jdon

I will be in San Francisco in mid January for 5 days. Keeping in mind the seasonal temperatures, can someone make a recommendation for "must do" rides? I will have a car so driving inland isn't an issue if needed.

Thanks!

botto 

ride over the golden gate bridge, and do the headlands loop.

Namenda

^^^ That. While I was in the SF area a couple weeks ago, I drove that route (didn't have a bike with me), and it looked like a wonderful place to ride. Plenty of other cyclists around, too. The weather was great for me, don't know how January will be.

c0lnago

If the weather allows head up Diablo...the view is worth it. Check the Northern California forum for plenty other options...

liquefied

Headlands Loop, Paradise Loop (Tiburon).

jrennie

Out to petaluma, Mt Tam and diablo are great. Once your out of the city it is pretty hard to find a bad ride.

jdon

Thanks everyone!

Beaker

+1 for all of this. Diablo has stunning views, good pavement and low traffic.

Also, be sure and check the weather for where you're actually heading the bay area - the weather can be quite different depending on whether you're heading N, S or E.

johnny99

The 3 best rides in the San Francisco area are Mt. Hamilton in the south bay, Mt. Diablo in the east bay, and Mt. Tam in the north bay.
Mt. Tam is the easiest to reach from San Francisco. You can ride your bike over the Golden Gate Bridge to get there.
January is the middle of the rainy season and long range forecasts are for a wetter than normal winter.

Velo Dog

I've done all of these--Mt. Hamilton most recently just last week--and while they're great rides, I wouldn't call them the best in the Bay Area unless you really like climbing. I don't--I do it because I should, but if I were in a new place looking for a ride that showed me the scenery and the area, I'd probably pick an easier one. Across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito or up toward Bodega Bay would be good, or out to Highway 1 and south on the coast or Skyline Blvd might work (check local access--I lived there for years, but ive been gone awhile and don't know what's been done to the roads in that area. Used to be easy, but it might not be now). You can also drive down the coast, perhaps to Pacifica or Half Moon Bay, and ride either Highway 1 or inland from there. The weather is often decent on the bay side of the peninsula (San Carlos or Redwood City south) when it's rainy on the ocean side.
I especially like the ride (rides, there are a few possibilities) from Petaluma out to the ocean. When Reno winters used to grind me down, I'd drive over to Petaluma or Santa Rosa for a few days, stay in a cheap motel and ride to Bodega Bay, Sebastopol, out that way.
As another post noted, the weather can be wet. It doesn't get very cold there and almost never snows or freezes, but the rainy season runs from November until April, with most of it coming Dec-Feb.

San Rensho 

Go over to Berkeley on BART (20 minutes from downtown SF) and ride the ridge roads above Berkeley/Oakland, Grizzly Peak being one of the best. Some of the best views in the world and some good climbs and fantastically fast and fun descents.

Weather is usually a little warmer in the East Bay, although, January is usually great in San Fran as long as there isn't a storm.

ElJamoquio

Mt.Tam is great, but I'd much rather do Old La Honda and then head down to PCH or something than either Diablo or Hamilton.

scotch

Did this a few years ago; Golden Gate park, the Presidio, over the bridge and through the Marin headlands. Beautiful

icyclist 

"Did this a few years ago; Golden Gate park, the Presidio, over the bridge and through the Marin headlands. Beautiful"

The ride I'd like to make. On the other hand, I like riding through traffic, too, and so would enjoy simply riding through the streets of the city.

tosterbe

I was in SF in June for a conference. We rode from Union Square and did the headlands loop. Watch out for the motorcycle cops as you get closer to the bridge. We saw several cyclists get tickets. One ran a stop and the other went against traffic on a one-way street.

If you do ride across the bridge, it can be somewhat interesting to navigate around all the lookie lous as well as the rental bike folks. Assume they are out to get you especially when you near approach the each of the two tower sections.

Some of the locals recommended Taste of Rome in Sausalito as a cyclist friendly place for lunch. We had lunch there and then went back to SF and rode down Lombard street.

jdon

Sounds like I will be doing a lot of climbing but am looking forward to it. We'll see how my winter legs respond! Great suggestions all. Thank you!

johnny99

The cops are very strict about stop signs in areas where there are a lot of pedestrians in crosswalks (like Sausalito).
Going over the GG Bridge, just slow down and be careful. On weekends, the west sidewalk is usually open to bicycles but on weekdays you have to share the east sidewalk with pedestrians.

RoboCheme

As San Rensho mentioned, the ride along Grizzly Peak Road and Skyline along the Berkeley Oakland hills has some great hills and views. And the drivers are used to cyclists and are quite courteous.