Best Roads to Ride

[blues2cruise]

If you are in the south west corner of British Columbia, Hwy 99, otherwise known as the Squamish Highway or the more "tourist" name of the Sea to Sky Highway is an absolute must.
The highway is accessed by the Upper Levels Highway by Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver and it goes through Squamish, Whislter and on to Pemberton.
Lots of ups and downs and twisty sections and the average speed is 80km (50mph) except when you go through a few of the small towns on the way.

If you follow the posted speeds, the highway is a great place to travel. It only becomes dangerous when people are travelling too fast for the conditions.

The road follows the Howe sound for a bit so you have ocean views soon to be replaced by mountain views. You can stop off for a break and a view of Shannon Falls before you carry on to Whistler. Easily done as a daytrip.

[CentralOzzy]

Hey BtoC, that road sounds Awesome! :D

It also kinda describes Victoria, Australia's Great Ocean Road. :wink:

[High_Side]

blues2cruise wrote: If you are in the south west corner of British Columbia, Hwy 99, otherwise known as the Squamish Highway or the more "tourist" name of the Sea to Sky Highway is an absolute must.

The traffic until you get to Whistler, has been terrible everytime that I've been through there. What is the best time to ride this road? It really gets good after Whistler though, and the whole thing has spectacular scenery like you said....

[blues2cruise]

High_Side wrote: blues2cruise wrote: If you are in the south west corner of British Columbia, Hwy 99, otherwise known as the Squamish Highway or the more "tourist" name of the Sea to Sky Highway is an absolute must.

The traffic until you get to Whistler, has been terrible everytime that I've been through there. What is the best time to ride this road? It really gets good after Whistler though, and the whole thing has spectacular scenery like you said....

High_Side, it depends on the time of year. In the summer there's lots of tourists. If you can go in the early Spring on a day when you know the roads are free from frost, you'd probably be ok. And the fall is good as well.
If you happen to go during ski season, you're better off leaving town after 8 or 9am and heading back down before 3pm.

If you do want to head up to Whistler in the summer you need to leave town really early to get ahead of the traffic.

It's much the same if I head east to the Okanagan. If I leave Vancouver at 7am on a Saturday morning, I'm out to Hope by the time most people are leaving town. :) Then I am in Penticton in time for lunch.

[blues2cruise]

The Hope-Princeton Highway (#3) is another great ride.....if you leave Vancouver early...ahead of traffic...otherwise it can be really busy. Some sections of that highway (for those that are inclined...no pun intended) can have you scraping your pegs.
For me that's too scary. I don't have enough experience nor the desire to go that fast around some of those curves.

The best time of year would be in Spring as soon as there is no danger of frost or ice or Fall just before the roads can get icy. Summertime can be like rush hour.

[High_Side]

Thanks, Blues2cruise. I really like that Princton run as well. I'm not very lucky with the weather however, anytime that I have tried it....Rain!

[blues2cruise]

Another good road is the Sunshine Coast Highway. You need to get on the Langdale ferry at Horseshoe bay. It's just a 40 minute crossing.
you will pass through Gibsons, Davis Bay and Sechelt along the way.

I haven't been riding very long so it is still a bit challenging in some places, ( the really tight curves, for example), but it is a very enjoyable trip.

Depending on what you want to do, you could ride to Egmont and back in one day. Or you could get a ferry at the Egmont end and head over to Vancouver Island and make a circle trip of it.

The road is not unlike the Sea to sky with it's ups and downs and twisty bits. Given that bikes are usually first on and first off the ferry, you will be ahead of the traffic. It's approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes to Egmont. Just check the ferry schedules so you know how much time you need to get home.

[suckingair]

CentralOzzy wrote: A road in OZ which is a Huge Icon for M/C's is the Great Ocean Road in Victoria!

Went there not long ago on a Sunday of course....& it was bike business as usual!

I was just in Melbourne for a holiday and decided to wonder on down to Phillip Island and then jump over to the Great Ocean Road and I have to agree with Ozzy.. The scenery was just amazing. I thought that we had some good roads in NZ (such as the roads down the east coast of the North Island, and most of the South Island..) but the sheer size and power of the ocean that was on display was mind bending.. Seeing the 12 Apostles and the Bay of Islands.. wow..

[QuietMonkey]

Many roads in the Kootenay region of the Rocky Mountains are scenic and twisty...

http://www.kootenays-bc.com/maps.html

here's one good mid-point in Western Canada, a little stop-over in Balfour, BC, just after the ferry ride: zoom around the map and basically follow the lakes for twisty roads. Fun stuff here:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&searchtype=address&country=CA&addtohistory=&1ahXX=&address=&city=balfour&state=bc&zipcode=

Funny enough, now that city traffic around here is congested as early as 3:30 in the afternoon (like it was near the downtown today), I was reminded that the best roads are only at their best when there is little traffic, and even not so great roads are much more fun with no traffic -- unless you're in the mood to zap through traffic, which I find to be a fun game in itself at times.

