me and bushido are going to try and conquer the classic SF "49 mile scenic drive" in under 2.5 hours.

That should be a breeze right? 20 MPH average, anybody's grandma should be able to do that!

to maintain 20+MPH average......

that means doing it at ungodly hours to avoid traffic which can have you stopped in your trax for 20 minutes at a time.....

.....and it means we'll need to make up for time lost at stop signs and signals-.

We'll be leaving the ferry building at like 6 AM Saturday morning...

I'll let you all know how we do.


(If you are stupid too, you will see us at the start)

 

N00b question: what exactly is the SF Scenic 49 mile drive?

 

you could find more than you'd want to know about it on google, but if you've driven in the city you might have seen these little blue signs with a seagull on them.. its a circuitous loop route that hits a lot of the touristy attractions, most guidebooks and stuff say it takes 4-5 hours to drive, not counting stops... which is understandable with traffic at fishermans wharf and stuff, but it still seems really long to me.

I saw that as a challenge.

 

google...duh

heheh you and Rich are crazy guys...good luck with the quest

 

How stupid am I?

Stupid enough that I'm going to work on Saturday morning... damn.

Be sure to tell us all how it goes.

Mike

 

I wish Greg and I could be that stupid, but he'll still be at his stupid work at 6am on Saturday!! Oh well...

 

hahahaha I tried doing this, but started in Presidio park. I followed all the scenic drive signs till I got to 36th (or was it 34th?) Ave. Then the scenic drive signs just disappeared and I went home Let me know when u get there and if u see the next scenic drive sign

 

Well, we did it! we drove what we could of the so-called 49 mile scenic drive this morning- and did it in under 2 hours.


I say "so-called" because by my GPS and rally odometer it was only a little over 45 miles, and I don't think we skipped any 4 mile section anywhere.

Maintaining an average speed is pretty much impossible on account of traffic signals, and starting any later than 6AM on a Saturday is going to put you into some bad traffic, but the problem with before 6 is that some streets are blocked for movie shoots and crap real early, we had to take a 3 block detour around Japantown.


There are a few parts of the route where the street signs point you in directions that most maps of the route I've seen don't go, but we always found another sign a little farther down the road.

"High points" aloing the route have to be Coit Tower on top of Telegraph hill, and the whole Twin Peaks complex. personally I had never driven out by Lake Merced and stuff so that part was nice to see too.

I think I would add a loop to take in the twisty part of Lombard, put a checkpoint at Fort Point, and maybe add another loop or two someplace else to get the mileage up to where it should be.

Negotiating the route through Golden Gate park was made challenging by a lack of street naming signs and a couple of mandatory route following signs for the 49 mile drive that were missing

I mean I'd really feel gypped if I was a tourist visiting SF and found the famous 49 mile drive was only 45 miles!

 

word!


-aaron

 

thats sweet i woulda went if i read this a couple days ago

 

don't worry soggy, we'll do it again sometime, hopefully we can get a few cars to come out for the thrash next time.