We'll meet at the Sausalito Bakery & Cafe which is located right on San Francisco Bay. The twisties are only a moment away and Mount Tamalpias overlooks our meeting place. Riders will arrive as early as 7:00 AM, but try to make it by at least 7:30 for the safety brief. We like to get an early start to avoid the traffic, and spend the majority of our time riding! Your tour guides will plan to arrive at around 7:00.

Make sure your bike has a full tank of gas when you arrive at the coffee house.

We'll leave beautiful Sausalito and ride up into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Our destination is Ridgecrest Road, also known as Bolinas Ridge. Once we reach the top via a twisty convoluted route appropriately called Skyline Drive, the views in all directions are just amazing! As we make our way north through pastoral Marin County, you might think you were in another state. Rolling green hills covered in dairy cattle grazing lazily round out the scene.

Mid-day we'll stop for lunch and get to know each other a little better. The laughter flows and the food is always fantastic! Then we'll make for the Point Arena Lighthouse. A photographers delight, this picturesque lighthouse was rebuilt after the first was damaged in the 1906 earthquake. It was soon rebuilt and now stands on a picturesque spit out into the ocean. There's even a small museum to check out.

Once we hit Highway 101, we'll stop in the Avenue of the Giants for a quick break and make our way to Fortuna arriving in the early evening. The group will meet up for dinner at the Eel River Brewing Company next door to the hotel and proceed to greatly exaggerate our motorcycling exploits of years gone by.

The NorCal Motorcycle Paradise

Imagine the perfect day. That pretty much sums up our ride.

This is a day of motorcycling bliss.Our motorcycling nirvana is only moments away in the form of a little road called Highway 36. Named the Best Motorcycle Road in the State of California by Friction Zone Magazine (your tour guide wrote that article by the way). This ride climbs up from the Pacific Ocean, through a redwood forest, and begins climbing across several low mountain ranges. It's time to find out what all the hype is about! Everything you've heard and read about this road is absolutely true. But it must be experienced first hand to truly believe. Regardless of the bike you ride, you will love this road.

After some thriling vistas that stretch for miles, it's time for some backroad exploring. Nothing like riding a particular road and not seeing another soul. Northern California is like that. Our mountain pass awaits and up and over we go in a thrilling lean angle ride to the summit. We'll stop at the top of Hayfork Pass and drool over the view across the mountain tops. Breathtaking, just simply breathtaking.

After lunch in Weaverville, we'll traverse one of Northern California's most scenic rides through the Trinity River Canyon. Our trek sticks to the curves and flowing motion of the Trinity River. At times the road is high above the river and it feels as though mountain tops surround on either side. This ride goes on for miles into the Six Rivers National Forest and Trinity Alps.

To finish off the day, the group will ride one of Nothern California's most unknown gems. Imagine 50 miles of mountain ridgeline with a road paved across the top. The view is absolutely stunning and stretches off for miles across mountaintops in all directions. If we see a single other vehicle, it'll come as a surprise.

There's a reason why Northern California is revered by motorcyclists. This day will show you why and leave you wondering when you'll be able to make it back up here. After our ride, we'll talk the evening away over a wonderful dinner together. Then, it's just a few steps back to our lodging where we'll relax in the Jacuzzi and swim in the indoor heated pool. Bring your trunks!

The Coastal Back Roads

Sunday is a fun day of frolicking too! If you thought the last two days were fun, a new day of riding just dawned. As we make our way back to the Bay Area, there's much inbetween ready to be explored!

After a hearty breakfast, the group will leave Fortuna and ride through a fantastic section of road called Avenue of the Giants. We'll stand in awe of these massive redwood trees, some of which are said to weigh as much as 1,000,000 million pounds, apiece. We'll take an easy pace to give you a chance to look at these amazing works of nature. Oh, and don't forget some of the odd tourist attractions along the way that make this area known.

Meeting Place:

Sausalito Bakery & Cafe
571 Bridgeway St, Sausalito, CA
Meet 7:00, Safety Brief 7:30, Depart 8:00 AM

Lodging - 2 Nights:

Comfort Inn
1859 Alamar Way, Fortuna , CA 95540
(indoor pool & spa- bring those trunks!)

Next Tour : Friday, April 17th, 2009
Mark your calendar, this tour will fill up!

Contact Info:
Tim Mayhew - Cell: 530-391-1356
Tim Regher - Cell: 209-609-3216
Contact via email

Arriving early? If you are arriving early, Tour Participants often stay at:

Holiday Inn - Mill Valley 160 Shoreline Highway, Mill Valley, CA 94941 (877) 863-4780 due to its convenience to the meet point.

A Personal Note from your Tour Guide: Over the years, I've written hundreds of pages of text about riding in Northern California. Whether it's a magazine calling to ask about the Top 5 Roads in Calfornia, a new page for the CA Moto Roads site or a one-on-one conversation with an out-of-state rider planning their dream vacation- I point them here. I call it the NorCal Riding Paradise for good reason. We've done this tour many times over the years, and riders have even returned to do the tour again. We stop at every mountain top gawking in awe at the view while giggling about the curves that lay behind us. And in front of us. The conversation flows, the camaraderie is always there and at the end of the day- a hot tub and a cold pint is within walking distance. I can tell you every road is fantastic, but it's becoming a cliche. You just need to come see for yourself what all the hoopla is about. After all, it's only just paradise. -Tim