Palomar and Cole Grade

Palomar is an essential on the list of Masters Level rides in San Diego. The climb on Palomar Mountain Road is often compared to Alpe d'Huez. Both have 21 or so switchbacks and the mountains are similar in elevation. Alpe d'Huez is a bit longer and much steeper but for Southern California standards, this is one of the best climbs around.

View Palomar and Cole Grade in a larger map 

This ride is a partial mirror of the Palomar stage of the 2009 Tour of California. The ride leaves from Kit Carson park in Escondido. The park is right off the highway which is convenient but there is nothing in the way of coffee or food at the start of the ride so come prepared. Leaving the park you will have a few miles riding through Escondido which is nothing to write home about. Once you make the right on to Lake Wohlford road the ride really starts to pick up. Lake Wohlford is will open up your legs for Palomar but it should not wear you out too bad. After you hit S6 watch out for the busses lugging people to the casino. 6Am Sunday? Yeah - they are going to play slots. Sad but true.

You will know you are at the base of the Palomar climb once you hit the small store at the bottom. This is a good place to stock up on water and bars as it will take most people well over an hour to climb Palomar. This store also has an extrordinary selection of WWF, UFC, and motorcycle magazines. If you need any of those, you should also get them now.

There are a few ways up Palomar. This route goes up the South Grade. As you ascend, follow the signs toward the observatory. The goal of many top San Diego riders is to make it up Palomar in under an hour. Most people will take significantly longer than that. Pace yourself and don't be a "fred." This ride does not end at the top of Palomar. Leave something in your legs for Cole Grade. At the top of the climb there is a store. You can stock up here or at the bottom of the hill as we will be going down the same way we went up.

Once you are ready to come down, have at it. Hold your line around the corners and watch out for the motorcycles!!!!

At the bottom of the climb take a right at the store on HWY 76. After you make your left on Cole Grade you are treated to the second big climb of the ride. When I say big climb it is not really a big climb in the same way that Palomar is but it with bite you in the ass if you left it all on Palomar. Once you are up Cole Grade follow the map as it is mostly down hill on the way home as you descend down Lake Wohlford Road.  Good Luck!

To download additional information about your ride, right click on the links below and then click "save link as" to download the file to your computer.

Download a cue sheet to see the route in Microsoft Excel

Download a GPX file you can use to upload to your Garmin

Download a KML file you can use to upload to Google Maps or Google Earth