Riding in Yosemite

"Mike Kennedy" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

Has anyone done any road riding in or near Yosemite Park? Do you have
any suggestions or warnings? I plan to do all of my rides early in the
morning around sun up so as to be done by the time the rest of the group
gets up.

Regards,

Mike Kennedy
[email hidden]

Where in Yosemite National Park will you be? Leaving the valley floor by any
route presents a few challenges. US 41 (heading to Fresno) takes you through
Wawona Tunnel, a relatively long, straight tunnel. CA 140 (towards Merced)
is easy enough leaving the park, but returning to the Valley requires you to
make a fairly long, stiff climb up what I recall as a narrow, winding road
with an awful lot of tour busses and large RVs flying past. The road may
have been widened since my last visit, in which case the RVs and busses will
be moving that much faster.

Reaching CA 120 entails a fairly stiff climb out of the valley on a
relatively narrow, winding road. Most drivers exceed the 35 mph limit, the
slower drivers are usually dividing their attention between the road and the
scenery. There are several short tunnels and one long one between the Valley
floor and the park entrance on this road. East of Crane Flat, heading
towards Tioga Pass there are a few rather steep, narrow, winding sections.

The two long tunnels on US 41 and the Crane Flat road are straight and well
lit, if you have lights and have the bike handling skills to hold a straight
line up a decent grade you should be all right. Returning to the Valley
floor the best thing to do is keep your speed up and use the center of your
lane through the tunnels. Watch out for tourists running into the middle of
the road to get photos at the downhill exits to both long tunnels. There are
walkways through the longer tunnels if you don't feel safe cycling through
them.

Tioga Pass is truly a spectacular ride, but involves some steep
climbs/descents. I've hit 53 mph coming down the east side of the pass, so
make sure your brakes (and everything else on your bike) is in perfect shape
before you attempt this ride.

Yosemite National Park has some spectacular scenery, the Valley floor can be
a very safe and laid back cycling experience, but as soon as you leave the
Valley floor the cycling becomes very challenging very quickly. Apart from
the challenging nature of the roads, a lot of the traffic consists of large
rented RVs whose drivers may or may not have much experience driving large
vehicles. A lot of drivers on the roads will also be distracted by the
scenery and may not be experienced at driving on mountain roads.
HTH,
--
mark

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In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Kennedy said:

Has anyone done any road riding in or near Yosemite Park? Do you have
any suggestions or warnings? I plan to do all of my rides early in the
morning around sun up so as to be done by the time the rest of the group
gets up.

_ The scenery in the park is pretty spectacular, but even early
in the morning you will find some traffic and all the roads I
know of have little or no shoulders. My guess is that you're
looking for rides of 1-2 hrs. Here's my list, they all likely
require a bit of driving first.

1. Toulome Meadows to the top of tioga pass and back.

2. The road that goes out to the Badger Pass ski area
and the scenic overlook beyond. ( Name escapes me at the moment)

3. The Valley loop including the short climb to mirror lake.

_ There are quite a few pokey back roads in between the
triangle formed by 120 and 140 and 49. They all have lot's
of steep climbing. Get a good map and check out Hardin Flat
road, foresta and the old Coulterville road. There's also
the road down to Mather and the Hetch Hetchy dam. The road
down to Mather is nice and you can make a loop with part of
120 if you wish, The road from Mather to Hetch Hetchy would
be nice if there was no traffic. It's narrow, twisty and
has no shoulders. The pavement on all these roads can
be quite bad in spots.

_ Booker C. Bense

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Hi Mike I have ridden in Yosemite last year and had a great 3 days. I
went from Fresno up Hwy41 to the breathtaking Inspiration Point. Went
down in the Valley camped for the night and wished I had a week to
spend there!!!! Wonderful place. The following day I went along bike
rides to Mirror Lake and then headed north exiting the park via Hwy120
to Mariposa if I remember right.

Do a search on 'Yosemite' on http://www.cyclingtheworld.org to read
travelogues of the area.

Cheers, Gianni