Hey all,

So last week I autocratically scheduled the first ever NLPCA Cadet group bike ride for this Sat, 11/12. Turns out that date is not good for a bunch of people. Also, the forecast calls for rain on Friday, and still a chance of rain on Saturday (and even if there’s no more rain, there will be wet roads, which is not that fun).

SOOO, I have autocratically decided to push the ride back one week on the cadet calendar to 11/19 (that’s the Saturday before Thanksgiving — hopefully everybody will still be in town)! If people can’t make that date, well, them’s the breaks. The cycling badge requires 2 half-day rides, and I plan to host at least 3, so there will be more chances to get out there and roll!

The plan is like this. We will meet at Lake Murray at 8. All riders with single-speed bikes will have fun on the Lake Murray bike path, and then (on a per-family basis), either go home, or try to meet up with the rest of us at the Mission Trails visitor’s center and ride on the Father Junipero trail as well.

“The rest of us” is any riders who have multi-gear bikes and want a more challenging ride. Multi-gear is a non-negotiable requirement, because low gears will definitely be needed to climb up out of Mission Gorge (on Fanita). We will ride with the single-gears on the Lake Murray path, but exit in the back by the ball parks and continue on Golfcrest. The route is like this:

• Lake Murray trail
• Golfcrest
• Left on Mission Gorge
• Right at the Mission Trails Visitor’s center, stop for a bathroom/water break.
• East on the Father Junipero Serra Trail to the Old Mission Dam, and take a play break.
• Continue to Mission Gorge
• Left on Mission Gorge for a few blocks
• Right on Big Rock, to Big Rock Park, and after going through the park, pick up
• Prospect Ave (East)
• Right on Fanita, at the top of the hill is
• Grossmont College, go around once (or thrice?) and enjoy the sweeping vistas of El Cajon and the mountains beyond.
• Down Lake Murray, back to the Lake.