Riding in San Francisco/Bay Area?

[FlashUNC]

Figured I'd come to you guys for some insight on this one.

Long story short, I was laid off at the end of the year, and have been looking for new work since. An opportunity has come up working in San Francisco (job would be downtown in the financial district).

So curious about the riding in the area? Lots of choices for routes? Traffic a nightmare? Places I might look to live where I could get to the decent road riding fairly easily?

Appreciate the lowdown from you locals.

[akelman]

Feel free to PM me, Flash, if you want details. But the short story is we live about an hour from the city and have lots and lots of friends who are in the Bay Area. It's a wonderful place, filled with truly fantastic (epic?) riding. That said, yeah, traffic can be tough, so it's important to make sure that your commute will suit you. It's also ridiculously expensive, though we feel like we get pretty good value for our money.

Anyway, I'm sorry that you were laid off. The number of incredibly talented people I know -- no, not you; why would you think that? -- who have lost their jobs in the last few years is really staggering.

[rspecker]

But glad you found a new gig.

Road riding in the SF Bay Area is amazing.

Google search "Alpine Dam Ride San Francisco"

That is one of the best rides. So many others . . .

Have fun!

[DRietz]

Originally Posted by rspecker

But glad you found a new gig.

Road riding in the SF Bay Area is amazing.

Google search "Alpine Dam Ride San Francisco"

That is one of the best rides. So many others . . .

Have fun!

Not to mention mountain biking...

[beeatnik]

The city called The City is quite a great city for intermodal commuting.

[roguedog]

As everyone says great varied riding all over bay area.

Traffic depends on where you'll live. If you're going to live in "The City" you're riding ..well in the city. Expect congested urban commuting conditions.

If you live outside the city, it'll depend where you settle but if you're in the financial district might want to look for a place close to Bart station.

But wherever you end up, there's really great riding everywhere, north bay, south bay, east bay..all great and varied. And really it's all close enough to just make day trips to the various areas.

Today was gorgeous. High 60s and sunny. (We really need some rain tho)

Congratz.

[eddief]

and live in Fairfax. Given a choice that would be my choice. Right on the edge of incredible open space for road or trail. Mt Tam, Pt Reyes Station, Inverness, Nicasio, The Cheese Factory, Bolinas on and on and on. Or come to Berkeley and Bart to SF. Then Mt Diablo can be your oyster.

[forrestw]

I spent a week in SF last winter and quite enjoyed the riding, plan to stash a bike there w/ friends for future visits. Being habituated to riding in Boston I found SF similar but bigger. I loved the steepness of the town.

I was also surprised to see not so many fixed gear rigs.

[54ny77]

here's my $0.02: depends on budget but if you can swing it, live somewhere close to golden gate so you can get over to marin county, a.k.a. really, really good riding for as long as you basically want. neighborhoods could include the marina, cow hollow, russian hill, richmond, and so forth. it's a 20-30 min. (+/-) schlep to get over the gg bridge for the most part from most of those neighborhoods, so factor that into your riding schedule.

importantly, if your work life is going to suck in terms of hours/demands, then you def. want easy access to downtown since that's the vast majority of weekly time commitment, and you don't want that to be a source of frustration. make sure it's near a muni bus line (trackless trolly or regular bus). in ancient times, i was in russian hill and could take either mode downtown for work (or hop a cab if i was lucky--san fran is a joke when it comes to cab availability). for riding, it was a fairly quick downhill jaunt through marina green and onto the bridge. coming back kinda sucked: the down hill out became uphill back....which was an agonizing march home if the "real" part of the ride was itself hard.

[54ny77]

Eddief: Fairfax has some STEEP roads!

That's a fun little town, been there many, many times (good family friends lived there for some time).

Originally Posted by eddief

and live in Fairfax. Given a choice that would be my choice. Right on the edge of incredible open space for road or trail. Mt Tam, Pt Reyes Station, Inverness, Nicasio, The Cheese Factory, Bolinas on and on and on. Or come to Berkeley and Bart to SF. Then Mt Diablo can be your oyster.

[bagochips3]

I live in Marin. Awesome riding in Marin for sure, but the riding in the east bay is great too and there's some awesome riding down around Woodside as well.

I used to commute to downtown and it was a :20 ride/drive to the Larkspur Ferry and a :40 ride to the Sausalito Ferry for me. Those are great commute options if you don't want to ride all the way in (1:30 or so). As others have mentioned, BART is a good option, but don't rule out the ferries for commuting to downtown; especially if your office is near the ferry building.

[alexstar]

The City is the epicenter for truly great riding. Live in the inner Richmond district if you want easy access to Marin via the Golden Gate Bridge.

[jimsantos]

Wow, I hardly know where to begin.

Of course, I'm probably a little biased having been raised in the Bay Area most of my life, and being a San Francisco resident as of earlier this year, but I LOVE the riding out here, and it's a fantastic place to live and develop/explore career opportunities.

As some have said, cost-of-living can be a little high IN the actual city of SF, so definitely expect to spend a good chunk of time hunting around if you want a good deal on housing/rental. The rental market is particularly cutthroat these days, so be ready for ridiculous situations like on-the-spot 1yr commitments, 30min open houses with 25+ people, and potential renters upping the ante with homemade baked goods.

Traffic can be quite hectic if you're commuting along major freeways (101, 280) or intra-city arteries (Market, Van Ness, etc.). That said, working downtown and living anywhere north of 18th St. and East of 19th Ave. would be ideal. Since most of the easily-accessible riding is north of the GG bridge, someplace within that Northeast region of the city would be a great balance between work and play. Only can be a major lack of parking unless you have a dedicated spot or garage (same story downtown).

We live near Corona Heights Park/Randall Museum and I can get downtown in about 10-15 min via bike, over the GG bridge in about 25-30.

Hope this helps - Good luck!

[jimsantos]

I definitely second the east bay, south bay and peninsula riding as well. Amazing scenery/roads up and down the Santa Cruz mountains, and plenty of routes along and out to the ocean as well!

You won't regret the move!

[pavel]

Bay Area #1