Why this ride
A 316 km one-way ride from near Kensington, about 5 h 43 of riding. The stops in between: Petaluma, Bolinas and South San Francisco. The climbs: El Granada and near Newark. Much of it runs through woodland.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Skyline Boulevard and Alice’s · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 316 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 43
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Pacific Coast Highway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 68 km this is Pacific Coast Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 58 km
- Named road
- Pacific Coast Highway
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop near Kensington
Planning note
Skyline Boulevard and Alice’s is where the day begins. Next is San Francisco Bay Area return.
2. Near Petaluma, on the way back
Eggs made Petaluma famous. In the early twentieth century this town in southern Sonoma County, an hour north of San Francisco, called itself the egg basket of the world, thanks to hundreds of chicken farms around it and an incubator invented here that helped revolutionise poultry farming. Today the chickens are fewer, but the town still has a strong farming identity, with dairies, cheese makers and creameries in the hills around it.
Read the complete Near Petaluma, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
San Francisco Bay Area return comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is Skyline Boulevard and Alice’s food stop.
3. Bolinas
Bolinas does not want to be found, and it has made that clear for decades. Locals have a long tradition of removing the road sign that points to the town from Highway 1, so you may have to watch for the unmarked turnoff at the end of Bolinas Lagoon. The reward is a small, eccentric, salt-weathered village at the tip of a mesa on the Marin coast, with a few streets of old wooden buildings, a beach, surfers and an atmosphere that feels decades removed from the Bay Area just over the hill.
Read the complete Bolinas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
A break here. Next is Skyline Boulevard and Alice’s photo pull-off.
4. El Granada
Mavericks, one of the most fearsome big-wave surf breaks in the world, breaks over a reef off Pillar Point, a few hundred metres from El Granada. On the biggest winter swells, waves rise to fifteen metres or more, and only the best surfers in the world dare to ride them. From the bluffs above, with binoculars, you can watch them drop down faces the size of buildings.
Read the complete El Granada write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The high point of this section. Next is Skyline Boulevard and Alice’s checkpoint 8.
5. Near South San Francisco
The dead outnumber the living in Colma by a margin of more than a thousand to one. In the early twentieth century, San Francisco banned new burials within city limits and then evicted most of its existing cemeteries, and the graves were moved a few kilometres south, to this small town just over the county line. Today Colma is a quiet, green landscape of memorial parks and monument workshops, where Wyatt Earp lies in a Jewish cemetery and Joe DiMaggio in a Catholic one. Locals like the joke on the town's own slogan: it's great to be alive in Colma.
Read the complete Near South San Francisco write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Skyline Boulevard and Alice’s checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is High point near Newark.
6. High point near Newark
Planning note
High point near Newark is the summit of this stretch. Next is Scenic stretch near Castro Valley.
7. Scenic stretch near Castro Valley
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Castro Valley closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop near Kensington to Near Petaluma, on the way back
Fuel stop near Kensington → Near Petaluma, on the way back is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
High point near Newark to Scenic stretch near Castro Valley
High point near Newark → Scenic stretch near Castro Valley is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.