Ride Report: Rode to Alice's Restaurant yesterday

[VinceDee]

Thought I'd file a ride report for anyone who's ever been curious about Alice's Restaurant.

Alice's Restaurant is a nationally known motorcycle hangout, located in a very small town called Sky Londa, near Woodside, California (see map):

http://www.grannymary.com/pictures/alices.htm

The reason it's so popular with motorcyclists is that it's at the intersection of two very nice windy roads (highways 84 and 35), and in the center of a beautiful hilly area with lots of redwood trees. It's also a brief 10-15 minute twisty ride away from the Pacific Coast and world-reknowned Highway 1. If you've ever been to Northern California you already know that it's a gorgeous, temperate area with lots of trees, hills, and windy roads...perfect for two-wheeled transportation, so if you throw in a few twisty roads...watch your rear view mirror and aim for the apex! Since Sundays are the most popular day to go motorcycling, that's the best day of the week to head out to Alice's to get the full effect. Hundreds of motorcycles can be found parked on either side of the road, with riders chatting and admiring one another's rides, especially in the summer months.

The missus and I went there Sunday on our newly-acquired 82 Vision to have breakfast (and ogle other motorcycles), leaving at about 10am (but I recommend if you're ever going to do Alice's on a Sunday that you do it a bit earlier, like 8 or 9 am. We were just running late, as usual  :-\). I was going to try out my new Samsung Q1 Origami tablet on the trip as a GPS device, but it's bluetooth stack was being very fussy so I finally gave up and left it behind, opting to use my trusty HP ipaq 4705 for the GPS duties. I threw the Oxford "Humpback" tankbag on the bike (with the ipaq in the map pocket), shoved my helmet on my fat head, and donned my leather riding jacket. Then I impatiently waited for my better half to pile on layer after unending layer of clothing (she hates riding on cool days). Finally, with her on the passenger pillion, we headed out of Berkeley (located just at the northern end of Oakland) and across the Bay Bridge (traffic was horrible going through the toll booths on this day. I wish motorcycles could just bypass the tolls altogether  >:(), through San Francisco, onto Highway 101, then 280. It was indeed a cool day, and I was glad right away that I had decided at the last minute to wear my sweat jacket under my leather jacket. Bay Area weather is usually temperate, but the forecast had called for a cool tempurature, high humidity, and the remote possibility of scattered showers. We didn't run into any rain, but that infamous heavy San Francisco fog was making the trip damp. It wasn't too bad, though, and we were soon taking the exit at Crystal Springs Reservoir, which leads you directly onto Highway 35 and down to Alice's.

Traffic was modest at first, but then virtually disappeared once we made the left turn where 92 meets 35 and becomes just 35 the rest of the way. Not having to worry about other vehicles was great, but I began to wonder why I wasn't seeing any motorcycles. Certainly we weren't the only people on a Sunday ride on this well-known motorcyling road. It's probably just as well, though, because the road was damp in places and I would rather not have to worry about other riders coming up fast behind me as well as keeping my own tires attached to the tarmac. After about 20 minutes into this leg of the ride we finally started seeing other motorcyclists, mostly going the opposite direction, but at least we now knew we weren't alone. Finally, at the 30 minute mark we came into a clearing and saw Alice's Restaurant (when we first got there there were many more motorcycles on the left side than what you see in this picture, mostly Harleys for some reason, but most of them left by the time we finished breakfast and I got off my dead butt to take this panoramic photo):


http://www.grannymary.com/pictures/alicespano_large.jpg
(click link above for larger version)

It had taken a hair over an hour to get from Berkeley to Alice's. We dismounted the Vision and hustled inside the restaurant to thaw our legs out. It hadn't been a bad ride for me (I have a layer of fat helping me out, after all) but my S.O. wasn't a happy camper, so we got a table inside, rather than eating on the outside deck (which is the usually the more desireable thing to do). We ordered and then waited, talking about some of the various motorcycles we saw and swilling coffee. After an eternity waiting our breakfast finally came, with my old lady (we are bikers, right) eating pancakes and me eating mostly cold Mexican scrambled eggs (just how long has my breakfast been done and just sitting up on the counter, anyway?). The food, while cold, was still pretty good. The pancakes are great (though they charge you extra for maple syrup), and I would recommend the Chorizo and eggs that I had (just make sure they serve it to you as soon as it's done). One other note: Be sure that the menu price is the actual price you pay at the cashier. They seem to be perpetually in the middle of changing their menus around, and prices are all screwed up between the cash register and the menus.

After breakfast we wandered outside to look at bikes. There sure were a lot of Harleys on this day, for some reason. We saw a great looking all-white older BMW (something like a R60 maybe?) but there wasn't as much as we've become accustomed to seeing in the way of unusual bikes. In fact, a pair of BMW riders stopped by as we were about to get ready to leave and struck up a conversation about the Vision. It seems one of the guys bought a new 82 Vision in 85 and was entirely unhappy with it. He apparently got a lemon and had to offload it after only one year because of mechanical issues. He loved the bike when it worked, but he wasn't too happy that it always seemed to have problems. He mentioned a couple of the well known issues (stumbling carb, mushy brake) but said his biggest issue was the coolant system springing a sudden leak one day. I told him that he definitely must have gotten a bad one, because they're mostly dependable.

After looking at the usual assortment of sport and cruiser bikes and talking to other riders, we were ready to get back on the road, so I had a picture taken of me and the 'V' in front of Alice's, then the mate and I loaded up and rode home. All in all it was a fun day, and the bike was a beaut to ride. The seating was comfortable for the entire 100+ mile trip for me (my passenger said she was okay on the way down but uncomfortable on the way back home). I think the only thing I want to do for sure is fix up my Shark fairing and put it on the front. The constant wind didn't drive me crazy, but I'd like to break it up a bit.

I would definitely recommend that you take a trip to Alice's Restaurant if you're ever in the Bay Area  ;D

-VinceDee

[Extent]

Nice writeup!  I ride through there almost every weekend, though I try and avoid the usual "Alices run" of Skyline and La Honda rd. because there are usually far too many squids and cops, and usually an infuriating amount of slow traffic.  On a busy summer day you can almost expect to be buzzed by some yahoo on a 'busa pulling tripple digits, and since the beginning of this "season" I've already seen two gnarly wrecks on Skyline.  But!  When you get it on an off day (like this weekend) when it's just a big hazy, or a little cold it can be a really nice cruise.

I think the real good riding of the area are right off the trendiest route though.  Roads like Pescadero Rd. (medium high speed with sweeping hairpins, highly recomended), Stage, Kings Mountain ( lower speeds and tight hairpins ) Alpine, Tunitas creek and Pagemill rd. (very technical, low speed, tight hairpins, bad pavement ;D ).  And that's not counting little gems like Beanhollow Rd. and "that road that goes past Butano state partk" (lol)

I never actually stop at the resturant (being anti-social and all), but it usually looks like mostly Harleys park in front of the resturant, and lots of sportbikes and misc. end up in the parking lot across the road.  This weekend was really light, there's usually a lot more bikes around, and I didn't see a single group of riders anywhere on the road.  The place can turn into an absolute zoo when special events are happening, like when Yamaha unveiled their new R6 at Alices earlier this year :D

[Tiger]

 ;) .....Your "V" looked good in the back of the pick-up when you bought her BUT looks great on the road... 8)

[supervision]

  That bike looks good, when you showed the picture of it in the pick-up the other day, I had know idea you lived out here on the left coast...