-holiday76

So a friend and I are planning a possible short tour which would involve flying into LAX, getting on a tandem which would already be in LA, and riding back to my place in San Jose. I just moved here from the east coast a few months ago and have never toured in SoCal so I'm looking for any advice - routes to take, how to get out of LA with a tandem, how much time we'd need to get to San Jose. This is in the early stages of planning, in fact we could even fly somewhere else instead, Like Reno or Portland. The main thing here is to get the Tandem to San Jose, and to take a tour that would be < one week of riding.
Anyone who has toured in the area, or even on a tandem is welcomed to chime in.

prathmann

The Pacific coast is a beautiful place for bicycle touring, but going north to south is much nicer than the converse. The prevailing wind out of the northwest is the main factor, but there's also the fact that you get better views from the west side of the road and there tends to be a better shoulder on that side. So if Portland or Eugene is a possible starting point, I'd recommend that over LA.

SFGary

Have you considered getting the ACA Pacific coast route map, https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/pacificcoast.cfm - seems tailor made for you.

sauerwald

Prevailing winds along the coast go from N to S, so you will have a headwind for most of the ride, but I think that I would rather face a headwind along the coast than take any of the much more boring inland routes....

spinnaker

Big mistake. The wind along the coast blows from north to south and can be very strong. Fly into SFO instead.

-holiday76

cool. We should fly into SFO and ride to San jose, 50 miles away. That's a great idea!




I will however look into doing Portland to San Jose though.

spinnaker

Pacifica is OK. Montara it gets a bit better. But the real beauty of the coast won't be till you hit Big Sur. You should consider riding further than San Jose.

At the very least go to Montara, there is a great hostel there.

Or start from Porland as you mentioned.

Pat from CA

An even better reason to ride from the North to the South is that you will be on the ocean side of the road through big sur and the views are much better from that side! Have fun

fietsbob

Good plan given going inland, Bakersfield thru Fresno and a couple towns in-between
are on the recently published 4 of the 10 for worst air pollution list, ..

perhaps ride Near the ridge and the Sierra-Nevada's higher foot hills ..