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...and her name is Highway 36.
On Sunday, I rode a ~370 mile loop from my folks' house (about 15 miles south of Red Bluff) out to the coast and back again. Leading two friends (Brandon and Tim), we slabbed 40 miles up I-5 to Redding and took 299 out to Eureka, stopped for lunch in Fortuna, then rode Highway 36 back.
299 was frigging awesome--a fast, clean road, amazing views of the Shasta/Trinity National Forest and the Trinity River (which it follows for much of it's much of its ~200 miles), and an incredible chain of quick uphill switchbacks just past Whiskeytown Lake. For what seemed like an hour (but was probably only about 10 mins) it was left, right, left, right, left, right...climbing hard up the side of a mountain, and passing slower cars in turns as the extra passing lanes became available. It was a serious workout, mentally and physically.
While riding it, it was really hard to believe that 299 was only Pashnit's second best road. The road was flawless, there were plenty of passing lanes, and the only CHP cruiser we encountered along the way was negated by a well-timed helmet tap from an oncoming rider. The weather was great until the last few miles when we descended into thick coastal fog. All in all, 299 seemed like a perfect ride to me.
Well, then we got on 36.
It started out a little rough. It was cold as hell on the coast (in the mid 50s), and we had just come from North Valley heat. The fog was still thick at 2pm and the roads were fairly damp.
The first leg of 36 was narrow and tight, with no shoulder and redwoods directly off of each side. It was picturesque, but we were held up by a (very, very) slow-moving jeep that refused a million opportunities to pull over and let the three of us (plus a car) by him. It was a very nice stretch road, but would have been a lot nicer if it had been sunny/dry/warm and we didn't have the jeep to contend with.
Eventually, we came to a brief passing lane and we got by him...barely, only to approach the second portion of 36. For several miles it was only about 1 1/2 lanes wide, with no center line. Not my favorite kind of road, especially with pickups hauling boats barreling by us in the opposite direction.
Like I said, it started out rough and the three of us were pretty skeptical about all the 36 hype, especially given the awesome run we'd just finished on 299. We ran a good 15-20 miles of the single-lane crap when the road started to open up a little, and we started to pick up the pace and have some fun.
Shortly after we got through that single lane stretch, we stopped to take a break. We chatted a little about the crappy portion, and all agreed that 299 seemed much better so far. So far.
After a few minutes of rest, we hit the road again. The next portion of 36 was phenomenal...very fast sweepers with excellent visibility all the way through them. I was rolling into most of them around 45-50 and rolling out around 65-70...some of them a lot faster.
We saw almost no cars for the remaining 120 miles or so of 36, and never saw a single cop along the entire length.
Anyway, after quite a few miles of very fast, very twisty mountain highway, we came across another rough section, this time in the form of some dirt and gravel in the turns. It looked like there had been some serious logging/construction that had pulled a bunch of crap out onto the road, so it probably isn't that rough all the time. While annoying, it was fairly brief and the road was back to an endless chain of big, fast sweepers.
We hauled some fairly respectable ass all the way to Platina where we stopped for gas and a stretch. We were facing the last ~45 miles of 36 and, after eating up a good 50-60 miles of very fast twisties, it was actually starting to shape up to be better than 299 after all. It was definitely teasing us—throwing us some amazingly long stretches of perfect highway, but punctuating them with garbage.
Brandon said he felt that 36 was in the lead at that point, but not by much...I believe it was something like "we'll see how this last stretch goes before I decide."
And, of course, it's that last 45 miles that sealed the deal. It was nothing short of a roller coaster--by far the best stretch of road I've ever ridden. Turn after turn after turn...quick elevation changes, some of them in mid-chicane. A roller coaster, I say. Words and even pictures can't do it justice, but here are a couple courtesy of Pashnit:
I was smiling from ear to ear the whole time--the road was fun to a ridiculous extreme.
Our pics from the weekend are here and here. Dave and Jimmy were with us through Saturday, but had to take off Sunday morning instead of doing the 299/36 loop.
Oddly enough, there really aren't many pictures on 299 or 36...we had much better things to do than stop and snap photos. The pictures of the road road signs (Next 140 miles, Curve Improvement) were actually from Monday morning when we went back and rode 30+ miles in to take them (oh, what a chore!).
I can't wait to ride these roads again, but the summer heat in the North Valley is so oppressive that I'll probably have to wait until Sept/Oct and it gets back down into the high 80s/low 90s.
