Hi,
I might be able to get in a long weekend in the coming months (just had a baby, 5 mos now, so the occasional weekend is all I can get for the time being) and want to really get away into the woods, but riding, not hiking.
Anyone have experience with the Nat Forests or Yosemite in Northern Cali that they can suggest something where I can get away into the woods but still be on at least dirt roads?
I was thinking Mendicino Nat Forest maybe?

Forest service has cut a zillion miles of logging roads to get the trees out on trucks .
get a good Map , such as USGS prints.. and a Compass ,
and learn how to read a map and use that compass, together.

just be aware that the Pot growers are oversensitive and often armed.

Yeah I have thought about the pot growers. I think I would want to stick to fairly well travelled areas. I certainly don't want to get myself in a fix there
. I'm very, very experienced in the woods as far as land navigation and things like that. I used to do a ton of hiking and backpacking, and was a paratrooper in the army for most of my 20s, but lost my right leg a few years ago, and now it is a lot more fun to stay on a bike rather than carry a pack, I get less prosthetic complications as well.

We were on all paved roads this summer, but Sequoia National Forrest, Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite were all awesome.

In Yosemite they are not all that supportive to cyclists wrt campsites. They will let you stay at North Pines Backpackers Camp for one night and then you can move to Camp 4 (first come first served so get there very early and preferably not on the weekend). Once there you can stay for 6 days if you want. We did that and rode our bikes to attractions and did hikes.

You might pick up something useful in our journal at:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/MountainMan

Edit:
I forgot to mention... In places where we got there too late and the campsites were all taken we were able to find someone willing to share their site. We met some really nice folks that way.

There's some fun stuff in Colusa/Lake counties. At the junction of Hwy 20 and Hwy 16 go north on Bear Valley Road and explore. It's a bit dry this time of year, so bring water. You can loop over to Clear Lake and return to where you started.

Bodfish Cycles in Chester,Ca. at Lake Almanor publishes excellent guides to N. Cal bike touring many are of shorter duration.

+1 on the Bodfish books. I had read somewhere that they were out of print, but he had both (California Dream Cycling and Cycling the CA Outback) in stock at his store as of last May. The specifics are a bit outdated, but still great for general areas.

You might enjoy the info on Andreas' site - he has both paved and unpaved route info.

https://home.pacbell.net/hillmann/NorCalLoop/index.htmla

i posted this on the mtbr forums earlier. check out pt reyes...we've bike camped at sky camp and coast camp, even though there are trails that are required to access the sites, the trails to the campsites aren't too long, so folks can still access the campsites by car via foot fairly easy. the climb from the beach back up limantour rd is steep, so you might wanna pack light. wildcat camp is the most remote, haven't been there yet.

willow creek (russian river) is semi primitive, the campsites are only accessible past a locked gate. the best sites are the furthest ones down the road, they're closer to the river.

henry coe is definitely worth checking out, pretty remote for it's proximity to silicon valley...we've bike camped out there before, it's definitely what you're asking for, but super duper.....steep. bring a water purifier, filter, or tabs. watch out for mountain lions and bring your bug spray.

a couple of weeks back we rode from the monterey bay area (where i live), down to big sur, up from kirk creek, thru hunter liggett, over to arroyo seco. there's hiker biker sites in big sur, but there's cars on the road. once you get to hunter liggett, no cars, basically all the way to arroyo seco, dirt rd. you can out and back thru arroyo seco and there's definitely backcountry access into the east side of the ventana wilderness if you wanted to ditch your bikes and explore, get a map. if you really wanted to explore a bit more on bikes on dirt, check out los burros rd and coast ridge rd. definitely a nice range on this ride from ocean to redwood forest, high coast range chapparal, huge valley oaks, and steep mountain wilderness.

you might also want to check out butano and big basin state parks, you can camp at each park and ride back and forth, or point to point. if you can find a legal primitive dirt rd where you can camp w/out riding road in the greater bay area besides coe lemme know, cause i'm looking for it too. most of the places we go are mostly stealth camp spots.

what kind of bike are you riding? hopefully something with gigantor floaty tires. if you can get a chance try calling jeff boatman, he makes/designs the carousel design works bags, i believe he lives in sonora and has tons of information about off road adventure bikepacking on forest service roads and trails in his local area of the sierra (if you do please share). if you're in oakland have you explored mt tam or mt diablo? pretty sure you can ride mostly dirt from oakland to mt diablo. have fun.

Hey thanks for all the info. I am especially interested in Big Sur. I rode Rt 1 through there a few years ago and thought it was beautiful

The North Coast is also nice. Crescent City down to Fort Bragg, Avenue of the Giants, Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, nice stuff.

I agree. I haven't ridden there yet (just moved out here a few years ago) but have gone there a lot on the weekends in the car with the family and like it a lot up there. I would love to do a tour up through Mendicino and Humbolt counties.

Just came back from a SF > Pt. Reyes (actually, Olema) > Mt. Tam inn to inn that was awesome. I did it on my cyclocross bike with a light load. I did true mixed terrain, but I think if you are on a mountain bike, you could add a lot more dirt.

I started with the standard route out to Fairfax and then Pt. Reyes on the first day (could have added dirt on the way to Fairfax and through Henry Coe). I then stayed two nights at the Bear Valley Inn (10% off arriving by bike, 7% more off for LAB members), which had secure indoor bike parking. I hiked instead of riding in Pt. Reyes, but there are lots of trails open to bikes. I then headed to the West Point Inn on Tam (bike or hike in only; hot water and modern kitchen, but no electricity) by going down 1 to the Randall Trail, then Bolinas Ridge Trail to Ridgecrest Rd., and finally, Gravity Train Rd (a fire road). The proprietor of Black Mountain Cycles recommended Randall over the northern part of Bolinas Ridge due to its shade and superior traction (I was on 32 mm slicks). While it's a lot steeper on the map, it didn't seem like it, probably due to the great traction in the rain forest.

The southern Bolinas Ridge Trail was the highlight of the the trip, with huge redwoods that shaded the trail so much that I was actually riding through mud in parts, even though it hasn't rained for months. The last day I just descended Gravity Train (five miles) into Mill Valley and took the road home, but if I had more time, I could have easily made most of the route dirt.

If you get the Marin biking map, you can see all the trails possibilities.

A variation near this that has much less traffic but more hills is to head out to the Lost Coast from Ferndale. Roll over to Shelter Cove Hwy from Honeydew and then take Usal Rd (25 miles of rutted clay road) to Hwy1. This puts you 30 miles from Ft. Bragg. Camping at A.W.Way (Humbolt County Park 8 miles west of Honeydew), Shelter Cove and Usal (5 miles from Hwy1). There aren't really any services along this stretch (a bar in Petrolia and a small store in Honeydew), but it has always been one of my favorite rides. I don't think there is any water at Usal, so bring a filter.