Northern California - Place to take a long road bike ride Alamo/Danville?

Hi guys! I recently bought a road bike but have been unable to find anyone to ride with. Just got a friend to come with, so does anyone know a good bike trail around Alamo or Danville that is easily accessible for road bikes?

Thanks!

Edit: Looking for simple tomorrow, about an hour since we won't have too much time... Thanks!

Three Words: Iron Horse Trail

If you had the time you could take it north all the way to Concord where it ends at Buchannan Field. (The Concord Airport)

Peets Coffe / Pegasus Bicycles on Railroad Ave in Danville is a great meet up. You can jump on the Iron Horse Trail right there from the parking lot of that shopping center.

If you do an out and back on the Iron Horse Trail you will see some nice scenery and have a good time.

Let's ride together some time. :)

Haha yeah. I need to find it's entrance closest to me, I think it's behind the Alamo Safeway...

And sure! I'm def. not the most athletic/experienced, but I do enjoy it... Whenever I'm back from school...

The Iron Horse Trail is nice, but I prefer "The Blvd" in your area. Bike lane most of the way and you don't have to stop at each side street like you do on the trail.

You should be able to get on the Trail at any local street that crosses it.

http://www.ebparks.org/files/EBRPD_files/brochure/IHT_StoneVly_SycVly.pdf

+1 on Iron Horse Trail for casual riding (sometimes I don't stop on it). Just be sure to call out if you're going to pass joggers/slow people/strollers or any combination.

Danville Blvd makes for awesome pacelining... Then you hit downtown Danville where you encounter the usual slew of things that make cycling complicated. Stopsigns, Starbucks and SUVs. Plus on holidays when our police force has even less to do they stakeout the stopsigns. It's all pretty gravy after it switches to San Ramon Valley Blvd though, because you're on you way to Dublin which is a nice crossroads out to Livermore or Hayward.

.....Then you hit downtown Danville where you encounter the usual slew of things that make cycling complicated.......


I ride through DT Danville a lot, and have never had a problem. I just take center lane and go with the flow of the (slow) traffic.

Eh that's the difference. I stay off to the right for the most part unless I'm coming to a stop. Have had a couple almost right-hook experiences despite stopping in the crosswalk in plain view. Mainly I think it's just inattention, not purposeful. There's a lot of people who live in Danville who do ride. I live on a short cul-de-sac, three of my neighbors are roadies, two are rec. trail riders. Not much room for haters when a noticeable % of people are out doing it.

It's not so bad. But I'd definitely laugh in the face of DPD if they wrote me a ticket. Go pull over a MILF already and stop fining me for participating in an already expensive sport :P

If you want a little climbing, start at Stone Valley Road. Go east til it ends at Green Valley Road. Rt on GVR to Diablo. Left on Diablo (it's narrow here for about 1/4-/12 mile, so be careful about cars). Rt. onto Sycamore Valley Rd. Just before the 680 fwy, you can go rt onto the Iron Horse Trail to avoid the traffic and lane changes crossing the fwy, or you can stay on Syc to cross the fwy. Either way, you come to Danville Blvd. You can stay on the roads through Danville or you can take the Iron Horse trail through Danville, and then stay on the IHT all the way back to Alamo or veer back onto Danville Blvd. Either way, you come back to the start at Stone Valley Road.

This is a great ride and gives a good workout on some hills.

Here's a loop I just did today from my house in San Ramon. 31 miles and about 2,000' of climbing, with several opportunities for coffe stops along the way:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Ftrail.motionbased.com%2Ftrail%2Fkml%2Fepisode.kml%3FepisodePkValues%3D7327846&ie=UTF8&ll=37.766915,-121.929703&spn=0.124572,0.344009&z=12