Northern California - Bay Area Peninsula: rental and routes?

I'll be in Redwood City for a weekend in February and I was wondering if people here could recommend some good roads to ride, and a place I can rent a decent road bike (Good Al frame with 105 would be great)

Looking to do about 20-30 miles, and hoping to find some deserted roads (sure :) or some roads with bike lanes.

Regarding rentals, I searched BF and found threads with SF stores, but I was hoping to not to have to go that far.

Drew

Check out the Almaden Cycle Touring Club web site at ACTC.ORG. They have group rides scheduled (several per day), and even if you don't want to join the group, you could get ideas of the good places to ride by looking at what people are planning to do. Most rides will have a number next to the description 1=flat, 5=hills.

Well, Redwood City is right by lots of great riding.

For nearby rentals, you can try the Campus Bike Shop (http://campusbikeshop.com/index.cfm) at Stanford or Menlo Velo (http://menlovelobicycles.com/articles/rental-information-pg61.htm) in Menlo Park.

Tell us a little more about what you're looking for - flat, rolling hills, or significant climbs/descents and we can suggest some good routes.

If you are interested in some company for your ride, let us know the dates you're planning on and someone might be interested in joining you.

Start in Woodside (next door to Redwood City).
Climb Old La Honda Road.
North on Skyline.
Descend Kings Mountain Road.

That's about 20 miles with 2500 feet of climbing. There is some weekend motorcycle traffic on Skyline, but it is not too bad if you're riding in this direction. The rest of the route is pretty peaceful. Add a few miles if you're riding in from Redwood City (maybe via Jefferson St.).

Just watch out for the trees falling down on OLH due to all the rain we have gotten here recently.

I belong to the Western Wheelers ( www.westernwheelers.org ) and we have rides almost every day. We have just kicked off our long distance training series, which starts with B level rides all the way through E (E is for people who like centuries and a lot of climbing). Those go every saturday, plus there are various rides throughout the week. ACTC also has some great rides, but they are generally further south, around the Gilroy/San Jose area. WW is generally centered around Palo Alto.

If you are starting from Redwood city, you can definitely head into the Emerald Hills (hills west of the city proper) and then over them towards the Woodside area. Nice rides, but roads can be narrow and do have traffic, as I don't think its hilly enough around here to completely ditch traffic.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll post back when I get my travel plans settled. Maybe I can join up with some of you for a ride (I'm not very fast though--18-19mph on flats, esp. in the winter where I can only ride a spin bike). Anyone else in that "no man's land": faster than touring folks, but slower than hard-core roadies?

Warning: the flat roads of Redwood City are not especially bike-friendly. Redwood City is a somewhat congested town with a confusing maze of streets. If you want to get away from traffic, you gotta head up hill.

Warning: the flat roads of Redwood City are not especially bike-friendly. Redwood City is a somewhat congested town with a confusing maze of streets. If you want to get away from traffic, you gotta head up hill.

There are some good routes with rolling hills and no major climbs.

There are some good routes with rolling hills and no major climbs.

Crestview is a fun hill.