I'm in SF for the week on vacation, near Nob Hill. I'm going nuts without riding! A buddy of mine and myself are looking for a good ride or two during the week. Any suggestions? We were thinking about mt Tam, but don't really know where to begin. Any suggestions about riding near the Presidio or just across the bridge? We were thinking more along the lines of XC riding, but a good dh run or two would be fun, depending on what we find for bikes. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated.
Where to ride in SF this week
- Thread starter jon cross
- Start date
Driving is essential for the best two spots near the Bay Area, China Camp and Skeggs. If you want a super challenging XC ride, Skeggs in the place (www.openspace.org). It is called El Corte De Madera.
The problem with the immediate area is that most of the good stuff is illegal, but for someone who is visiting there are plenty of fun and legal rides to give you a taste, especially if you are just thinking XC. You just need to be prepared to spend some time on fire roads - think spectacular scenery but less challenging trails.
So for example, from the city you can ride over the bridge, then immediately go left up the paved road (conzelman) to the coastal trail. From there you have miles and miles of Marin Headlands riding with ocean and city views, hard climbs, etc.
If you have a car you can ride any number of trails on Mt. Tam. A typical first ride is to park somewhere in Mill Valley and just ride up on the Old Railroad Grade, it's a long gradual fire road that goes all the way to the East Peak, offering killer views and some redwoods. Come down via Eldridge Grade, which is a little more challenging and fun than railroad.
If you are really craving singletrack and have a car, just a little further north is Camp Tamarancho in Fairfax. This is private land (owned by a boy scouts club) and has some super tasty (and legal) twisty singletrack, lots of switchbacks, great stuff. You are advised to get a day pass at the bike shop in Fairfax but it's cheap and well worth it. The local trail council does a lot of maintenance on this loop and it shows.
If you want to go even further North (but really, it's not very far), check out China Camp State Park in San Rafael. More fun legal singletrack, probably less climbing that Tamarancho.
You should be able to find plenty of stuff about these rides by a simple web search or by dropping into any decent shop. A shop should also have maps, which are a good idea. If you look at a map of the headlands and Tam you can see there is a huge amount of legal riding, a lot of it is not that exciting but if you are riders that just want to get out there, there are tons of trails. Have fun.
So for example, from the city you can ride over the bridge, then immediately go left up the paved road (conzelman) to the coastal trail. From there you have miles and miles of Marin Headlands riding with ocean and city views, hard climbs, etc.
If you have a car you can ride any number of trails on Mt. Tam. A typical first ride is to park somewhere in Mill Valley and just ride up on the Old Railroad Grade, it's a long gradual fire road that goes all the way to the East Peak, offering killer views and some redwoods. Come down via Eldridge Grade, which is a little more challenging and fun than railroad.
If you are really craving singletrack and have a car, just a little further north is Camp Tamarancho in Fairfax. This is private land (owned by a boy scouts club) and has some super tasty (and legal) twisty singletrack, lots of switchbacks, great stuff. You are advised to get a day pass at the bike shop in Fairfax but it's cheap and well worth it. The local trail council does a lot of maintenance on this loop and it shows.
If you want to go even further North (but really, it's not very far), check out China Camp State Park in San Rafael. More fun legal singletrack, probably less climbing that Tamarancho.
You should be able to find plenty of stuff about these rides by a simple web search or by dropping into any decent shop. A shop should also have maps, which are a good idea. If you look at a map of the headlands and Tam you can see there is a huge amount of legal riding, a lot of it is not that exciting but if you are riders that just want to get out there, there are tons of trails. Have fun.
If you want to go even further south, you can go to Wilder Ranch (about an hour south of SF, near Santa Cruz) where there's some nice XC riding.