Am heading out on a work trip & will be there for a few days including a weekend in late may. Anyone have any recomendations re people or places to hook up with for xc riding over there please?

Maybe a friendly bike shop who can rent me a bike & show me some trails…?

Thanks all

firstly, don’t call it “San Fran”, the locals will laugh at you (in a nice “he he, look at the cute tourist” way though)

there’s LOADS of awesome riding around…..allegedly. I’m over all the bloody time but either can’t fit in riding around work and flight times, or i’m with people that don’t ride.

However, it’s got some of the the most amazing street I’ve ever ridden. I hire a bike to buzz around the city on, and if you don’t mind getting up early (don’t taxi dodge during the day) and you are prepared for some killer hills, then it’s an amazing way to see the city. Some of the urban DH will leave you nearly peeing you pants. I accidentally cleared 3 flights of stairs that I didn’t even see after pinning it down a hill at about 40mph at 5am one morning.

I was going to call it SF but then you’d have wondered where I meant.

Thanks though – sounds like my kind of riding – maybe I’ll not worry about the trails!

don’t worry mate, I made the mistake of calling it San Fran for an entire day while working in our SF office.

Everyone was too polite to tell me that it annoys them. Wasn’t until I was in a bar that night that someone told me to stop saying it!

Apparently “Frisco” is the worst, they really hate that!

Everyone just says “San Francisco” or “the City”.

I’ll have a hunt around to see if there is a website for the bike hire place I use. It’s not particularly expensive to hire and they are decent guys. Lots of shiny new kit to look at too.

http://www.blazingsaddles.com/
I was there last month, cycled over the Golden Gate bridge with a vague aim of heading up into the Marin Headlands but decided not to due to torrential rain.
I only hired a hybrid but they’ve got full sus bikes too, and I found a $10 discount leaflet from my hostel.

Lots of bike rental places downtown, mostly beach cruisers for the pier but some shops have will have decent hard-tails for a days ride over the Golden Gate to Marin Headlands. Mostly gravel fireroad, I don’t think there’s much (legal) singletrack around.

For a different return journey, ride down into Sausalito and take the ferry back.

+1 for Blazing Saddles, used them few times and am thinking of taking out their tandem in May when I’m over again.

There’s a guy called Chris @ a bike shop called ‘Roaring Mouse Cycles’ in San Francisco.

I met the guy last year when I was over there and he was superb! He’s originally from Newcastle and moved over there several years ago.

He knows all the trails there is to know about over that way. Try pinging him an email?

Are you going to have a car while you’re out there? IMO all the best riding in the area is a little further away in the Santa Cruz area. Tamarancho is a little closer to the city and definitely worth a look – you can get maps/passes in Fairfax.

Oh yeah, and as my namesake says, don’t call it San Fran – I got that one beaten out of me 🙂

If you won’t have a car you might want to try stokedsf.com
Had a great afternoon of riding on a sweet bike, picked up by their guy at Sausalito ferry across the bay.
Bit pricey but all in (helmet, camelbak, spds & pads if needed). Tuned the riding to my level & had options if weather not too good.
STL.

+1 Roaring Mouse & try the MTBR Norcal forum, they will let you in on the low down.