As per the title, I’m keen on some local knowledge on where to stay suburbs/neighbourhoods if I was going to head to San Francisco or LA for a road cycling holiday.
After a brief look on Airbnb/hotels.com I’m getting some pretty expensive hotels coming up so hoping locals can point me in the right direction of suburbs or neighbourhoods to look up?
Just picking these two cities because Air New Zealand has a good sale on to those two places in August / September so I can escape cold NZ winter. I’d look to be there for at least a week.
Have looked at some archived Strava local blogs for San Francisco and found a lot of good loops, but I’m happy to be convinced that LA could be a better destination.
Happy with a mix of long flat rides and rolling hills/longer hills
If you are going to stay in the bay area - I’d suggest staying in the North Bay, so anything in Marin area would be great. You could even venture further north ot the Santa Rosa area. Now, there’s plenty of excellent riding down south too…so anywhere spanning from Santa Cruz to San Jose/Palo Alto will give you loads of good riding. I’m not as familiar with the East Bay, but again, more excellent riding. As mentioned above - not much in terms of flat roads.
I don’t know much about the cycling in the LA area, but unless you’re going to be right by the coast, I’d worry a bit about the temperature being too hot. You might run into the same problem in the Bay Area in August/September, especially if you go up to Santa Rosa or Napa. I’m most familiar with the cycling on the SF Peninsula and agree with others that there’s not much in the way of flat rides – most of the ones that are worth doing are between 50 and 100 ft per mile of climbing.
Edit: The cycling on the SF Peninsula is amazing. Truly a cycling paradise in my view. If that ends up being your destination, I’d check Airbnbs in places like Belmont, Redwood City and Woodside.
I currently live in SF, and I grew up and lived in LA post college, so I have lots of riding experience in both locals. LA has better riding, especially if you are looking to for climbs. For LA, You either want to be in / around Santa Monica, or up in Thousand Oaks / Newbury Park / Agoura.
Lived in the SF Bay Area for 35 years, mostly in the East Bay. You’ll need a car to get around and transport your bike. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) goes lots of places, but not where I’d want to ride. If I were to plan a week for cycling, I’d stay maybe in Livermore or Concord/Walnut Creek. I’d ride
Silverado Trail in Napa (45 min drive). Who needs France? Ride this early during the week or weekend. Wine people don’t get started early, so even on the weekend this is good.
The Sacramento Ironman route - Park in Sacramento; ride into the river delta. 50+ mile out and back on very quiet roads. Mostly good pavement (but a few short bad spots). Farmland. Weekends bring a few people towing boat trailers, but not many. 75 min drive to start.
Mt Diablo from the North Gate. Iconic climb, 3,500 feet in 10 miles. Narrow, twisty road. More bikes than cars. 10 minute drive to start. Do no do this in the afternoon in the summer. Hot, hot, hot.
Livermore to summit of Mt Hamilton. The back of beyond. narrow road. Fair pavement, mostly quiet once you get out of Livermore. On the weekend, more motorcycles than bikes. 20 minute drive to start. No services on the route after the first few miles. Hot in the summer.
Route 1 on the ocean in Marin County. 80 minute drive to start.
North Bay - Start in Fairfax and ride over the hills to the coast. 60 minute drive to the start.
For LA - I’m using LA to mostly mean the coast - great climbs all starting from PCH (Pacific Coast Highway)
Topanga Canyon from PCH - also an awesome descent if you know it, as there is a technical, twisty section with a cliff face on your right as you descend
