Riding in Monterey/Carmel
 

I'm going to be in Monterey for a few days in September and would love to do some riding.

Does anybody have any links on where to rent a bike and/or any routes they would be nice enough to share? Any good shops in the area?

I will be with my girlfriend and luckily she rides as well but for her sake if we can avoid any really challenging climbs that would be great. If there are any must-do climbs, don't hold back. I can always convince her with the prospect of great scenery or just get away on my own for an hour or so.

Thanks!

Pebble Beach, specifically 17 mile drive. A map or GPS computer isn't a bad idea in pebble since you can get lost quite easily.

baybikes.com is the website of the place that rents a lot of the bikes to tourists in Monterey. Can't vouch for them except that they have another store in Carmel that sells Specialized bikes and seems like a really nice store.


There's a great ride that runs along the ocean and includes Carmel, 17 mile Drive, Monterey, Seaside and more. You can park at many places along this area for free and head in either direction, turn around and go the other way. It's all worth doing. Very mild temperatures, refreshing sea breezes and no major steep hills make it a pretty easy ride. The trail is very well kept and once you get out of Monterey, foot traffic is pretty light even on the weekend so you don't have to dodge pedestrians too much (except Monterey where pedestrians ***** about bikes as they cluelessly walk on the trail designated for bikes only). Monterey is a good starting point if you want to rent a bike.

From Monterey you can ride along the water to Pacific Grove and into Carmel via 17 Mile Drive and past Pebble Beach. Great views. On 17 Mile Drive you will get to a part where signs suggest that bikes detour away from the water. That's a nice ride also, but staying by the water you get to go past the "lone cypress" which is a worthwhile landmark. It's a narrow road but seems safe since the tourists drive slowly. Many bikes go that way so I think the detour is just a suggestion. 17 Mile Drive is free for bikes but cars are charged. Once you get past the Carmel end of 17 Mile Drive you are in Carmel with it's shops etc. Staying on the road that skirts the ocean you'll great views and cool property. We usually turn around once the road heads way from the ocean (there's beach at that end).

we usually backtrack through Carmel, Pac. Grove, Monterey. Heading north from Monterey you get into Seaside. The bike trail gets into the sand dunes. It's a very well kept trail and very lightly used so it's a good place to put the hammer down. After a while the trail heads inland toward Marina. At this point, the riding is good but the views are less than spectacular since are riding through run of the mill town. Nice enough but not scenic.

It's a great ride because of the views. There are bathrooms along the way. Good restaurants (the bay area generally has very disappointing reasonably priced seafood but Carmel/Montery is an excpetion). Wild life (sea otters and seals). Doing the above ride (down and back) was a bit over 30 miles, but it's the least tiring 30 miles you may ever do.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/monterey-bay...trail-monterey
http://www.mtycounty.com/pgs-parks/bike-path.html
http://www.seemonterey.com/biking/to...ounty?_lang=fr

Sorry that I can't help with rentals but please make sure you ride 17 Mile Drive. There are some pretty gnarly climbs too if your into that.

Monterey bike path
 

Once you get away from the downtown area with the illiterate pedestrians it's quiet and scenic.
Chances are somebody will come along to take a picture of the two of you.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=216261http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=216262

Or you can do the self-portrait thinghttp://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=216263
Nice places for a picnic, watch the surf roll in, a modest walk to the water's edge.
It's 12 miles from old fisherman's warf to Marina State Park.
Sorry, no info on bike rentals. We brought our own.

Climb Nacimiento-Fergusson Road? (sorry, couldn't help myself - it's crazy-steep - see point "B" on map below for starting location)

But seriously, if you can swing part of a day w/o the semi-riding g/f, go ride in Big Sur.
this map shows approximately the best bit
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=CA...p=1&sz=12&z=10

If you're flying in/out of San Francisco (SFO) or San Jose (SJC), Undiscovered Country Tours will deliver rental bikes there and do fine-tuning on the fit. They have exclusively carbon Scott Addicts or CR2s with compact Ultegra drivetrains at extremely reasonable rates.

Try the website of San Jose's Almaden Cycle Touring Club for rides in/around Monterey/Carmel.

Disclaimer: Other than occasionally leading tours for Undiscovered Country, I have no financial interest in the company.

Thanks everybody for all the advice. This is looking like it will be a great ride. The 30mile option that lhorn listed sounds perfect.

Dorkypants, we are flying into SFO but are staying there for a few days before heading to Monterey. I have actually already contacted UDC and was inquiring about the delivery option to Monterey.

Thanks again!