I like both the North Bay and the South Bay for touring. It's true that Silicon Valley is more densely populated than Marin, but you don't tour in the valley: you ride up in the hills, and you ride on the coast. It's quick to get away from the densely populated areas, provided you are willing to climb.
Occidental to the Russian River and then south makes a great tour. I've done it numerous times, and enjoyed it every time. There are several routes from Occidental, all good: south on the Bohemian Highway, up Coleman Valley Road to the coast, down to the Russian River and down the coast, down to the Russian River then up again on Willow Creek and down Coleman Valley either east or west. Once you reach Point Reyes Station, again you have options: Sir Francis Drake, Highway 1 to Bolinas-Fairfax, Highway 1 to Panoramic, or even going through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area if you have wide enough tires. The area from the Russian River to the Golden Gate Bridge is my favorite spot for tours. There are several good places to camp along the coast. However, do not make the mistake I made Monday, and show up at Steep Ravine without a reservation hoping to be able to camp. Bad plan. I was turned away and ended up having to ride back up to Pantoll (on Mt. Tam). Nothing like another 1800 feet of climbing when you thought you were done for the day. On Thu, Jul 17, 2014 at 10:21 AM, 'pb' via RBW Owners Bunch < rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> wrote: > > > On Wednesday, July 16, 2014 2:11:00 PM UTC-7, Anne Paulson wrote: >> >> If I were in Sacramento with a bike loaded with touring gear and two >> days to tour, the first thing I'd do would be to hop on the train to San >> Jose. Roll on/roll off bike service! >> > > Thanks, Anne. I didn't want to sound overly negative. You hit the nail > on the head. > > My version of Anne's train to San Jose would be to figure out how to get > to Santa Rosa (bus? friend?), then ride something along the lines of > Occidental to Russian River then south toward San Francisco. Depending on > one's ambition and taste, there is some awfully nice country in the hills > to the north of the Russian River, but that would likely involve more than > two days. I found some roads in the area of Annapolis that were magic -- > worn two-lanes winding in and out of vineyards, and down into creek > valleys, with cars every fifteen minutes. Some tough climbs (18%-ish), but > short. > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/pbridge1300/9954953633/ et seq > > My preference for the North Bay is probably the simple result of knowing > it better than I know the South Bay. And it's less densely populated. > > ~Peter > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- Anne Paulson It isn't a contest. Enjoy the ride. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
