Unofficial Contest: Trickiest Local Corners!!!

[mstewar1]

Neat idea for a thread! This one really licks balls here in the Bay Area. I've had my biggest O'Sheet moment here.

It's bad turning onto Palomares from Niles Canyon, either way. It's worst coming East (from the left). Here, you make a left turn onto Palomares. There are two dangers here:
- You are turning left across a road that is mostly hidden in front of you behind a sweeping left hander that is going under a bridge. You can only see cars about a second or two before they are upon you, and they are going about 50 mph out from under the bridge. My scary moment was that as soon as I committed to making the left turn, a car popped up from under the bridge. Not sure if I was really moving yet, but I'd mentally decided to go, so I went. I got across without the car needing to slow for me, but it was my first hot flash.
- The second problem is that if it isn't clear to make that left, you need to stop and wait for it to clear. There is no turning lane. You either sit in the middle, blocking traffic, or sit in the median, hoping cars passing on either side don't take you out. The cars coming from behind are coming around a corner at 50 mph and not expecting to see a motorcycle sitting at a stop in the middle of the road. Perfect invitation for a rear-ender.

When I come down this road, if that left turn to Palomares isn't clear for me to just lean into it and go without stopping, I just pass by and continue on down Niles Canyon.

+ a whole bunch for this corner, and I'm talking about coming from the other direction (heading west). The right hand turn from Niles onto Palomares is insanely off-camber and the corner is covered with sand. So you've got to slow down to nothing, with traffic bearing down on you from behind, and negotiate that corner without sliding out. But then the reward is getting to ride Palomares. I've been doing this ride occasionally after work as it's only about five minutes from my office.

 

[cv_rider]

Yeah, I know, it sucks that way too. I have never been able to actually negotiate that turn in the west direction. I always end up overshooting and doing some dorky 3-point turn thing to get pointed up Palomares. It's awkward, but not dangerous as the other direction is. But that's a very nice ride up Palomares! That's my scenic route back from work. I've seen some people ripping it up through that canyon. Too much gravel and blind driveways to trust the road to be in safe condition all the time. I also feel a little sheepish about blasting the residents with high rpms going through.

 

[Andz]

Wavex has my vote so far, what an awesome piece of road!

My road isn't that easy to post because the Google Earth pictures are in shadow from the mountains, but go to 34°2'53.56"S 18°21'44.69"E and follow the road south along the coast, it is about 4 miles of madness with decreasing radius bends, sheer drops to the ocean, tourist buses and cagers watching the view more than the road. Heaven!