Bay Area Travel/Biking - any place

[John L]

My wife and I will be traveling from Boston to California in March and
have 4-5 days to explore the Bay area, which will involve visiting
friends in Palo Alto, downtown SF, and Napa, and, I hope, a pilgrimage
to the Riv HQ. We were hoping to do this exploration mostly by bike -
credit card style, although probably trains, ferries and even a rental
car may come into play (details are sketchy at this point). Any
recommendations for how to get a reliable riv-ish ride for that time?
I'm considering shipping our bikes (seems cheaper than bringing them
on an airplane) but it makes me nervous. I'd prefer to rent, but most
of what's out there seems to be offering skinny tired carbon bikes or
hybrids, neither of which appeals to me. On a previous similar
thread, someone suggests Karim's used bikes in Berkeley but elsewhere
on the internet, it's reputed to be a fence for thieves. Bay Area
Bikes offers the Big Dummy which is an attractive option but probably
overbuilt for our needs (it makes my wife a little nervous). I'd go
out of my way for a good rental so if you know of somewhere else in
the Bay Area I should consider, let me know. Thanks! - John

[Ray Shine]

John -- San Francisco abounds in bike rentals. One can go to very few of the popular routes or places and not see dozens of people on rental bikes.  Sometimes, it's literally hundreds.  I do not know what they charge, but the bikes look to be well maintained and most if not all are hybrids with fat tires and upright seating. Also increasingly more popular are electrics and electric assists rentals. Most of the rentals I see around here are Marin or Trek, and the various electrics.

Most of us in this area have done many times what you are anticipating; biking everywhere in the Bay Area.  With the intermodal public transportation system -- most bike friendly and accommodating -- one can easily get around sans automobile. Once in SF purchase a Clipper Card (Start with two cards at $20 each, then add funds accordingly). That allows you ready access and entry to SF Muni, BART, CalTrain, Golden Gate Transit, and other transits.

From SF, one can bike all the way to Palo Alto and beyond, or go part way and incorporate CalTrain into the plan. IMO, CalTrain is the most bike accommodating agency around, with dedicated bike cars on each train. You can also take BART to the east bay -- and to walnut Creek to RBW -- or ride it. Of course, a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge is a must, then you also can ride into Marin's most famous areas; Marin Headlands, Tiburon/Paradise, Mt. Tam, Point Reyes, etc. You can ferry back to SF from Sausalito, Tiburon, and San Anselmo.

I often bike from SF all the way to Alameda via the Dumbarton Bridge. Much of that route is on the Bay Trail with mixed surfaces.

You can also take AmTrak Capitol Corridor express from the east bay which is bike accommodating, and ride up to Davis, Winters, Sacramento and beyond. You can also ferry to Vallejo and ride from there.

There's nearly endless opportunities for great rides and accommodating public transit.  I'm sure others  will also have sound suggestions. Enjoy!

---

From: John L <johnl...@msn.com>
To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sun, January 22, 2012 6:13:24 PM
Subject: [RBW] Bay Area Travel/Biking - any place

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[Manuel Acosta]

Agreed. Don't forget the ever wonderful BART transit. More than able
to cut a few hours of your day to get to the beautiful places of the
bay area quicker. When in March are you planning to visit? If I'm
free, I wouldn't mind showing you guys some prime ride around the
area.




-Manny

[René Sterental]

John,

You've been answered by two of the best guides you could find. I live in Palo Alto and if I'm around when you're visiting, I'd love to tag along and join you. I'm not as savvy with rides as Ray and Manny, but I'll do what I can.

Based on what you want to do, I'd ship the bikes ahead of time. I have plenty of tools in my garage shop so if you need help putting them back together or fixing anything (hope not), you're welcome to give me a holler. You can also ship your bikes to my house if It's more convenient than any of the other places where you'll be staying. If you want to do that, let me know the dates as I have some traveling scheduled in March.

René

[JPTwins]

This has been a great thread!  I will also be traveling from Boston to San Francisco for the first week of March.  I built up a bike last year and shipped it to my parents' place in San Jose.  Always nice to have a bike there! 

I'll be taking Amtrak to NAHBS in Sacramento and then riding my bike back in two stages (Sac->Petaluma, Petaluma->Marin->SF).  Beyond that, I'll take either CalTrain or BART to get back to the SouthBay and maybe try to get to Riv HQ or Jintesha Studio in Berkeley (my college stomping grounds).

My conference will be in santa clara, and I'll be bike commuting from Campbell.  Anyone have any suggestions for South Bay places to check out?

thanks again for the aforementioned tips.

Geoff
Boston, MA

[TSW]

Hm, asking Bay Area bikers for bike rental recommendations might be a
little like asking them for a hotel recommendation. Maybe Yelp? This
would be a great bloggish database: best bike rentals, by city.

Box Dog Bikes has a cool blog occasionally chronicling interesting
road/trail rides, like this one:

http://www.boxdogbikes.com/cross-training-an-east-bay-hills-mixed-terrain-loop/

I haven't done this ride specifically (on my list), but the terrain's
cool. For more info and maps on this park and others in the area,
look up Tilden or East Bay Parks.

