I am planning a move to the Bay Area and would love some feedback on the best place for a cyclist to live there. I am looking for the most conmvenient place to live for access to the best road rides in the area. I typically ride 30-40 miles on weekdays and 60+ miles on the weekends and love climbing even on my spinning rides.

I don't want to live in SF and am leaning more towards Berkeley for professional reasons. However it looks like most of the best rides are in Marin County although I noticed several in East Bay as well. At this point I am just going of pure internet research, but would love some ideas from some cyclists who live there.

So, where is the best place to live in the bay area for a cyclist and why? If I lived in Berkeley, how convenient would it be to get to the BEST rides with lots of climbing in the area.

Thanks in advance!

Justin

Lets get something straight, the best year round riding in the Bay Area is near Palo Alto.;) They have the mildest weather year round and some great rides. I ride there in the summer months. Old La Honda and oout to the coast and back up Tunitas Creek and down Kings Mtn. is one of the best and most popular rides in the bay area. In the fall and winter I ride the east side of the valley, Mt Hamilton, Calaveras areas, gets a bit toasty over there in the summer but right now is great. So with that in mind Id say Mt View. What is your profession?

I think the best cycling in the area is around Santa Cruz - lots of long scenic climbs with little traffic. Palo Alto/Los Altos/Cupertino/Saratoga are nice too, especially if you have a high-tech job.

Thanks for the replies so far. I am very familiar with some great riding in Santa Cruz and plan on meeting up with friends to ride in the area quite often. Regarding my profession, I am a financial advisor and will likely be joining a firm in Berkeley. I do not mind commuting, but am curious what life would be like as a cyclist living there.

For reference I am moving up from San Diego and live in La Jolla right now. I usually ride up the coast during the week and head out to the mountains on the weekends. The mountain rides require me driving up to an hour to start the ride so I am not against doing that for more epic riding.

My wife would like to live in the city and I know that would give me easier access to Marin County. If I lived in Berkeley would I need to BART over to the city and then ride from there if I wanted to ride Mt. Tam, etc.?

Assuming that we won't be living South of the city, where is the next best place for a cyclist to live?

Well in that case Id say Marin area, or perhaps the east bay. Bart access from those areas is good but I dont think bart runs to Marin. There is some good riding in the Berkley area, and plenty of hills. Id suggest the city but I hate it myself. That place just drives me crazy.

BigSean is right. I lived in SF for 31 years but can't imagine moving from Silicon Valley now with the ridiculous amount of rides that are close by.

If you lived east of the Bay Bridge you could always drive over the Richmond San Rafael Bridge and park somewhere to be close to Mt. Tam. That takes away a lot of the fun and pain though of climbing out of Sausalito on the way back to the GG Bridge.

Oh, the East Bay has a few good rides too. The Oakland and Berkeley hills can be a lot of fun, and you'll be a relatively easy ride from Mt. Diablo, the 3 bears, etc. You might have trouble finding rides with NO climbing, though.

Just curious, which firm are you going to be with? I'm a financial advisor also, although I run my own shop.

JB

Diablo is a nice climb. Go up one side, down the other, then loop back to the start via Morgan Territory. This area does get windy at times, and hot during the summer.

What about just moving to Marin county? Not a bad commute to the east bay, plenty of rides in Marin/Sonoma/Napa, great access to the city. Not saying it's cheap, but if your living in La Jolla it must be pretty comparable.

Great replies so far - any East Bayers that would like to chime in? I guess I'm looking for somebody from the east bay that will say it's an awesome place to live for cycling! Also, for the East Bay folks, how do you typically get to rides in Marin?

JB - I will be independent also, but working with some advisors in Berkeley who have been there for 18 years. They don't have a name for the firm, but their names are Lincoln Pain and Linda Jacobs. They specialize in socially responsible investing as I do here in San Diego. I would love to chat with you sometime if you could email me at Justin AT bluesummitinvest.com

But again - the big question is if you were to live somewhere in the bay area for cycling reasons only where would you live and why? Other then Palo Alto that is! So far the Palo Alto folks are winning this discussion though!

But again - the big question is if you were to live somewhere in the bay area for cycling reasons only where would you live and why? Other then Palo Alto that is! So far the Palo Alto folks are winning this discussion though!

