Northern California - I wanna do some riding in norcal

I got a week off and my bro and I want to take a trip and get some good riding in. We would car camping each night. I would think 50-70 mile rides would be fun without overdoing it

I'm from LA and was thinking Big sur would great, any other suggestions? I know theres lots of campgrounds in the area and came across a couple threads while searching:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=53727&highlight=big+sur
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=356191&highlight=big+sur

camping: http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/map.html

Sounds like north to south on the 1 is the way to go. only problem is getting back to the campground. I'd also like to find some routes that go inland. Any good rides inbetween LA and big sur? Thanks for any suggestions!

always wanted to cycle along the Pacific Coast Highway but was worried about traffic and strong head winds. I did a short 20-miles down south starting from Pacifica and was hooked. The only problem was that I still didn't enjoy all of the traffic on a nice Saturday. I was able to find a great charity ride that's route went 100-miles down the PCH from Monterey to San Simeon. BestBuddiesChallenge.org (http://www.bestbuddieschallenge.org) - It was a great ride and well supported. I highly recommend riding the PCH. It's beautiful and really allows you see some of the undeveloped landscapes of California.

Although it is gorgeous there, you'll find that there are much better and safer places to ride. On that section of CA 1, there are often no shoulders, you move in and out of the shadows, traffic moves pretty quickly in places, and the drivers are very distracted by the scenery. Why not come up to wine country and base your ride in Sonoma County? I think the riding up there is a lot better and will give you way more options. Or shorten your drive and stop in Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo, both of which have great riding. Good luck!

Or better yet, why not head straight up to Sonoma on I-5 on the first day, stop in the Sonoma area for 2-3 nights, then head down 1 (the views heading south are better because you are on the ocean side), with a night in Santa Cruz, 2 nights in SLO, and 2 nights in Santa Barbara? That would be a wonderful trip!

If you have your heart set on riding the Big Sur coast, take a look at this map (http://www.mst.org/maps/5-24-08/RG_MST%20Regional%20Diagram.pdf) and plan around it. MST runs all the way down to Nepenthe, and I seem to recall some campsites along 1 on the way south. The 40 miles or so between Carmel and Nepenthe are probably what you'd consider to be the classic bits of the Big Sur coast. You want to go north to south to take advantage of prevailing winds, and better scenery. It's like $5 to take the bus back to Carmel, and it has racks on the front so you can have a place to transport your bike(s) if you want, or go inside, if there's a group ride. If at all possible, do this ride on a weekday.