Considering a job in SF - right in the city. What is training like there? When I visit I run the Embarcadero out to the bridge, that is great. What about biking, swimming. I always stop and admire the swimmers at the aquatic park - guess I would have to get used to a wetsuit and dark water…
How accessible is trail running, good riding from the city?
For riding pretty much anything north of the GGB is awesome.
Training in SF and the surrounding areas is awesome. I really miss living out there.
The trail running is awesome and you can find good trails right out your door depending on where you live. I lived in the Marina so I had the Presidio for trail running if I didn’t have time to drive over the GGB. If you do have time to drive over the GGB you have literally hundreds of miles of some of the best trails in the USA. Plus don’t forget about the trails on the peninsula and in the east bay. I never ran on those but I have heard great things about them.
Riding from the city you again can either head over the GGB or go south. Again great riding. You can be on Mt Tam in about 45 minutes depending on where you live in the city. If you are into MTB you can use the same trails as I mentioned before, but you would most likely have to drive to them.
For swimming during the summer I spent most of my time in aquatic park and in the winter I joined the Embarcadero YMCA since I could do there on my way home from work. There are tons of nice pools that you can join to swim in if you aren’t a fan of cold water all the time.
You will spend a lot of your time riding and running north of the city so some of my friends ended up just moving up there and taking the ferry in everyday.
Where in SF is the job, and where are you looking at living? The answer would be different if you lived in the Marina vs. in SOMA.
The job is by the Univ. of SF and hopefully living would be close as I like to keep things simple by not wasting time on a comute.
The job is by the Univ. of SF and hopefully living would be close as I like to keep things simple by not wasting time on a comute.
Ok. Look at living in the Richmond or Pac Heights ($$$$). Run in Presidio and/or GG Park. Bike in the Presidio and over the GG Bridge to Marin.
Go to Sports Basement in the Presidio; they can set you up.
I live in Oakland. I have plenty of friends that live in the city (San Francisco). For riding, depending on where you are, expect about a 10-30 minute ride to get out of the city to get to great roads-almost always entails going north across the Golden Gate Bridge. You can also drive to Oakland and get some big climbs and long rides that way. The possibilities are endless, but you usually need 10-30 minutes of drive/pre-ride time to get somewhere awesome to ride.
For runs, there are plenty of runs in the city, or you can go across the bay bridge to Oakland (drive) and hit up the trails through the East Bay Regional Park District. There are literally hundreds of miles that you can run on or ride on. The regional parks also have lakes that you can swim in-you have to stay within the roped off area where the lifeguards can watch you, but the water is substantially warmer than Aquatic Park (range from low 50s to low to mid 60s at the absolute warmest). These lakes are staffed by lifeguards April through September.
There is also a huge community of triathletes/cyclists/runners in the bay. Competitive, fast. A great place to live.