Northern California - Bike route out of SF down to San Mateo

I am looking for a good route out of the city for Bike to Work Day. I Bart to Milbrae (on the bay trail) and then ride from there down to San Mateo but can't seem to find a good route from SF to Milbrae. I can start in the Mission as a central spot but I NEED HELP? :-)

Any help would be much appreciated!

:: Scott

One word for the safe:

Caltrain.

Here are some maps: http://bicycling.511.org/maps.htm
The San Mateo County "commuter route" will take you from SF to Milbrae. It's not the most fun route, but the alternatives are much longer.

Check out SF2G. The Bayway route is probably what you're looking for:

http://sf2g.com/

http://sf2g.com/bayway.html

From north to south this will probably be the fastest way. Relatively flat the whole way and tailwinds on most days. Don't know how the roads are South of Market, but they are pretty nice from Brisbane south.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/ca/san%20francisco/509124215506181723

I did this ride every single day for a few months while living in Bayview. Directions are as follows:

- Doesn't matter how, just get to 3rd st in Bayview
- Take 3rd southbound and continue on Bayshore
- Bayshore turns into Airport Blvd. Stay on it.
- Turn Right on San Mateo ave
- Turn Left on El Camino Real
- Take that into San Mateo

It was a 20 mile ride from my place in Bayview.

How do go south on 3rd street on the 101 overpass? I believe it's one-way heading north.

I found that you actually have to get on the left sidewalk towards the very end of 3rd st in order to cross over safely to Bayshore. There's a light with a crosswalk and pedestrian signal at the top. If you stay to the right you basically have to follow signs for the 101 onramp, keep merging (through moderate, but sometimes FAST and unaware traffic) to the right a couple of times to stay on bayshore without being dumped on the freeway. I'd definitely recommed a little sidewalk riding up the short hill on the left side of the street.

OP,

What time will you be leaving?
Do you bwant to avoid hills?
How averse to riding with/in traffic are you?

There are many ways to leave SF, it just depends on your riding requirements.

Okay, that makes sense. There are almost no pedestrians there so the traffic coming off the freeway does not stop. Since the OP is coming from the mission, another option is to use Potrero -> Bayshore -> Paul -> San Bruno -> Bayshore to leave SF. The traffic on Bayshore is pretty fast but the lanes are wide.

Hm, that'll teach me not to read through the whole OP. Yeah, if you're coming from the mission just take Bayshore hahaha!

My route for the past few years has been similar (though I've been optimizing my route down to about 36 miles round-trip from 40 miles). Though I wouldn't take El Camino Real all the way down to San Mateo, because going through Burlingame via El Camino Real is terrible during commute hours (very little shoulder room; bad pavement (potholes); and of course cars are in a hurry during commute hours, so many of them seem ticked off when you take the whole lane). Rather than do that, I recommend the SM County commute route mentioned by johnny99. On El Camino Real, make a left on Murchison and then make a right onto California Drive, continue along CA Dr., which later becomes San Mateo Drive, and will take you into San Mateo (depending on where in SM you're going).




I did this ride every single day for a few months while living in Bayview. Directions are as follows:

- Doesn't matter how, just get to 3rd st in Bayview
- Take 3rd southbound and continue on Bayshore
- Bayshore turns into Airport Blvd. Stay on it.
- Turn Right on San Mateo ave
- Turn Left on El Camino Real
- Take that into San Mateo

It was a 20 mile ride from my place in Bayview.

Thanks for all the great replies! I think I will be taking the advice and heading straight out of the mission to 3rd and then connect to Bayshore. Once I get to Millbrae Im going to hop onto the Bay Trail (as disconnected and annoying as parts of it can be).

Thanks everyone and happy bike to work day tomorrow!

:: Scott
www.bestbuddieschallenge.org (http://www.bestbuddieschallenge.org)