# San Francisco/Marin Training Ride Suggestions



## irideti (Aug 13, 2002)

I'll be visiting San Francisco next week and want to do couple 3-hour training rides.

My hotel is in Union Square and I'm thinking about riding across the Golden Gate Bridge into the Marin Country. Any route suggestions will be appreciated.


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## singlespeed.org (Feb 14, 2006)

Stop at City Cycles in the Marina District (it is on your way to the GG Bridge) and ask for ride maps. They have a variety of rides mapped out with map, directions, and stats. 

They may have a ride or two that goes on Highway 1 between Muir Woods and Stinson Beach - skip those for now as the road is under construction/repair.

Some to consider:
- Paradise Loop, which goes to Tiburon and is 40 something miles. Great views, pretty easy to follow, not that much climbing.
- Lake Alpine Dam loop - 50 something miles, more climbing, can be confusing to follow on the stretch between Mill Valley and Fairfax.

For training, I often just go up into the Headlands (the lands just north of the Golden Gate Bridge). From my house in Russian Hill area, the basic loop is about 20 miles and 2000 feet of climbing. After crossing the bridge, I go up Conzelman to the top, then down the back side (where it is a 1 way road that goes down a steep hill). Make a right at the next intersection (a few miles up) and then another immediate right at the stop. Take that down (water available at the visitor's center) to Bunker Road and make another right. Take this through the valley past the stables until the next cluster of houses, where you make a right on to McCullough Road and climb back up to Bunker Road. From there, either repeat the loop (which adds about 5 miles and 750+ feet of climbing per loop) or head back to the bridge and the city. Map of the headlands at www.nps.gov/goga/maps/pdf/map-mahe.pdf

Maps and info on how to get around the city by bike can be found at http://www.sfbike.org/?maps.


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## toshi (Dec 29, 2005)

One of my favorite training loops is up to Mt. Tam's east peak. The grade isn't overly steep and the views are sweet. 

http://www.inl.org/bicycle/tam.html


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## Tystik (Sep 11, 2006)

*One of my favorites*



irideti said:


> I'll be visiting San Francisco next week and want to do couple 3-hour training rides.
> 
> My hotel is in Union Square and I'm thinking about riding across the Golden Gate Bridge into the Marin Country. Any route suggestions will be appreciated.


This is about a three hour ride from the city. i used to ride this all time when i lived in the mission and i wanted a medium length ride.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=752366

you can roll it either way, but if its foggy or traficked, going north on hwy 1 means you are on the inside which is just a bit more comforting and highway 1 is more fun to descend to stinson, than climb to muir woods road. but, you do get deprived of the long down hill on panoramic highway.


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## singlespeed.org (Feb 14, 2006)

Tystik said:


> This is about a three hour ride from the city. i used to ride this all time when i lived in the mission and i wanted a medium length ride.
> 
> http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=752366
> 
> you can roll it either way, but if its foggy or traficked, going north on hwy 1 means you are on the inside which is just a bit more comforting and highway 1 is more fun to descend to stinson, than climb to muir woods road. but, you do get deprived of the long down hill on panoramic highway.


*Note - this route may not be doable right now. Last I heard, the stretch of Highway 1 between Muir Woods Road and Stinson Beach was closed for repairs! They even had to reroute the Tour of California because of this.*


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## Tystik (Sep 11, 2006)

singlespeed.org said:


> *Note - this route may not be doable right now. Last I heard, the stretch of Highway 1 between Muir Woods Road and Stinson Beach was closed for repairs! They even had to reroute the Tour of California because of this.*


This route is definitely *CLOSED* until the end of March- I just checked Caltrain road conditions. Sorry for the bad information. That section has been in pretty poor condition for a while, so its good to know they are fixing it. You can still do Panaramic highway to Mt. Tam or Stinson Breach if you want and then return.


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## Chuck415 (Mar 20, 2007)

I know the thread starter has already visited San Francisco. I hope you enjoyed your time in Marin. But for the next person who wants ride routes in Marin, check out Motionbased.com's TrailNetwork. Just do a search for "San Francisco" or "Marin". Here are my public activities/routes. All of my current rides start in San Francisco.

I just started uploading my ride data. Some of the routes are training routes with hill repeats but you'll find the Tiburon Loop, Mt. Tam, Alpine Dam routes, etc. You can see the routes on Google Maps or Google Earth and download them to your GPS device.

Another great resource is route sheets from Velogirls.com.


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## mt.biker (May 6, 2004)

I used to do my spring training in Marin county. For MTB there are alot of good fire roads to climb up and fly down; nothing really technical though.

For road, just grab a map and plan yourself a route. It is so beautiful in Marin you cannot go wrong. If you have a chance to ride HW1 do it, so nice.


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