If you had a tri bike before that must mean you do triathlons or some TT's? If so, I would get another one. No reason why you shouldn't have one in Cali just because of hills. And if you can afford it, get a road bike too. Once I got a road bike I started to love riding again. I keep my tri bike on the trainer (trainerroad rocks) and my road bike for longer fun rides. Tri bike comes out for a few race setups and races then back to the basement for intense training sessions. But I love my road bike too!

Thanks for the response. Yes I've been involved with TT's in Chicago and (after learning to swim) plan on doing some triathlons.
Good point about getting both types.. that's likely what I'll end up doing in the long run.

Canada road has a somewhat flat stretch from 92 to Woodside that many cyclists frequent every day of the week, though Sundays during prime time should probably be avoided for serious time trial practice because even it's closed to car traffic this also means lots of small kids on bikes/scooters/foot. Also, the stretch of Highway 1 south from San Francisco to about Tunitas or so is flat to gently rolling ( for around here anyways) but 95% of the time there will be a northern wind so it will be tailwind going south and headwind going north. If you have the stamina you probably could go to Santa Cruz from SF and back but there are a handful of spots where there is essentially no shoulder and the speed limit is 55mph.

As a fellow midwesterner who moved out to the bay area, I can empathize; no more corncob cassettes....or averaging 22mph on training rides.

First thing is to get a compact crank so you have a 36 or 34 small ring and a 11-27 or 28 in the back.

I do most of my training on a road bike, but also do some hills on my tri bike since most courses here have a small ring climb (even the Morgan Hill Sprint in 2 weeks has a 1/2mile at 7%). For years I did all my training out here on a tri bike; it's very doable; the Slice should be fine with the right gearing and the basebar at a height you are comfortable using for climbs.

Canada Rd. was mentioned; you'll see lots of people on tri bikes riding there on the weekends, and even some using tri bikes on the climbs up to Skyline (Old La Honda, Kings Mtn., Page Mill, etc.).

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Daly City is really hard to get to riding the good stretches South of Pacifica (generally on 1).

Would probably prefer to drive down to where others have mentioned..

I use the road bike majority of the time, as most acceptable rides involve plenty of climbing.

Tri-bike only for race prep and staying in tune how the bike handles.

Popular ride routes gotten really crowded, especially on weekends.

Best to ride during the week and between rush hours....

Otherwise not fun.
Unless you like every ride turning into a group ride.

I use the road bike in the off season, but in season it's pretty much all tri bike, even on the climbs (OLH, Kings, Page, Hwy 9, etc.). We even practice climbing in the aero position, since it works tri-specific muscles to produce power. Also, when you can comfortably descend Kings on a tri bike, you can pretty much handle any technical descents that get thrown at you in a race.

We have great riding in the Bay Area, even on weekends. :-) The OP will notice that the weather gets more pleasant the further south you go from Daly City.

Ian

I am sorry, but unless you are a semi pro like you, for average riders a Tri bike sucks on these roads.

Simple as that.

Canada, Foothill and Hwy 1 or Skyline (who wants to ride that on weekends?) being the honorable exemption.

And in what IM or even Olympic in the SF area you descend something like OLH or even Kings?

Closest in the area is the new IM 70.3 Santa Cruz, and that is pretty tame in comparison.

Easy to talk a big game, but for average Joe, things are VERY different.

LOL. I choose to take that as a compliment. :-)


I'm only talking about what I (and most on my team) actually do. I'm not saying I *love* to descend Kings on a tri bike (I never descend OLH - that's what 84's for), just that doing it makes me in general a better descender on a tri bike, which comes in handy on all sorts of courses (St. George, Morgan Hill, etc).

That said, I wouldn't show up to a roadie ride on a tri bike or anything. And I love my road bikes, but if you're going to race tris competitively - especially long ones - you need to ride your tri bike.

Ian

Interesting twist. I used to be in the Bay Area and now I am in Chicago.

Anyway, do you still have your Slice? About your "road bike vs tri bike" choice, there is an interesting 3rd option to consider, it can give you the best of both worlds. You're not starting out in the sport, but I think 99% of this short write-up will apply:
http://www.darkspeedworks.com/blog-whatbike.htm

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Wouldn't a similar way to skin this cat be an aero road bike with a reversible seat post?

I was looking for a multi-trick pony several years back and went with the Cervelo S2 with the reversible seat post and clip-on aero bars (old frame style). It would be pretty easy to have a couple of stems on hand to dial in the handling between full on road and tri/tt set ups.

While I live at the southern end of the peninsula (San Jose), I can't imagine having only a tri-bike in this area. Seems like there is just way too much great riding in the Santa Cruz mountains (or Marin considering Daly City) that would be better explored on a road bike.

Another potential place if you can hit it in the off hours is Crystal Springs Sawyer Camp Trail. It starts in Millbrae, just south of San Bruno (there may be an extension that goes up into San Bruno). You can slow bike on it pretty much all the time except weekends (300000 people walk/hike/run on it per year).

It's an excellent running trail with hills and flats. You can pretty much run an out and back marathon if you start at the northern end.

I used to live off Westborough Blvd and 280 in Daly City. I used to do all my marathon training on the trail. I biked there quite often but you can't really ride it at 20 mph all the time.

http://www.hiddensf.com/...ng-biking-trail.html

I believe the northern end of the trail is at Hillcrest Blvd in Millbrae at Skyline. There may be more trail up toward Sneath Blvd. in San Bruno.

I also used to ride around Mt. San Bruno but I imagine that's a traffic crazy place now.

Good luck!

Mark

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Missed your reply earlier. To answer your question, sure, it is another way. But using a good tri frame vs a road frame typically gives you a few advantages: the tri frame will likely be more aero, and the tri frame will handle far better than a road frame when you are set up with your body steeper on the bike. Especially so with drop bars.

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