Vacation in San Francisco - Biking Advice

Hey Everyone,

I'll be traveling to San Francisco the first week of September and am hoping to get some riding in while I'm there. I've done some online searching of rental places, routes etc but I always like to get personal recommendations.

So what advice do you have? Favorite places to ride? Level of difficulty?

Another note, I'll be riding with someone who only rarely recreationally rides, is it a viable place for her to cycle?

Any information is appreciated!

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on July 30, 2009 at 8:13am
ashley - i'll be in SF labor day weekend, when you going? i want to do some biking there too. is there a site like chainlink there?
Permalink Reply by Ashley on July 30, 2009 at 8:25am
thats when we'll be there too, well the week before and then the weekend of labor day. i'm sure there are some cycling sites there but i havent stumbled across them yet
Permalink Reply by dan brown on July 30, 2009 at 8:27am
I don't know about on the West Bay side ... but when I travelled out there I always stayed in Emeryville
(next door to Berkeley) and the running was awesome. Ceaser Chavez park and Berkeley Pier and Marina along the waterfront were my two favorites.

As far as SF proper - I would suggest Golden Gate Park (it's cooler than Central Park); the presidio and
Embarcadaro are all awesome.

Consider renting a triple since it's hilly out there...and bike over the Golden Gate Bridge - it is SO AWESOME to be on (I ran it :-)

get something that is comfortable and just see the whole city by bike.

Dan

p.s. Fisherman's Wharf is their equivelent to Navy Pier (I would only go there for amusement and
to see the cool seals sunbathing on the docks)

NOW I WANT TO GO !!!!! bah-h-h-h-h--h
Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on July 30, 2009 at 9:23am
I would not equate Fisherman's Wharf with Navy Pier. Just last week I heard Navy Pier accurately described as a "tourist containment facility". Most of the Wharf is certainly painfully touristy, but in comparison, Navy Pier is more like a theme park with just about 100 percent fluff. The Wharf has a really excellent National Park on it! And at the eastern end of the Wharf one can hop on the F line (?) and ride actual historic street cars from all over the world! not take a cheesy imitation trolley bus contraption.


daniel brown said:
p.s. Fisherman's Wharf is their equivelent to Navy Pier (I would only go there for amusement and to see the cool seals sunbathing on the docks)
NOW I WANT TO GO !!!!! bah-h-h-h-h--h
Permalink Reply by Chuck a Muck on July 30, 2009 at 12:27pm
S.F. is nice, but the East Bay is better. Take bart(12th st City center station) to downtown Oakland and take Telegraph Ave. north into Berkeley or head east towards Jack London Square then follow the estuary south till you hit Park St. bridge and cross it into Alameda. These 2 routes are very flat and have a lot of interesting sites along the way. Have fun!
Permalink Reply by yellow jello on July 30, 2009 at 2:22pm
depends on where you start i guess, but if you can get on skyline blvd (highway 35), its a great ride. if your friend isn't up for a longer distance ride, you can always bike across the golden gate bridge.
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on July 30, 2009 at 5:16pm
Point Reyes National Sea Shore is (15-20 miles?) each way out to the lighthouse and you can ride to or back through Marin and across the Golden Gate Bridge. The peninsula gets narrower and narrower until you start to see ocean on both sides. http://www.nps.gov/pore/ It is ~25 miles from SF so it's a pretty long, hilly, one-day trip, but if you can rent or transport a bike out there, it's not to be missed.

If you've never been to Muir Woods (and maybe even if you have) , ride to and from across the Bridge.
Permalink Reply by Chuck a Muck on July 31, 2009 at 2:06am
Point Reyes is quite awesome, but i would not recommend you ride there unless your very experienced with large hill climbing and enjoy riding very narrow roads shared by huge RV's.
Another cool ride is to take Bart to Oakland's MacArthur Station head west on 40th St. to Piedmont Ave.
head north up Piedmont Ave. till it dead ends at Mountain View Cemetery. Check out Chapel of the Chimes at the entrance then head into the cemetery. Climb to the top and check out the million dollar view of the Bay area.
Kevin Conway said:
Point Reyes National Sea Shore is (15-20 miles?) each way out to the lighthouse and you can ride to or back through Marin and across the Golden Gate Bridge. The peninsula gets narrower and narrower until you start to see ocean on both sides. http://www.nps.gov/pore/ It is ~25 miles from SF so it's a pretty long, hilly, one-day trip, but if you can rent or transport a bike out there, it's not to be missed.

If you've never been to Muir Woods (and maybe even if you have) , ride to and from across the Bridge.
Permalink Reply by Chuck a Muck on July 31, 2009 at 2:27am
I meant east on 40th St.
Permalink Reply by Laurie Chipps on July 31, 2009 at 4:45am
I was there for a week in June and I HIGHLY recommend renting a bike from San Francisco Cyclery. They are really helpful and super cheap. I rented a decent bike for 7 days, and it came with locks, a helmet, and two light for only $100.
http://www.sanfranciscocyclery.com/

A lot of people have hit some great places to bike to, so i won't repeat. Also, the bike shop can sell you (like $4) a great bike map that lays out the city and has all the streets color coded based on gradients of steepness.
Permalink Reply by Ashley on July 31, 2009 at 5:02am
Awesome, these all sound like great ideas. I should be in pretty decent shape by that point as I will have a century the next weekend after I get back, but I'm more concerned about my friend. And I'm not naive in thinking that just because I can pull off 100 miles in flat IL that I'll be fine in a hillier area!
Permalink Reply by Tiberculosis on July 31, 2009 at 5:54am
Definitely go to San Francisco Cyclery (link was posted above). Woman owned and run by a friend of mine named Heather, close to the park. Sunday's in Golden Gate park are closed to cars, get your rental early. The city, save a couple areas (killer hills...I'm talking hills), is great for biking. Drivers are far more kind to bicyclists than here, so navigating the streets will be a breeze. Have fun, I miss it.

A former third gen San Franciscan.

If you go to SF Cyclery tell Heather, Tiber says hi. She used to live and bike in Chicago too.

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