Dirt road
San Jose to Pascadero to Davenport to San Jose
San Jose to Carmel Valley, no highways
Fun mix of mountains and coast with a few places to stop along the way
Figure 8
Loop
Some dirt for those of us stuck in mostly restricted areas
Love this route through the parks. Great to ride with other bikers
Tahoe turnaround
The road condition is like Trinity rd. But it it does get a lot better about 3/4 of mile in. It's definitely worth doing especially if you came up Trinity rd. this far.
Great mix of terrain. Tight twisties with straights on Hwy One. Watch out for bark, branches, and fallen rock from the hill side.
More to come
Fabulous route. Must see
lots of sight seeing, great for beginners to advanced. Small little cafe in the middle always some bikers to shoot the shit with. Fast passed sweeping bends (beware of debri in the road for the first 3+miles) gradually builds into tight switch backs. 3/4 are some straight to really open the bike but beware of the police presence in livermore.
Twisty galore. Pretty bumpy in sections. A little more throttle smooths out the bumps.
Road types: coast, mountains, canyons, summits.
Wine country tour
The kind of loop that makes it all worth the ridiculous cost of living
Ride from
I haven't done the whole thing yet. I am trying to see if this would work.
This ride is best done not on days when everyone wants to go to the lake, or you will be spending more time at lights than is ideal.
Also, it is MUCH more enjoyable when there is no construction.
From Mammoth lakes through Yosemite the road gets more curvy and thrilling. Highway 108 is my all time favorite Californian road, closed in winter it is a mountain roller coaster for motorcycles.
It is a very nice week-end ride, lots of turns, ups and downs, with some great scenery amongst the sequoias. You will be sharing the road with cyclists on Page Mill mostly. Alpine Rd will require your attention. I suggest leaving from Palo Alto or 280 toward the ocean; you'll enjoy a drink or a meal in Pescadero, then up or down the coast.
Pretty fun day trip, gone a few times and hardly seen any cops. Have to go early in the morning to beat the traffic.
I rode this from Skyline west to Hwy 1, basically downhill...and it is a steep grade! I likely would have enjoyed it more going uphill. While the pavement is OK, there isn't much of it...no center line \"goat trail\". Lots of blind corners as this is cut out of the mountainside. Expect to stay in 1st gear unless your bike is geared super low. Also, this area is notorious for fog/mist...would NOT recommend riding unless it is warmer and sunny. I've only ridden this once and next time I will go the other direction....so my rating could go up. It does beat getting stuck in Hwy 84 traffic!
This is a great alternative to Hwy 9 for a few reasons. 1) Very little traffic. 2) Hwy 9 is closed and detour is to Hwy 17. I rode this going north to south so basically down hill. It has some steep areas but is still very user friendly. There are some straight sections in the middle which allow you to pass any cars IF there are any. It is not super technical so a pretty good two up road, but quite enjoyable. Leads you right into UCSC. Nice ride!