Bucket list rides.

[keithu]

21 hours ago, chitown said:

 

 

Wow, that does look like fun. This one's going on my list for sure. It sort of reminds me of a longer version of Patterson Pass Road between Livermore and Tracy. When I lived in Manteca I worked in Alameda and later Moffett Field, and most days I would take Patterson Pass or Tesla Road home instead of I-580. I got to know every crack and pebble on Patterson Pass, it was like my own personal race track. 

4 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

That looks like the road to the Lick Observatory which is just east of San Jose. 

 

If I had time to take the very long scenic route to or from Moffett Field I'd ride Mines Rd to Mt. Hamilton Rd past the observatory. It always amazed me that I could find excellent, traffic free roads like this right next to a major metropolis. SoCal was the same way; the Santa Monica mountains are surrounded by LA, Ventura, and the San Fernando Valley yet the roads up there were empty.  

[maximo]

15 hours ago, chitown said:

Buck's Lake area is a hair over 5,000'. Buck's Lake Road and Big Creek (use this unless you want to actually stop at the lake to eat, there's a nice place with a patio etc) can close during winter but the norcal folks probably have better info than me.

My last trip up there is generally the last week of Sep with 1-2 nights in Tahoe and 2-3 nights in Quincy. Then generally don't ride the area again until the paved passes to 395 are open as that's what I use to blast north/south. This year we almost made it as those counties were doing ok on covid but the fires and smoke were bad so we switched to Taft at the last minute. If I'm unsure about weather/fires I'll look around online and call the motel in Quincy (Ranchito) and see what I can find out. 

 

Bucks Lake aka Oro Quincy aka 162 always closes for winter. The road is just upslope from Lake Oroville (and the forebay/afterbay) so weather systems pick up a lot of moisture as the move from  west to east and dump it all on the area just where this road is. So it gets a lot of snow. Also, it does not get plowed so you have to wait for a natural melt to clear the road. But it is much lower than the other well known passes, so it doesn't last as long. So, you can usually safely plan on being able to cross it end to end from June through October. 

Here's a picture taken this year on May 5 at this spot: 39.8228944,-121.32 

If you come up from the quincy side you'll get as far as here 39.900426, -121.119033 and then hit snow. 

Now for the bad news: This road is dead. The North Complex Fire (Bear Fire, whatever you want to call it) raged right over the top of it and it was hot enough that the road surface boiled and disintegrated. Much of it has turned into a fine powder, almost like the road is made of sand. Even worse, the State and Feds have said this is a low priority road for them, so they don't foresee putting in the $$ to tear down and rebuild the road. And certainly the county doesn't have that kind of money to fix it. So for now it's set to stay as a semi paved road. 

This kills me. I work in Oroville, right at the foot of this marvel, and I often ride it during lunchtime. And now I feel like Ralphie's dad when the Bumpus hounds steal the turkey. 

[betoney]

2 hours ago, maximo said:

Now for the bad news: This road is dead. The North Complex Fire (Bear Fire, whatever you want to call it) raged right over the top of it and it was hot enough that the road surface boiled and disintegrated. Much of it has turned into a fine powder, almost like the road is made of sand.

This kills me. I work in Oroville, right at the foot of this marvel, and I often ride it during lunchtime. And now I feel like Ralphie's dad when the Bumpus hounds steal the turkey.

Sad news indeed, I wish I had heard about and experienced this road years ago.

How about the other half of 'the loop' from Quincy to Oroville going through La Porte?  Any fire damage that you know of?

[maximo]

5 hours ago, betoney said:

Sad news indeed, I wish I had heard about and experienced this road years ago.

How about the other half of 'the loop' from Quincy to Oroville going through La Porte?  Any fire damage that you know of?

No damage to either road that parallels Bucks Lake Rd. Hwy 70 (Feather River Canyon) to the north and LaPorte Road to the south both survived the fires with no problems. 

[chitown]

10 hours ago, maximo said:

This road is dead

That's a bummer. Going to have to check it out when it's dry. Unpaved doesn't bother me but I only attempt sand of any depth on a bike I don't mind dropping and picking up multiple times

[nhchris]

On 12/9/2020 at 3:04 PM, keithu said:

@chitown that's an impressive list!

Regarding IOM: Assuming one doesn't have a friend from Texas with a local house, what are the options for accommodations during the TT? Are there plenty of rooms to rent, or do most people camp? I should have included this one on my bucket list.  

When I did a my two week trip to Man in 2011 I used the "couch surfing" website to find a great place for FREE!  I had my own bedroom in Douglas in a flat in a row house,  It was wonderful.  

I worked as a course marshal and could walk to my assignment every day in St. Ninnian's Square at the top of Bray Hill.

