Anyone have must ride routes for Yosemite Valley and adjascent areas?

Anyone have must ride routes for Yosemite Valley and adjascent areas?

I had been thinking about this, too, since I've been to Yosemite many times without the bike. Outside of the valley, though, where I'd really rather ride (such as up to Glacier Point) I'd be somewhat worried about the narrowness of the roads and how distracted the drivers could/would be and the number of RV's.

I also think climbing up the road to Tolumne(sp) Meadows would be pretty nice except for the traffic.

In the valley there's a few bike routes/lanes, some of which go to places like Mirror Lake I think and aren't open to cars.

I would also say that weekdays would be a lot better than weekends.

I should add that I'll probably be up there closer to winter, if not winter, to do some riding when the park is a lot quieter.

This is a great organized ride http://www.grizzlycentury.org/ through Yosemite.

This is a great organized ride http://www.grizzlycentury.org/ through Yosemite.

I don't think that enters the park, it looks like it stays south of it.

Staying in Fresno next week. Probably will drive to the park Tues. or Thurs. morning. Ride the valley and then hit Glacier Point or Tuolomne Meadows if we have time. Then head back that evening.

Do yourself a huge favor and keep of the hwys into and out of the Valley like 41 and 120. They are very dangerous roads to ride this time of year. They are narrow and windey with zero to no shoulder, there are tons of rubbernecking tourons in RVs who lead conga lines of similar folks, bent on looking at the trees and cliffs and not at the road or any hapless rider they might come upon.

Riding the Valley loop is ok, but its only 7 miles long and limited, plus the traffic most of the time totally sucks on a bike. At least below Camp 4 down to Bridalveil Falls. What is a good riding option, is to drive up to Crane Flat, park at the gas station (early am) and ride from there up to the Meadows. The road has doable margins for riding and its super beautiful once you get out of the trees around Olmstead Point. But as a whole the Valley has very limited safe riding opportunities. I have a friend who was riding into the Valley and was run off the road by a clueless tourist and he hit a tree a 50 moh, its a miracle he lived. When you drive in, really take a look at the useable road area you would get on a bike, compounded with blind corners most everywhere and you have a very dangerous combination. If you do ride those roads, try and get the earliest start possible, so when you're coming back down into the Valley, it'll be on the downhill and it's much safer that way, I guess.

cheers
Pat

Anyone have must ride routes for Yosemite Valley and adjascent areas?

Couple years ago I did a ride starting from the valley floor, beginning of 8 mile trail, to Glacier Point. I left early in the morning so traffic was light. The route itself was OK. I was hopping for great views of the mountains, but it was more like going through the forest. From Glacier point itself the view was great. Not as good as from Half Dome, but you can't ride your bike there, legally... :) Not sure if it's the "must" ride, but it was fun enough that I would do it again. I even got some cudos from people who drove up there. lol.

I agree with previous poster stay away from those highways leading in to the valley. I and my friend were driving there couple weeks ago and there were couple people riding up 120. There was no safe way to pass them. Lots of blind turns so you couldn't go in to opposite lane and passing them within the lane would leave inches. I waited, but most people wouldn't.

If you do ride in the valley or in to it, leave early. Around 6 am, preferably. Most tourists don't show up until around 10.

The roads this time of year are very busy.. One of the best rides I did was a Mtn bike ride down some maintenance roads into the back country by Crane Flat..

I have to totally agreed with Big Draft.

I used to live in Fresno and would ride around Yosemite on a regular basis. It is a beautiful place and great for just cruising around looking at the sights. SInce you are going at "high time" in the midst of summer, traffic will be heavy going into and out of the Park. If you were doing a visit say in early Spring and Fall, I could make some route suggestions but summer best to go visit the Park and do your riding elsewhere.

Have you thought of doing rides in Fresno? Of course there is a weather issues as Fresno in summer is hot but there are some great rides out of Fresno into the foothills. For more info check out the Fresno Cycling Club (fresnocycling.com). They are a wonderful group of riders and can give you all sorts of ride suggestions. How about even joining one of their rides?

We will probably hit Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon, or see about soemthing in Sequoia. I have ridden in the foothills in the Tollhouse area, Friant resevoir, seems like all the roads there are all inteconnected, very hard to describe routes.

one really great ride if you find yourself aournd the Shaver Lake area. Ride up to Huntington, and then up to the Kaiser Pass and out to Leke Edison. In fact I would blow off the Shaver Lake start and just start around Huntington Lake somewhere. Its the farthest you can ride into the Sierra w/o being able to continue on over to the Eastside. There's a little resturant and store at Lake Edision and the road from Kaiser Pass to there is a single lane road with very little traffic. Very beautiful for a westside ride into the mtns.

I agree with others above, riding within the park is very busy and and roads are narrow with little or no shoulder. Your best be is to try some of the climbs just outside of the park. I rode Hwy 41 from the bottom (toward Fresno) and climbed all the way into the park a couple of weeks back. There is a shoulder for most of this climb and if you go early enough in the morning you will not have much in the way of traffic. I camped in Wawona and got up at dawn and cycled out of the park and descended Hwy 41 to the bottom - somewhere between 1,000 and 2000 feet. I then turned around and climbed back into the park. It works out to be almost 5,000 feet of a climb so it is a great ride - providing you like climbing ;)

Riding within the park

We will probably hit Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon, or see about soemthing in Sequoia. I have ridden in the foothills in the Tollhouse area, Friant resevoir, seems like all the roads there are all inteconnected, very hard to describe routes.

I've ridden from Cedar Grove to Grants Grove, one heck of a hill climb. The ride was 28.6 miles with 4,200' of climbing, most of the climbing was in the last 15 miles with a 12 mile section that had 3,500' of climbing.:eek:

This is a great organized ride http://www.grizzlycentury.org/ through Yosemite.

The Grizzly Century is a great ride. It has some climbing, a little over 10,000'. The average altitude for the day is 5,000' and the top of Cold Springs is 8,500'. The route is just south of Yosemite in the dome land area, very pretty. All the SAG stops have wonderful people manning them. Be prepared for all kinds of weather, you are in the Sierras in the fall time.