Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday Drives in the South Bay
The Bay Area has lots of great roads for Sunday drives. My son and I are starting to explore these roads. There are numerous hiking trails along these drives to explore. The environments are diverse like flat plains, mountains, coast, and country. These roads are shared among motorist, motorcyclist, and cyclist.
So far, we've only taken a few trips. The first was Mount Hamilton to the east. Barren wide mountain biking trails and a scatter few single trails on both sides. I enter my only mountain bike race here a decade and a half ago. The drive is on rolling hills with lots of tight turns. It eventually leads to an observatory, but we stopped early to go hiking.
There are a complex network of roads to the south and west. We like to enter from Hwy 9 in Saratoga. From here, you can get to Skyline, and between these two roads, you can drive to the San Francisco or down to Santa Cruz. The are wide mountain roads and narrow switchbacks. Keep driving east, and you'll hit Hwy 1, the Pacific Coast Hwy. It's got a great view and access to many beaches. In the right conditions, you can head up to the mountain tops and drive in the clouds. It's slippery up here so drive slow and watch for the numerous cyclists.
For a quick driving fix in the middle of the night, I head down Santa Teresa and take a right on Baily. There's a straight road here pass the old IBM building. Drive down once to be sure this street is clear of cops. It's easy to see if anyone else is pulling on the road, so you can safely floor it for a good mile. Monterey is good for speed too, but you need to know which patch is harder for cops to hide. At the end of Baily is a uphill switchback to the Calero Reservoir.
In the same general area, there's also a good 10 mile drive on Hicks. It's tight turns with a steep up and downhill section. The best short quick drive around me.
Whenever you get sick of driving, stop for a hike or visit one of the small communities or wineries along the way.
The Miata is my prefer ride, but the Porsche isn't bad either if you don't want to feel every bump. A small car hot rod like a Caterham or Cobra would be perfect and I'll get one of those some day.
So far, we've only taken a few trips. The first was Mount Hamilton to the east. Barren wide mountain biking trails and a scatter few single trails on both sides. I enter my only mountain bike race here a decade and a half ago. The drive is on rolling hills with lots of tight turns. It eventually leads to an observatory, but we stopped early to go hiking.
There are a complex network of roads to the south and west. We like to enter from Hwy 9 in Saratoga. From here, you can get to Skyline, and between these two roads, you can drive to the San Francisco or down to Santa Cruz. The are wide mountain roads and narrow switchbacks. Keep driving east, and you'll hit Hwy 1, the Pacific Coast Hwy. It's got a great view and access to many beaches. In the right conditions, you can head up to the mountain tops and drive in the clouds. It's slippery up here so drive slow and watch for the numerous cyclists.
For a quick driving fix in the middle of the night, I head down Santa Teresa and take a right on Baily. There's a straight road here pass the old IBM building. Drive down once to be sure this street is clear of cops. It's easy to see if anyone else is pulling on the road, so you can safely floor it for a good mile. Monterey is good for speed too, but you need to know which patch is harder for cops to hide. At the end of Baily is a uphill switchback to the Calero Reservoir.
In the same general area, there's also a good 10 mile drive on Hicks. It's tight turns with a steep up and downhill section. The best short quick drive around me.
Whenever you get sick of driving, stop for a hike or visit one of the small communities or wineries along the way.
The Miata is my prefer ride, but the Porsche isn't bad either if you don't want to feel every bump. A small car hot rod like a Caterham or Cobra would be perfect and I'll get one of those some day.
# posted by Mack @ 2:45 PM 
