Mike's Bagels and Coffee House, Oceanside

To fill out my Bagel Rides table, I added a 28th bagel ride to Mike's Bagels & Coffee House. I got the cranberry bagel because Einstein Bros discontinued them, and it was delicious. They didn't have fountain drinks or Coke Zero but I had a Peach Ice Tea Diet Snapple in a glass bottle which was even better. The service was slow because they only had one person at the register but the delicious bagel made up for it.

The ride was quite lopsided--27 miles to Mike's Bagels and only 5 miles back home. But it worked out fine. Stats and route are below.

BCB Cafe, Hillcrest

BCB Cafe in Hillcrest was my last bagel ride and it was a good one. The weather was sunny and in the 70s--thank goodness the Santa Ana winds didn't start blowing yet. The Cafe is nice: they had a soda fountain machine, a bathroom, and I was able to find outdoor seating at a sandwich shop next door. The bagel was good but not great.

It turns out my bike odometer showed 2995 miles about five miles from the end of the ride so I watched it for the last five miles hoping to break the 3,000 mile mark on my last bagel ride. And I did it with a tenth of a mile to spare!

Route and stats are below.

P. L. Bagels, Point Loma Heights

This was my second last bagel ride and it wasn't great. It rained lightly for the first 30 minutes or so but that was okay because it cooled me off. The rest of the ride was fine but the bagel shop was one of the worst for a bagel ride.

The people at the shop were nice and quick with the service, but everything else was substandard: no outdoor seating, no air conditioning inside, soda only in cans, no bathroom, and the bagel was just average.

On the plus side, they sold Gatorade so I got one for the ride home.

Hopefully the last bagel ride shop is a good one so I can finish off on a positive note.

Route and stats below.

Einstein Bros, Grantville, Friars Road

The ride to Einstein Bros in Grantville was mostly good and was the second longest bagel ride so far at 67 miles. The apple cinnamon bagel was delicious and the employee at this Einstein Bros was the most efficient and most polite cashier I've come across so far at Einstein Bros so I'm giving this location five stars.

The thing about the ride that wasn't so good was that my sweat-soaked cotton t-shirt rubbed against my chest and led to painful nipple chafing. I decided to ride shirtless for the last 14 miles which took about 40 minutes. I thought the time in the sun would be short enough to avoid sunburn but I was very wrong. My back got a bad sunburn that is still red a day later. I read up on the problem, which is common for runners and cyclists, and decided to try an Under Armor HeatGear Compression T-Shirt under my regular shirt. I'll try it out on my next ride. Route and stats are below.

Einstein Bros, Serra Mesa, Murphy Canyon Rd

The ride to Einstein Bros in Serra Mesa was pretty good. There was a stretch on Clairmont Mesa Blvd that wasn't very nice because there were a lot of lights and traffic with no bike lane. But the rest of the ride was fine. It was cooler than last week so I held up much better overall. The cinnamon apple bagel was delicious as usual. They had good outdoor seating, Coke Zero, and surprising efficient service for an Einstein Bros. A few minutes into my return ride I realized I hadn't taken a photo of the bagel shop with my bike so I just grabbed one from Google Street View.

Route and stats are below.  Only three more bagel rides to go!

Einstein Bros, Midway District

My bagel ride to Einstein Bros. Bagels in Midway District was good but exhausting due to the 90 degree heat. I went through three Gatorades, two Coke Zeroes and one bottle of water during the ride. My 500 Wh battery lasted for 55 miles before I had to change to my back-up 400 Wh battery.

The Einstein Bros. was a good location with outdoor seating and efficient staff so the wait wasn't too long. I had the pumpkin walnut bagel and it was very good.

Route and stats are below.

Einstein Bros, Mission Valley

I finally got back to my Bagel Rides after 6 months of taking a break. In January and February is was too cold and too rainy to do the rides. And then I was too out of shape to attempt the final rides which are all 60+ miles. The ride to Einstein Bros Bagels in Mission Valley was good--generally nice roads and it wasn't too warm.

The bagel shop left me a little disappointed. There was a really long line when I got there and there was no outdoor seating. Sitting inside was noisy and a bit smelly (Einstein Bros always has some weird burning smell going on.)

The bike performed beautifully. The new chain guard kept the chain from falling off when shifting to 10th gear. The new 500 Wh battery lasted 52 miles which I'm happy with even though it lasted 55 miles when it was new. I put on the older 400 Wh battery to finish the last 10 miles or so.

Route and stats are below.