gravelgrinding

Carrizo Badlands Loop

It’s been a while, and I’ve been itching to play in the desert. It’s hard to balance being a parent, a desire to sit on my rear and do nothing, and the always-burning drive to do little (or big) adventures. This day was a good mix of all — I slept in a bit, made […]

Overland Stage Route and Canyon sin Nombre

Today’s exploration opened up quite a bit of new, very interesting territory for me. I can easily keep myself busy in this…

Oriflamme Canyon and Pinyon Mountain Valley

Today was the exploration of two areas which are fairly close together, Oriflamme Canyon and Pinyon Mountain Valley. I started with a ride out Oriflamme Canyon, which I’m hoping to do as a loop trip at some point. The second ride of the day was out Pinyon Mountain Valley, which I greatly enjoyed. The desert […]

Pinyon Wash and Coyote Canyon in Anza Borrego

I have a strong desire to propel myself through a landscape, which usually takes the form of hiking or backpacking in the wilderness. In southern California, where fewer opportunities exist for such activity, I’ve had to find other ways. My main goal currently is to explore the many dirt roads and paths through the desert areas […]

Even Failure Can Be Bliss

It was a warm 91 degrees when I got out of the car, but I was still itching to get started on my 2,000 foot climb up Lusardi Road. In order to be happy, I personally need to frequently get out and move across a map under my own power, ideally in a natural setting. […]

Riding in the Forbidden Zone

Perhaps the title for this post is a bit overblown, but I thought it sounded better than “Today’s Bike Ride”, and if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that anytime you do anything outdoorsy or moderately adventurous, exaggerations always make things sound more epic. I remember while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, one of […]

Back to Horsethief

I always expected to return to Horsethief road sooner. We had a good ride out this road over a year ago, and I meant to get out there again and push a little further relatively soon after our first trip.  Unfortunately, I just haven’t made it back. It’s a great road for hauling a kid […]

Boulder Creek Road Bike Ride

Our last backroads-biking trip was back in December. After our last attempt was a success (after so many failed attempts), I expected to get back out pretty quickly — but then the holidays hit, we started doing a lot of running in preparation of Jeannie’s half-marathon, and we just generally got busy, so we haven’t […]

Success on Horsethief Road

After quite a few failed attempts, we finally found a great road to ride our bikes out towing our 15 month-old in his own private chariot.  It’s got a great surface — not too bumpy for the little guy, has no traffic, thanks to the gate at the top, and while there are some good […]

Another Unsuccessful Bike Ride

We moved last weekend.  It was pretty unexpected, and a super-quick move, and we’re still working on unpacking boxes and organizing our stuff.  We had the long Thanksgiving weekend that I actually had bigger plans for before we were informed that we needed to move — maybe a trip up to the Sierras or out […]

drempd | san diego, ca


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