Northern California - Cycling on Highway 17 for a short distance

In my ongoing effort to explore new (to me) roads in the Santa Cruz mountains I have identified a couple routes that would involve riding on highway 17 for a bit. Obviously this isn't a bike friendly road but I wondered how suicidal it would be to ride on it for half a mile or so as a connector between other roads. I have tried to inspect the routes in satellite view and in google street view but I'd still like the opinion of anyone who has tried this or just someone more familiar with the area.

The first option is from Old Santa Cruz Hwy to Glenwood Dr. This is about 3/4 of a mile and drops about 180 feet for an average downhill grade of about 4.5%. Here it is on the map:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3314128

The other option I was curious about is from Laurel Rd to Glenwood Cutoff. This one is about 0.4 miles and climbs around 50 feet and then drops back 50 feet which is a 4.7% grade up then down. Map:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3314129

Note that Laurel Rd and Glenwood Cutoff are actually through streets even though Google maps depicts them as spurs :rolleyes: So if I was to ride my bike on either of these parts of the road what are my chances of living to tell about it?

First off, I will just say that it is not a good idea to ride on 17 anywhere. Traffic is almost always heavy enough to make for a safety concern in itself because people usually drive 55-65 on most stretches. Also, a shoulder to ride on is sporadic. Even when there is one, it is often occupied by debris that has come down from the hillsides. I grew up in the SC Mountains and have driven or been driven on 17 countless times. It makes me nervous whenever I see cyclists on 17, though the only place I have ever seen them is going between Los Gatos and Lexington because they didn't want to take the dirt trail or going northbound between Old Santa Cruz Highway and Alma Bridge (which I have ridden myself a few times).

If you are giving serious consideration riding them, drive them first to see what you are up against. That is the best advice I can give for it.

Specifically for the different routes:

Old Santa Cruz Hwy to Glenwood Dr.- You are correct, this is all downhill. It starts out steeper and mellows out towards the end after the first turn. If my memory serves me correctly, the shoulder is decently wide going down towards the first turn. Then it narrows down during the turn, but opens to a large pullout during the next small straight as a good escape spot. Then for the rest of the way starting on the second turn, I do not think there is much of a shoulder. That final stretch is maybe a quarter mile long to Glenwood. Also, on the first straight going down the hill, people are regularly going 60-65.

Laurel Rd to Glenwood Cutoff.- I think this section is the safer of the two sections. I think there is a good shoulder pretty much the whole way between the roads, plus there are sections of new pavement as well. Also, the only downhill section is pretty straight and past the shoulder is a guardrail and a downhill, so less debris to worry about.

A couple more things to note about both of these routes is that you will have to cross the highway on your bike. This may or may not be more dangerous than the ride down itself, depending on traffic load and road conditions. Also, whenever you are going on any of the downhill parts of the road, you have to be careful when going around the bends, especially the first right bend after you get on from Old SC Highway. This is because there are a lot of accidents where people roll their cars and the metal to asphalt will make grooves in the roadway. Got to be careful to not put your wheel in one of those.

Again, I really would not suggest it. There are too many other good roads around to ride that are not highway 17. Plus, all the roads you mentioned here have alternate ways of riding on them and to them, just maybe not in succession. But if you are going to try it out, I hope what I wrote helps.

Awesome info, thanks for the detailed post. I was kind of hoping for "It'll be fine, I do it all the time" but it sounds like I shouldn't plan on riding either of the sections I mentioned.

But sometimes I like to do exploratory rides where I just follow unknown roads without worrying about making a "wrong" turn or getting lost or maintaining a fast average speed. So maybe on one of those type of rides I'll plan to just ride down to the junction of say Old SC Hwy and 17 and have a look with the intent of turning around and doubling back. From your description chances are I'll be scared enough to not want to chance it but getting that fear drilled into my head firsthand is sometimes helpful :rolleyes:

Since I moved down here in the summer (from menlo park) it's been fun exploring the local roads but frustrating with the lack of interconnectedness for bikes :bang:

:-) I like questions that contain "how suicidal would it be..."! You're killing me, Ben!

No, No, No, NO!!! Find another way, that road is crazy, lots of areas w/no shoulders; people driving like idiots... I'm glad you got the same reaction from others! :eek:

I did it once for a little bit... because I think the LG Creek trail was closed. I would not do it again. So to answer your question, I would classify it as "pretty suicidal".

Okay I see there's a consensus forming on this topic. The reason I even considered it in the first place was because the program Klimb (web site currently down) includes the route from Old Santa Cruz Hwy through to Glenwood Dr (the first path in my original post). So I figured maybe that one part of the road was okay but it sounds like that's not the case *sigh*