I also spent a few nights in a Faulty Towers type guest house on the Douglas Prom, which was a very busy n fun Location.

[maximo]

44 minutes ago, chitown said:

That's a bummer. Going to have to check it out when it's dry. Unpaved doesn't bother me but I only attempt sand of any depth on a bike I don't mind dropping and picking up multiple times

If I can get up there (in a cage) before it snows I'll report back with a condition assessment.  I've seen pictures, and it ain't pretty. I just don't have a good sense of how widespread the damage is. 

[griskins]

These aren't bucket list rides for me, because I have done them so many times they are routine. But they should be bucket list rides for you. Why? Well engineered, little traffic, few speed tax collectors, lovely scenery, no tree tunnels.

CA 96 from I5 to Willow Creek. Downsides: Occasional rocks in road, tar snakes.

CA 36 from I5 to Fortuna. There are two nearly contiguous 5 mile sections that are basically paved wagon roads where they did NO grading. Tight and unpredictable. Unexpectedly airborne. Downside: 100 degrees on the east, and drizzly on the coast. Also check out the minor roads and route up Lassen on the east of I5.

John Day watershed. Basically any road between Prineville and John Day on the south and Wasco and Pilot Rock on the north. Downside: Up to 70 degree temperature swings. I tend to park my butt at the River Bend motel in Spray and do day rides out from there.

[keithu]

2 hours ago, griskins said:

These aren't bucket list rides for me, because I have done them so many times they are routine. But they should be bucket list rides for you. Why? Well engineered, little traffic, few speed tax collectors, lovely scenery, no tree tunnels.

Agreed, these should be on your bucket list if you haven't ridden them. The area in Oregon you described was called the "Ochoco" by the Northern Paiute people who lived in the area for thousands of years. It's beautiful country; I ride it every summer and hunt deer and elk there most winters. 

CA-36 is well known, but I prefer CA-96. I did a 1000 mile day last June that included CA-96. It's 150 miles from Willow Creek to I-5, and on a Saturday afternoon I think I saw maybe five cars the whole length. 

[betoney]

11 minutes ago, keithu said:

CA-36 is well known, but I prefer CA-96. I did a 1000 mile day last June that included CA-96. It's 150 miles from Willow Creek to I-5, and on a Saturday afternoon I think I saw maybe five cars the whole length. 

Agreed.  I much prefer CA-96 also.  I don't think I have ever been through there without a big smile on my face and as a bonus, once you get to Willow Creek you have the "Bigfoot burger" to look forward to.  😎

[maximo]

Totally concur that CA-96 is underappreciated. Combine it with a loop from Somes Bar to Cecilville Callahan and/or Sawyers Bar to Etna and you have a *chef's kiss* day ride.  

[koth442]

And you get to visit Happy Camp and take your picture with Sasquatch. 

[keithu]

Taken in June this year in the middle of a 1000 mile day.

[texscottyd]

19 hours ago, koth442 said:

And you get to visit Happy Camp and take your picture with Sasquatch. 

Somehow that one sentence just made my morning!   I was supposed to be out riding right now, but the weather hasn’t cooperated...  

[Kevin R]

On 12/11/2020 at 6:39 AM, betoney said:

Sad news indeed, I wish I had heard about and experienced this road years ago.

How about the other half of 'the loop' from Quincy to Oroville going through La Porte?  Any fire damage that you know of?

What a bummer! I was heading to Quincy for a couple days and ride that highly recommended road in Nov 2019. Unfortunately Bambi got in the way and ended the trip abruptly before I even reached Quincy (that's bad!) - but not before I rode CA49 from Grass Valley to Sattley (that's good!). That road is spectacular and had me giggling in my helmet. I guess the other good part of the trip is that it resulted in me buying the Tracer 900GT which has been a great decision.

Betoney, for the southern part of your Cali trip in '21, if you think you might head inland from Pismo on SR58 (I echo the earlier comment about this one being a top 5 road in USA) and consider going all the way to the Sierras, then a pass through the Kernville/Lake Isabella area won't disappoint. The ride up from Kernville through Johnsondale and Ponderosa is sweet and SR155 and 190 are lovely, serpentine ribbons of asphalt. 155 and 190 are like the Dragon back east with hundreds of 2nd and 3rd gear corners. It's been some years since I was last there so not sure what the pavement is like now, but at the time they were racetrack smooth.

If you decide to head back north instead of inland from Pismo, then Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd to Hunter Liggett and then through San Lucas to pick up SR25 is pretty good. SR25 is curvy and scenic and runs past Needles Nat'l Park if you've a mind for that sort of thing on your trip.