Northern California - Database of scenic rides in the Bay Area?

Hi,

Is there a database of scenic weekend rides in and around the San Francisco/Bay Area? I know the SF Bike Coalition have a map of bike routes but not specifically scenic routes. I know a few other routes such as the Presidio Loop and biking through Golden Gate Park. I have a mountain bike that I usually take on the weekend and a hybrid bike for commuting during the week. I do some off-road but mostly on road.

This past Sunday was awesome! It was clear and there was a strong westerly breeze. I took my mountain bike from the Ferry Bldg to Fort Point, along the Embarcadero, through Pier 39, around Aquatic Park, up the hill at Fort Mason, then down to the Marina Green, straight pass Crissy Field to Fort Point. On the return trip, I stopped at the Crissy Beach, the Wave Organ and the North Beach Festival. It was an excellent leisurely 2-hour ride, round trip about 14 miles.

Cheers,
Phil

Pretty much any route here is scenic. Take a look at "Bay Area Bike Rides" book, if you need a description of the routes, etc.

The stanford cycling webpage has some good information about rides.

http://cycling.stanford.edu/

If you're looking specifically for rides within the city, the back side of the SFBC map does have 3 recommended scenic bike routes.

For rides outside of the city on the peninsula, these bike shops' web sites have some excellent route recommendations (with photos and maps):
http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com
http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/rides.html

The stanford cycling webpage has some good information about rides.

http://cycling.stanford.edu/

I've never seen that page before. I've been on most of those roads at one point or another, but the commentary is still fun and interesting.

Get on Hwy 1 and head out. Not much can beat the Northern California coast.

Get on Hwy 1 and head out. Not much can beat the Northern California coast.

Some parts of Hwy 1 are very nice (e.g., southern San Mateo County or northern Marin). The parts near the OP are not very bike friendly (Pacifica, Daly City, San Francisco, Sausalito).

Here's a good site. All the rides are accessible from BART.

http://www.inl.org/bicycle/routes.html

Thanks everyone. A friend told me about bikely.com; it's all user driven and looks really good with turn-by-turn directions and with markers in google maps.

Any ride along Skyline Boulevard and west toward the ocean is pretty scenic, IMHO. Even the climbs up from the east side (i.e., Kings Mountain, Old La Honda, Page Mill, and Hwy 9) are pretty darn scenic.

just head to the coast -- less wind in am

The Velogirls site has a good data base of routes

http://www.velogirls.com/resources/routes.php#north