For those in San Jose

[StYliN250]

Has anyone gone up Mt. Hamilton rd to Mines Rd (I think thats how its spelled)??? I wanna ride it, but have herd that it has a lot of gravel on the road and that there are some really sharp turns!!If anyone has been up there recently and wants to give me a road report, i would appreciate it!!

Thanx

Mikey :cool

 

[theSteveCo]

Mt Hamilton is a mixed bag. The front sucks ass, unless you're on a motocross bike or an enduro, that is! The back-side kicks ass! I love it. It's very similar to the frontside of Hwy 9, but without the cars and cops! Mines, on the other hand, is a bit higher speed than I think you're used to, and I hope you like gravel -- there's plenty -- chip seal gravel, too, not corner gravel.

 

[Ezekiel]

Gravel. It's easier to see on the Mt. Ham part of the ride, but in the mines road portion it kind of blends in with the rest of the road. Not sure if you are a newbie or not, if so, you might want to hold off on this ride for a bit.

 

[Port4mance]

I personally don't like mines. A lot of gravel and I've even seen some big rocks in the road. Never been through mt. Hamilton, guess I should go soon. On sunday we rode through Calaveres then went upto to Redwood Rd. Calaveres was pretty nice, but also gravelly. I liked Redwood Rd. not to much gravel and some nice twisties.

 

[theSteveCo]

I keep hearing about Redwood... who wants to go up there on the weekend of the... lessee... um... 16th???

 

[KXP]

Redwood Rd is the same as Mines Rd. Gravelly, and tight. And the road isnt even. It goes up and down..up and down. But then again if you can ride redwood rd well, you can ride any other road.

 

[Port4mance]

Redwood Rd is the same as Mines Rd. Gravelly, and tight. And the road isnt even. It goes up and down..up and down. But then again if you can ride redwood rd well, you can ride any other road.

You be trippin more than your Jr Prom date. Redwood rd. is not even close to being as gravely as Mines. The beggining of mines is nice but once you get to the chip seal that they just put on at the end of last summer it sucks! You are right about the uneveness of redwood, but it's not that bad. I'm down for a ride on the 16th. Nice and close to my house.

 

[Instance]

Redwood road is actually pretty nice, like the others have said its a lot of ups and downs, not like 35/84/9 where its pretty much the same all the way through. Its kinda bumpy is some parts, so if you are flying through quick you kinda get tossed around in your seat a bit(past experience ).



Be Safe

 

[theSteveCo]

You be trippin more than your Jr Prom date.:

Ha ha! :laughing

 

[Wolf]

I've done it 2x. Both times I took 680->580 to Livermore and came in the backway.
Mines is alright, there are some pretty sharp turns and the road isn't in great shape. Once you hit The Junction restaurant, the road gets really nice. A lot of short little curves.

Then coming down Mt Hamilton, there are a lot of downhill turns, and usually there's gravel at each one. From Livermore into SJ on this route is about 75 miles.

 

[Ezekiel]

Another route to take into consideration is the road from the junction out to I-5 (Patterson). I haven't been on this road since the summer, but it wasn't as dirty as the others last time I was out there. Of course, at the end is only I-5, straight and boring, but you could always just gas up out there and head back the way you came! Give it a try sometime...

 

[Port4mance]

I've done the Route Ezekiel is talking about, it's not as gravely out to I-5 but I noticed a lot more Large rocks in the road. My favorite road has still got to be 84, wish they wouldn't have messed up the bottom half though :mad