San Francisco to Santa Cruz

Has anyone done this ride?

What is the best route?

How do I get from SF to Pacifica and onto the 1?

How is the ride? How long? Road conditions?

Thanks! Any and all information and experiences are welcome!

 

>Has anyone done this ride?

Yes, at least twice. Photos from the first ride here on a friends web site:
http://halfaya.org/leo/cycling/ggscmv.html

>What is the best route?

I don't know. What we did is start north of the Golden Gate bridge, cross the bridge and generally
follow "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" book route to Pacifica. From there, straightforward to follow 1
to Santa Cruz. We continued on via back roads (e.g. Mountain Charlie Road, old Santa Cruz road, etc)
to the Bay Area.

>How do I get from SF to Pacifica and onto the 1?

I'll let someone else give specifics here.

>How is the ride? How long? Road conditions?

Approximately 85 miles from Golden Gate Bridge to Santa Cruz city limits. Approximately 120 miles
when continued back to the Bay Area.

Last time I went was 1999, so roads may have changed. However, in general I remember reasonable
shoulders, an occasional narrow spot and moderate traffic.

>Thanks! Any and all information and experiences are welcome!

If you keep going further south, from Santa Cruz all way to San Luis Obispo or even Santa
Barbara...some of my nicest long weekend riding.