By AJ Jacobsen In California we are blessed with a wide variety of mountain roads, with pavement, trails, and tracks that can appeal to pretty much any riding style. As part of my riding club, Curve Unit, we host monthly rides in various areas, providing members and attendees with new scenery and different roads
Bay Area ride to Yosemite
Some say the journey is the most important part of any ride. Others say the destination is number one. My ride last weekend included both an interesting journey and ended in a most interesting destination trumping either opinion. At Manteca we change to SR 120 and the road narrows to one lane each way. Then
Bay Area winter ride report
Last Saturday I headed out for a much needed day on the bike. It had been awhile, over a month in fact, since I had really gone out on a “fun” ride of any serious length. A friend hadn’t been up to the Lake Berryessa area, so I decided to show him some of my
Bay Area Hwy-101 Ride
This ride begins only a couple short miles from my house. As soon as I hit the highway I can look to my left and see marshlands, the San Francisco Bay, and mountains beyond. If that wasn’t enough, the view changes from day to day, from whiffs of fog rising over the marsh to bright
Bay Area Motorcycle Rally – Cordelia to Quincy
I will be sharing my first experience doing a motorcycle rally in writing in the next entry, as for now I wanted to share some of the photos I took during the rides (some taken literally during riding!). Day 1 In the first day, we met with all the rally participants in Cordelia, CA, then
Best San Francisco Bay Area Day Rides – Part 4
Our final installment in our journey around the bay area covers the “East Bay” area, with easy access from most cities east of the bay and north of the San Jose area. While stringing all of these into one day would be difficult, there are a few routes that make nice day trips on their
Best San Francisco Bay Area Day Rides – Part 3
Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Continuing on the thread of some of the best rides in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ll move on to a ride I just completed last week. I’ve ridden most of these roads before, and they are well worth the trip. There’s a bit of variety from bumpy
Best San Francisco Bay Area Day Rides – Part 2
See Part 1 here. For those especially warm summer days, there’s nothing better than heading out to the coast to catch the cooler air and ocean breeze. Not only does the coastal weather make a smoldering August day rather comfortable, it also offers some amazing scenery, great cafes and enjoyable stops for off the bike
Best San Francisco Bay Area Day Rides – Part 1
While there are numerous areas in the US that contain some amazing roads, I must admit that I believe I plopped myself into one of the best places possible. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a large population of motorcyclists, and for good reason – between the weather, roads, culture and tracks it
Northern California Rides – Hill Rd
Hill Rd offers great riding along with the incredible sights of Lava Beds National Monument In the far corners of the state lies another great Northern California motorcycle ride buried in time with the lava beds that it protects. If you have ridden through the Lava Beds National Monument you have ridden on Hill Road.
Northern California Rides: SR 89 – Lassen Volcanic National Park & Forest
The National Park System is vast and offers visitors everything from Coast to Coast. California is fortunate to be home to 26 Parks. In 2012, California saw more than 35 million visitors to the park system. Get a park pass and be one in a million! Lassen Volcanic National Park (LVNP) is just one of
California Motorcycle Rides – Bald Hills Rd in NorCal
Northern California spoils all motorcycles from dual sport, cruiser, adventure, and sport bikes. The road system and general beauty of the less inhabited parts of California are worth the trek. A favorite of mine is Bald Hills Road. It is located in Northern California just past Orick and a little ways north of Arcata. It
California Motorcycle Rides – State Route 96 in NorCal
We all have our favorite roads that we like to ride day in and day out, but we also have those favorites that we ended up planning an entire ride around. Even if I was cruising coast to coast I would find myself first heading north to catch a ride on State Route 96 (SR-96).