Any suggestions from the West Coast?

[Amysue]

Would anyone happen to have any suggestions for some unguided road tours in California? My husband and I are planning a trip in September. We want to rent a tandem. I don't feel comfortable taking ours with us. Any suggestions for long loops (flying into San Fran) and a good place to rent a bike? Thanks for any help!

 

[kimberlyh]

Hi Amysue!

I live in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, and when I'm not busy pursuing my other hobby of knee surgery and recovery, I'm an avid cyclist. There are a million places to ride in Marin County, as well as the East Bay (Berkeley/Oakland), the Peninsula/South Bay (Redwood City/Palo Alto/San Jose) and further north in Napa and Sonoma Counties. Without knowing what kind of riding you like and what level you consider yourself, it's kind of difficult to make suggestions. Within the city of San Francisco itself, there are a few places to ride, but they tend to be in areas where you're likely to find lots of foot and car traffic. You really need to get outside of the city, which means having a way to transport your rental bike(s).

Also, do you and your husband currently ride a tandem? If you've not done a lot of tandem riding, you may want to re-think that idea. Tandems work best when both riders are at similar fitness levels because there is no free ride for the person riding in the back. Typically, the bigger person rides in the front, which usually means it's the man controlling the steering, the gearing and the brakes. I don't personally have a problem with that but I hear many of my friends and acquaintances say that they wouldn't want to be in the back. Also, unless you have a tandem with a suspended seat or a shock-absorbing seat post, the rider in the back (meaning you) usually gets a less comfortable ride. This is perfectly fine if you're planning a short ride, but if you wanted to do a longer day, you might be miserable. (I speak from experience on this one! It takes a while to build up a tandem butt

)

Another thing to consider is, are you planning to have a way to transport the bike outside of the city? You should really consider that because you'll have so many more options of beautiful places to ride. Getting outside of the city can make a drastic change in the weather (20 miles can bring a 20 to 30 degree temperature change!).

If you are interested in doing some long rides, you might want to get a book. I have one at home (I'm at work now) and I can see if it's still in print. Amazon.com lists two books that look like they may be good possibilities: The Best Bike Rides in Northern California and Adventure Cycling in Northern California. One or the other might be money well spent. You would have time to look at the different options and decide what kind of length/scenery/terrain you want to deal with. I'll check my book at home tonight and get the title--it's a pretty good book with a lot of variety.

Finally, here are some bicycle rental outfits:
A Adventure Bicycle
www.adventurebike.com 415-771-8735

A American Bicycle Rental
415-931-0234

Blazing Saddles Bike Rentals
415-202-8888

Start to Finish Bicycles
1-800-600-2453
(We've shopped and had repair work done at Start to Finish and they're a good company. The other three seem like they're more geared for tourists who want to rent for a few hours.)

Sorry to make this so long. Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you want more info.

Good luck!

 

[kimberlyh]

I just re-read your post

You mention that you "don't feel comfortable taking ours with us" which means you already have a tandem? In that case, you might want to call the rental shops and see what types they have. If you have a nice Santana or Ibis tandem or equivalent, I can almost guarantee that the rental tandems will disappoint you.

(BTW, our tandem is a Co-Motion Double Espresso. I have a picture on-line if you want me to tell you the link.)

 

[2workout]

Kimberly-Tandems

Hi Kimberly,
I was reading your post and just wanted to say hello to a fellow tandem rider. I live in So. California-30 mins outside of Los Angeles. My husband and I own a Santana. How long have you guys been riding?

Do you guys ever travel with your tandem? Last year we went to the Las Vegas Tandem Ralley on Holloween weekend, it was a blast. They had tandem riders from all of the surrounding states.

I just want to say hi. I have heard that riding in Napa is great, my spouse and I plan to ride there one summer in the not so distant future

Terri

 

[Debra]

touring suggestion

My husband & I have done 2 bike tours in wine country, northeast of San Francisco. Went with Backroads the first time, & independently the second. The riding in Napa Valley itself is terrific so you could just do day loops. We did a large loop towards the coast & back, which means some climbing.

The Monterey Peninsula is another beautiful area that one could easily use as a base for day loops.

Another beautiful area is the Santa Ynez valley, just north of Santa Barbara. It's less crowded than the other two areas. Solvang would be a good base. The area is kind of wine country south.

It's not clear if you're looking for day loops, or independent touring. The ride from San Francisco to San Diego is a classic tour, which can be shortened into shorter segments. "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" is a great reference if you're up for the challenge. Adventure Cycling sells route maps.

There's a lot of traffic on California roads. Just something to consider since it can be unnerving at best.

 

[Amysue]

Thanks, guys!

Thanks for all your help! I printed your posts for reference. My husband is probably the most consistently fit person I know. We ride well together and have put in some very long days with a bunch of climbing. Our best ride was probably 80 miles. Talk about tandem butt! We have a Cannondale and he's a very good driver. A little too fast on the downhills for me!
As far as transporting the bike, we'll probably rent a Jeep or SUV. I would like to bike in more rural or mountain areas. Day trips are good. A trip of two or three days would also be nice. We are flexible! We are riding about 150-250 miles a week now. My butt is always sore!
Thanks for all the great beta! Thanks for being such good resources!
Amy Sue

 

[kimberlyh]

Hi Terri!

My husband and I bought our tandem in 1996 to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. It's a Co-Motion Double Espresso (I know, I said that already

) and we got a custom paint job of blue in the front that fades into pink in the back. It sounds icky but it really turned out beautifully.

We have traveled with it before--once we flew it to Boston and rode to Cape Cod and last summer we flew it to the east coast to ride along the Delaware shore, but a hurricane had other plans for us! We have a huge tandem case that we pack it in and then ship it via UPS or FedEx to wherever we're going. We also have a tandem mount for our roof rack. We've thought about taking it to Italy or France someday, but then we get into the big debate about "single bikes or tandem?" and what we really want is to travel with all of our bikes, but that gets ridiculuously expensive!

I really love riding it but find that we're both happier on it when we've been putting in a lot of miles. You have to ride so much differently on it. I'm in the back and I can't wiggle around too much and my husband has to remember to warn me of big bumps or I pinch him on the butt

! But I don't have a problem not being the one to shift, brake and steer. He does a great job of that and I actually like being able to ride and not have to pay to attention. And yes, he does tend to take the descents a little fast for me. We've gotten ours up to 55mph on a hill in Marin!

Napa is a beautiful place for riding. We took our tandem up there a few summers ago and found ourselves in the middle of a century. Let me know if you ever do come up this way. Maybe we could hook up!

 

[2workout]

Kimberly

I definately will let you know when we make the trip. You do the same if you are ever in the Los Angeles are, and we will get together. You guys sound alot like me and my spouse, I also do the pinching of the butt thing

We haven't gotten our tandem up to 55mphbuy we have gotten it to 45mph, and that was fine for me. I like sitting on the back, I don't have to worry about shifting. We also have single road bikes too, I really love cycling.

Talk to you soon!

Terri