Topic: most spectacular roads....

[flybox1]

they look sweet, but does anyone have 1st had experience?
a good story? 


http://matadortrips.com/photo-essay-the-worlds-most-spectacular-roads-vol-2

[ieism]

I lived in Switserland for a while, so I know two of those roads. The Stelvio Pass is amazing on a motorcycle. It really is as in the picture, but you also have to imagine the view when you're up there. Recommended.

I only did the Gotthard by car, so I can't really comment on that. That's my favorite part of Switserland though, the other side of the mountain really is a different scenery. In early spring you can have deep snow on one side of the mountain, and when you enter Ticino it will be medeteranian warm and sunny.

[noahspop]

Oly the Hwy 1 in Ca. (oops, just in a car)
Very motovational pics though for sure.

[Soos]

The "alpine loop" up near provo, UT.
Absolutely spectacular.

Not to mention the little dirt roads that branch off it in areas that go to 4X4 territory. Some of those trails have some of the best views I have ever had the chance to watch.




l8r

[KeithTurk]

I've been on several of them in cars and one or two on a bike....

Pacific Coast Hwy is both the best and the worst.... depending on the exact location...

Road over the Alps from Switzerland to Italy was incredible in an Austin Healey...

[zzpete]

I did the Cabot Trail in 1977 on a cb750. It was in August and it was COLD and windy. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. We camped, unloaded the bikes and went jamming through the turns. Frequently stopping to sample the view and a bottle of whisky I had hidden in the faring. Lots of fun!!

[KeithTurk]

We're looking at taking the Buell Uylsses up to Nova Scotia at the end of the month.... We're racing the Camaro in Maine on the 31 of July and then we're taking some time off to Play....  that road sounded great except the wind part.... ( thinking while my wife might like driving at 250mph... she'd be pissy with a 25kt crosswind )

[scottly]

I've been up and down good portions of Hwy 1, both on a bike, and in cars. I would highly recommend it. Plus, it's closer to home!

[Stev-o]

PCH1 is a fabulous road, even in a motorhome!

[scottly]

PCH1 is a fabulous road, even in a motorhome!

Not if you're stuck behind a motorhome!!!!!! Also, gas stations tend to be few and far apart, open only during normal business hours, and the most I have ever paid for gas was in Jenner; half again the going rate at the time.

[KeithTurk]

Trying to think of the station in California desert that had tripled gas prices to pay for the Generator they had to run to keep the store open all the time... 

[demon78]

If your a fire roader type try the road from Gold River BC to Tahsis BC I would think that a good 350-500 enduro-dual purpose bike would be the ticket something with enough power to out run the bears and light enough to kick off your self if you dropped it.
Bill the demon.

[Dawdlin Dog]

I've tried the "Mountain road, Snowdonia, Wales" type of roads many times  There's plenty of them all over the UK.
They're fun.... It isn't relaxing type fun but it's fun 

[techy5025]

Several times a year, I ride the roads in the north of Thailand some of which make the "Dragon" look tame. The roads themselves are OK, but the switchbacks are much worse. The scenery is magnificent....assuming you like the Asian type of scenery of course. Passing a train of elephants on a two lane road can be interesting! 

It's very different riding where motorcycles greatly outnumber cars. I think the cage drivers just basically ignore the bikes as there are so many of them. You don't have to wonder if someone is going to pull out or turn in front of you as they always do!

I ride a CB400...year 2000 ish ... when riding there. Website ... http://www.gt-rider.com/

Jim

[demon78]

Question techy hows the elephant #$%* on the road slippery?
Bill the demon.

[techy5025]

The elephant dooky is beyond slippery, and after the first few dump it is trampled by the following ones and thus scattered all over the road.  Cleaning the bike later is .... interesting...also. Sorta like when you run over your neighbor dog's deposits on your lawn with your lawnmower. 

[72 yellow]

Wife and I drove the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park a few years back in our car.  Beautiful scenery. 

[bwaller]

NY state route 99 in the Adirondacks. About 12 miles of mountainside pass, ten feet wide poor asphalt, gravel in alot of corners, fern along the roadside, heavily forested, like riding through a tunnel.

It's like the road time forgot, although I met another vehicle today! It's surely not about touching pegs down here more about getting a big sniff of nature and wearing a big grin when you pop out the other end. 

[seaweb11]

I've driven one and ridden 2 of them

[wardenerd]

two roads that lead to prisons that are a great ride.  Leave Pheonix and go to Safford=Thatcher through Globe.  This road is through some wicked high desert mountains. tunnrls  and then down into the Apache reservation past an indian casino and what looks like the scene from a 40's John Wayne calvary movie.  You can also ride up to the worlds largest copper mine that takes you through a town that has a huge metal flood gate .its a pretty neat drive and the southwest cuisine is great.

Second great road to prison.  Go north from Albany New York on the great northway.  Go to the Lake Placid Keene Valley exit.  Go to Lake Placid .  you cross the Ausable trout stream several times and the glacier lakes are fascinating as the far edges are shear cliffs hundreds of feet high.  In Lake Placid there is a ton of Olympic stuff like the bobsled run and if you like history John Brown's grave in the shadow of the ski jump.  the mountain roads in the area are beautiful.

[gregimotis]

Leave Phoenix and go to Safford=Thatcher through Globe.  This road is through some wicked high desert mountains. tunnels and then down into the Apache reservation...  You can also ride up to the worlds largest copper mine that takes you through a town that has a huge metal flood gate .its a pretty neat drive and the southwest cuisine is great.

I've ridden 191 from Eager to Clifton (Home of the 'world's largest copper mine').  This is fantastic riding - 60 miles of tight turns from high alpine terrain into the badlands of the Apache reservation; and that copper mine is unreal in it's scale.

[Grnrngr]

My first by myself road trip was summer after I graduated from HS (72)..just had my Suz GT380 motor rebuilt, took the river road from Sacramento thru Rio Vista to Fairfield/Suisun where I had to get on I-80 to get to Sausalito. Spent the night with a friend, then spent the next 3 days riding Hwy 1 from Sausalito to Eureka (day 1), then along the Smith River over to Cave Junction and thru Grant's Pass and Klamath Falls to Canby, CA (day 2), and back to Sac on the back roads. Totally awesome. Been in cars and busses from SF to Santa Barbara on Hwy1...now that I'm in Oregon, been to the coast over every road that goes there from Portland and drove the coast hwy from Astoria to Florence in my Triumph Spitfire. Gonna be checkin out the Washington coast this summer I hope...I'd love to do it from Canada to Mexico sometime... Drove a Volkswagen "Thing" all the way around Tahiti once..I just love the coast, the only thing better would be to live on the water. Or an island like Seawebs....