Some Of My Favorite San Diego Rides
Nearly everyone who rides in San Diego has ridden or heard about the Noble Canyon trail. It's been the subject of articles in national magazines and is included in every San Diego trail guide book. It is the epic singletrack downhill in the entire county. What a lot of these publications don't tell you about is the great singletrack climb on the Indian Creek trail that you can ride to get to the top of Noble. At the top of Noble Canyon is another great singletrack, the Big Laguna trail. This one isn't nearly as hard as Noble but it's super fun.
Cuyamaca State Park doesn't have a lot of singletrack, but it does have a lot of great riding. There is some relatively new singletrack accessible near the Sweetwater Staging area - the East Side trail and one that goes over to the Pine Valley area. Both routes getting up Soapstone Grade are good climbs. The loop around Middle Peak is also a good climb and very scenic through the trees. The Fern Flat trail is a really fun downhill - not steep, but plenty fast through a canopy of trees.
This is probably the most underrated riding area in San Diego County. Most publications give this area short shrift. They seem to downgrade the area because it's an off-road vehicle park. Most times we ride here we see very few vehicles, especially when the weather is cooler in the spring and fall. The Sagebrush Safari Classic is held here each year and is one of the best mountain bike race courses around. There is a bit of everything here: long climbs, singletrack, technical climbs, and the wild Kernan Cycle Trail downhill, a technical descent several miles long.
This 3000+ acre park in Escondido is only a few years old. There is some excellent singletrack out there, but you have to keep your eyes peeled to the side of the main roads because none of the singletracks are marked with signs.