ISO: Marin and Sonoma ride books

As I grew up in Marin and Sonoma Valley, I am increasingly intrigued by having some nice rides in both areas. After doing a little research, I see there are a few books available that might be valuable resources.

Can anyone recommend titles or authors in particular? It is helpful to know the types of roads mention as well as I might be hesitant to do a beautiful ride if it means riding on a busy road with narrow or no paved shoulder.

Is it possible to ride from SFO to Marin and avoid the busier SF streets? Perhaps one could public transist up to the GG bridge and ride from there into W Marin?

Quill the Questioner - not sharing the same fender-glee as Knotted

I don't know how you'd get from SFO up to Skyline, but I bet there's a way. And once up there I KNOW there are routes with bike lanes/bike paths that can take you down to the Great Highway, along the beach, up past Cliff House and around the headland through the Presidio to the bridge, and then once you're over the bridge ... hmmm. Well, I know you can bike up the Marin headland without being in traffic, but I bet others in the group can tell you ways to get further into Marin.

Oh, and there are any number of great lunch stops along the way. The Beach Chalet. Cliff House (if you can afford it and the line isn't too long). The cafe at the art museum up above the VA hospital (yum! And you can check out the art works while you're at it).

Bay Area Bike Rides - Ray Hosler, there is also Northern California Biking - Ann Marie Brown.

www.srcc.com


or....

go on any Velogirls club ride especially the Northern one which goes across the Golden Gate....

Easy to get from SF to Marin. THere's a bike path that runs from Sausalito to Mill Valley and then you can go any number of places - over the mountain to hwy. 1, over Camino Alto to Fairfax.

I live in Mill Valley and do most of my riding here. If you give me some ideas of how many miles, how much climbing you want I can put together half a dozen routes for you.

"not sharing the same fender-glee"

Simple things please simple minds. :)

Thanks for all the great info.

Not-So-Bikeless-Soon-To Be Bikefull, I just love that Great Highway. I'm old enough to remember :eek: Playland-At-The-Beach. I'm so glad they saved some of the artifacts for the museum under the Cliff House. That would be so awesome, tooling past the wind-swept Cypress trees on the cliff.

Thanks Snapdragen for helping narrow down the list. I'll start hunting...

Maillotpois- that is so great that you live on Tam. What an oasis. I still remember driving above the cloudline and seeing layers of misty mountains in the distance. You must have legs of steel to power over that mountain!

Knotted Yet- I didn't mean to sound so whiney about the weather. I've lived in Seattle over 25 years and I still can let the weather dampen my spirits. I've actually enjoyed some sloppy winter commutes when I made it a game.

Thanks everyone. Q

Stick with me, kid. I'll get you singing in the rain yet! ;)

http://www.bikesonoma.org published the BikeSonoma map recently. It covers all of Sonoma county indicating how busy the roads are, the grades, and whether they have shoulders. Bike paths are also shown (paved and unpaved) as well as water, restrooms, bike shops, and picnic sites.

Even though we've lived in Sonoma county many years the map is very useful to us when planning routes.

--L

I second the BikeSonoma map recommendations. It's similar to the Krebs maps, but I believe more contact information for businesses and bike organizations are included.

I just ordered the Sonoma Co. map. Thanks!

Carole