Too many options to list. What part of Berkeley and what do you want to do, trail runs, road, hills, you have it all.

Dave

Just down Highway 13 from you: Redwood Regional Park if you like off road; of course the Berkeley hills are full of pretty damn good trails as well. Then there's also Briones not far away from you, Mt. Diablo, Wildcat Canyon (I suppose technically sort of an extension of the Berkeley hills)....

IOW, lots to choose from.

You don't need BART - Ever. Berkeley is a great home base for riding and running. Tilden is right there for running, and you also have several great parks in the hills south of there. Cycling is excellent, too. Head east and you are in the same roads the TOC rode through. Head further east and you have Diablo for big climbs.

Diablo Cyclists have a good route list, as does the Valley Spokesmen web site.

You can trail run forever in the East Bay Regional Park District as mentioned here. You can run up in Strawberry Canyon above the Cal campus and hook up with the Tilden trail system.

If you prefer flat, you can run down to the Bay Trail and run for miles on asphalt with the GG Bridge, Alcatraz, the City, and boats galore over your shoulder. I mapped a marathon from my house that uses the Bay Trail from Emeryville to Richmond and back.

For riding, go into any bike shop (my personal favorites are the Missing Link and Solano Avenue Cyclery) bring a map of the area and ask for:

The Flats to the Bears, the Crockett Loop, Tunnel-Skyline-Redwood-Pinehurst Loop, and the biggie, Diablo and Morgan Territory (you can do BART to these to cut out the crappy suburban riding).

Have a blast, see you on the roads.

---

Mr. Uncaptured External Costs

Fossil carbon is planetary poison.

Many thanks everyone. Great advice. Looking forward to getting out there!

Bike route web sites, and some weekend group rides:

http://home.comcast.net/~prathman/MainPage.htm
http://www.oaklandyellowjackets.org/schedule.htm
http://www.grizzlypeakcyclists.org/
http://inl.org/bicycle/routes.html
http://www.diablocyclists.com/DCridelibrary.html
http://bayinsider.ktvu.com/recreation/guides/biking/index_road.html


Trail runs:

http://pacificstriders.blogspot.com/ (Sunday group runs, plus if you search the web site you'll find maps of all the runs they ever do)

Anything that goes on Sequoia Bayview Trail, Joaquin Miller Park is a definite favorite. Nice Redwoods, nicer than in Redwood Park.

Pick up the book, "101 Best Hikes in the Bay Area." Most of those hikes are fantastic for trail runs.


Pools - be sure to check out the Golden Bear Pool and Strawberry Canyon Pool, in the foothills of Berkeley. Gorgeous venues, well-kept.


Good luck!