These might be worth getting in advance:
Napa:
http://napacarfree.net-flow.com/bikes.htm

Marin:
http://www.marinbike.org/Map/Index.shtml

East Bay:
http://www.ebbc.org/maps/map.html

SF:
http://www.sfbike.org/?maps

Around Stanfurd:
http://transportation.stanford.edu/alt_transportation/midpen-bike-map.html

HTH,
Tse-Sung

On Jan 22, 6:13 pm, John L <johnlimo...@msn.com> wrote:

[RonLau]

John,

What size do you ride? 
What kind of ride you want to do?  Road, mixed, mtn.?


If you are foodies, get ready to eat, it is pretty good here in SF and East Bay.

Ron

[Robert F. Harrison]

I concur, great thread, especially as I too am headed to the Bay Area, though it'll be the second week of May. First I'm off to Oregon to visit some family members and ride the Oregon coast with a friend. I discovered that it would only add about $100 to my ticket (Hawaii-Portland) to add San Francisco on the way home. I'll be in SF from 5/7-5/12 though 5/7 and 5/12 are really travel days.

My travel bike is Bike Friday NWT which works great as luggage from Hawaii (shipping bikes back and forth all the time would be just too expensive). The Friday has been to Riv central before; 2009 when I bought my Quickbeam. This time I'll be trying to figure out which geared bike I can't live without...being a big fella I'm thinking Bomba or Hunq - though to be honest I've not had a lick of trouble (knock on wood) with the QB so others are possible too. 

I'm staying within a block of a BART station so I'll be able to get most anywhere in good order.

I'm pretty pleased about being able to come through the area and stay for a change. I always seem to be making connecting flights in SF and every time I do I wish I had more than an hour in the airport - this time I do. 

Aloha!

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Robert Harrison
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statrix.com

[TSW]

One last suggestion- if you're going to be in western Sonoma Co., you
mustn't miss the Bakery Bike Challenge. A ride among bucolic hills
and wonderful little bakeries where you can try many a treat with the
clearest of consciences (if not clearest of arteries).

My friends and I would begin at
Occidental at The Union Hotel bakery for starters
then
N onto Coleman Valley Rd (a bit of climb)
L to Joy Rd
R to Bodega Hwy
L to 1 heading S
Valley Ford to Middle to Tomales (Tomales Bakery- their savories sell
out pretty quickly as I recall)
Then back up:
Highway 1 to valley ford, then Valley Ford-Freestone (not to miss:
Wildflour Bakery)
Then the Bohemian highway back to Occidental.

All county and state roads- really wonderfully pleasant.

On Jan 25, 10:03 am, "Robert F. Harrison" <rfharri...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> rfharri...@gmail.com
> statrix.com

[Philip Williamson]

My two cents - give yourself a half-day leeway with Amtrak. I took the
train to NAHBS in San Jose in 2006, and almost missed the show:
http://www.biketinker.com/2007/bike-art/nahbs-autograph-hound/

Philip

Philip Williamson
www.biketinker.com

[René Sterental]

Robert!

I'll be in Honolulu from 5/4-5/9 and will be taking my BIke Friday Pocket Llama with me. I was planning in calling in you... Oh well...

Can you recommend any good rides?

René  

[Robert F. Harrison]

Wow, I'm sorry we'll miss each other.

Yes, there two major rides here on the island, clockwise and counter-clockwise. :-) 

It really depends on how much time you have and how much distance you'd like to cover. I don't know how much interest everyone on the list has in rides on Oahu so we can continue privately but there are somethings to note...

We had a decent bus system and all buses have space for two bikes. Thus if you want to bus to a start location, or back from the end of a longer ride it's possible (and I do it all the time). 

The most scenic routes are on the windward and north shores not in Honolulu, though exploring the city on bike is easy and the waterfront is very bike-able.

If you feel up to it, climbing Tantalus is a decent challenge (and lovely). Here's a link to our steepest climbs in case you are so inclined (ouch): http://www.hbl.org/content/oahus-steepest-climbs

We can also do flat (Pearl Harbor bike path skirting the edge of the water most of the way around).

My favorite bits:

1. Honolulu waterfront (I do this more or less daily) - short, add around Diamond Head for even more fun and views

2. Honolulu to Makapuu lookout (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgps-bob/3838367751/)

3. Kahaluu to Haleiwa - normally I just ride Honolulu to Haleiwa and take the bus back, but at 80 miles it's all day when you toss in lunch at Uncle Bobo's in Kaaawa.

Just to keep this Riv worthy, I've ridden all of this (except Tantulus) on my Quickbeam without stopping to change gears, even the hills and there are some (all told about 2500 feet of gain - not much but uphill into the wind at Makapuu is...um...interesting). 

If you let me know off the list how much time you have I can make specific suggesting and let you know where to startt. Indeed I've probably mapped it with gps and can give you the links.

Aloha and again, sorry we'll miss each other. I was going to see what you were up to while I'm in the Bay Area as well. :-)

Bob

René  

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