Ride from Los Angeles area to San Francisco

[MAXdB]

i ended up going up using this route.. mostly hwy 1:

the placemarkers are the gas stops.. i'm a little paranoid when it comes to running at out of gas..


the trip was very nice but a little foggy until i got to 154..




once over on the other side of 154 near the lake, it was very nice..



i continued on straight to the 101 from there but plan on stopping by solvang the next time around..

the ride went through some really nice areas..








but i would have to say that the 70 or 80 miles between gorda springs and carmel were my favorite with amazing views and very fun twisty roads.. i would stop to take pictures and then within the next couple minutes see something else just as nice.. after a while i simply had to try to fight the urge to stop since that portion of the trip was literally taking twice as long as i had planned









some more on the way up








by the time i got home at around 9 pm (i left socal at 10 am) it was cold, dark and wet in san francisco. home sweet home  



i would definitely recommend this route to anyone planning on it. if i had more time i would have visited solvang and hearst castle, stopped by pismo for some chowder at splash cafe, and relaxed a little longer at the beaches.. all in all a great ride  

[SacDuc]

Glad you had fun and stayed safe.

I live in Santa Barbara and work in the Santa Ynez Valley. The 154 is my daily commute. Some nice sweepers to be had on that stretch. Let me know next time you pass through and I can recommend some other nice roads/out and backs/restaurants/etc in the area.

Bacon Junkie is riding the 154 this weekend. You should ask him about it. In fact, everyone reading this should PM him and ask him about it. Now. Do it. Tell him that SacDuc is helping.

sac

[Spidey]

I dig that ride.  But now that you've hit SF, just keep ridin' north.  PCH stays absolutely amazing as ya keep goin'.

Cold, wet n' dark, eh?  Yup, sounds like summer in SF.   

[elyse]

whenever i visit socal i try to take that route, i-5 is faster but nowhere near as fun or pretty... my favorite part is seeing the elephant seals near hearst castle.

[MAXdB]

I dig that ride.  But now that you've hit SF, just keep ridin' north.  PCH stays absolutely amazing as ya keep goin'.

i sometimes forget theres more north of sf.. lol.. i must explore..

Glad you had fun and stayed safe.

I live in Santa Barbara and work in the Santa Ynez Valley. The 154 is my daily commute. Some nice sweepers to be had on that stretch. Let me know next time you pass through and I can recommend some other nice roads/out and backs/restaurants/etc in the area.

thank sac.. i will be sure to do that on my trip down. next time i will be leaving early enough to arrive when there is still light hopefully

[bikepilot]

Great ride, I did SF to SD and went along almost the same route a couple of summers ago - great area.  Time it with the start/end of the concours de elegance (sp?) so that all the blingy cages are headed the opposite direction for a constant stream of eye candy 

[elyse]

i sometimes forget theres more north of sf.. lol.. i must explore..

exploring is a MUST! fort bragg is awesome! also more inland between calistoga & clearlake is a nice ride. or you could go east & explore hwy 49 in amador & placer county. oh & there's yosemite.. norcal is pretty special

[AJ]

... Time it with the start/end of the concours de elegance (sp?) so that all the blingy cages are headed the opposite direction for a constant stream of eye candy  

Genius!  



Welcome to SF MAXdB, glad your trip went well

[Michael Moore]

So Hwy 1 was open the whole way from Cambria to Carmel Valley then? That's good news - it was closed this spring.

[$Lindz$]

Awesome stuff. When I do the trek sometime later this year we should meet up. Our bikes are almost twinsies...


Before clip-ons:

[MAXdB]

Welcome to SF MAXdB, glad your trip went well

thanks aj!

Awesome stuff. When I do the trek sometime later this year we should meet up. Our bikes are almost twinsies...

haha i know..i saw your bike in a couple other threads and thought the same thing

btw, it looks like your bike is very low on oil in that pic 

[MAXdB]

So Hwy 1 was open the whole way from Cambria to Carmel Valley then? That's good news - it was closed this spring.

yup open all the way through. there were a couple stops due to construction but due to the very light weekday traffic it was fine

[$Lindz$]

Haha no worries on the oil. I had just changed it, it's still very light and I think the sun/exposure is blowing out the color in that pic. Though now I'm a bit curious and want to check it!

I stumbled accross your bike before as well. Luckily before I had gone through with any Black-and-Gold Darmah-esque paint... Haha. I'll get around to it eventually but I've decided I'm now going with a Black-and-White 60s-chic affair... a-la the black Sport1000.

[orangelion03]

Was up the coast way a couple weekends ago.  Visiting friends in Atascadero, I rode up and back on Hwy 1 from Morro Bay to Bixby Bridge on Saturday.  I love the ride so much I cant bring myself to stop to take pictures.

There are also many interesting alternatives to the 101 between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo.   THE ONE can get pretty miserable when it's cold and rainy and there are some great alternative roads to the east as well.

[SDRider]

Nice pics!  I've been wanting to do that ride for a few years now.  Would be fun to get a bunch of Ducati riders together for a ride like this.