From: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich)
Newsgroups: ba.motorcycles
Subject: Re: pleasant weekend rides
Date: 16 Nov 92 22:54:20 GMT
Reply-To: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich)

cjackson@adobe.com (Curtis Jackson) writes:

>In article <1e1eviINN9ev@fido.asd.sgi.com> spencer@hailwood.asd.sgi.com (Paul Spencer) writes:

>}  17 is interesting but lethal; Soquel-San Jose road is nice and quiet.

>What are conditions like on the old San Jose-Santa Cruz Road that sort
>of parallels 17? I hate fighting blind beach-crazed cagers on 17, but
>I'd rather not end up on dirt/gravel on my cruiser, either.

Well, I ordinarily wouldn't give away such information, but since
you're all such good friends...  

I live off of Soquel-San Jose road, and really like having most of the
roads up there to myself.  I take Old San Jose Road often (or else I
take 17, blech).  All at once now, awwww, poor baby.  There is no
dirt/gravel to speak of, but there are the occasional rocks and
branches in the road.  Especially during the winter months.  It's
usually devoid of traffic, but when there is traffic, it is almost
always someone doing 25MPH (the actual speed limit), followed by 5
people who could all do 35 easily (40 is about the maximum safe speed
for the road, young canyon racers with a death wish could take it at
50+, as long as there are no obsticles got in their way).  There is
only one really safe place to pass, and no legal place to pass.  It is
also only one in 50 cars that will pull over and let you pass them.

Soquel-San Jose, which will take you from Summit to Soquel (and then
to Santa Cruz) is also pleasant with no surprises, but usually has
slow cars, and few places to pass.  I wouldn't take this (or
Soquel-San Jose) if you're in a big hurry (but then, you shouldn't be
on 17 either.  Just make sure to give yourself a lot of time if you
are coming over the hill).

Now for the advise you'll all owe me for.  A real treat is Aldercroft
Heights road.  This is north of Old San Jose Road.  You find it going
southbound by turning left right after the first hill on 17 after Los
Gatos.  The sign says "Lexington Reseviour" (except they spell it
correctly :-).  You will go over a dam, then just take this road until
it connects with Old San Jose Road.  There are more potential rocks
and gravel on the road here than some others, and it comes off the
hillsides, so you never know where you'll run into it.  Be careful.
Also, the cops do patrol this road, especially on weekends.  If you're
canyon racing, they'll probably catch you.  If you're crusing and
taking in the area, you'll be just fine.  Very few cars on this road
(more on the weekends, as well as a lot of bicycles).

For those of you with dual-purpose bikes, when you get to Summit Road
and San Jose-Soquel, go straight to Highland way and then Eureka
Canyon.  Eureka Canyon is an "interesting" road.  It was open when I
last took it a year or so ago.  It sometimes gets closed due to
mudslides and the like.  It's not what you would call 'well
maintained', and it's certainly not a road-racers dream.  It's narrow,
full of potholes and patches, and fairly twisty.  It'll drop you into
Rio del Mar or Freedom and Watsonville depending on where you go when
you hit the end of Eureka Canyon.

Also, a warning for those who occasionally travel Summit road
east/south of 17, the morons in Santa Cruz Country decided to
resurface the road using the delightful 'oil and gravel' method.
Summit is now oil/gravel from the Vet, all the way down to Highland
way, which is also oil/gravel.  Soquel-San Jose is still paved like a
real road.  I suppose none of the politicians have a vested interest
in property values, or the surfaces of their cars, or the traction of
their motorcycles.

--
Ken Wallich
wallich@ncd.com  
ken@wallich.com