# Must Ride Mountains and Roads in Bay Area



## EGreenberg87 (Nov 10, 2010)

Hey everyone,

I'm a snow clogged, ride deprived New Yorker heading out to the bay area soon to ride around for a week since I just passed my medical boards.

Could you guys help me out with the "Must See" rides around the bay area. I've been dying to get some good climbing in since NYC has no terrain whatsoever.

Thanks,

Eric


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## Chef Tony (Mar 2, 2004)

We are in a spell of nice weather right now; hope you get sunny skies too.
In the East Bay or Marin you could look these up on Mapmyride.com:
3 Bears Loop; Wildcat Road; Redwood-Pinehurst; Mt. Diablo from North Gate-- for starters. also Bolinas-FairFax Rd; Marshal Wall, 3 Bakeries route; Chileno Valley Rd.


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## Tort (Nov 4, 2008)

Almost too many to see in one week. If you give us a general location for your visit I am sure you will get some good replies. We have no shortage of epic climbs and beautiful scenery around here, from seashores to lakes/reservoirs to Redwoods. Just look at the sticky up top for hill climb records for a quick reference.


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## EGreenberg87 (Nov 10, 2010)

Thanks for all the help and replies!

I'm going to be staying in the San Fransisco area for 4 days and Napa valley area for 3 days. I'm really interested in climbs and seashore rides.

Thanks,

Eric


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## Art853 (May 30, 2003)

My favorites:

Mt Tam, Mt. Diablo, Mt. Hamilton
Riding SF to Point Reyes
Stinson beach is nice.

Morgan Territories in the East Bay

All of these can be done from SF using bart.

There are also many good bike rides within SF. 
book: Short Bike Rides San Francisco
Do The Wiggle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiggle

Maps and routes listed in other threads

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=234756

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=205150

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=194844

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=185236


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## ucancallmejoe (May 17, 2006)

For a warmup you must do the Marin headlands loop. A good hour grind with newly paved roads and near constant views of the golden gate bridge. At the beach there is a gated road that has a traffic free climb right along the coast cliff. Be sure to check out the Marine Mammal center and Cavallo Point at the foot of the GG Bridge for a post apertif.

That is the warmup. For the serious stuff, Mt Tam is all good. Little towns on the east face and coast roads on the west side. I like to start in Fairfax hit the summit then descend into Stinson Beach. Then it is ocean cliff rollers until it climbs back to the towns. Check out Green Gulch Zen Center and Pelican Inn.

Napa is my regular ride. Google Ink Grade and Pope Valley.


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## Art853 (May 30, 2003)

North Bay rides

http://go.northbay.pressdemocrat.com/clip/outdoors.cfm?activity=Cycling


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## moschika (Feb 1, 2004)

if you're in wine country and want good climbing, do the Gran Fondo loop with King Ridge and Coleman Valley. or Geysers Road.


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## desmo13 (Jun 28, 2006)

for your napa ride, day 1, up silverado to hwy 128, then pope valley, howell mountain (the steeper side of Ink grade, but shorter) and return. 60 or so miles, depends where you start., 

next ride: start somewhere on the Silverado, then go on oakville to climb oakville grade, and climb trinity, it is an out and back., and you get to climb oakville from the back side. (if you are a mountain goat, drop down trinity before coming back up) 

All the climbs have been used on previous tours of California.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

How much climbing do you want to do and are you ready for? Folks might be sending you out to do 4000 feet every day and that may not be fun for all.

fc


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## slow.climber (Nov 25, 2010)

*Weather has been very mixed*

double post


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## slow.climber (Nov 25, 2010)

*A quick calibration*

It rained in SF all week end.

Last week was mostly great riding weather, but on the cool side (upper 50's to low 60's).

Weeks before that were cold and damp (some days as low as the upper 30's).

You might want to get calibrated on a ride that takes you out over the Golden Gate Bridge and up Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands. It's a good calibration ride and the views can be amazing. The ride down Conzelman out to the light house is used to shoot car commercials, movies, and TV shows,
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/San-Francisco-Hawk-Hill-Marin-Headlands

The climb up from the bridge to the top of Hawk Hill should feel like no big deal. It's 1.5 miles with 600 foot of climbing. The first 1/3 of a mile is a bit steep but nothing on that climb is 'hard'.

The fast kids will do that climb in about 11-12 minutes. That's seriously good. If you can get up in 12 minutes, you'll be fine with pretty much anything the Bay Area has to throw at you,

If your time is more like 15-17 minutes, you'll be fine on rides like Mt. Tam but Mt. Diablo will beat you up.

If your time is more like 20 minutes, Mt. Tam is still OK, but Mt. Diablo or Mt. Hamilton are probably out of your reach (at least in the winter).

I've got a friend, past 50, bad knees, rides a road triple with a mountain bike cassette. She can spin up that climb, comfortably in 20 minutes. She can do Mt. Tam but she's got to take a few breaks (30 seconds to a minute) to allow here knees to stop hurting at some points. Her average time up Kings Mount road (south of San Francisco, close to Palo Alto) is about 45-50 minutes.

Mt. Tam. is a great ride. It's about 25 miles from down town SF to the top of Mt. Tam. You'll climb about 3500 feet, but there's nothing too steep on that ride.

Mt. Diablo is a whole different deal. It's not too far away from SF. You can take your bike on BART or drive. But it's close to a pure climb.
http://www.calcycling.org/?q=node/198

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?col=Mount-Diablo---South-Gate&qryMountainID=7714

Some good rides documented here,
http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/by/BuenosAires


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

I've done Oakville grade. It's nasty steep, and it hurts. What is it, 18%?

I always liked riding Atlas Peak Road. Doesn't go anywhere, but it's a nice climb with interesting landscape.


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## jasonwells4 (Aug 7, 2006)

Alpine Dam is *mostly* easier than Mt. Diablo, but it's not as even. The portion from Bolinas-Fairfax Rd from the lake to the intersection with Ridgecrest Blvd averages 7% for 2.3 miles. My best time on that section is 15:14 @ 186 HR!

With the extra climbing required to get back across the bridge to SF, I end up doing about 500 more ft of elevation on an Alpine Dam loop than riding up Diablo from Walnut Creek, and a lot more miles(but that's just my situation).

Both give awesome views. I think some of the best views are on 7 sisters.


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