I just got back from a week long ride with five other couples. We started off from my place in Malibu heading up the coast. We rode up Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu; and then highway 101 to Santa Barbara. We then took highway 154 (the San MarcosPass) around LakeCachuma, and re-hooked up with highway 101. We spent the first night at a quaint hotel in San Luis Obispo called the Apple Farm. The next morning we proceeded a short distance to San Simeon for a tour of HearstCastle. Wow, did William Randolph Hearst know how to spend money and party or what?

From San Simeon, we rode up the coast highway to majestic Big Sur, and had a late lunch at Nepenthes. From there we rode to Pacific Grove in Monterey. The ride along the coast to Big Sur and Pacific Grove is breathtaking at times. We were buffeted by some pretty strong winds from time to time which made the ride a bit challenging, especially riding two-up with fully packed saddlebags and a T-Bag/duffle bag on the rear luggage rack. (By the way, I figure I had upwards of 50 pounds on the luggage rack; plus another 10 pounds in each of the saddlebags. I worried about all that weight, but the bike and the rack held up beautifully.)

In Pacific Grove, we stayed at the Green Gables Inn; a bed and breakfast right across from the beach/ocean that is framed by classic Cypress trees that are renowned in that area. The next day we set off for South Lake Tahoe. We headed northwest over highway 152 over the PachecoPass to highway 99; and then north through Stockton to Placerville. From Placerville to South Lake Tahoe the ride was magnificent.

After a night of gambling in Tahoe, we headed for MammothLakes by way of highway 89 and 395. Again, the ride from Tahoe to Mammoth was spectacular bike riding. Once in Mammoth, we settled in at my family cabin for two days doing lots of sightseeing in and around MammothLakes.

From Mammoth, we had are sights on Yosemite. We were hopeful that TiogaPass would be open, but we missed the opening by one day. Instead, we had to take the longer SonoraPass route. I had read that the SonoraPass was a highly rated road for motorcycle enthusiasts; and we were not disappointed. The pass takes you to an elevation just shy of 10,000 feet; and with the late winter that we have experienced, it was a veritable winter wonderland with five foot drifts of snow on either side of the road. Fortunately, in Tahoe we picked up one of our friends who drove a car with us the rest of the trip. As the “chase car,” he was able to carry all of our bags. I was grateful not to have to ride two-up with all the extra baggage weight over the winding roads like the Sonora pass.

From the town of Sonora we headed for Yosemite. Not surprisingly, the historic waterfalls of Yosemite are gushing big time this time of year. After a ride through Yosemite Valley and a late lunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel, we headed to my friend’s place in Auberry, Ca (just outside of Fresno). It was a long day of riding—having left Mammoth before 8am and not arriving to my friend’s home in Auberry until after 8pm--just shy of 300 exhausting but exhilarating miles of riding.

The next day we headed back to the coast via highway 41 through the golden rolling hills of Paso Robles. After another night in San Luis Obispo, we made the last leg of the trip back to Malibu.

In total, we road over 1500 miles of mostly highways and passes that were seemingly designed for the motorcycle enthusiast. A great trip!

 

Damn! Now that's how you do it!!

I love all those roads you mentioned. I can't imagine living in any other state!

 

sounds like a great ride ,wooot

 

when you were in Sonora, you were about 40 miles from my house... nice riding in that area.. IF you ever do that again, instead of doing highway 50 from sac... catch 88 out of Stockton and go over the MT's into Tahoe. and highway 1 north of SF is even better than south... both are great rides... see you next time...

 

Harley0711: We wanted to take highway 88 out of Stockton, but that was going to add a bit too much time to our ride that day. Fortunately, I got to ride on highway 88 between Stockton and Jackson last October. That stretch was awesome; so I can imagine how the rest of the way would have been to Tahoe.

 

You came right through here in Pismo Beach we ride all of the roads you discribed but you missed one when you were by Yosimite highway 49 the gold country absolutly beautiful too. Next time you coming this way let me know man I would like to meet you.

 

The trip sounds great and all but... where are the pics???

 

most of those roads i have been on i live pretty close to all that great riding country over here.

 

Grew up in the Bay Area and remember traveling the roads you mentioned, in a car, when I was a young'un. Would love to do them on my bike.........one of these days!

 

Here are a few pictures from my trip. Most of my pictures from my trip are of my riding companions which I doubt will be very interesting to any of you. So I just picked a few pictures to give you an idea of my trip. Unfortunately, by battery went dead in Yosemite; so I have to wait for my buddies to send me their pictures.