Bastille Day 100k – Tour des Croissants
100km/3400ft RUSA Populaire
| Start time | Saturday July 11, 2026 8:00 am |
|---|---|
| Time limit | 6 hours 40 minutes. Ride ends on Saturday July 11, 2026 2:40 pm. |
| Start location | Sorrento Valley Rd Park And Ride 12791 Sorrento Valley Rd San Diego, CA 92121. Parking available at start location. |
| Map | rwgps |
| Organizers | Osvaldo Colavin, Melissa Walker |
| Registration info | Brevet has already taken place. |
| Registered riders | There are 32 registered riders. James Allen Elizabeth Atchley Andrew Bartfeld Matthew Cazalas Joshua Chikasawa Osvaldo Colavin Emily Cosco Dean Dobberteen Teddy Enciso Nelson Estrada Andrew Frohreich Mark Galiano Katie Gandee Stephanie Garcia Nur Hamideh Aaron Holdaway David Horwitt Michael Jalkio Eric Korevaar Leticia Lee Chris Litvin Daniel Markowitz David Nakai James Pringle Ernesto Rivera Max Saenz Elizabeth Tenuto Michael Tomcho Melissa Walker Aliya Weise Mudi Yang Darlene Young |
| Results | RUSA results page |
After Versailles won the contest in 2025, this year’s tour adds two worthy challengers: Christophe Rull Pâtisserie in San Marcos and Carlsbad French Pastry Cafe. Last year’s least favorite place, Prager’s Brothers is dropped.
A few tips learned from last year:
- Share your croissants, unless you think you can gobble up 6 croissants in one morning (a butter croissant is about 250 calories)
- If you must pace your tastings, you can skip the 2nd and 6th ones.
To celebrate Bastille Day (14 juillet), we will tour the best French bakeries of North County. Your mission: elect the best croissant of San Diego County. Warning: this will be a calorie neutral ride, at best.
Starting from the Sorrento Valley Park and Ride, we will head east on the SR-56 bike path, exiting at Black Mountain Rd and weaving our way to the French Oven in Scripps Ranch. There might be a line at this popular destination, but you’ll be rewarded by a tempting display of pastries (Paris-Brest!) and other goodies. But stick to the script and get a plain croissant.
Take tasting notes as you sample your first croissant. Here’s what to look for (courtesy of the Guide Michelin):
We’ll then head north following the I-15 until we reach Escondido where we’ll stop at A Delight of France. Enjoy your second croissant and contrast with your previous tasting.
Next stop will be in San Marcos, where the recently opened Christophe Rull Patisserie offers a range of pastries made by a classically trained french pastry chef. Warning: this could be the most expensive croissant on this tour.
We’ll then head west toward the coast and our next stop will be at Carlsbad French Pastry Café. Their selection of pastries is impressive.
Heading south now, our next stop will be at Versailles in Encinitas where you will be tempted to try the Paris-Brest, but don’t miss the croissant, believe me. If you’re still hungry, you can cross the street and make a stop at Isabelle Briens’ bakery.
As we reach the coast, we’ll pay our respect to the Cardiff Kook (officially known as the Magic Carpet Ride sculpture) by taking a picture of its attire of the day. Here’s what he looked like on May 25, 2025:
It will then be only a short ride to Darshan in Del Mar for the last control. You won’t be penalized if you skip this tasting and default to an electronic proof of passage but I recommend you keep some room for this final tasting, their croissant is worth crossing the road for.
At the finish you will be asked to vote for your best croissant experience.