San Mateo RULES!!! :D

It has excellent access to the best Peninsula rides, and it's safer and more fun getting from San Mateo to the nice rides than from Palo Alto - you don't have to dodge high-speed car traffic like you do on Alpine, Sand Hill, or Page Mill where they cross 280.

And it's cheaper. ;)

But again - the big question is if you were to live somewhere in the bay area for cycling reasons only where would you live and why? Other then Palo Alto that is! So far the Palo Alto folks are winning this discussion though!

Well I think most bay area folks would agree. But anywhere close by is just as good. San Jose, Mt View, Cupertino, are all great locationsFor the east bay I would look into Walnut Creek, Danville area.

San Mateo RULES!!! :D

It has excellent access to the best Peninsula rides, and it's safer and more fun getting from San Mateo to the nice rides than from Palo Alto - you don't have to dodge high-speed car traffic like you do on Alpine, Sand Hill, or Page Mill where they cross 280.

And it's cheaper. ;)

Arastradero is the fun way to go.;)

Arastradero is the fun way to go.;)

As long as you don't get killed crossing four lanes of Page Mill.... ;)

Well I think most bay area folks would agree. But anywhere close by is just as good. San Jose, Mt View, Cupertino, are all great locationsFor the east bay I would look into Walnut Creek, Danville area.

+1 It's hard to imagine from a cycling standpoint that you'd go wrong moving anywhere in the Bay Area - if you're driving to a ride on a weekend, traffic isn't bad - it takes me less than an hour to get to Los Altos (where a lot of rides seem to start....) from San Ramon. If you're working in Berkeley, I'd actually avoid going further east, just because then your commute will be with the rush hour traffic (Caldecott Tunnel, anyone?). The one thing in our favor out this way is that the Oakland Hills often block the foggy, cold weather, so the climate can be more favorable to riding at times (of course, in August the reverse is true!).

JB

Great replies so far - any East Bayers that would like to chime in? I guess I'm looking for somebody from the east bay that will say it's an awesome place to live for cycling! Also, for the East Bay folks, how do you typically get to rides in Marin?

The East Bay is just fantastic biking territory. I am in Lafayette, between Oakland and Walnut Creek, and have plenty of route choices right from home without taking the car to a start point (if I am in the mood to tackle the 15 to 20% hill I live on). The yearly Grizzly Peak Century that includes 8500' of climbing starts 10 minutes away.

My most frequent routes are:
- The Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda section for a nice 19 miles with 1300' of climbing.
- The Moraga Canyon to the Berkeley Hills.
- The 3 Bears Loop and Alhambra Valley.
- The Alamo Danville corridor for a sustained flat ride.
- Mt. Diablo.

Other well known rides are:
- Morgan Territory.
- Redwood Road (you can ride all the way to Hamilton).

Marin County is only 30-40 minutes away, either via San Francisco or via the Richmond Bridge.

Other advantages of the East Bay are a slightly lower cost of living, a more central location if you are interested in both ocean and mountains (none are very far away).

If you are going to work in Berkeley, might as well live there. Commuting in Bay Area sucks. There are tons of great rides starting from Berkeley. Check out calcycling.org for some of the routes. Look at it this way, time you don't spend commuting you can spend riding a bike. ;)
From Berkeley 15 minutes and you are in the hills enjoying the ride. If you lived in south bay, it's half an hour to get out of the "city".

If you are going to work in Berkeley, might as well live there. Commuting in Bay Area sucks. There are tons of great rides starting from Berkeley. Check out calcycling.org for some of the routes. Look at it this way, time you don't spend commuting you can spend riding a bike. ;)
From Berkeley 15 minutes and you are in the hills enjoying the ride. If you lived in south bay, it's half an hour to get out of the "city".

I live in San Jose and can ride out of the city in 10 minutes.:p But he did mention his wife may be working in San Francisco, so someone will have to commute.

For the record, Antioch and Brentwood are in the East Bay too. Don't move here. Don't be fooled by the relatively affordable housing, this place is a cultural and cycling hell hole. The only good thing about here is that you can get to the fine places mentioned elsewhere on this thread in a short while. There are few quality rides out the door.

