San Diego trail review Part 9 off to beaten path trails near the tunnels

[@bikeempowerment]

15% off Magicshine bike lights if you’re interested. Code: bikeempowerment15 Website: magicshine.com/?ref=bike%24

[@ChristopherBloom]

I super appreciate your videos. I'm visiting and made a tour through PQ yesterday with your help. Tunnel 4 was magical!

[@bikeempowerment]

That’s rad! Thanks for letting me know, Tunnel 4 is the go to trail in the area. 👍

[@SprSonik13]

Barrel Roll is a great connector. We need named it that while we were digging it and Gina (Head Ranger) told us we had to route around the barrel cactus. I wish I could have made the segment (DH direction) shorter, but Strava kept making me stretch out the start/end points until it finally accepted it.

[@bikeempowerment]

Yup yup, great trail. Power Lines is boring. Thanks for making the trail, very much appreciated. Are you part of SDMBA?

[@SprSonik13]

@@bikeempowerment I am not, but was really active in the mountain biking community up until a couple of years ago. I started the San Diego County Trail Report Facebook page when I got tired of not having a good resource for local trail information. Through that I started regularly dealing with the SDMBA folks, and was lucky enough to be invited to help out when that trail was being worked. I’ve been on a break from mountain biking lately while pursuing other passions. Stumbled across your channel while watching local trail videos and remembering how much fun I had out there.

[@bikeempowerment]

Cool, well thanks for watching and commenting. I’m glad it brought back good memories

[@torreyhiker9137]

@@SprSonik13 whoa you helped dig that? Much respect 🫡

[@SprSonik13]

@@torreyhiker9137 it was SDMBA that did all the heavy work, I just joined them for one dig session to help with my trail karma. Great group of people and if you ever have an opportunity to volunteer with them, I highly recommend it. I was not aware of how much work they put in for the mountain bike community until I got to know a few of the leaders personally. We all owe them for having so much great dirt in San Diego.

[@michaeljordan3084]

Reading the comments I suggest to anyone who’s never been done tunnel 4, be very careful, it’s not an easy trail and it’s very likely you will hit your head on more than one branch. A good friend of mine injured himself very badly on it, even though he knew it very well. Several very skinny sections, loose boulders and awkward turns. Fun for advanced riders but not to be taken lightly. An another note, check out four dumps area.

[@bikeempowerment]

Thanks for commenting. What’s this Four Bumps area you speak of?

[@michaeljordan3084]

@@bikeempowerment near ocean air inner loop. Also some out of bounds extras over there.

[@bikeempowerment]

Yes, I had to look it up on Trailforks. I know four bumps it’s a service road and I know those trails right next to the water tower, which are not on Trailforks probably for a good reason…

[@bikeempowerment]

Michael Jordan, check out my KZbin short. Let me know if this is the area you’re talking about. I have a few shorts from this awesome trail. kzbin.info80fosRcmepE?si=m0gfDwm0GbU6ysd9

[@gmssickclips8275]

nice just thought about riding these tomorrow

[@bikeempowerment]

Cool, have fun. Do you know the trails that I highlighted?

[@torreyhiker9137]

cool ! If i see ya riding around PQ i will say hey! I ride a red ebike, santa cruz.

[@bikeempowerment]

All right 👍 I normally wear an orange helmet and riding the red specialized turbo levo.

[@ernesthale2471]

Do you have stock tires and what air pressure do u run thanks

[@bikeempowerment]

No, I changed them to MAXXIS DHF front and rear (stock factory tires were worn out). Yes I know the DHF is designed as a front tire, but it works fine for me in the back as well. Especially when I got them on discount from Jensen. According to my Schwinn floor pump I do about 12 to 13 pounds in the back and 10 to 11 in the front. The MAXXIS tires were a big improvement, but it’s a big improvement from the worn out stock tires, I did not have the bike when they were fresh stock tires. I changed them out with about 900 miles on them.

[@torreyhiker9137]

Ive crashed hard 3 times this July from PQ branches and Tunnels trees grabbing my bar ends.

[@bikeempowerment]

Yes. I hear you. Not a good feeling when your bars are going the wrong direction. Easily can happen there.

[@SprSonik13]

slow down :) They are not that narrow and it is completely passable without snagging bars if you stay on the right lines. Been riding PQ Tunnels for years on wide bars (820mm) with bar ends and never have issues at speed. Make sure you are not focusing on the branches when it starts to get tight… it is possible target fixation is contributing to your problem.

[@bikeempowerment]

@@SprSonik13 thanks for your comments

[@torreyhiker9137]

@@SprSonik13 good to know, thanks. i liked riding 800 wide bars. in time I may go back to them.

[@SprSonik13]

@@torreyhiker9137 I went back to 760s briefly and hated how nervous the bike felt going that narrow. I can’t believe I used to ride sub 700 narrow XC bars back in the day..