# Newbie question on gravel/mtb riding in Marin County



## adamjth (10 mo ago)

Hi,

I am coming to SF for a week at the end of August and would like to head to Marin county to ride some of the famous trails. Plan would be to get a bus up to Marin county & hire a bike for a few days. Can anyone point me to some resources i.e bike hire. organised tours or even any other forums if I am asking in the wrong place

thanks

Adam


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

Unfortunately this sub-forum isn't what it used to be. I don't know if they rent gravel bikes, but you could call the Novato or one of the SF Sports Basement stores as they definitely do rent. 
You could also try the Facebook "Gravel Bike California" group for advice, a bit more active than this sub-forum.


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## adamjth (10 mo ago)

thanks jetdog9 I will go look at the Facebook page as a starting point


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## barrreport (7 mo ago)

adamjth said:


> thanks jetdog9 I will go look at the Facebook page as a starting point


Sunshine Bikes in Fairfax is a good place to ask for rental info and good starting point for various rides. Most of Headlands and the Mt Tam area are all gravel fire roads. Single track is off limits as a rule. Tamarancho and China Camp are about the only legal single track. Gravel routes, there are many through the headlands, great view of the bay, some tough climbs. Railroad through Mill Valley to the top of Tam would be a good ride. You can take a number of routes down to say Lake Lagunitas then head down towards Fairfax or the town of Ross and Phoenix lake then ride the road back to Larkspur and over the hill to Mill Valley. You can easily link up several areas and do a 100 miler if you wanted. San Geronimo Fire road and then there's Manzanita Fire road to the Town of San Geronimo, you can head over to Gunsight Fire by the golf course and take that back towards Fairfax. Most of china Camp's bay side is good for gravel bikes, the "dark side" Gold Hill is more for MTB's. Road cycling in Marin is quite good also. Mt Tam Loop is one of the prettiest.


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