Touring - Tour the pacific coast any time of year?

Hi all,

I was wondering if one can tour the Pacific coast at any time of the year. I've heard the winds are a bit more on your side (going south) during the summer months, but what about between November-March?

I haven't toured it by bike but I've driven it a few times as a long haul truck driver. The weather is technically, moderate. Winds during Fall and Winter are typically from the sea which is why it's rainy and cool, but usually not freezing. I'd be concerned more about the fog and safe visability. Tourists are not in abundance and the locals can be quite careless in the curves because they figure the road is open in the off season.

EDIT NOTE: You can't see the sights in the fog, either.

Um... Nov-March is winter. In CA (where I live, near SF), it can be nice, but it can also be stormy. Pacific storms bring moderately cold temps (hi 40's low 50's) and heavy rain and wind. When it storms count on strong wind, which can often be southwest (not your friend).

I have a friend who rides from SF to San Diego almost every december, but sometimes cancels due to weather.

Check weather.com for seasonal averages.

Does anyone have a great web site for number of rain days and wind roses?

answering my own question.... http://www.intellicast.com/Almanac/Northwest/January/

I just finished the San Francisco to Santa Barbara stage in early September and some friends just did it in early October. Overcast and cloudy over the most scenic part of the trip though very often it might just as easily be sunny and cold but nice.

If the wind turns around on you like it did us between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara it can be quite nasty.

I've been living in big sur for almost a year.
It rained.
Then it rained some more.
Oh and there was some rain, between dec-april.
I don't wanna drive on HWY 1 let alone bike it when it's nasty here.

www.wunderground.com (http://www.wunderground.com)

A fantastic weather site with all sorts of historical and almanac data. I have some free memberships to give away if anyone likes the site and wants one - they get you an ad-free site.

John

www.wunderground.com (http://www.wunderground.com)

A fantastic weather site with all sorts of historical and almanac data. I have some free memberships to give away if anyone likes the site and wants one - they get you an ad-free site.

John

Thanks for the link, can I have a free membership? Aviation map is cool!

I live on the PCH in Humboldt County.
In our micro climate we get about 100" of rain a year and the wet just gets everywhere. When you live here you get used to it but it can get trying. :)
Steven

If you can deal with rain and don't mind stopping and finding hotel/B&B/hostel to ride out a storm, its fine, at least in CA.
Heck, in Sacramento we go to the coast to warm up.

Depending on timing, you could hit one of Oregon's famous 2-3 day, 80 mph gale storms.

its usually FOUL on the olympic peninsula and the washington coast in the winter months.

That said, i've had plenty of superb 4 and 5 day tours over there in December thru April. Chilly, stormy, some sun to make the wet and misery somewhat endurable ;) thing is, the days are pretty short in the winter. you just get rolling after lunch and its time to pull up and find a place to camp for the night.

and its gonna be windy. its windy there summer too, but not like this.