting oogled while you cool off from the ride. The trail is a nice little descent to cool off from the climb too.

I've gone down Torrey Pines many many times, keeping my speed around 30-35mph. I suppose I could get going faster than that if I wanted to, but you have to keep an eye out for the tree roots that have made bumps in the shoulder. The downhill itself isn't so bad; it's in the winter when the Santa Anas make treacherous crosswinds that stir up road debris and sand that force you to close your eyes while speeding down the hill that's BAD...

From where you'd be coming, you'd have to do both Torrey Pines AND the hill back up into Del Mar. That's almost as hard as Torrey Pines in my opinion, maybe even harder if you hit the light at Carmel Valley Road.

And, I do NOT recommend riding down Camino Del Mar (Coast Highway) through Del Mar. There are NO reasonable bike lanes, and the drivers are totally inconsiderate and pull out of side streets and driveways with no regard for anything that's smaller than an SUV. Its all stop signs, and dangerous.

Instead - forgive me if this sounds screwy - I don't know all the road names!
If you open maps.google.com for Del Mar, you can get a better idea of this path. It sounds confusing, but really isn't that bad. Slower than Camino Del Mar, but safer because there are very few through cars.

Try this:
When you leave the race track via Jimmy Durante and travel South (towards the beach).
At the first light (15th street?), make a right, and follow it all the way to where it comes to a T.
At the T, make a left, and follow that road (has a few speed bumps) until it makes another T.
At THAT T, make a Left,
then an immediate right into what looks like an alleyway with 2 speed bumps(Pacific?).
Follow the alleyway, and at the end, make a Right.
Then, make an almost immediate left,
and follow that road (Stratford, I think?) for a fair distance, through the neighborhood, and keep going on through past the gatehouse near the end.

At the very end of this road and down a narrow sidewalk path, it will let you out onto Coast Highway, completely bypassing downtown Del Mar.

On your way back, you might as well check out how crazy Camino Del Mar can be; crossing back over to the side streets is pretty tough.