[Closed] Biking in San Francisco?

I'm pretty sure Marin County dirt roads start just over the bridge, not too sure anout gnarr though.

If you can get yourself to Fairfax it's well worth it. The Repack finishes just outside town and the Boy Scout trails have some good, legal single track.

If you want to just see the City there are some very non gnar hire shops along the front called blazing saddles or something equally corny

You can do a ride of about 20 miles from the City, over GG bridge, lunch at Sausalito and then get the ferry back from Tiburon which sails past Alcatraz

Not even slightly mtb but good fun and great views all the same

go to santa cruz. loam singletrack through giant redwoods.

+1 for lookmumnohands, a good day out to get over your jet lag.

How much time you got ?

Id do as look,umnohands .

From daly city For simplicity get your self a clipper card - costs a couple of quid but much easier to get on the very good public transport.

Take the bart to embarcadero station - last one before it goes under the bay .

If your not too late you can hire a bike straight from there , if your later you might need to walk/take the trolley (also using clipper card) along to pier 39 and hire from there.

The ride round to sausalito is neither here nor there. Its all downhill from golden gate bridge amd sausalito doesnt really offer much beyond icecream , coffee and posh boats in the marina.

Id be more inclined to head to goldengate park than sausalito being honest.

I have hiked in Marin county and it was mostly fireroad stuff but there were a couple of what looked like fun descents! Were a fair few people on MTBs there so probably more stuff I didn't see!

Oh and if you fancy some roadie fun get yourself upto Skyline Blvd (35) which runs across the top of the mountains. It is absolutely amazing scenery!

For getting around the city and up to GG bridge I use the Bike Hut by AT&T park. Just don't go when the Giants are playing a World Series game.

For off road Ceasers Cyclery in San Anselmo, just south of Fairfax and do the the Tamaranch trail. Will be doing this in November.

There's the new museum of mountain biking in Fairfax as well. Don't go over the GG at the w/e, it's manic. We were there a couple of weekends ago concident with the Bluegrass festival. Every ****er in the known Universe was coming North as we were finishing our ride South. About 3 of them could actually ride a bike :-/ IT.WAS.NOT.FUN.AT.ALL

Best time to ride it south is infact rush hour.

They open the other side of the bridge to south bound commuters.

Was dreading navigating it on the tandem on the tourist side.

Yeah, we were on a tandem...

So I get to Miami for a conference on the 25th, then fly to SFO on the Friday 30th at 1015. Then I'm free time I think till Tuesday, work till Thursday and fly home that night. So will probably be Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday I have to do anything.

I'm thinking the GG day out thing might be best then.

When on hols I rode across the GG bridge and Gary Fisher was coming the other way in full plaid lycra. Used the "Bay area bike rides" guide book to find a route. I was happy to just ride through a few places and trails that were Marin models. 😆

Go and see Chris at Roaring Mouse Cycles on the south side of the golden gate. He'll rent you a bike and point you towards the trails. He's a Brit. Marin county trails aren't really gnarrr but easily rideable out over the bridge. And they'll keep you fit and you'll see where it started. If you can make it to Boy Scout it's a great trail but I think you'll need a car.

I've only explored Marin, years ago, but was since advised to head to Santa Cruz. If you're in the city, it doesn't take long to ride over the bridge and find trails though.

There's also some XC-ish looking stuff on Mt. Sutro and a place nearby renting bikes.

Similar for me: I went with intention of mtb-ing, but ended up hiring a roadie. Over GG bridge and everything opens up. There's a little loop around the Marin Headland or you can head up to Sausalito and then MT Tam. Some awesome scenery and descents. I just used the local tourist maps widely available to navigate. Very easy to get around.

Going back next year with work so will deffo mtb, but I think a car is required for the good stuff though.

CX bike would be interesting though for more local off-road. Hmm...

+1 for visiting Roaring Mouse Cycles. Cool shop.

If you're up for city riding then Mission Bikes does very good singlespeed or hub geared town bikes. Prices are reasonable.

Avoid blazing saddles or other big touristy places. They have the worst kind of hybrid bikes and they're everywhere.

You can also get free bikes from the Timbuk2 factory store. They are pretty decent but they only have 2, so you need to reserve.

Riding over the GG bridge is pretty fun but really busy, especially on the ferry back from sausolito. You'd be very wise to get the ferry first and ride back I reckon.

Check out Outerlands for incredible breakfast, and Trouble Coffee a few doors down! It's a nice ride through the park to get to sunset and the ocean.

Avoid blazing saddles or other big touristy places.

Not quite true: the one on Columbus Ave (I think) does pro-level road bikes. Got a [i]really[/i] good rate for a week and mechanics were very understanding even when I brought it back after a tumble at speed. Thumbs up.