I'd pick the cheaper place to live, and work out the commute. As pointed out, there's a good amount of climbing in the East Bay, from the Berkeley area all the way south to Mt Hamilton. Jump on BART to San Francisco and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin county, or head south on Bart to Union City or Fremont and ride across the Dumbarton Bridge to climb to the ocean ( that way you get a 15 mile warm-up) .

Seems as if you almost can't make a bad choice. For cycling, SF is probably not the best place to live, but anywhere else in the North Bay, South Bay, East Bay, or Peninsula, and you have great rides only minutes away.

I live in Berkeley and the Bay Trail (http://baytrail.abag.ca.gov/) is a nice flat ride. I haven't ridden it very far, though, and don't know how much has been finished south of Oakland and north of Richmond.

I haven't ridden east into the hills, either, so I can't comment on that.

I think the best cycling in the area is around Santa Cruz - lots of long scenic climbs with little traffic. Palo Alto/Los Altos/Cupertino/Saratoga are nice too, especially if you have a high-tech job.Yep! From where I live in Cupertino, there are lots of great rides from my doorstep. I can get to the coast with no stop lights and 5 or 6 stop signs. Los Altos and Palo Alto are the starting points for lots of rides. There're the Noon and the Spectrum Rides year 'round, the Valley and Egan Rides in Summer, as well as a number of club rides. The cyclists generally outnumber the non-cyclists at the Peet's Tea & Coffee on State St.

- Steve

Wow - thanks for all of the great feedback. This forum has been tremendous! It looks like I really can't go wrong wherever we end up. That said, Berkeley is beginning to sound ideal for several reasons beyond having no commute.

First there seem to be several great rides that start there (thanks for the calcycling link) while providing easy access to other amazing riding areas by BART or car. It sounds like if I lived in Marin for example, riding in South Bay would require more work to get to and vice versa.

Do a lot of non-students ride with the Cal Cycling team? There seem to be a ton of cycling groups in the area, but their team looks to have the best riding series for somebody who likes to ride and not stop for lunch all the time! I'm sure I will hook up with other cyclists no matter what but the Cal rides could be a good place to start.

Any feedback on my Berkeley thoughts as far as being centrally located to the best riding or the Cal rides would be great.

Any feedback on my Berkeley thoughts as far as being centrally located to the best riding or the Cal rides would be great.

Living in Berkeley is definitely a good choice. You have all the local East Bay rides. You can take BART to the city, and then after about a four-mile ride along the Embarcadero, be at the Golden Gate Bridge and the start of numerous Marin rides. Taking BART to Millbrae would also get you near Skyline Blvd. and some of the Peninsula riding. You'd also be less than 40 miles from Napa and all the great riding there.

If riding with the Cal team doesn't work out, another club you might consider is the Grizzly Peak Cyclists. It's a big, active club; I'm sure there are groups within it doing rides at a brisk pace with minimal stopping.

Berkeley is in a good location for you and for your wife's commute, but Berkeley is famous for ignoring its roads, most of the roads in the city really suck and there are a lot of run down areas. The nicer homes are in the hills and that would make it a little more difficult for your wife to get to BART or the freeway - yes commuting in the Bay Area is really bad, especially going into the City.

Grizzly Peak is a recreational club with lots of good rides. BBC is a racing club that you may want to consider as well.

http://www.berkeleybike.org/rides.html

Gratuitous link to my blog about the best place in the State to ride a bike below in my sig.

Well... probably the best thing is to email them and ask. There are other "competitive" none collegiate teams out there.
Wow - thanks for all of the great feedback. This forum has been tremendous! It looks like I really can't go wrong wherever we end up. That said, Berkeley is beginning to sound ideal for several reasons beyond having no commute.

First there seem to be several great rides that start there (thanks for the calcycling link) while providing easy access to other amazing riding areas by BART or car. It sounds like if I lived in Marin for example, riding in South Bay would require more work to get to and vice versa.

Do a lot of non-students ride with the Cal Cycling team? There seem to be a ton of cycling groups in the area, but their team looks to have the best riding series for somebody who likes to ride and not stop for lunch all the time! I'm sure I will hook up with other cyclists no matter what but the Cal rides could be a good place to start.

Any feedback on my Berkeley thoughts as far as being centrally located to the best riding or the Cal rides would be great.

