Best Driving Roads in NorCal?

[alivebacon]

Anyone?
I can think of:

Highway 1
17 mile road
what else though

[atr_hugo]

Black Road - connects Hiway 17 and Skyline Drive near Los Gatos. Can't recommend it highly enough!

[atr_hugo]

Hiway 9 ain't that bad either (can tell a story about blistering the sidewalls on all four 'General' brand tires on a rental car driving that road ; -).

[ichiban]

redwood road, that goes from oakland to hayward. Just don't go there at night.

[alivebacon]

Are these roads pretty empty during the day? Or will I have to deal with trafficccccccc

[atr_hugo]

Black road is pretty intense - it's also a bit out of the way - you cannot fit an RV on that road, for example.

Hiway 9 isn't a major route either so it should be pretty good.

Let me put it this way - for most people, if they don't have business or a home on these roads, they won't want to be on them - WAY too twisty. Muhaha ; -)

[ichiban]

OH and also mt. Hamilton has a pretty nice road. There are annual subaru meets there. The road that lead up to the observatory up top and then down the back side. The road has a lot of pot holes when going up, but when ur coming down, it's nice and smooth.

As for redwood road, there are usually some cars on it because people like to drive on it instead of being stuck in traffic. But if you go a little later in the evening (not before night fall!) you'll be alright. I've seen too many crashes (been in 3 in friend's cars and one of them went of a cliff) there at nite. Unless u know the course in and out, you should take it easy. If you want a nice down hill run, start from A street in Hayward, but becareful when u get to about turn 29.

[49ER ROLL]

agree with hwy 9 & 17...automobile mag just did an article on the drive from Fort Point to Point Arena in a 128...gave it great reviews...scenic and driving...

[49ER ROLL]

cabrillo hwy (hwy1) as well

[lifesaride]

Bear Creek Road in Martinez towards Berkeley or Bear Creek Road ont he way to Santa Cruz is good. 17 is fun as hell if you can get out of traffic.

[cmacblue42]

being a cyclist in the bay area, i know the roads really very well, so i thought i'd help out a bit

in the santa cruz mountains HWY 17 is veerrrryyy traffic congested, but many people do go at night (ferraris and r8s are known to frequent it between the hours of 10 and 4 am)

HWY 9 is only good during the week. And even then, expect cyclist and motorcycle traffic. the weekends are horrible. At least the side facing los gatos is xtremeley congested/

Alpine and Page Mill are excellent options out of los altos, however, page mill is also a famous cyclist route.

If you want a ridiculously hard, rally type hill climb, i would look for bohlman and montevina roads. However, they do dead end at the top and they also have a lot of driveways (very expensive driveways i might add)

hicks road and summit/kennedy road for access form los gatos are some of the best ive known. hicks takes you on a nice 18 mile loop, lots of elevation change, and its notorius for speedsters. there is nothing up there anymore, except for an old air force base at the very top of the mountain. This is one rare example of a road where motorists have taken over the road from cyclists, and not vice versa.

HWY 236, skyline blvd, black, and china grade are all top notch roads as well, without much traffic or driveways whatsoever.

in south san jose, if you want out of the mountains and just want some nice back roads, mckean and uvas roads offer a loop of the three reservoirs, as well as a back alley to gilroy and its mushroom farms, garlic farms and outlet stores.

and for the livermore hills, the back side of mt hamilton rd, aka san antonio county road going to livermore is a top notch road from what i hear. I havent ridden it cuz cyclists never go there.

in the north bay, i know that the road at the top of mount tamalpais has not only great driving, but some of the best views of the bay. Its referred to as the seven sisters by locals because of the seven ridge peaks. it was used in a car commercial a coupel years ago (either mazda or bmw i think??) where there where hydraulics under the turns which raised them as the car went on them....

so there you have it. a boatload of roads for the bay area.
Enjoy!