Biking from Santa Rosa to San Francisco

[weisan]

Trying to figure out how to ride our bikes from Santa Rosa to San Francisco. I think we will take the train from Larkspur into SF, or do the Richmond Bridge route with ferry. For the latter, we get from Santa Rosa (light rail) to San Rafael and then over the Richmond Bridge and then over the Bay Bridge. I think we need to go on a ferry from Treasure Island to the Ferry Terminal. Does any of these sound right to those who have done it before?

[prototoast]

I'm totally confused by what you're describing. Absolutely, none of it makes sense.

If you want to bike from Santa Rosa to San Francisco, you go over the Golden Gate bridge to get into San Francisco.

[eddief]

of course there are ways to go by bike.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sant...!3e1?entry=ttu

[Spaghetti Legs]

Confusing to me also. That’s more train riding than bike riding. Ferry from Tiburon or Sausalito if you don’t want to ride across the GG Bridge. I, for one would pick a route closer to the coast although that might turn it into a 2 day ride.

[truth]

Weisan pal, it sounds like you're looking for a multi-modal trip to save biking miles?

A few things to note:

- The most direct bike route I don't think is very pleasant. The good roads are west of Santa Rosa and put you going across the Golden Gate bridge into SF.

- I don't think there's a train from Larkspur to SF but there is a Ferry

- Richmond - San Rafael bridge to the Bay Bridge is home turf for me. It's largely flat and bike pathy to get to Yerba Buena/Treasure Island where you can either catch a ferry or bus into SF

- If you get to Richmond you can take a ferry from there to SF, it's very nice.

- If you get to Richmond you can also take the BART into SF which runs more frequently than the ferry bit does not have the nice views and fresh air

A few questions for you:

- How many miles and how much elevation would you like for the riding portion of your trip?

- What day of the week is your trip? Transit options (ferries, trains, BART) are more limited on the weekends.

- Is there a time by which you must be in SF and if so, where in SF?

A few thoughts:

- I think the best riding would be to head west from Santa Rosa and then South but you'd end up with 100+ miles. You could shorten this by taking a bus out to Monte Rio or Occidental

- I think a good shorter ride with some hills and some views would be to take the train from Santa Rosa into Marin Civic Center or San Rafael and ride west through Marin county and over the Golden Gate bridge

- A flatter more urban ride would be to take the train from Santa Rosa to San Rafael, ride over the bridge to Richmond and go along the bay trail and halfway over the Bay Bridge then take a bus or ferry to SF.

[weisan]

Thank you all for the responses, especially from truth pal with the awesome amount of details and things to consider.

So, I have not done any research at all before I posted the question, I am sorry for causing any confusion.

[donevwil]

The SMART Train currently goes from Santa Rosa airport to the Larkspur ferry terminal with, obviously, many stops in between. You can ride any portion of it, jumping on/off the train as desired, ride into SF or take the ferry, all depends on your schedule.

Is this likely a weekday or weekend? Weekend train schedule is a bit limiting.

[TonyG]

I use to ride this route a lot from San Francisco to a small town near Santa Rosa where I live part-time now. My route was about 65 miles and it took about four hours. Santa Rosa would be easier because you wouldn't have to do one of the big climbs over Sonoma Mtn.

Generally if I was going to ride to SF I'd make my way to Petaluma and then head west towards Pt Reyes. When I get to the Nicasio Reservoir I take a left and head to Fairfax. From there you have 20 miles to go and just need to pick your way through the suburbs to the city. There's one significant climb out of Petaluma and just some short easy hills after that. There may be faster ways to go or more scenic but faster gets ugly and scenic can get hard. Good luck and enjoy!

[IM954]

For a long route - approx 90 miles and 5000 feet of climbing - I'd recommend heading towards the coast and do the following: Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to Freestone to Valley Ford to Marshall to Point Reyes Station to Stinson Beach to Sausalito to San Francisco. Most of this ride will be on Route 1 and it's a beautiful ride down the coast. You can pick a straighter/shorter route, but you'll have a lot of junk miles.

[TonyG]

Originally Posted by IM954

For a long route - approx 90 miles and 5000 feet of climbing - I'd recommend heading towards the coast and do the following: Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to Freestone to Valley Ford to Marshall to Point Reyes Station to Stinson Beach to Sausalito to San Francisco. Most of this ride will be on Route 1 and it's a beautiful ride down the coast. You can pick a straighter/shorter route, but you'll have a lot of junk miles.

This route includes some of the most beautiful roads I've ever seen. Especially from Muir Beach to Bolinas.

[mpken]

Originally Posted by IM954

For a long route - approx 90 miles and 5000 feet of climbing - I'd recommend heading towards the coast and do the following: Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to Freestone to Valley Ford to Marshall to Point Reyes Station to Stinson Beach to Sausalito to San Francisco. Most of this ride will be on Route 1 and it's a beautiful ride down the coast. You can pick a straighter/shorter route, but you'll have a lot of junk miles.

Yes!

My friends and I rode most of this route in reverse, from SF to Santa Rosa, for Bike MS last year. Stunning route with some of the most beautiful landscapes and terrain to ride through. You'll have to deal with some traffic going towards more densely populated areas later in the morning, but it should be great nonetheless.

[YesNdeed]

Originally Posted by IM954

For a long route - approx 90 miles and 5000 feet of climbing - I'd recommend heading towards the coast and do the following: Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to Freestone to Valley Ford to Marshall to Point Reyes Station to Stinson Beach to Sausalito to San Francisco. Most of this ride will be on Route 1 and it's a beautiful ride down the coast. You can pick a straighter/shorter route, but you'll have a lot of junk miles.

This is kind of what I was thinking. I'm unfamiliar with some of the connections to be made from CA 1 to Golden Gate, but this sums it up well. That's going to be an amazing ride. Wish I were coming!

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by mpken

Yes!

My friends and I rode most of this route in reverse, from SF to Santa Rosa, for Bike MS last year. Stunning route with some of the most beautiful landscapes and terrain to ride through. You'll have to deal with some traffic going towards more densely populated areas later in the morning, but it should be great nonetheless.

Heading north at the crack of dawn is the way to do this route so by late morning you're on lower trafficed roads. Leaving Santa Rosa early would put one on the southern coastal section of hwy 1 late morning, that would be an absolute non-starter for me, especially on the weekend, regardless of the beauty.

I think the Nicasio to Sir Francis Drake and Fairfax to catch the bike route to Sausalito is the best compromise of beauty and practicality (101 corridor).

[weisan]

Got what I wanted for today: Dim Sum!



Took the train from Santa Rosa to Larkspur, got on the bike path, connected to Paradise through Tiburon, then Sausalito, passed by the vacant store of the former Odyssey bike shop, got across Golden Gate bridge, Crissy field, Ghirardelli, Fisherman's wharf and finally cut across to Chinatown to reach our ultimate objective: Dim Sum!

After we had our fill, re-trace our way back to where we came, except we didn't go through Tiburon again.

What was kinda neat is experiencing the San Francisco afternoon fog-like condition while we were crossing back the bridge: drizzle, windy, cold. Because of the weather, the foot traffic was markedly less than this morning.

All in all, a great day of exploring on the bike.

[Ken Robb]

Next time in Larkspur stop at Donut Alley for some tasty treats!