The Great Western Loop has been described as a rite of passage for all San Diego area cyclists. Someone mentioned to Charmaine that it was one of their favorite rides, so we decided to try it. At 45 miles, it’s not a particularly long ride, but it has a decent amount of climbing… especially for someone as out of shape as I have apparently become.
We parked along the park/middle school on Brabham Street where it meets Fury Lane in Rancho San Diego to being the ride. It started out flat and fast as we headed out of Rancho San Diego along Willow Glen Drive and turned right onto Dehesa Road. There were quite a few casino party buses on the road with us. After a few flat miles we had to turn right to stay on Dehesa Road. Soon it turned into a climb of about 6% for about 4 miles. We came to the end of Dehesa Road at the ‘T’ at the top of the hill. An easy right turn onto Japatul Road dropped us into a fast downhill section that didn’t end until we crossed the Sweetwater River. It was fun, but I knew we were going to pay for it. After a short flat section we hit “the wall”. It’s both steeper and longer than the climb on Dehesa Road, and I was feeling it. Somewhere along this section I started questioning why this is anyone’s favorite ride. It hadn’t been anything extraordinary yet, and we were almost half way through.
Japatul Road changes to Japatul Valley Road at the top of the hill so we made another right turn onto Lyon’s Valley Road and started heading down into the canyon. Lyon’s Valley Road is the reason this ride is special. The first descent on Lyon’s Valley Road was really fun. There was a small section of climbing as we headed back up the next canyon and crossed the Skyline Truck Trail. We were tempted to turn and take the straight road back, but I’m so glad we didn’t. We stayed on Lyon’s Valley Road, and I’m glad we did. The next descent was steep and windy, but it was amazing. I wish we hadn’t started so late in the day so we could have stopped to take more pictures, but we were out of time and had to push on.
After climbing out of another valley on Lyon’s Valley Road, we came to a spot where it would have been easy to jump over to Skyline Truck Trail, which is a big straight road. At first we decided to do it. We turned right onto Lawson Valley Road, which is a short spur that links Lyon’s Valley Road with the Skyline Truck Trail. As soon as we saw where the Skyline Truck Trail went, we knew we had made the wrong choice and we turned around immediately. Taking the Skyline Truck Trail would have meant a lot more climbing and our legs just couldn’t take it. We thought there was going to be an equal amount of climbing on the Lyon’s Valley Road, but we figured it would be more gradual. We were so wrong. There was no more climbing, it was all down hill from there. We definitely made the right decision. Lyon’s Valley Road is a small road through this section. It’s really steep and really windy, but it’s also really beautiful.
Lyon’s Valley Road is eventually joined by the Skyline Truck Trail anyway. As we descended I stopped at Jamul Road and thought about turning there. That would have been a mistake. We stayed on Lyon’s Valley Road until it ended and we turned right (again) onto Compo Road, which is a big fast road without much of a bike lane in some parts. I didn’t like being so close to fast traffic so late in the day, but it didn’t take long to complete the descent and get back to our car parked across the street from the college in Rancho San Diego.
https://app.strava.com/activities/43806867
