lesiz

I'm a transplant to SoCal from the Bay Area from many years ago, long before I
was the avid bicyclist I am now. I've wanted for a while to haul my De Rosa
"Idol" up to the Bay Area to take advantage of some of the ample biking
opportunities that lie in the geography there.

So, I thought of the local mountains, and mused to myself: Mt Tam or Mt Diablo? The answer, from my inner bicyclist was, "BOTH!" -- in the same day! Both, using the ferry to
cross the bay, from Alameda to Pier 41 in SF.

So, I went to Google Maps and devised a route between the two mountains with
the "Avoid Highways" box checked. I had to do it in two parts because Google Maps won't let me cross the bay in the ferry. On the Mt. Diablo side Google for some reason won't go all
the way up the road to the top, so there's an extra 4 miles or so to ride
that's not traced on the map. Mt.Diablo to the ferry is about 40 miles; the ferry to Mt.
Tam is 23.6 miles, for a total of 63.6 miles one way.

One could do the whole two-way route and make it a double metric, however I think with the
6420 feet of combined elevation might be more than I'd want to take on in
one day, especially in not-so-familiar territory.

So the plan would be to park my car along the route on the east side of the
bay, maybe Castro Valley or Lafayette, then bike to the top of Diablo, then
from there back westward to the ferry, to SF, and on to Tam. Then retrace my route back to
the ferry, then in Alameda ride to Oakland and take the bike on to Bart to get back to the
vicinity of the car in Lafayette. That would be about 100 miles total and I
should be able to do that no problemo.

So that's the plan. I'd like to know if any of you NorCal bikers see any
unexpected problems with the route, suggestions, or just any comments in
general. Where are there watering stops? On the Marin side, would it be a
better ride to go along the ocean?

Here are links to the Google maps I made:

Between Diablo and Alameda:

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...,-121.920948&daddr=2990+Main+Street,+94501&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=13&dirflg=h&sll=37.836361,-121.929703&sspn=0.072531,0.137329&ie=UTF8&ll=37.781027,-122.086945&spn=0.290341,0.549316&z=11

Between Pier 41 in SF to Mt.Tam:

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...+san+francisco,
+ca&daddr=37.856152,-122.479706+to:mt.+tamalpais,+ca&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&s
z=12&via=1&dirflg=h&sll=37.8653,-122.51346&sspn=0.145005,0.274658&ie=UTF8&z=
12

That's it.

I also had Google try a route between the two Mt's without crossing the Bay.
"The Great Overland Route", 139 miles one way. I have no plans for this one,
but it's interesting:

https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...o,+ca&daddr=mt
.+tamalpais,+ca&mra=cc&dirflg=h&sll=37.8887,-122.240655&sspn=0.57983,1.09863
3&ie=UTF8&ll=38.031867,-122.198181&spn=1.157409,2.197266&z=9

Spiduhman

Oh, "best of."

Heh - nobody will click your thread today...

NeCrO632

Well I'm certainly disappointed..with a title like this.. Never made the analogy that the 2 mountains up here (northern Bay Area-wise) were of ample nature...

uspspro

you can also use BART instead of the ferry if that works better for you.

jinws

I clicked expecting something else.

boooo on you!

ConstantRider

On the Marin part of your route, you cannot go onto Highway 101 to get to Highway 1. Instead, you have to use a bike path that starts at the end of Bridgeway, right where the entrance to the Highway 101 on ramp is. Take the path until you come to the part where it crosses a street. Based on Google Maps, that street is probably called Pohono Street, although I don't think there's a sign there. On the other side of the intersection, the bike path resumes, but instead of going on it, you'd kind of merge to your left onto Highway One at that point. Pay a lot of attention to traffic in this area, because there will be a lot of cars making turns, lane changes, etc. -- it's not a great area for cyclists.

It is the most direct way to Highway One though. You will know you're going in the right direction if you cross under an underpass and then bear left.

An alternative: Instead of turning onto One at Pohono, stay on the bike path after it crosses Pohono. After a while, you will see a place where the path kind of forks off to the left. Instead of staying on the path, take that fork, and you'll be at a road called Almonte (or perhaps at this point it's still called Miller). Take a left onto Almonte/Miller, then head south on Almonte til you hit Highway One (aka Shoreline). Take a right onto Highway One and then follow the route as you have it mapped.

Unfortunately, Google Maps doesn't include the bike path, so all of this can't be illustrated.

One final note: Highway One is the most direct way up to Panoramic, but also the most trafficky, especially on the weekends.

An alternative route. At the bike path where you can turn off at Almonte/Miller, take a right. The street will eventually be called Miller. Then, after traveling on Miller for a mile or so:

Left on Montford
Right on Molino
Molino becomes Edgewood
Edgewood becomes Sequoia Valley
Right on Panoramic Highway

Some of these streets are very steep; I've never climbed them, only descended. There might be alternatives that others know about. But it's a pretty direct route with much less traffic than simply going up One. One is not completely terrible, but there is little to no shoulder on much of it and a steady stream of SUVs and other cars will be constantly trying to pass you most of the way up.

BlastRadius

If you added Mt. Hamilton, there would be three of them.

lesiz, that certainly sounds doable.

I would maybe park in SF (Chrissy Field), BART over to Walnut Creek to start the climb, do the ferry, GGB, Tam route then you'd be back to SF for dinner. Depends on where you're staying I suppose.

redspoke

Call it the "Total Recall" Ride...

Crazy Cyclist

What a jyp this thread is : I was expecting to see some breasts ( I am dissapointed)

jinws

quick, someone photoshop some bra on Tam and Diablo.

Pete?

genejockey 

And here I thought it was a salaciously-named charity ride to fund mammography clinics.

DiabloScott

Diablo has a nice pair all to herself.

gpelpel

"Breasts of the Bay Area"

Otherwise known as the "Grand Tetons" of the Bay. And as a reference to the well known Wyoming site, Mt. Hamilton is often referred to as "Gros Ventre" (Big Belly).

sweetnsourbkr

Booo!! where are the boobbies???

x136 

You're all perverts, you know that? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

I knew exactly what the OP was referring to in the title! (Lies.)

BlastRadius

Yeah but which two were you thinking of? or were you thinking three from the start

x136 

Three, of course. By my calculations, it's 50% hotter that way.

msincredible

I thought this was going to be another thread about racks!

spingineer

Nice racks!

x136 

Why, thank you! *holds them up for all to see*

redspoke

boobs

and
a
rack



This is a family forum for goodness sakes!!!

gpelpel

What's wrong with admiring Nature's beauties********** Aren't they God's gift to us?

lesiz

I suppose we could assign other body parts to various geographical features, but let's not go there.

Thanx for the helpful hints. BART sounds like a great idea. I left the Bay Area 3 months after BART started whisking through the transbay tube. That's how old I am.

johnny99

Have any of you been to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming? Do you know what "Grand Teton" means in French?

gpelpel

See my post #13. They also have a mountain across the plateau (sw) from the Tetons called Gros Ventre (Big Belly).
I was told by the leader of a photography workshop I attended several years ago in the Tetons that the mountains were named by French trappers who went up the Missouri and then down to Wyoming.