OK I'll chime in as well. Cycling is great no matter where you go in the bay area, and you will be happy riding out your door during the week and driving < 1 hour to spectacular rides (imho West Marin, San Mateo coast, Sonoma, etc.). Regional riding preferences here are personal.

I live in Oakland for non-cycling reasons -- housing stock (my house was built in 1913 - that means something to me); community (sorry but I find the Silicon Valley a wasteland *and* i am in the high-tech field); bleeding heart liberal; BART commute to SF; temperate weather year-round; (slightly) less opulence/flaunting of wealth, etc.

I used to live in SF and rode all along the coast from north of Pt REyes all the way down to Santa Cruz. Since I moved to Oakland i find myself *never* getting into my car. Riding along the east bay hills all the way to Milpitas (70 miles) or up&down Diablo, or around Diablo -- all great rides that i never get sick of.

My vote FWIW - live where your lifestyle will be optimized and enjoy the cycling whereever. I would say avoid SF becuase the first 10 miles of your daily rides will suck.

samboo - I really appreciate your reply and it sounds like we would get along very well! Do you ride with any groups or clubs our of Oakland or anywhere else?

For the record, Antioch and Brentwood are in the East Bay too. Don't move here. Don't be fooled by the relatively affordable housing, this place is a cultural and cycling hell hole. The only good thing about here is that you can get to the fine places mentioned elsewhere on this thread in a short while. There are few quality rides out the door.

Aaand, closer to BART, and, perhaps even more hellish, BayPoint and Pittsburg! The commute from here to points west is great if you head out the door well before 5 a.m.

Black Diamond and Bryones stand out for mtn biking, however, and some more, like Mt Diablo and Morgan Territory, is not so far away; Concord & Walnut Creek and all the road riding from there can be reached via paved bike path system.

In Berkeley, one may walk (WALK!) to a different restaurant every night for weeks, even months! There's shows, shopping, arts, classes, and, gasp! progressive thinking! There are several good bike shops as well - Missing Link, Mike's (well, it's o.k.), the second best Perfomance shop (S.F. is best), REI, etc.

Antioch is rather a hole. At least the Schwinn shop might actually qualify as a bike shop now that it's under new ownership.

My advice, not so much about the cycling, is to spend time in the neighborhood, looking, listening, feeling, and talking to the people THERE before you commit.

OK I'll chime in as well. Cycling is great no matter where you go in the bay area, and you will be happy riding out your door during the week and driving < 1 hour to spectacular rides (imho West Marin, San Mateo coast, Sonoma, etc.). Regional riding preferences here are personal.

I live in Oakland for non-cycling reasons -- housing stock (my house was built in 1913 - that means something to me); community (sorry but I find the Silicon Valley a wasteland *and* i am in the high-tech field); bleeding heart liberal; BART commute to SF; temperate weather year-round; (slightly) less opulence/flaunting of wealth, etc.

I used to live in SF and rode all along the coast from north of Pt REyes all the way down to Santa Cruz. Since I moved to Oakland i find myself *never* getting into my car. Riding along the east bay hills all the way to Milpitas (70 miles) or up&down Diablo, or around Diablo -- all great rides that i never get sick of.

My vote FWIW - live where your lifestyle will be optimized and enjoy the cycling whereever. I would say avoid SF becuase the first 10 miles of your daily rides will suck.



You forgot to mention the best thing of all about Oakland/Berkley......

ZACHARY'S PIZZA !!!!

Check out the Cal Cyling Team. The site says non-members are welcome to join up on rides. There are a lot of other race teams in the area.

Arastradero is the fun way to go.;)

Definitely a lot more relaxing for me than constantly checking my six merging from Old Pagemill.

Problems for me when living in Berkeley is that homeowners have, I feel, too much control over their neighborhoods such that they are able to turn two-way streets into one-way streets by getting the city to put up cement barriers seemingly at random, whenever they wish. If you drive and don't have a parking space, you'll be fighting for one daily, and people DO watch your vehicle closely - i.e. if it's parked on a curb for too long (in their estimation) in "their space" or in front of their property, you WILL get tickets. Lastly, depending on where you live, Berkeley can be a nightmare in terms of theft whether it's breaking into your backyard shed to steal bikes and tools or smashing your car windows for perceived valuables. Living in the Berkeley/Oakland hills (or even North Berkeley or in the Albany area) might be a different story, however. Having said all that, Berkeley is a great place to attend university, and I, too, love the culture, diversity, biking, and great food to be found in the area.

