Originally Posted by
hwyengr
I was visiting last winter on vacation, and more or less got winded just walking up California St. At the time I had no idea I would be moving, but even then I thought "There's no way I could ride up this street."
But thanks for the other tips, it's sort of what I figured had to happen. But, as an engineer, it makes me twitch when I don't take the most direct route between two points.
Oh man California St is one of the worse down town streets to walk up. How far up did you have to walk? God don't tell me you walked all the way up Cali to Van Nes?
There is one other street that is just as bad as California and that would be Pine St starting around Montgomery St
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http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfil...Map%202006.pdf this should give you a good look at the bike routes for SF and also a loose idea on some street's hill grades. The Grades are way off on this map but it still should give you an idea on what street section to avoid for now until you get use to climbing those step graded areas.
*Edit* there are also several markers on the map showing where some of SF's local bike shops are just incase you need to hit one up for a something
. Welcome to SF and watch out for all our crapy drivers.