blog.anandtech...
I decided to go for a long drive today (~225 miles or so). Highlights were Carmel Valley Road (a favorite for car magazine tests), and CA Highway 25 (a motorcycle favorite).
Carmel Valley Road is a great driving road. After you work your way east from the ocean, past Carmel-By-The-Sea, it steadily climbs to 2300 feet and back down over 53 miles, and becomes a wide one-lane road on which two cars can easily pass at speed, but there is no striping of any kind (feels like a long racetrack). The farther you drive, the farther into no-man's land you go, and there is almost zero traffic. Corners were as tight as 15 MPH, but there were open stretches where "someone" could reach triple digits without too much drama. It's pretty uneven and a great ride/handling workout for the car, but no potholes. I hit the bump-stops once pounding through a set of corners with a rollercoaster dip in the middle. Lots of cow-catchers, some in corners, so you need to pay attention. No posted limits after you get past civilization, and even at the default 55 MPH, you could have yourself plenty of fun. The downhill side was a brake-buster.
Highway 25 is 65 miles of completely deserted high-speed sweepers with lots of elevation changes. A few twisty bits as it goes over mountain sides, but most corners were 50 MPH+. Fantastic road quality for most of it. I caught up with one motorcycle and one car, both of which waved me past immediately. I saw less than 10 vehicles traveling in the other direction. Several nice long concave straights that let you see very far into the distance, and where "someone" could get well into triple digits. Fantastic scenery, with some gorgeous mountains on both sides of the road.
Anyway, I highly suggest you all go take yourselves a nice long drive soon.
/blog.anand...
I decided to go for a long drive today (~225 miles or so). Highlights were Carmel Valley Road (a favorite for car magazine tests), and CA Highway 25 (a motorcycle favorite).
Carmel Valley Road is a great driving road. After you work your way east from the ocean, past Carmel-By-The-Sea, it steadily climbs to 2300 feet and back down over 53 miles, and becomes a wide one-lane road on which two cars can easily pass at speed, but there is no striping of any kind (feels like a long racetrack). The farther you drive, the farther into no-man's land you go, and there is almost zero traffic. Corners were as tight as 15 MPH, but there were open stretches where "someone" could reach triple digits without too much drama. It's pretty uneven and a great ride/handling workout for the car, but no potholes. I hit the bump-stops once pounding through a set of corners with a rollercoaster dip in the middle. Lots of cow-catchers, some in corners, so you need to pay attention. No posted limits after you get past civilization, and even at the default 55 MPH, you could have yourself plenty of fun. The downhill side was a brake-buster.
Highway 25 is 65 miles of completely deserted high-speed sweepers with lots of elevation changes. A few twisty bits as it goes over mountain sides, but most corners were 50 MPH+. Fantastic road quality for most of it. I caught up with one motorcycle and one car, both of which waved me past immediately. I saw less than 10 vehicles traveling in the other direction. Several nice long concave straights that let you see very far into the distance, and where "someone" could get well into triple digits. Fantastic scenery, with some gorgeous mountains on both sides of the road.
Anyway, I highly suggest you all go take yourselves a nice long drive soon.
/blog.anand...
Facebook
Twitter