Head north across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin. It should only take you about 20 minutes or so to ride from the Embarcadero to the bridge and then you'll have plenty of options.

I will generally follow a few of the routes posted here

http://www.studiovelocycling.com/...arins-classic-loops/

really great! thanks!

I live in Marin and yes it is pretty much cycling heaven. The Alpine dam route is just beautiful and major hilly - one of my favorites.

What I would recommend is to go a bit further north for your starting point than Studio Velo because the southern half of Marin has a lot more cars than the northern part of Marin. I would drive to Fairfax, CA and park there. From there you have access to the Alpine dam road but the loop is different than if you start from Studio Velo. Specifically, I would avoid the Panoramic Highway at all costs - too many cars and too many tourist cars who are looking around and not watching the road.

Out of Fairfax, there is a:
1. 36 mile ride through Nicassio and Pt Reyes Station and back to Fairfax that is my staple
2. Alpine Dam - super hilly and beautiful, go south out of fairfax, turn right when the road ends, go down to route 1 and up to Sir Francis Drake to return to Fairfax
3. Marshal - 60 mile loop that is pretty hilly
4. Tomales - 70 mile loop with one big hill, rolling terrain and pretty
5. there are so many options for long rides going north west from Fairfax. If you can get to Jenner or Guernville or Valley Ford, you will see some great country.


I don't live in Fairfax, I live in one town over, but almost all my rides take me to Fairfax and then I do one of the 5 options listed above. If you have any questions about the routes, let me know. Also, PM me if you want to do a ride together.

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2018 Races: IM Santa Rosa, Vineman Monte Rio, Lake Tahoe 70.3

Be really careful where you store your bike. San Francisco has a bunch of bike thieves.

based on that page i created 2 long rides, i ll do only 2 for the time I have

this one should be safe
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26704851

this one seems I should avoid panoramic highway so I guess your suggestion is to keep going south on the coast (shoreline highway) and back on the bridge, correct?
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26704819

thanks but I ll keep in my hotel room :-)

Southern Marin sort of sucks because of the traffic and tourists depending on the time of day/year. You can avoid Miller and the first part of Camino Alto in Mill Valley by staying on the bike path which you will hit in Sausalito. Run the path all the way until the car wash on E Blithedale in Mill Valley and then go left to hit Camino Alto and take it over the hill. From there the directions you've mapped out will be fine.

When I ride I will always head north through Corte Madera/Larkspur/San Anselmo/Fairfax before heading out to one. It's much safer to ride south on 1 in the mornings as there will be less beach traffic rather than heading to 1 through Mill Valley.

Paradise loop in Marin is probably the perfect ride with minimum stops (look it up). It's like 2.5-3 hour ride depending on your speed. Once you get to Golden Gate bridge, it will be about 25-30 miles in Marin. Not a ton of turns and relatively straight-forward. Good few small hills.

Early morning workout which should be easy and repeatable is Hawk Hill in Marin. Easy to get to and just do some repeats...about a 10-15 min climb.

Other option for an indoor session is the computrainer studio, Shift - http://www.shift-sf.com/
I've used them early weekday mornings. Sort of expensive per session ($35/1.5 hour class), but sort of beats the hassle of going through the city during the week.

i see Shift is at the embarcadero, that's perfect

i created the route with Paradise loop from Embarcadero
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26705647

A couple suggested alterations to your Paradise Loop course: at mile 23 you can just take a right turn on E Blithedale; while it is a busy road, the shoulder isn't bad and traffic is slow. At mile 26, take a right at the gas station and ride Greenfield road. It is a lightly used access road and much safer than Tiburon Blvd that narrows up in that area. Just past mile 29, when the bike path ends, take a right turn onto San Rafael Ave to again avoid Tuburon Blvd. When it ends at the San Francisco Yacht Club, go left on Beach (it is the main route) and then right on Main St to take the back way into downtown Tiburon. OBEY THE STOP SIGNS in this section! Tiburon cops love to hassle cyclists who roll through intersections (this is true for most of Marin as well).
Enjoy the ride; Paradise is a really fun and scenic ride.

If you are able, you can also go south to the Peninsula and start on El Canada Road and get a really fun climb up Old La Honda. Or hit Hwy 1 from Montara State Beach and go south to Pigeon Point Light house. But otherwise...just ride across the bridge to Marin, which has tons of options like others have said. Just be aware during the week you need to ride the pedestrian side of the ggb in the mornings/mid afternoon, and that really really sucks. I found out the hard way once.

Pennisula
https://www.strava.com/routes/4039714


Hwy1
https://www.strava.com/activities/1330904873