Tag: Peninsula

I’m planning a ride to Montara (near Half Moon Bay), leaving Saturday morning 1/15, staying overnight in the Montara Lighthouse(!) Hostel, and coming back Sunday morning. About 25 miles each way, some hills and deserted/derelict highways (see below), and about $30/person for the hostel. If you’re interested in joining, let me know ASAP– I got tentative confirmation of some space at the hostel but need to call back in the next few days to confirm and put down a deposit. [edit: whoa, 10 people interested so far!] [edit edit: up to 12-14] ...

…with a few dozen people heading to various companies around the peninsula, following this route: http://sf2g.com/bayway.html Getting up and active before 6 was painful, but the ride was very nice– misty fog, small animals, marshes, and the bay. Light traffic for most of the way.

(continuing my expansion of this site from not only documenting group rides, but also interesting or long rides I take): Here’s a route I took today between San Francisco and the Westborough/Skyline part of San Bruno: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3691599 The 2 miles of uphill on Westborough Blvd was brutal and took me a while, but going back down was fun.

Six of us met up at Millbrae and biked South along the Bay Trail, through the Coyote Point recreation area (where we were tempted by the smell of barbeque), past San Mateo, and around Foster City, cutting back inland to Belmont, for lunch at Cafe Mossant, and then back via caltrain. I didn’t take any photos, but if anyone did I’ll post them. I tried out GPS track recording on my phone, you should see an embedded map below: A few stats from the cycle computer:17 miles, average speed 10mph, 100 minutes of cycling time. No organized rides for the next month or so, next ride mid-August.

Details to follow. This will be a more mosey-along ride than usual, a great starter ride. A few people have already said they’re coming on this as their first ride. It will be fun– minimal traffic, very flat, and a relaxed pace (much of it is on a paved path separate from the street, shared with the occasional jogger), though still a respectable distance (maybe 15 miles depending where we finish). ...

A few people from our usual group joined a group of maybe 150 bicyclists at Dolores Park at 8:30AM on a gray and misty morning (the people in the Dolores Park Cafe were confused by the crush of business). It was amusing to see another bicyclist heading to the park through the deserted streets of the mission and think “I bet I know where he’s going”. The group headed out around 9:30 (some with stereo systems, musical instruments, and other bulky objects), and took a route from Bayshore -> Tunnel -> Sierra Point -> McDonnell -> the Bay Trail south of the airport -> 3rd Ave in San Mateo. We didn’t ride on the Bay Trail itself for much of the ride– we took the slightly more direct (and wider, easier to bike on with a crowd) surface streets. The ride was at a slow pace, with a few bikes with stereos, and some periodic waiting to regroup, and we reached Maker Faire a little before noon. After Maker Faire, around 6:45, I was feeling my oats and decided to bike back on my own, trying to beat the setting sun. I took the more scenic bay trail routes much of the way, with a few accidental detours. Here’s a rough map of the overall ride. My recently-purchased bike computer says I rode 53 miles total, including getting to the park in the morning.

Heading South on Tunnel Ave

About 150 bikers at 9am on a Saturday.

I’m planning on joining someone else’s organized ride this Saturday, in case you’re interested – the Rock The Bike group biking to Maker Faire. http://www.rockthebike.com/node/10277 from the web page: “the ride is about 19 miles over mostly flat terrain, and we will take a leisurely pace, cruising with great music on our party bikes.” Plus, there’s valet bike parking and you get into Maker Faire at a discount. To get back without doing that length of ride again, the Hillsdale Caltrain station is just a few miles away. If you’re interested, let me know (I’ll mass-RSVP to the organizers), and meet at Dolores Park at 8:30AM.

Four people came out today, two for the first part of the ride (from the ballpark South, through empty industrial back streets of Bayshore, then along the bay around Candlestick Park, and back to SF). Two of us continued South along Tunnel Ave and along the Brisbane Lagoon on Sierra Point Pkwy (a road that always feels like it’s about to force you onto the 101), along the Bay Trail, through the airport, and then back via the BART from Millbrae. See some photos below. Wildflowers were blooming along the path, and the sun was shining, though there was an intense headwind along much of the bay. Here’s a rough map, 20-25ish miles total depending on starting and ending points (I’m not sure I correctly traced all the Bay Trail, much of which was on paths).