OK I'll chime in as well. I live in Oakland for non-cycling reasons -- housing stock (my house was built in 1913 - that means something to me); community (sorry but I find the Silicon Valley a wasteland *and* i am in the high-tech field);

Hey! What's wrong with silicon valley?!?! There are old houses and quiet neighborhoods here too! My house was built in 1940 and there are quite a few in the area that are early 1900's.

>> temperate weather year-round;

Is there anywhere in the immediate bay area that isn't??

>> (slightly) less opulence/flaunting of wealth, etc.

Guess it depends on where you're talking about.. The oakland hills can get pretty ritzy in areas just as los gatos, saratoga, los altos are. Course most of us "commoners" don't live in the flaunty areas. I think SF takes the cake when it comes to flaunting of wealth...


The rides you mention are awesome though, I'll give you that, but it really doesn't matter where you are as long as you're outside the city. I'm sure we can all list rides all day long that we ride straight down the driveway and into some of the best cycling in the US within minutes.

For me: Pierce/Mt.Eden/Montebello and sometimes Pagemill, Hicks Rd, Hwy 9, Bohlmann, Mt. Hamilton, etc.

If you are going to work in Berkeley, might as well live there. Commuting in Bay Area sucks. There are tons of great rides starting from Berkeley. Check out calcycling.org for some of the routes. Look at it this way, time you don't spend commuting you can spend riding a bike. ;)
From Berkeley 15 minutes and you are in the hills enjoying the ride. If you lived in south bay, it's half an hour to get out of the "city".

+1 It also has a great microclimate and easy access to other areas when you want to take advantage of their microclimates. When its fogged in Berkeley/Oakland, simply ride over Grizzly Peak for clear blue skies. Conversely, when its hot in the east bay and clear and cool in SF or Marin, you can get there by bike. Easy BART access, world class dining, and extremely bike friendly. If you are working in Berkeley, you do not want to live anywhere near Palo Alto.

I live in the Berkeley hills and grew up in La Jolla - did a whole lot of riding there in the '80's when I raced tri's. My .02:

+1 on live and work in berkeley (or Piedmont/Oakland Hills) - why commute if you don't have to? Plus berkeley rocks - great restaurants, terrific non-chain store walking shopping areas and much better nightlife than most other suburban areas and a 20 minute BART ride from the city. But it is more urban than suburban, much more so than La Jolla. If you want a quieter ambiance Orinda is worth a look. BTW, Zachary's is good pizza, Carinos is great pizza....

Riding - okay, the real question. As said above you can't go wrong in the Bay area. The Peninsula is IMHO the best - but doesn't work commute wise for you. I rank East Bay next - specifically Orinda/Lafayette/Oakland/berkeley. I live on Grizzly Peak Blvd and aside from great view of the bay/city the best features are being a 5 minute walk from about 20 miles of continuos open space along the ridge and... rolling out for 30+ mile rides with a max of one or two (sometimes no) stoplights. good thing you like to climb though - every ride averages around 100 feet of ascent per mile - in other words a 30 miler has about 3,000 feet of climbing. I put Marin last on my list - the views are fantastic and I do go do long rides there - but it is comparatively flatter than the East Bay or Peninsula. I did 62 miles Saturday and the cumulative ascent was only 3,500 feet. It's great riding, but only 20 minutes away.

Thanks Relevant - that was a great reply to all of my questions. In the end my wife and I just really love Berkeley and the idea of no commute sounds incredible to me. By the way do you know Emilio De Soto? He is a good friend of mine who lives in La Jolla and raced tri in the 80's.

So, how do you typically go on Peninsula rides? Someone above mentioned that you can BART to the Dumbarton Bridge and then ride across before you hit the climbing.

Also, I have several riding buddies that live in the Santa Cruz mountains so I imagine I will end up driving there to go on rides with them as often as they come up to ride Diablo with me.

I'm really looking forward to all the incredible riding up there and this whole thread has helped to ease the pain of moving away from some incredible riding in San Diego.