BFF 4 evah, 36. <3 u {{{hugz}}}
On Sunday, I rode a ~370 mile loop from my folks' house (about 15 miles south of Red Bluff) out to the coast and back again. Leading two friends (Brandon and Tim), we slabbed 40 miles up I-5 to Redding and took 299 out to Eureka, stopped for lunch in Fortuna, then rode Highway 36 back.
299 was frigging awesome--a fast, clean road, amazing views of the Shasta/Trinity National Forest and the Trinity River (which it follows for much of it's much of its ~200 miles), and an incredible chain of quick uphill switchbacks just past Whiskeytown Lake. For what seemed like an hour (but was probably only about 10 mins) it was left, right, left, right, left, right...climbing hard up the side of a mountain, and passing slower cars in turns as the extra passing lanes became available. It was a serious workout, mentally and physically.
While riding it, it was really hard to believe that 299 was only Pashnit's second best road. The road was flawless, there were plenty of passing lanes, and the only CHP cruiser we encountered along the way was negated by a well-timed helmet tap from an oncoming rider. The weather was great until the last few miles when we descended into thick coastal fog. All in all, 299 seemed like a perfect ride to me.
Well, then we got on 36.
It started out a little rough. It was cold as hell on the coast (in the mid 50s), and we had just come from North Valley heat. The fog was still thick at 2pm and the roads were fairly damp.
The first leg of 36 was narrow and tight, with no shoulder and redwoods directly off of each side. It was picturesque, but we were held up by a (very, very) slow-moving jeep that refused a million opportunities to pull over and let the three of us (plus a car) by him. It was a very nice stretch road, but would have been a lot nicer if it had been sunny/dry/warm and we didn't have the jeep to contend with.
Eventually, we came to a brief passing lane and we got by him...barely, only to approach the second portion of 36. For several miles it was only about 1 1/2 lanes wide, with no center line. Not my favorite kind of road, especially with pickups hauling boats barreling by us in the opposite direction.
Like I said, it started out rough and the three of us were pretty skeptical about all the 36 hype, especially given the awesome run we'd just finished on 299. We ran a good 15-20 miles of the single-lane crap when the road started to open up a little, and we started to pick up the pace and have some fun.
Shortly after we got through that single lane stretch, we stopped to take a break. We chatted a little about the crappy portion, and all agreed that 299 seemed much better so far. So far.
After a few minutes of rest, we hit the road again. The next portion of 36 was phenomenal...very fast sweepers with excellent visibility all the way through them. I was rolling into most of them around 45-50 and rolling out around 65-70...some of them a lot faster.
We saw almost no cars for the remaining 120 miles or so of 36, and never saw a single cop along the entire length.
Anyway, after quite a few miles of very fast, very twisty mountain highway, we came across another rough section, this time in the form of some dirt and gravel in the turns. It looked like there had been some serious logging/construction that had pulled a bunch of crap out onto the road, so it probably isn't that rough all the time. While annoying, it was fairly brief and the road was back to an endless chain of big, fast sweepers.
We hauled some fairly respectable ass all the way to Platina where we stopped for gas and a stretch. We were facing the last ~45 miles of 36 and, after eating up a good 50-60 miles of very fast twisties, it was actually starting to shape up to be better than 299 after all. It was definitely teasing us—throwing us some amazingly long stretches of perfect highway, but punctuating them with garbage.
Brandon said he felt that 36 was in the lead at that point, but not by much...I believe it was something like "we'll see how this last stretch goes before I decide."
And, of course, it's that last 45 miles that sealed the deal. It was nothing short of a roller coaster--by far the best stretch of road I've ever ridden. Turn after turn after turn...quick elevation changes, some of them in mid-chicane. A roller coaster, I say. Words and even pictures can't do it justice, but here are a couple courtesy of Pashnit:
I was smiling from ear to ear the whole time--the road was fun to a ridiculous extreme.
Our pics from the weekend are here and here. Dave and Jimmy were with us through Saturday, but had to take off Sunday morning instead of doing the 299/36 loop.
Oddly enough, there really aren't many pictures on 299 or 36...we had much better things to do than stop and snap photos. The pictures of the road road signs (Next 140 miles, Curve Improvement) were actually from Monday morning when we went back and rode 30+ miles in to take them (oh, what a chore!).
I can't wait to ride these roads again, but the summer heat in the North Valley is so oppressive that I'll probably have to wait until Sept/Oct and it gets back down into the high 80s/low 90s.
BFF 4 evah, 36. <3 u {{{hugz}}}
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