How would you define your perfect road? A few features might be:
Did I leave anything out? Of course, the list could go on for quite a while, just fill in whatever you think is important for your perfect road. So, where is it?
Well, if you make the list long enough and specific enough, you may never find it but roads that have a lot of those features exist almost everywhere. Sometimes it’s only a short section, it may go on for miles and miles but there are far more than you think.
A couple of days ago I mentioned a website that focused on gathering information and maps for a variety of roads motorcyclists have discovered and enjoyed. The idea is to share what you know with other riders and likewise, learn from them. The comments were mixed and a few took the view that when you find a great road, keep quiet or it will soon be overrun by weekend squids and traffic police. It’s easy to understand that point of view, but I have a slightly different take.
The example of Deals Gap was brought up in the comments as less enjoyable now since everyone seems to know about it. That may be true. Many still ride the curves and make it a destination for their trip but it’s not the exclusive bit of tarmac it once was. I’m not surprised. If you discovered a diamond in your backyard and your neighbor noticed, you can bet the whole neighborhood would show up with shovels. If you find a great road where none were known before, motorcycles will appear and before long it will look like the annual Love Ride.
What if, instead of finding one diamond, everyone in your neighborhood found one? What if people all over town start looking and diamonds pop up everywhere? No one shows up in your yard because there are diamonds for everyone. Roads are like that. There are a LOT of roads out there and if we make it a point to share and document our roads, pretty soon, none of them become crowded but everyone has more options to choose the kind of road they like best. Maybe you like a lot of turns, someone else likes fewer turns but really wants great scenery. Everyone finds a road that suits their taste and no one “perfect” road gets clogged with bikers looking for some elusive motorcycle nirvana.
Suppose, too, you decide to ride to Deals Gap but instead of taking any interstates, you dig into the GPS and various route lists and plan a route connecting as many shorter bike routes as possible. By the time you get to the Gap, you’re already smiling, you’ve had a great time and if the weather is a bit off or it’s particularly crowded that day, your trip is still a success because you had a great ride along the way.
The more great roads everyone knows about, the less chance of any one road getting packed every nice day. If we try to keep them all secret, everyone suffers, even you, because now you only get to ride your same secret road over and over and hope no one finds it while missing out on all of the roads no one else will tell you about. Get out of your backyard and look around, roads are not scarce. The farther you ride, the more you’ll find, it’s kinda funny how they’re all connected. If you only know one road, maybe you just need to ride more.
John Bonanno says
Sounds to me like I(you) should go to a track day. smooth pavement, no gravel, no oil, no police, no speed limit, no scenery thats new after a few laps to find your brake markers, should be focusing on the road anyway, I live in the north east (N.J.) and the roads and fellow motorists suck, i find myself only doing short local rides more and more. Plus it’s really cool to say to someone that riden a famous road course, Hello Laguna Seca, ViR, Watkins Glen are some of my dreams….
GenWaylaid says
Out here in the Bay Area, the section of Skyline Boulevard between highways 9 and 92 is THE road for riding. It more or less meets all the criteria above, and the only downside is it’s rather short, maybe thirty miles or so. It takes a nice, scenic, twisty route along the spine of the Santa Cruz mountains. There’s one gas/food stop along the way at Sky-Londa that everyone makes.
The east bay has some popular roads in the Berkeley Hills, but the pavement out there isn’t always as good.
Bill says
Great article, one of the best I’ve seen on the topic. Couldn’t agree with you more.
coho says
One of the first things I look for in a nice curly road is never having seen it before. Nothing better than a new (to me) road. I’m not out to shave a tenth off my time – I’d rather ride “on the calendar” than “on the clock”. Unfortunately, that means that road trips get harder and harder to plan as the years go by and the miles rack up. That makes sites like this useful as the “new” curly roads get farther and farther away, making recon more difficult.
If it shows up on a squid-flavored site, though, it loses a few points because Johnny Law reads those, too, and we don’t always see eye-to-eye on the difference between “sporting” velocity and “speeding”. I may be a touring type, but I like to put some new grooves in the sides of my boots from time to time. Besides, I paid for the whole tire, I should use it from edge to edge, right?
Erik says
I’m in total agreement with GenWaylaid about Skyline above Santa Cruz. It is outrageously fun to ride. Just stay on the main roads as some of those side roads get really squirrelly really quick. Nothing like frost heaves in a descending corner at speed to take the fun out of a ride!
lrymal says
East Texas between Center and Nacogdoches, on highway 7. Midways between the two towns, Highway 7 goes from two lane to four lane, starting at the Atoyac River Bridge when heading north.
This rather nice four lane road twists and turns, goes up and down many rolling hills, and in general, gives your throttle wrist a work-out. Traffic can be generally light, especially on weekends.
Buzzman says
For the Northeasters:
Rt. 6 across northern Pennsylvania is a beautiful road, and about the only pothole free stretch of scenic road across this cratored state (not really, but almost true). Great scenery, quaint towns for grabbing a bite, lots of elevation changes and look-out points.
The Blue-Ridge Parkway that runs through the Blue-Ridge Mountains in Virginia and N. Carolina is also a very nice ride. At 450+ miles one way this is more a week-end excursion. The NC side has 25 tunnels.
Lou Morrell says
If you are in the north-west part of Phoenix and need to get to Flagstaff, you can get there quicker going up route 17 but for a great bike ride it would be hard to beat 89A from wickenburg, thru prescott and sedona. The road is in great shape and the views are spectacular…