Posted by Turby on December 29, 2006, 9:26 pm
wrote:
>On another forum I use, the question was asked, "Are there any good road /
>rides out that way?"
>It got me to thinking, what really makes a good road / ride?
>We can probably all agree that in the States, anything beginning with I
>(I15, I95, etc) probably don't qualify. Neither do 6 lane surface streets
>with many stop lights.
Ayup. But I8 in San Diego County (California) is twistier than many
county roads in the middle of the country.
>Sport bike riders seem to prefer "twisties" as do many other riders. But I
>don't think curves alone make a good road / ride.
>I think a good road / ride has the following qualities:
>1. Very light traffic. I'll take fewer curves over heavy traffic on a curvy
>road.
>2. A good road can have bad sections, but a bad road can't be improved with
>good sections.
>3. Elevation change. Going down hill is very different that going uphill, it
>makes the ride more interersting.
>4. Good rides are a loop, I don't like going out and back.
>5. Good roads have good scenery, ocean, mountains, vistas, history.
>6. Good roads are personal, no one else really needs to appreciate them.
>7. A good ride ride lasts several hours.
>8. A good road can be a bad road at 5 o'clock on Friday, but heaven on a
>Sunday morning.
>9. Good roads have good pavement or no pavement at all.
>10. The best road is a road you haven't ridden yet.
I'll buy most of those except 4. Loopage has nothing to do with being
a good road or not. CA1 on the California coast is one of the world's
greatest roads, yet it's not a loop. San Diego County has a maze of
good roads. If you were stuck doing loops all the time, it would get
boring real fast.
But good roads are all YMMV. A cruise down a crowded beach boulevard
in the summer in SoCal violates most of your list, but the hot bodies
in bikinis and the ambience make up for it. Some roads are great
because they're so bad. The Baja1000 takes a horrible road, but it's
great because of how bad it is. There are stretches of gut-busting
washboard over 100 miles long on the road from Tamanrasset, Algeria to
Agadez, Niger, but if you can stand it, you can say you've crossed the
Sahara. OTOH, there's a stretch of Idaho 12 that follows a river. Many
riders rave about the curves, but I find it boring. You could set your
cruise control and ride it - the curves are all the same radius, just
the same sweeper after sweeper with no variation.
--
Turby the Turbosurfer
Posted by Calgary on December 29, 2006, 11:55 pm
wrote:
>There's nothing wrong with going back-and-forth over an favorite stretch of
>road, some of my favs are ~100+km long with nothing at either end, makes
>"loops" hard to arrange.
There are lots of great loops in the interior of BC. Where do you
reside?
If the road is really good I would forsake the loop, but for the most
part my rides are all planned as loops.
A friend of mine in Maine takes a map of the state and highlights each
road he rides, each season, in an attempt to cover as many as
possible. I was there once in the fall doing some leaf peeping and his
map was almost entirely highlighted in yellow. I was thinking he had a
good year.
--
24 hours in a day
&
24 beer in a case
Coincidence?
I think not
Posted by Stephen! on December 30, 2006, 12:08 pm
> If the road is really good I would forsake the loop, but for the most
> part my rides are all planned as loops.
You mean like this?
http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip
:)
--
RCOS #7
IBA# 11465
http://imagesdesavions.com
Posted by Calgary on December 30, 2006, 3:47 pm
>> If the road is really good I would forsake the loop, but for the most
>> part my rides are all planned as loops.
>You mean like this?
>http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip
>:)
Well that's a might long for a day or weekend ride, but maybe some
day.
--
24 hours in a day
&
24 beer in a case
Coincidence?
I think not
Posted by Stephen! on December 30, 2006, 11:48 pm
>>You mean like this?
>>
>>http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip
>>
>>:)
>
> Well that's a might long for a day or weekend ride, but maybe some
> day.
>
Well... There was one track that never got published because it was a
personal solo side trip and it didn't really fall within the whole "Where
*we* went" theme. The wife was spending the day with her friend and I
wanted to visit some old stomping grounds around Palomar Mountain.
http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip/tracks/loop.jpg
Gotta love Grade Road... Although the above screen capture does *NOT* do
the road justice... Here's a closer view...
http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip/tracks/grade.jpg
...and a shot of the GPS captured "profile" for the elevation change on
that section of road.
http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip/tracks/profile.jpg
--
RCOS #7
IBA# 11465
http://imagesdesavions.com
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>rides out that way?"
>It got me to thinking, what really makes a good road / ride?
>We can probably all agree that in the States, anything beginning with I
>(I15, I95, etc) probably don't qualify. Neither do 6 lane surface streets
>with many stop lights.