+3 for Roaring Mouse. Great shop. Loaned me a Niner hard tail for a happy day prior to a conference getting over jet lag and exploring iconic mountainbiking sites.

Blazing Saddles on Columbus sorted me out with a very nice Roubaix for a day, delivered it to the hotel as well.

I just did the roadie thing, seemed easiest. Made use of the jet lag and got out at 6am so I could ride up Lombard Street including the famous switchbacks (33% in parts, usually downhill only).

Then crossed the bridge, breakfast in Sausalito, out towards Fairfax via the Camino Alto (my first taste of Californian road descents, bliss!). Coffee and flapjack in Fairfax then followed the Bolinas Road to the coast. This was some of the best climbing and descending I've ever done, gorgeous roads, scenery and weather.

Follow the Shoreline Highway to Stinson for pancakes and more coffee, before climbing back up the Panorama Highway and following it until the right turn down to the Muirwoods. Super steep twisty road descent into the Muir woods and through to Muir Beach.

Final climb and descent back into Sausalito, grab the ferry and a beer and sail back into San Francisco checking out Alcatraz from the boat.

One of my favourite days on a bike 8)

Are you there on the 27th? - bikes (non-MTB) and beer = https://www.missionbicycle.com/blog/lets-grab-beer

13thfloormonk, you make me want to ride a road bike. That sounds awesome.

Timely thread - I'm out there in December. Like the sound of the road rides (though no doubt the weather will be wet) but also considering coming back via somewhere sunny like Utah and Moab.

http://www.stokedsf.com/mountain-biking-tours.php

When in SF for work I had these guys pick me up from the Sausolito ferry terminal and drop me back there (think pick up locations are very flexible). Not exactly sure where we rode but nice singletrack - the guide gave me a couple of options on where we could go.

Might be a little more expensive (actually looks like it has gotten a bit pricy in the 5 years since I was there!), but being picked up and having a nice MTB rather than crap rental & helmet/pads/everything else made it worth it.

STL

I was there 2 years ago on holiday and hired a decent mountain bike for a day. I took my own helmet shoes and pedals which they fitted for me.

There are maps available and I took one and rode over the bridge and picked a few to ride.
Not the most exciting riding I've ever done but very glad I did, knowing these were the trails where it started back when I were a kid.

I love SF - to the point that I started looking for jobs when we got back and I'd probably head over for a few years given a decent opportunity

*bookmarks thread*

The road descent down to Muirwoods and PCH is great! Muirwoods is pretty magical if you get there first thing before the coaches arrive and get beyond waddling distance of the car park.

Yeah, best bit of the Muirwoods descent was the cheeky overtake past the SUV at the top, DO NOT let any traffic get in front of you, those beautiful corners are wasted on cars...

Let me know if you plan to drop by the bicycling museum in Fairfax. I volunteer there a couple of days a week.

Thanks guys will look at the roaring mouse and head out to Sausalito and ferry back. Will post update when I'm back 🙂

Another very good MTB shop, probably more on the downhill/enduro side of things than Roaring Mouse.

http://www.elevationbikeco.com/

J.

So much love for the Mouse 8) as has been said Chris is a top top bloke and the shop has everything you need.

http://www.roaringmousecycles.com/#beautiful

So, back from my trip now and the jet lag is causing me real problems 🙁 Cant sleep at night and knackered all day, but what a trip! HAd possibly the best day on a bike in a city Ive ever had 😀

Took the advice but ended up getting a bike from the Bike Hut, as it fitted in with where I was based etc, and wanted to use them as they are a charitable outfit. Bike was okay, but heavy as hell, and the first one I took, I had to take back 15 minutes into the ride as the chain had a dodgy link which was about to split completely. They swapped the bike quickly and I was off. In general the shop was okay, but the people werent very friendly, but you never know what people have going on, they just have been having a bad day 🙂

Rode from there to Fishermans Wharf area and had some lunch (it was a late start) and then round to the Warming Hut Cafe at the foot of the bridge, toilet stop and some water fill. Nice place. Then up and over the bridge, and down to Sausalito. A guy in a VW camper was playing a guitar out of an amp, at a little car park overlooking the bay and I stood there for moment just listening and looking out over it. Then down to Sausalito and had a coffee. Ferry back to the Ferry building and pedalled back to the bike hut. Was a great day so thanks for the advice and pointers 🙂

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Great pics. Makes me want to go back again.

We hired 2 bikes from Blazing saddles near Fisherman's Wharf. I got a fronnt puncture which meant it spayed me with green slime. Only 1 tire lever and no patches in the "emergency kit" (yes, I should have checked. So we didn't even get over the bridge. The staff couldn't be less interested. Avoid like the plague. We drove through Marin, looked great.....