Road Cycling - Anyone from the Bay Area? Need route advice.

My friend and I have biked up a little road biking on our quasi road bikes (mtn. bikes with road tires). We live in the Cupertino area (South Bay) and today we biked to Stanford and back (~25 miles round trip). We wanted to eventually build up to a trip to San Francisco and I'm not quite sure what the best way to go is. Maybe El Camino? I noticed along 280 there is a trail or road that I always see a lot of road bikers on. Any thoughts?

I don't know where Cupertino is, but there are a lot of nice rides in the Bay area in Anne Arundel county, Calvert County and on the Eastern Shore.

jtown,

Don't go El Camino! Way too many lights and too much traffic.

I can't get you all the way to SF, but I can help a bit. I would take Foothill north to Palo Alto, rt on Alpine, lt on Sand Hill, rt on Whiskey Hill, lt on Woodside Rd (Hwy 84), rt on Canada, lt on Hwy 92, rt. on Skyline Blvd. From that point I think there is a way to get onto the Sawyer Camp Trail for a while. Then you can hop back onto Skyline Blvd. I have not traveled this route beyond Sharp Park Rd. I did park of this route on my last century, but I don't remember all of the turnings as we were basically following the riders ahead of us.

Maybe UncaStuart will read this and offer some advice.

Steve "A Cupertino Resident" E

Hey JTown, I am a Cupertino Resident too!

I haven't done this ride myself, but I have a friend who has. He takes (like SteveE) Canada to Crystal Springs to Skyline and then takes Ocean

Thanks guys! I always see bikers along 280 when I drive up to SF. We just have to make sure we can find our way back or get to a Caltrains station. I'll probably take your advice on that route and check it out this week. Thanks!

PS, we took foothill to and from Stanford without much trouble. We could have gone for quite a while. Hopefully we can build up to a round trip to and from SF. That would kick some tail.

Remeber, Caltrain doesn't run on the weekends again until next year!!

Originally posted by hsjb
Remeber, Caltrain doesn't run on the weekends again until next year!!
oh wow ... I didn't know that. thanks for the head up.

The following link has information about the weekend shutdown.

http://www.caltrain.org/news_ctx_fact_sheet.html

Hi jtown! There's a lot of nice riding on the peninsula. You'll have plenty of good routes as you work up to getting all the way to the City.

The following route, ending at Aquatic Park, is excerpted from a ride on the Western Wheelers' Ride Catalog and takes the western, scenic route into the City. It starts where SteveE leaves off, at the northern end of the Sawyer Camp Trail. Cross under the freeway, and turn left to get back on Skyline Blvd, then:

L Larkspur Drive
R San Andreas Bike path (caution: traffic on off ramp does not stop!)
L Skyline (Hwy 35) at end of path
R John Daly Blvd
L Lake Merced Blvd
L John Muir Drive
R Great Highway
C Great Highway becomes Point Lobos at Cliff House
L El Camino Del Mar
R Seal Rock Dr (becomes Clement)
C Clement
L 34St/ Legion of Honor Drive
R El Camino Del Mar (becomes Lincoln)
C Lincoln
R Kobbe (near top of hill)
L Park
R Lincoln becomes Presidio Blvd
L Lombard
L Lyon
R Francisco
L Baker passing by the Palace of Fine Arts
R Marina Blvd (cross over to the path on the bay side)
L Into Ft Mason trail where Marina Blvd turns into Laguna
C Through on path down to bay and turn right on Van Ness
L On path through Aquatic Park

Puff, puff, lots of turns! I'd suggest studying an SF map before hand, and bring it along! Also, I suggest you pick up a copy of "Bicycle Transportation Map of the San Francisco Peninsula--San Mateo County" at an LBS or REI, it's loaded with information.

Along with SteveE, I would also advise avoiding El Camino. Although it is a much flatter route, it is ugly and wearying. You'll have vistas of strip malls, car dealerships, and, in Colma, cemetaries, while you watch out for traffic on cracked and potholed old concrete pavement with Grand Canyon-esque expansion joints. Particularly nasty are stretches in Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame, Millbrae, and San Bruno. And "Top of the Hill, Daly City" is wretched too.


I always see bikers along 280 when I drive up to SF.
That is Canada Road. Although this route is hillier than El Camino, you get a lot more scenery for your sweat.

For other rides to think about, do check out the Western Wheelers Ride Catalog (http://theblaines.net/bicycling/rides_catalog.htm). It has over 400 rides of various lengths and difficulty in a searchable database.

Happy riding!

Unca, that's some really good information. Thanks a lot! I'm semi familiar with SF, but we will be sure to bring a map. We'll probably edge up to our final destination of the city by going further and further each time. I'm really excited to do this ... so excited I'm tempted to buy a road bike.