in 2 weeks i'll be taking my 'new' Chief Dark Horse from Austin, TX up the California coast and then wind my way back home. i've always dreamed of riding a bike along the coast up the Pacific Coast Highway. i've never even been west of Texas before. i'm not going to be sticking to any itinerary, but i plan on averaging about 500 miles a day and have picked out some of the top rated roads and routes in each state along my path for a round trip of 5,000 miles. i'm not one to stop and take a bunch of photos and do sight-seeing, but i want to make an exception this time since this is pretty much my bucket list bike trip. so i'll document my travels here as much as i can. below is the tentative route i'll be taking. Google Maps is real finicky when you put in too many destination points (i had to 'hack' 3 maps together) so it's not exact, but pretty close. and the specific destination points listed aren't important, that's just what i had to mark to choose certain roads i want to travel. i may have to alter my route on the fly since there are currently some wildfires raging and road closures in Northern California right in my way.
MAP ROUTE
these are the main destination roads that i picked out that defined this route, mostly picked from :
Valley of Fire Loop, east of Las Vegas
Death Valley Run, through Death Valley National Park
Caliente to Kernville on County Road 483, east of Bakersfield
The Lost Highway 58, Bakersfield to San Luis Obispo
Hwy1 up the California coast from Morro Bay to Fortuna
Rt. 36, 140 miles of twisties
Reno to Lake Tahoe loop
Hwy50, "the loneliest road in America"
Hwy9, Zion Canyon Utah
The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
Mexican Hat to Bryce Canyon
San Juan Mountain Skyway
Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Road - CO 141, dubbed "greatest road in America" by Car Trek youtube series
most of these were picked from motorcycleroads.com which has more information about each and which ranks the top roads in each state. i plan on mostly using my Beeline device to guide me along the way - Beeline - smart navigation for bikes | Beeline
love this navigation tool. you put in a mapped trip you want to take and then this compass tells you which direction to go and what distance until you need to make a turn. it also tells you if it's an upcoming ramp, roundabout, or other notable road structure. much simper and easier to follow than a map, though you can also follow along with your map on your phone as well.
not sure what i'm doing for sleeping accommodations each night. will probably just find the cheapest motel in any area when i'm tired of riding for that day, pretty much the strategy i used the last time i took a cross country bike trip. what do you guys do on long trips? find campsites? pull off on the side of the road somewhere? find a 4 star hotel? if any of you have any comments or tips or questions, feel free to share. i see some of you use this Relive app or whatever to share some of your rides. if it's not too much of a hassle for me to figure out and use, i might use that to share the trip.
MAP ROUTE
these are the main destination roads that i picked out that defined this route, mostly picked from :
Valley of Fire Loop, east of Las Vegas
Death Valley Run, through Death Valley National Park
Caliente to Kernville on County Road 483, east of Bakersfield
The Lost Highway 58, Bakersfield to San Luis Obispo
Hwy1 up the California coast from Morro Bay to Fortuna
Rt. 36, 140 miles of twisties
Reno to Lake Tahoe loop
Hwy50, "the loneliest road in America"
Hwy9, Zion Canyon Utah
The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
Mexican Hat to Bryce Canyon
San Juan Mountain Skyway
Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Road - CO 141, dubbed "greatest road in America" by Car Trek youtube series
most of these were picked from motorcycleroads.com which has more information about each and which ranks the top roads in each state. i plan on mostly using my Beeline device to guide me along the way - Beeline - smart navigation for bikes | Beeline
love this navigation tool. you put in a mapped trip you want to take and then this compass tells you which direction to go and what distance until you need to make a turn. it also tells you if it's an upcoming ramp, roundabout, or other notable road structure. much simper and easier to follow than a map, though you can also follow along with your map on your phone as well.
not sure what i'm doing for sleeping accommodations each night. will probably just find the cheapest motel in any area when i'm tired of riding for that day, pretty much the strategy i used the last time i took a cross country bike trip. what do you guys do on long trips? find campsites? pull off on the side of the road somewhere? find a 4 star hotel? if any of you have any comments or tips or questions, feel free to share. i see some of you use this Relive app or whatever to share some of your rides. if it's not too much of a hassle for me to figure out and use, i might use that to share the trip.