Well, that was a great weekend.

A group of 10 of us biked from SF to Montara (on the coast, between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles), stayed overnight in the Montara Lighthouse Hostel ($28/night, includes linens, fully booked most Saturday nights months ahead of time but the web site availability is often incorrect– you can call them directly to make reservations, and should if you’re going with a group), and biked back the next day.

This was no ordinary shortest-distance-optimized route– from a collection of paper and online maps, especially the Montara route in San Francisco Short Bike Rides, and discussion with some friendly internet strangers who’d done rides in this area, I pieced together a route that involved almost zero riding on Highway 1 and took scenic coastal or ridge paths whenever possible (and included Old San Pedro Road a.k.a. “Planet of the Apes road”, which I’d read about but never been on).

We lucked out unbelievably on the weather– we’d had to make hostel reservations the month before, and I expected a foggy and possibly rainy weekend. But the sun was out and it was short sleeves or even shirtless weather for most of the ride, as we cruised by businesses with names such as “Fog City ____” in the bright, warm sun.

The Northern segment of the route involved the typical Wiggle to golden gate park, and a ride on the bike paths along ocean beach and Lake Merced, followed by a few miles on Skyline Blvd (moderate traffic, but plenty of space to ride on the shoulder):

As soon as we could (after Fort Funston), we jogged over one block to the parallel hilly but low-traffic Skyline Drive:

Once in Pacifica (where we stopped to check out the pier and get some bagels and buffalo burgers), we rode along a packed-dirty Levee that ran around Sharp Golf Course:

Then we had a short bit of riding along Highway 1, but in one of the easy sections where there’s a separated path/sidewalk bikes can take (unlike the sheer cliffs and minimal shoulders around Devil’s Slide, which we avoided):

We quickly left Highway 1 and the sights and sounds of traffic behind to take a dedicated (and fairly new-looking, mostly deserted, and peaceful) bike path through a park, from Reina Del Mar to San Marlo:

We crossed Highway 1 at Rockaway Beach, climbed a short but quite steep hill on Fassler, overlooking Sea Bowl and the Highway 1 tunnel construction, and jogged over to Higgins and the beginning of Old San Pedro Road.

This road used to be Highway 1, 100 years ago, but is now broken down, overgrown, and closed to cars, though open to road and mountain bikes. The pavement/dirt/mud is rough in places, but it’s still very ridable on a range of bikes. I posted a whole set of photos of riding on Old San Pedro yesterday.

After climbing over the mountain, and a short slightly harrowing final mile on Highway 1, we arrived at the hostel (and lighthouse, and beach), took in the views, and watched the sun gradually set over the ocean.

A jaunt down to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company was a nice reward for our work, though the food and beer were nothing special.

The next morning, heavy fog obscured everything… until about 8:30am, when it suddenly burned off. We cooked a quick breakfast in the hostel with food from the local gas station / convenience store (which even had avocados and Tapatio– I love California), got back on the road, and made great time back over the mountain.

Then on our way back up the coast we impulsively stopped at Gorilla Barbeque (we passed just as it was opening) for some excellent ribs, brisket, and grilled portabellos & other veggies, with a slightly vinegary (North Carolina style?) BBQ sauce.

Finally, we rolled back into San Francisco, felt the temperature drop 10 degrees as expected, and went our separate ways.

Here’s a map of the route we took, with elevation. I also created a quick PDF summary of the route and major turns, if you want to do this ride and want something to print out [not posted yet, will edit this in the future].

Oh, and this is a ride anyone can do, as long as you’re comfortable with the overall distance and some hills. Our bikes ranged from mountain bikes to narrow tire (23mm) road bikes, in steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber, with or without clip-in shoes, and people wore wool, spandex, or cotton (or went shirtless). Bike it!