San Francisco to San Diego. Anyone recommend a

[Wally]

nice safe (traffic wise) route? Thank you.

 

[hondated]

Wally unfortunately I cannot give you any advice but you may find your answer here :


http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doctype=journal

Enjoy whatever

 

[Wally]

Thanks hon. Any more advice appreciated. Cheers.

 

[rsvdaz]

PCH1 down the coast..some fantastic views

 

[Red Light]

Basically its Highway 1 down the Pacific Coast from Monterey to San Luis Obispo. Fabulous road along the coast but watch out for where you are going to stop as there are few places and its a fair way inbetween. Not very busy traffic wise but watch out for drivers looking at the scenery rather than the road. From San Francisco to Monterey you have the choice of going down the coast, riding Skyline Blvd down the top of the ridges to the west of Silicon Valley or riding down the valley itself. I would go for the hills - you'll see plenty much better coastal scenery later. Silicon Valley is not a very pleasant ride but if its your thing wandering down from Palo Alto to San Jose and seeing where it all happened and places like the Google, 3Com and Intel campuses and Stanford University is fascinating and awe inspiring. At the other end after SLO its a bit mixed with Vandenberg Air Force Base to get round but after Santa Barbara (go for crab at the end of the pier and visit probably one of the most beautiful university locations in the world along with UBC, Vancouver) you'll find Rt 1/101 to LA has quite a few cyclists on it although not a very pleasant dual carriageway and then you can thread your way down the coast from Malibu (view it from the beach, not the road), Santa Monica, Venice Beach and on down through Newport Beach and then follow the old Highway 101 alongside Interstate 5 from San Clemente to Oceanside and then you are back to having a choice of streets down into San Diego.

 

[Wally]

Thanks Red Light. All these roads would be cycle safe?

 

[ChrisPAmbulance]

(Already mentioned) Pacific Highway (State Highway 1) will take you from San Fran, down the coast through Daly City down to Monterey (See the aquarium) and on. It's supposed to be the most beautiful highway in the world. I used to drive the northern section in my non-cycling days. South of SF, it gets up on top of the hills and on a good day, you get a beautiful view of the city in the low lying mist.

One thing - don't go in the late summer. Around Monmtery is an area called Gilroy where they grow a large proportion of the US garlic crop - you will be constantly plagued with the munchies (I got stuck in a 4-hour traffic jam at the height of the season - Whe I finally got through, I went to the nearest Diner and ate myself stupid for about the same length of time!!)

 

[raybo]

You can't actually follow Highway 1 the entire way as it becomes a freeway at a few parts. One section is between Santa Cruz and Monterey, though there is a bike path for some of that. The route through that area isn't obvious and it is easy to pick some busy and unpleasant roads. Check out the Adventure Cycling Association Pacific Coast route map (it may take a while to load).

There is a nasty bit of road (about 3 miles) south of San Francisco called Devil's Slide. It is hilly, narrow, and very busy with cars at certain times. The fall would be straight down and deadly. Many people have ridden it without problems but it is only a couple miles and I might suggest a bus or taxi from Pacifica (north end) to Montera (south end). This page has to 2 links to information about Devil's Slide.

I live in SF and have family in LA. I've ridden that stretch many times and have written 2 journals of the ride. The first one I did 70 miles days and the second one I did 50 miles days. The ride from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz and the 23 miles from Carmel to Big Sur campground are some of the best scenery I've ever ridden though.

I rode down to San Deigo once. It is another couple days of virtually non-stop urban riding, though there are some nice coastal sections. Be sure to take the beach path through LA.

Have a great time.

 

[Danny]

All these roads would be cycle safe?

It depends on your definition of "cycle safe".

The Pacific Highway is one of the most scenic routes I have ever been on, however it can be quite busy, particularly in the summer, and there are often queues of cars on the narrow bendy stretches. From memory while there are not many trucks on Highway 1, there are plenty of large motor homes which can easily be the size of a small truck.

In terms of a comparison it is a bit like riding along a reasonably busy A road in the UK, though the frequent bends mean that traffic cannot go that fast in many places. Perfectly doable on a bike, but probably not a route for a novice cyclist.

I've only done stretches of it, so would follow the advice of raybo and others who have done the whole route.

 

[benb]

Stop at ano nuevo point and check out the elephant seal colony.

 

[jdtate101]

I've done hw1 north of sf and some of it towards Santa cruz and Monterey. It's a great road and not hugely busy but it's worth avoiding riding any excessive uphill section as it tends to be very twisty in parts with blind corners where drivers could take you out from behind. Going downhill should be fine as long as you take primary. Cali is a great place to cycle and the scenery is just awesome. Make sure you visit big bowl or maybe mt hamilton if you fancy a serious climb ( cat HC climb) with great views over silicon valley.