Disclaimer: not a getting-faster question, but since there are many U.S. cyclists on here, I thought I’d ask for some advice.
I’ll be visiting San Francisco for work in February 2026 and would love to go bike packing from San Francisco to Los Angeles afterwards. I live in Europe and would prefer not to bring my own bike. Instead, ideally, I would like to to rent a bike in SF and return it in LA (but I realize that’s a long shot).
Does anyone have tips on the route? I’m an experienced cyclist, and prefer offroad riding over tarmac. And does anyone know a bike rental with shops in both San Francisco and in Los Angeles where I could do the swap? Or is this a bad idea altogether? Thanks a lot!
No idea on rentals but check out https://www.adventurecycling.org/ for route ideas. Warning that the US is not Europe when it comes to dealing with motorists.
Thanks for the website! Yeah, I figured traffic in the US might be crazy, hence my preference for offroad riding, but not sure how feasible that is. Do you have experience with bikepacking along the west coast?
I think what you will find is most bike packers travel HWY 1 . It’s a coastal route with small towns along the way. Smaller roads usually run west to east. Going over the coastal mountains. Mountain biking is not point to point. Contained in areas where it’s allowed. Fire roads that do exist on the coast, usually go thru private property. Not open to the public.
These are great tips, thank you! Would there be an alternative, low-traffic route starting in San Francisco that is suitable for riding in February? I feel a bit constrained by the weather.
There is an excellent cyclist called Ivy Audrain (who used to work for TrainerRoad) who I see on Instagram. She does some long distance cycling kinda thing in the SF area.
I would imagine that she would respond to a polite question or two.
February is traditionally a rainy month. Storms come down from Alaska. You can get lucky and they might all stay north. Every year it’s different these days.
It’s warmer down by Los Angeles and usually dryer.
If you are open to not going all the way to Los Angeles there is plenty of biking around San Francisco. North near Santa Rosa you have wine country and the coastal hills. South you have Hwy 35 down into Santa Cruz. Further south you have Carmel valley, Monterey and Big Sur.
Then there is the old courses for the tour of Calif. might be an interesting adventure.
I’ve ridden hwy1 from Santa Rosa to LA, and I live on 2 blocks from it now in Santa Cruz. I honestly wouldn’t recommend riding the entirity of it. While there are beautiful stretches, there are a ton of cars, distracted drivers, varying or non-existent shoulders etc. It’s not the small town coastal route that you find in northern CA and Oregon. There was a slide in Big sur, so the HWY1 is closed, but there might be a bike detour you could go around. I have seen people post gravel rides from SF to LA or SF to SLO, I would recommend something like that. You’d probably find many more camping options as well. I’ll keep an eye out for routes. You could ride SF to SLO offroad, and take the train to LA, for example.
As mentioned, February is a questionable month to do the ride, but doable if you are prepared and willing to endure stretches of wet weather.
We could probably host you if you swing through santa cruz.
Cool, these are great insights! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer so elaborately. Based on @TrekCentury 's answer above, I’ll definitely go south. I need to do some more research on the routes. I don’t necessarily need to end up in LA, I had just figured it might be sensible to ride south because of the weather, and SF-LA seemed a reasonable goal for a week of bikepacking. t’ll be my first time riding in the US, so I have no clue what would be a good idea. If you have tips for riding around Santa Cruz, I’d love to hear them!
February is smack dab in the California rainy season. You could get dry weather, or you could get constant torrential downpours - literally downpour every day for weeks
Highway 1 is iffy: narrow, twisty, lots of tourists, lots of traffic, varying to no shoulder. It’s very beautiful in places, but it’s not a desolate peaceful road. At least not for most of the route between SF & LA.
The traffic on Highway 1 (at least between San Francisco and Pescadero which is halfway between San Francisco & Santa Cruz) is lighter in February than it would be more towards spring / summer, but if it is really nice out, traffic can still be heavy
I have done this route many times. You can visit the website RidewithGPS and search for ‘The Coast Ride’ (San Francisco to Santa Barbara in 3 days) or ‘The California Coast Classic’ (San Francisco to Los Angeles), which is an excellent and well-balanced route. Big Sur is a complex issue; it is partially closed, but people tell me it is somewhat open to cyclists, so I am not entirely sure about that aspect. I bet you could check with Mike’s Bikes in San Mateo or Cognition Cycling. They are helpful and genuine. It’s a great ride; just be careful and enjoy it.
We rented from this outfit for the NYC 5 Boros ride, they have a shop in many major US Cities including Santa Monica, CA they might be able to accommodate the rental for you that can be picked up in San Fran and deposited in LA.
[Name] Unlimited Biking New York Cycle Rental Bike
[Work] (212) 749-4444
