Where can I find a list of good roads for a novice to try out? Thanks.
Look at some area maps, my experience has been you have to get about a half hour away from Philly (in any direction) to get some open pavement. You can always practice turning up and down Kelly drive. Route 23 is okay if you hit it early enough in the morning. You can pick it up off City Line ave or Belmont. Go up 309 a ways looking at a map, there's some lesser roads that offshoot that might produce some thrills with generous speed limits. Inside philly, it's kinda tough to find some non congested roadways that would be fun to ride.
Try going to Google and search for "Your State" roads Motorcycle.
http://www.motorcycleroads.us/pa.html
one of the best sites i've found, you just punch in your state and it lists a ton for you, generally with maps and stuff as well. i already changed it to PA for ya, so hopefully that site helps.
I don't know anything about Philadelphia, but I took a close-up look at the area in my MS Streets & Trips software. If you were to take 23 West out of town, there's a nice little loop you could do, a few miles before you hit I-76 near Elverson.
State road 345 goes north at Warwick and looks nice and curvy as it meanders through French Creek State Park. (I'll bet the scenery is great, too!) When 345 dead-ends into state road 724, take a 1/4" mile jog to the left, toward Birdsboro. Then catch state road 82 back down to Elverson on 23. 82 appears to follow a river/stream and a railroad track for a few miles, so that oughta be fun, too.
(See this screen shot (http://www.bbburma.net/Temp/PhillyRide_23to345to82to23.jpg), which I'll leave up for a short while in my Temp folder.)
EDIT: Changed link from sisna.com to bbburma.net
great find Zarathrusta!
And Kerry is right 345 is an awesome road. Through woods and its been re-paved recently. I wouldn't ride it at night cuz there are tons of deer around, just my opinion. If you follow 345 up to 724 and follow 724 down towards 23 there is a diner that has bike nights on Friday's from 5-9. I haven't been there yet so I'm not sure what its like, but I'll prolly be stoppin in when we have a decent Friday night.
Thanks for the info, I will hopefully get to try some of these roads this wknd. :)
try www.pashnit.com not sure if it covers your state but plenty of roads there...