Skyline · Alice’s · Pacific Return

Redwoods, ridge roads and ocean air.

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Why this ride

Redwoods, ridge roads and ocean air. A 154 km loop that starts and ends near Belmont, about 2 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Alice’s Restaurant area, Pescadero coast and Half Moon Bay. The coast is the point of it.

Roadbook

1. Skyline Boulevard ridge start

   Skyline Boulevard runs along the spine of the Santa Cruz Mountains, high above the cities of the San Francisco Peninsula, and its ridge has a character quite unlike the coast or the bay. The road, also known as State Route 35, follows the crest through redwood and Douglas fir forest, with the fog of the Pacific on one side and the sunny, hazy bay on the other. Climbing from Belmont, about four kilometres away, you leave the suburbs behind within minutes and find yourself in cool, shaded woodland that smells of damp bark and bay laurel.

   Beneath the ridge lies the San Andreas Fault, which runs through the long valley of the Crystal Springs reservoirs, the lakes that supply much of San Francisco's water. Nearby Sweeney Ridge is where in 1769 the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá and his party looked down and saw San Francisco Bay for the first time, which they had missed on their march north. Redwoods in the folds of the hills include some of the oldest in the region, and many of the big trees were logged in the nineteenth century to rebuild the city.

   For motorcyclists, Skyline is a pilgrimage. The road has long, flowing curves, short climbs and descents, a good surface in most places and light traffic on weekdays. On sunny weekends it is busy with riders, and the crowds gather at the old roadhouse at the junction with Highway 84, a long-time biker stop. Cyclists share the road, so take care, and watch for deer, loose gravel and damp patches under the trees, where the sun rarely reaches. Fog can drop the temperature sharply and cut visibility in a minute.

   Fuel is easy in Belmont, a city of twenty-seven thousand, and there is little on the ridge itself, so fill up before you climb. Cafés in Woodside and La Honda serve coffee and sandwiches, and the roadhouse does burgers and pie.

   Ride it early on a weekday, when the light comes through the trees and the road is almost empty.

2. Alice’s Restaurant area food

   Everybody on a bike in the Bay Area knows Alice's, the roadhouse at the crossing of Skyline Boulevard and Highway 84 above Woodside. It is a low wooden building in a clearing of redwoods and Douglas fir, with a gravel lot that fills with motorcycles on any dry weekend morning and a porch where the whole sport of people-watching takes place. Sports bikes, old Beemers, choppers and the occasional vintage Vincent line up under the trees, and the talk is about which road is open, which has fresh gravel and who just came back from the coast.

   Skyline Boulevard, State Route 35, follows the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains for dozens of miles, and its fame as a rider's road is deserved. It dips and swings through shade, with the Pacific to the west and the San Francisco Bay to the east, and fog often pools in the valleys below so that you ride along a ridge above a white sea. The surface is variable, with patches of damp in the shade and a few rough sections, but the corners are open and rhythmic, and the redwood smell is strong. Woodside lies five kilometres below in the valley, a small, wealthy horse town with an old general store that was a stop on the lumber road when these hills were logged heavily in the 1800s.

   Fuel is the one thing the ridge does not offer. Fill in Woodside, Redwood City or Palo Alto before you climb. The café at the crossing serves breakfast and burgers and is busiest from about nine in the morning, so if you want a seat, come earlier or wait until the lunch rush passes. Cell service is patchy in the folds of the hills.

   Weekday mornings are the sweet spot, with the light slanting through the trees and few cars. Summer fog can leave the ridge damp and cold, so bring a layer, and winter rain brings slippery leaves and the odd fallen branch. Spring is lovely, with fresh green and a faint trace of wildflowers along the verges.

3. Pescadero coast photo

   Pescadero is a village on the coast of San Mateo County, about twenty kilometres south of Half Moon Bay by the old road, and it is one of the best-loved small stops for any rider who comes down from the Santa Cruz ridge. Highway 1 runs through here with the Pacific close on one side and farmland on the other, and the sky is usually larger than you expect.

   The area is farm country. Artichokes thrive in the cool, foggy air, and the roadside stands sell them by the bag in season, alongside strawberries, flowers and brussels sprouts. In the village itself an old tavern has served artichoke soup and a long list of fried things for generations, and the bakery down the street is known for garlic bread and pies. Both are busy at weekends, so it can pay to arrive on a weekday or early. A few kilometres south, Pigeon Point Lighthouse, finished in 1872, rises 115 feet above the shore and is among the tallest on the West Coast.

   For the bike, the coast road is a different mood from the ridge. It is gentler, more open, with long straights and smooth bends that flick along the bluffs. Wind is a real factor, sometimes strong enough to push a lightweight bike across the lane, and fog can sit on the road for hours in summer. The best light comes in late afternoon in spring and autumn, when the fog thins and the grass glows. In winter you may see grey whales spouting offshore.

   There are no big towns near, and Woodside, at twenty-three kilometres, is the nearest sizeable place, so carry enough fuel for the coast run. Half Moon Bay, to the north, has stations and more food. Dress for a cold, damp wind, even if it was warm on the ridge.

4. Half Moon Bay stop

   Half Moon Bay is where the Peninsula's mountains finally meet the Pacific. The town sits on a wide coastal plain, backed by the green flank of the Santa Cruz Mountains and fronted by a long crescent of sand, and it feels like a different state from the busy bay side only twenty minutes away over Highway 92. Fog arrives most summer afternoons, so mornings are your best bet for sun.

   Riders come through on Highway 1 and use the town as a pause on the coast run. The road here is wide and easy, with long views over fields of artichokes, Brussels sprouts and pumpkins, and it grows tighter and more dramatic south toward Pescadero and Santa Cruz. Highway 92 over the mountains is the classic way in from the east, a tight, tree-lined climb with a few steep switchbacks, and it is worth a ride in either direction. Watch for cyclists, who flock to these roads at weekends, and for the cold, wet patches under the redwoods that never quite dry out.

   Half Moon Bay is also a place with some history. It began as a Spanish-era farming spot, and later became known as Spanishtown, and during Prohibition its isolated beaches were used by rum-runners who landed their cargo at night. Today, its biggest annual event is the Art and Pumpkin Festival in October, when the whole coast road clogs with visitors. A few kilometres north, at Pillar Point, huge winter swells break far offshore at a place surfers call Mavericks, and in big storms they are a spectacle even from the cliff.

   For practical things, the town has more than twelve thousand people, which means fuel, groceries, bike shops and cafes on the main street are all easy. A bowl of clam chowder and a view of the harbour at Pillar Point is a classic and reliable lunch. Weekend traffic on the coast road can be slow, with long tailbacks heading back over Highway 92 on Sunday afternoons, so plan around it.

5. Back to Skyline Boulevard ridge finish

   Back at Skyline Boulevard ridge. That is the ride.

Where this sits

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