My Favorite Motorcycle Rides
Local Rides (< 250 miles there and back)
Short rides
Calaveras Blvd, from 680/Sunol to 680/Milpitas. (15 miles)
The road is perhaps 15 miles long, very tight
and twisty. Taken in 1,2 and 3rd gear.
You'll sit in 2nd gear a lot!
Pavement is adequate; a bit rippled.
The road is 1.5 lanes wide, with plenty of blind
corners.
Not to be done aggressively, gives you plenty of
stop, lean, gas it action.
Sunol Valley/Palomares Road (20 miles)
Tight, steep valley road. Usually plenty of sand/debris
on the road. Blind corners. Another road to take easy.
Fun for a short ride.
Medium rides
Page Mill Road/Highway 35 (60 miles)
Going up Page Mill road on a week day is a treat.
Little traffic, and lots of tight first gear corners.
Very tight in places. 1st and 2nd gear are your tools.
Asphalt is fair to crappy. Debris is present.
When reaching 35, I'll usually head north, then jam down to 92, and back to
101 and home. 35 is a good road for medium to high speed turns.
Careful of shadowy corners with possible dew/water in them.
Highway 9/Highway 35 (80 miles)
Getting into the base of Highway 9 in Saratoga always gets me excited.
It's relatively tight/medium turns for the first few miles, then opens
up to many medium speed corners. Asphalt is fair to good, with rarely
any debris in the road. There are two right handers with good dips at the
apex that can ground down bodywork/mufflers if you're not on the gas or
leaning off the bike a little!
I'll usually run 35 north to Alices, back to 92, 101 and home.
Highway 9/Highway 236 (120 miles)
Fun, fun fun. Similar to the above ride, but skip 35 and go down the "backside"
of 9. There is one TIGHT, right hander that drops about 50 feet as you go down it.
Opens your eyes up really big if you're not paying attention.
236 is generally a pleasant run as you're going thru Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Pretty but LOTS of redwoods on both sides of the road...
Usually come home either up 1 and cross over at 92, or just go back up 17.
Highway 130 - Mt. Hamilton/ Mines Road (100 miles)
My favorite road. Approaching it from 680, take the Alum Rock Ave. exit east.
Follow on Alum Rock for about 4 miles, then take a right on Mt. Hamilton Road (130).
The first 3-5 miles of Mt. Hamilton road is littered with tar strips.
Damn shame, because there are some beauty right/left combos down here.
Probably better that way... this is where 99% of the residents live. Once you clear
the park, there's really no one to bother you.
This ride is usually done in 2nd and 3rd gear, with two 190degree plus right handers
that'll have you clunking down to first and coming up with some innovative lines to
not cross into the opposing lane... it's tight and steeeeep!
Always stop at the top (Lick Observatory) and watch a couple of bikes snake their way
up to the top. Fun.
Down the back side, where it turns into Mines Road. Mines Road is a single lane road
for about 1/2 the distance... tight, twisty, blind.... a few bumps in the road that'll
lift your front end WAY up if you're on the gas. The last 10 miles of Mines Road
before you get into Livermore is great! Lots of good (fair) asphalt and 25mph turns.
Highway 121/128 - Lake Berryessa, Pope Valley (200 miles)
Great, great riding. My #2 favorite! This is in Tracy's back yard. Bastard!
If you have time, get out to HWY29 and follow it up to Middletown. That's a beeeuuutaful piece of road...
Distant Rides (>= 250 Miles there and back)
Tracy inspects damage to a Bridgestone after our crushing victory on a lap of CA HWY 299
Highway 128/1/101/299 - MidSummer Ride
Ride starts around Lake Berryessa, and you just stay on 128 all the way to
the coast.
Follow 1 up the coast, and head inland where you'll catch up to 101 for 20
odd miles before coming to Eureka. Stay the night. The next morning, catch
Hwy 299 from Arcata due east to Redding, where you'll jump on 44, cruise
through Mt. Lassen, then head southwest down 32 back to 80 and head home.
Highway 1-South, MidSummer Ride
Basically, hop over Highway 9 until you hit Hwy 1, then follow
down to San Luis Obispo, then grind home on 5.
Highway 1 always pleases. Best done mid-week.
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