Oakland, California area rides.

TDSeest

I will be in the Oakland, California area between 2/28 and 3/4. I will be riding between 20 and 30 miles a day while I'm there. On the weekend, I will have lots of flexibility to ride, as I'll have a mini van to drive my bike around. I'm hoping to find some good 20 to 40 mile rides. I ride on average 12 to 14 MPH depending on the winds, and take my time to smell the roses. I'm still way overweight, which makes hills more challenging, but I can tackle them as needed. Currently, I'm leaning towards riding across the Golden Gate on Saturday, and up in the Napa Valley area on Sunday.

Anyone on here, live in that area and want to go ride? Anyone have suggestions where to ride? Anyone used a tour guide in that area before?

Thanks,

Tom Seest

CDGolden

Tom, of course you need to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Fran, maybe starting from Fishermans Wharf up to Sausalito.

Take a day and head up to Napa, its a great ride from Napa up to Yountville / St. Helena and up to Calistoga, either on Highway 29/128 or on Silverado Trail, you will be passing wineries the whole way.

Another very nice ride, from Pena Adobe just south of Vacaville up Pleasants Valley Rd. up to Winters or carry on to Davis or Lake Berryessa (will some good climbs)

TDSeest

Thanks, CDGolden. I forgot you spent some quality time there. Since I've never done it, I was hoping those two rides would be good.

Thanks,

Tom Seest

CDGolden

Tom, 'budkid' also lives just south of Napa, he should have ridden many of the roads around Napa and will be familiar with them, I am sure he could point you in the right direction if he sees this thread.

I'm sure you will map out some rides, but I will also try to map something out and email it to you,

budkid

Good thing I saw this thread...

Theres a lot of places in the area to ride. In Oakland, you have a lot of hills especially if you go eastward towards Orinda or Lafayette. The city streets are busy but there are still a lot of people riding. On your Golden Gate ride, start in SF and ride to Tiburon. That is a good scenic route. There is a bike path if you just map it out on Google maps with the bike feature. If you take Conzleman road just west of the Golden Gate, it is pretty steep at first but you get higher, you can take a really great picture with the Golden Gate in the background.

As for the Napa Valley ride, you should start in Napa and ride on Silverado Trail. You could take a full ride to Calistoga(around 65 miles from Napa) or else take a ride to St. Helena. Make sure you take a water stop in Yountville. That should be a good 40 mile ride.

I plan to ride to Yountville tomorrow from my place in Vallejo. I hope you have nice weather for your trip. If you need any specifics, just let me know.