As traffic gets worse in this town on the mainroads (sort of sucks all day long unless you ride all sneaky backroads as I often do).

Here's another great set of roads, which I rode many years ago. The guys at AMA Superbike posted this link just to remind me, i guess. The address is Alice's Restaraunt a nice local stop where you'll often find riders. It's near San Jose, CA, which is a great place where you can be on awesome twisty, smooth, cambered tarmac after a 20 minute ride from home. As the kids say, saWEEEt. San Jose is one city in the states which reminded me of home -- sort of a casual urban town and a group of techies kicking around (Palo Alto nearby)... plus great mexican food which we don't have here.

http://maps.google.com/maps?li=bwp&q=17288+SKYLINE+BLVD,+REDWOOD+CITY,+CA+94062

click on google's "Hybrid map" option and zoom out to get a feel for the elevation changes in this area and the scenery :D

[flynrider]

My all time favorite motorcycle road is U.S. 12 between Missoula, Montana and Lewiston, ID. This road has some of the finest twisties in some of the most beautiful mountains, and because there are almost no inhabitants in this part of ID, traffic is usually light. You may have seen the famous yellow caution sign that says "Winding Roads next 77 miles". That's this road. The actual distance is about 200 miles and most of it is twisty. The road crosses some of the most remote mountain country in the western U.S. (excepting Alaska).

U.S. 12 winds out of Missoula and up the Western MT Rockies along the Lolo River, up to Lolo Pass, where you cross into ID. On the downside of he pass, the road follows the Lochsa and Clearwater rivers through the Clearwater Nat'l Forest for most of the way to Lewiston. There are few fuel stops, so plan accordingly. Lochsa Lodge is a combo motel/restaurant/bar/store/gas station at about the midway point. Camping is available anywhere in the Nat'l forest. There are gravel Forest Service roads intersecting the highway every fuel miles. Feel free to explore and camp anywhere you like. For the less adventurous, there's always the lodge, or several developed Forest Service campgrounds along the way.

In motorcycling terms, this stretch of road is 200 miles of heaven. I've never met anyone that rode this stretch that wasn't itching for a return trip. Here's another guy's opinion (with a few pics) :
http://www.bmwmoa.org/rally/rally04/features/lc_byway.htm

[High_Side]

flynrider wrote: My all time favorite motorcycle road is U.S. 12 between Missoula, Montana and Lewiston, ID.
I've ridden that road as well and it is beautiful, if not too scenic. Definately worth the trip!

[jmillheiser]

One of the best riding roads ive seen around here is the road that goes through monarch pass in colorado (the road runs between montrose and salida). Has some great twisties mixed with a few long straight but steep uphill/downhill sections, and great views of the mountains. One of my MSF instructors recommended this one as a great riding road. I did this road in a cage a few years ago and definately agree.

Only issue with this road is the altitude, the pass is almost 12,000 ft at the summit, so sea level folks will be short of breath and any bike is gonna be down on power (especially with sea level jetting on a carbed bike). The summit is a good 2,000ft above the treeline (treeline in the rockies is 10,000ft typically), and there can be snow on the ground in some spots year round, though summer daytime temps usually average 60-70.

There are plenty of great riding roads around here. Having the rockies so close helps. Another good one is the Snowy Range highway that runs between Laramie, WY and Saratoga, WY. About 25 miles of straight road west of laramie, then about 45 miles of great twisties as it goes into the Medicine Bow National Forest, it even peeks above the treeline for a little bit at its 10,000ft summit before heading back down into the trees. This route is only open April-October though. This area becomes a snowmobilers mecca when the snow comes though.

[jmillheiser]

While we are on the subject of Montana, have you ever been on the bear tooth highway. There is another great road, and not much traffic at all.

[High_Side]

jmillheiser wrote: While we are on the subject of Montana, have you ever been on the bear tooth highway. There is another great road, and not much traffic at all.
Yep, I did it last year! Beautiful place and I found out just how poorly 48mm carbs can work at 11000 feet :laughing: We stopped at partied at Red-Lodge Montana after riding out of there and had a blast there as well. The next day we did the Chief Joseph which is also quite spectacular. My pictures of the trip are in the TMW photo album. I'll have to pick your brain about the other great Wyoming roads that you mentioned later....

[flynrider]

In Wyoming, I love U.S. 89 running along the ID/WY border and then north into Jackson and Teton Park.