Discover the Northern Coast of California
Adventure motorcycle ride to explore the Pacific Ocean and Coastal Mountains of Northern California. In a single day you can ride through mountain passes, dense redwood forests, grassy rolling hills, coastal cliffs and sprawling vineyards – all on roads that seem like they were made for motorcycles. We might be biased, but we think there is no better place to ride a motorcycle than in our own backyard.
Humboldt County has what some call the best bike riding in the state and hundreds of miles of roads that display the tallest trees in the world and the longest stretch of wild coast in the lower 48. And unlike the packed back roads near the cities, the traffic is pleasantly light.
About this ride
This is an 7 day adventure motorcycle ride around Northern California. The ride starts in San Francisco and makes a big loop around the Northern Coastal Mountains. Each evening you will be staying in hotels and eating in local restaurants. This ride is designed for experienced riders on larger adventure bikes. In the Spring, Fall and Summer the weather is often great, but it can change and affect the routes we take. Riders need to carry gear to be prepared for cold and rain, just in case.
Self Guided Trail
This ride is designed to be a self guided adventure. Riders install a custom GPS microSD Card into their Garmin GPS unit. The routes are then displayed as the rider travels along. Navigation is made easy. Riders can choose to follow along at times or can choose among hard and easy options. Or riders can simply choose to ride off the routes and return to them later. For many, this allows them to just experience the trail without the burden of getting lost.
Do this ride yourself: Purchase Rider Packet and GPS microSD Card for this ride
Note: A Full Rider Packet consists of printed ride descriptions and paper ride maps and a custom GPS microSD card for your Garmin or BMW GPS unit.
Lost Coast Adventure Trail 160 Choice (Scroll Down Menu)
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Notes: I suggest you plan and order early. Normally I ship within a week. But sometimes I run out and it can take me several weeks to get new cards and maps. And sometimes I am out riding and building new adventures so that can be hard too. I list the Option for 2 SD cards because many riders like to carry a backup card or a cheap backup GPS in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
Want to rent a bike for this ride?
If you want to fly into San Francisco and rent a bike I recommend:
View the ride maps
OK since many of you like to study more detail about the ride, below are the ride maps.
I put these ride maps on the web page because I know a few of you love looking at the ride detail and dreaming about the ride. At first glance these maps do not look so impressive, but they are way cool. If you start zooming in, you can see the ride in incredible detail. I have spent a ton of hours sorting through the details of the ride for each day, so for those of you that enjoy this sort of thing, well enjoy!
Legend:
The Blue lines are MAIN routes
The Red lines are Harder routes
The Green lines are Easy options
The Black lines are the out and back viewpoints
FAQ's
Q: What bikes are good for this ride?
A: Almost any adventure bike can work well. The routes have options suited for bikes from the VStrom to the 1190 Adventure.
Not recommended are dual sport bikes unless you are ok with a lot of back pavement.
Q: What gas distance range should my bike have?
A: I would suggest that on some days you carry enough fuel to make 150 miles due to the fact that sometimes the route can have issues and it is good to have a little margin.
Q: What is the total distance of this ride?
A: Total ride distance is 1,300 miles and can vary by your personal route choice options.
Q: How does the ride navigation work?
This is a self-led GPS ride; all riding is on your own. You are responsible for your own riding. You are given a GPS map file and instructions on how to use your Garmin GPS unit. People will hook up in small groups of less than 6 riders and should ride together. You are not encouraged to ride alone. You are responsible for your own riding and yourself.
(see my ride Navigation Video)
Q: How do I make the GPS stuff so easy?
I develop very high quality ride maps custom for our ride. They come from much of what I and others have ridden. I take the best from all my rides and make new ones.
(See my Custom Ride Maps Video)
Q; What do I do if I don't have a Garmin GPS?
A: Buy one, you need it. We will show you how to use it. You can get a great one for under $200 bucks.
(See gpsKevin's gps recommendations)
Q: Is the riding really on my own?
A: Yes, but everyone hooks up and rides with a friend or a new friend.
Q: Would this be a good ride for new riders?
A: No, this ride is for intermediate and experienced riders only. The riding has easy route choices and tough route options. Each evening you may study the following day's choices.
I did an explorer's roulette dual sport ride to discover some of the cool places here a couple of years ago. Below is the video from that ride. While I have developed this into an adventure bike ride, there is still a lot in this video that is the same for this ride.
Enjoy my old video.
Warning:
Any and all riding is on you own
Conditions change and Routes may not be navigable
Legal access can change and is not guaranteed. Riders must assess the local conditions.
Weather can make the routes impassable.
Riders must obey all local laws
gpsKevin assumes no liability for these rides or your actions.