P.S. - I will definitely check out Carino's

I think you will find the riding around here far better. Better in the way of scenic mostly. In the hot months you can ride among the shade of the redwoods and be relatively cool. There are many great areas to ride as Im sure you have done some of them. But nothing is better then the Santa Cruz mountians in the summer. ;) Not to mention the climbing. It is pretty easy to get 10,000ft of climbing on a 70 mile ride. We also get rain in this area, kinda helps keep things green.:p

kinda helps keep things green

That is a huge reason for moving - green is good! After two major fires in the last 4 years in San Diego the back country is pretty brown and crispy. Besides it's pretty much a desert anyway. I have 8 months left to do all my favorite rides a bunch of times so I'll survive!

Thanks Relevant - that was a great reply to all of my questions. In the end my wife and I just really love Berkeley and the idea of no commute sounds incredible to me. By the way do you know Emilio De Soto? He is a good friend of mine who lives in La Jolla and raced tri in the 80's.

So, how do you typically go on Peninsula rides? Someone above mentioned that you can BART to the Dumbarton Bridge and then ride across before you hit the climbing.

Also, I have several riding buddies that live in the Santa Cruz mountains so I imagine I will end up driving there to go on rides with them as often as they come up to ride Diablo with me.

I'm really looking forward to all the incredible riding up there and this whole thread has helped to ease the pain of moving away from some incredible riding in San Diego.

P.S. - I will definitely check out Carino's

Carinos is on La Jolla Blvd. ;) . Tell Emilio Aaron said hi - we spent waaay too many sunday afternoons with King cobra's! And PM me when we head here- happy to help in any way including route selection.

That is a huge reason for moving - green is good! After two major fires in the last 4 years in San Diego the back country is pretty brown and crispy. Besides it's pretty much a desert anyway. I have 8 months left to do all my favorite rides a bunch of times so I'll survive!

Which puts you here aboout prime time for some of those coastal rides from Palo Alto to Pescadero and back. OhhhhhhhhhhhhhYeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Be sure and let us know so we can plan a welcoming ride or 10 for you.;) Then as fall comes around we can show you some of the east hills rides that the Tour of California seems to like. I did one of those last weekend, here is a pic.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/SierraRd.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/WelchCreek1.jpg

and parts of the coastal ride

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/DSC00786.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/DSC00511.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/lahonda8.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/tuinitascreek.jpg

and if you mt bike you will be in heaven
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/BigSean_02/DSC00406.jpg

The peninsula is a great place for cyclists. There dozens of great loop rides starting from right outside your door - lots of different versions of up to Skyline, out to the coast, down to Santa Cruz, up to San Francisco, etc. Most of these routes have great scenery and little traffic. No need to drive anywhere to find a nice ride. Hop on Caltrain (bikes allowed on every train) if you want to start from San Francisco and ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin and back.

There are also plenty of high paying jobs on the peninsula if you need to work for a living. The only downside to living here is house prices which average close to seven figures.

There are some busses from the Richmond Bart station to San Rafel, Marin. may find information at goldengatetransit.org

So, how do you typically go on Peninsula rides? Someone above mentioned that you can BART to the Dumbarton Bridge and then ride across before you hit the climbing.


Take BART to Union City. Head west on Decoto toward the ocean. As you get over the top of I-880 on Decoto, at the traffic light on the west side of the overpass, there's a crosswalk on the right to a tunnel under the offramp coming off southbound I-880. That leads to a trail through Ardenwood Farm heading west still. You'll come to where a trail "T"s off on your left and goes over the 84 freeway on an overpass( part of the farm). Go down to the stop sign and turn right on Jarvis(you'll see Orchard Supply Hardware). Follow that west and it curves to the right to a stoplight. Turn left at that light, and left soon after at the light on Thornton. Turn right into Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge (be sure to stop at all stop signs, the ranger watches). Follow that road out toward the Dumbarton Bridge, and as you approach the bridge you'll see a trail on the right side of the road that goes up on to the bike/pedestrian path along the side of the bridge. You're separated from traffic by a concrete wall. Across the bridge follow the trail west again until it comes to the second light and turn left onto Willow. Follow that across US-101 until it will dead end at Alma. Turn left there and when it ends go onto the trail. Cross the bridge and when the trail comes to a street turn right and cross the railroad tracks. At the traffic light go across onto Sand Hill, and that will take you to various rides on the Peninsula.