#17 MILE DRIVE ENTRANCE FEE PLUS#
#17 MILE DRIVE ENTRANCE FEE SERIES#
#17 MILE DRIVE ENTRANCE FEE FREE#

But ignore the sign, go straight, and you’ll re-ride the stem of the lollipop and end the ride at the Sunset Drive entrance. Well, the loop part of our route does, but you already did that, and if you go down there you’ll find yourself retracing the loop forever. An enormous, unmissable sign painted on the road will tell you that the Scenic Drive goes L, down Spanish Bay Rd. The one place where you might be in doubt as to the route is when you close the loop at Spanish Bay Rd, which you took to get to the shoreline earlier. In some ways it’s the best part of the loop. All the sight-seeing cars leave the Scenic Drive at Carmel or the Hwy 68 gate, and few people live back here, so you’ll have this back side of the loop all to yourself.

#17 MILE DRIVE ENTRANCE FEE SERIES#

Continue on the main road through a series of intersections, mostly descending, all the way back to Spanish Bay Rd.

What follows is just a perfectly sweet 7 miles of cycling. When you’re on the overpass, all noticeable climbing is over. Ignoring the R to the exit gate, go L, paralleling 68, then R to cross over 68 as soon as you can. Do the substantial (800-ft) climb up to Hwy 68. There’s a temptation to turn around here and retrace your steps, since you’re naturally keen to do all that sweet riding a second time, but I wouldn’t-what lies ahead is not to be missed.

#17 MILE DRIVE ENTRANCE FEE FREE#

I guess the cars are free to continue their reckless ways.Īt the southeast corner of the loop, the road Y’s, with the main road turning right-angle L and beginning an obvious climb away from the water, and the secondary road going R and dropping to a lovely back door into the hamlet of Carmel (see Adding Miles below). A sign reads “Narrow road-cyclists exercise caution,” and you’re in for a few minutes of white-knuckling. Just after you pass Pebble Beach Golf Course and ride through the parking lot, you reach an intersection and turn R. Immediately you’ll see a manned gate charging an entrance fee from the cars, but you’re free, so bypass it on the R (officially you’re supposed to pay a cyclists’ fee, but no one ever does). There are places where you can park on the dirt shoulder near the beginning of the ride, or find parking along Sunset. Start where the Drive takes off from Sunset Drive in Pacific Grove. Because the locals want to keep you from exploring the neighborhoods, they’ve painted huge, unmissable “17-Mile Drive” signs on the road and posted beautiful wooden route marker posts at all the intersections. (To see an interactive version of the map/elevation profile, click on the ride name, upper left, wait for the new map to load, then click on the “full screen” icon, upper right.) This is California coastal riding, so wind is likely and the weather can feel surprisingly cold given the temperature-dress prudently. Of course you’d like to do the ride at sunset, but that’s when everyone else wants to be there too-the last time I did it at sunset, one parking area had four gigantic motor coaches disgorging tourists. The traffic can be a bit noisome, granted, and if you can do the ride before 10 AM so much the better. You’ll do some work-my computer recorded 1300 ft vert. The road contour on the south side is a delightful rollercoaster-up and down and back and forth-and the inland half of the loop is better-glassy smooth meandering, intermixed with effortless descending. This isn’t just a scenic tourist stroll-the riding is outstanding. The forty-million-dollar houses (no exaggeration) are actually pretty cool too, if you can forget the socio-political issues.

You ride by waves smashing into coastal rocks, through lanes of coastal cypresses, do a nice little climb, roll through nearly unpopulated Monterey pine forest, then do a fun, fast descent, all on the best road surface money can buy. Every time I do it, I wish I could live there so I could do it every day.

#17 MILE DRIVE ENTRANCE FEE PLUS#

Plus it’s all about money (you ride by Pebble Beach Golf Course, for god’s sake)-but, all that notwithstanding, it’s a delightful bike ride. This ride is a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge loop-a complete chestnut, over-hyped and tourist-ridden.

17 mile drive entrance fee