...but it's a fantastic area for motorcycle riding, especially if you prefer to ride alone or in small groups like I do.
There's a wide range of topographies within just a few miles of each other. You can go from twisting coastal highway to mountain roads to twisties to flat plain straightaways within a few minutes of each other. And you can easily ride 9-10 months out of the year.
This site lists some of the better Bay Area riding locations. My personal faves are Alice's, Highway 9, Highway 84, Skyline (35), and Mount Hamilton.
Page Mill Road is extremely twisty & not much fun for cruisers. < |:)~
On our ride at Big Bend I found out that I actually like "sweepers" more than "twisties." LOL
Back in the good ol' days, we had a run where you had to stop for one beer at every public tavern on the 80 mile plus run!
Lordy-Lordy!
I'm sure with all the new deewee laws that run has died off...but it sure was a blast back in the '60s!!!
I live about 5 miles from Alice's on Woodside Rd, and I'll tell you, these are some of the best roads around, however I LOVE Highway 49 through Gold Country and all the roads off 101 near Eureka, Yreka, etc. I love the cool redwoods, the roads bending around the trees as though you were off road riding. Just awesome.
For dirt bike rides, I love Tahoe National Forest and Stanislaus National Forest. You can see Half Dome a ridge or two away, yet there isn't another rider for miles it seems! The solitude and great vistas are the best.
In general the CA roads from Big Sur, north have given me a little bit of every terrain you can picture, temperature changes that can be blessed or dreaded, roads that seemingly haven't been touched since the logging days, and some of the best escapes from the daily insanity of the bay area.
Oh yeah, me steed is a Ducati!
I'd reaaalllllly like to own one of these though: