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The Great Highway is a blast if the weather is right. There's a short, somewhat steep hill, then a longer descent on the other side that brings you out to the ocean. After the first light (about a kilometer), it's rail-straight and fast for about 3 km; there's usually a nice tailwind on this section, and it's pretty and often closed to motor traffic. There's sometimes drifting sand on the road but usually not on the northbound side. There are traffic lights placed periodically but they're only to let pedestrians cross to the beach so they're usually ignorable.
After about 3 km the straight section ends; you'll see the Cliff House up ahead and a windmill across the intersection to the right. Turn right (on Lincoln Way) and immediately left on South Drive into Golden Gate Park. All the roads in Golden Gate Park are wide and well-paved and are often closed to motor traffic on the weekends. Most of them have rolling hills; don't push it too hard because we have (at least) one real climb up ahead.
At the top of the first hill, turn left (streets are marked poorly if at all in Golden Gate Park) and then quickly right onto John F. Kennedy Drive. JFK climbs some more but not too steeply; again, don't push it too hard. After about 2 km, and just before we come to an overpass, turn left on an unmarked street. This ends shortly at Crossover; turn left on Crossover. This will take us around a bend to a light at Fulton and 25th. We will go straight through the light onto 25th Avenue.
25th Avenue leaves the park and enters a mostly residential area in the Richmond district. There is one somewhat steep but short climb in the second block and it's mostly flat to the end about 2 km down. When it ends, turn right on Lincoln Boulevard (aka El Camino Del Mar). Lincoln will take you into the Presidio; it is a fairly significant climb, but it rewards you with some great views of the Golden Gate, Seal Rocks and the Marin headlands. Feel free to stop on the way up and have some water or a snack. Lincoln climbs for almost a mile; this is the biggest climb we've had on a beginners' ride, but it's really not that bad if you take it easy and gear down appropriately. Also, the best views are on the steepest section; take a break and look out over the ocean to the rocky Marin headlands. After the peak it descends for a bit to the Golden Gate Bridge visitor's center.
For
easy route
Continue descending on Lincoln for about 1 km;
turn left on Cowles St. shortly after going underneath the freeway.
(Cowles is a small and not particularly well-marked road; if you miss
Cowles Street, you can turn left on McDowell Avenue or Crissy Field
Avenue later, they all wind up together). Cowles hits McDowell
Avenue; turn left. McDowell Avenue hits Crissy Field Avenue; turn
left again, and then turn right after going under the freeway again.
This will put you on Mason Street in the actual ex-Army base, and
you'll probably have a nice tailwind. (This all sounds more
complicated than it is. All you are trying to do is get between the
freeway and the bay, and then head east. It's pretty obvious when you
actually are there). The newly restored Crissy Field will be on your
left; it's much more pleasant than it used to be, quite pretty in
fact.
Mason Street is straight and wide and has little traffic, and there's a nice view of the bridge. After about a mile it exits onto Marina Boulevard; turn left. Marina Boulevard takes you through (duh) the Marina District, and it's a rather pretty ride. Marina veers to the right at Fort Mason; follow it, then turn left on Bay. Bay is a mostly residential street with one hill (Russian Hill). In this direction there's almost no climb and a rather steep but non-fun descent (watch out for parked cars and don't run the lights). The descent ends around the fringes of the financial district, then hits Embarcadero after about 5 km total.
Turn right on Embarcadero and take it to the Ferry Building. Dismount across from the Ferry Building and head across Justin Herman Plaza to the Embarcadero BART station. Total riding is about 20 kilometers.
For intermediate and advanced
routes
Turn left into the Golden Gate tour bus area. There
are restrooms and a snack bar here, and we'll probably take a break.
After that, go up the road by the visitor center. On weekends bikes
must use the west sidewalk (really they should use the west sidewalk
all the time but the bridge authority for some reason keeps the west
sidewalk locked during the week, forcing bikes to use the east
sidewalk and dodge tourists in high winds). To get there you go up to
the east sidewalk and turn right on a path that goes under the bridge
(it's marked). The bridge is no fun; there's usually a stiff
crosswind and it's just generally unpleasant. Be careful around the
bridge towers, the winds whip around them and make riding treacherous
(slow way down and you'll be OK). The bridge lasts for about 3
kilometers and exits into a little-used parking lot.
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Climb up the short, steep hill in the parking lot and turn left on Conzelman. Conzelman is a GGNRA road; the speed limit is never above 25 and in fact is 15 for most of its length. The traffic at the bottom is sometimes heavy; it gets lighter the further you go up. Conzelman climbs steeply for a bit, then less steeply for a while; the climb lasts for about 3 km total, and has awesome views of the bridge, the headlands, and San Fransisco all along its length. You might want to stop to rest at one of the "vista point" turnouts. At the very top of the hill there's yet another great view, plus garbage cans and various tourist-oriented plaques about the discovery of San Francisco, etc. It's a good place for a stop in spite of these.
After this area Conzelman becomes a narrow one-way street with a descent that is stunning in every sense of the word; do not let your speed get out of control. The really steep part ends after about 2 km and it flattens out, then climbs for a short stretch, than has a more controlled and fun descent for about another 2km. Continue straight after the descent (the road again becomes two-way) along Conzelman; this will take you out towards Point Bonita and the Point Bonita Lighthouse. The lighthouse itself has recently reopened, but the footpath is for pedestrians only, so we won't stop unless people are really interested in checking it out. Continue on to the right and stop at a lot overlooking Bird Island. It's a great place for birdwatching if you're into that, and there are sometimes whales offshore as well. If it's not too chilly, this is a good place to stop for a snack.
The lot is a dead end; we turn around and head back the way we came, turning left on Field Road. Field Road (which becomes Simmon Road, which becomes Bunker Road) is fairly wide and starts with a nice tailwind-aided descent through the rolling hills of the headlands. After about 2 km it starts to climb. There's a dirt path off to the right that climbs the hill and meets the paved road at the intersection of McCullogh and Conzelman; I've never ridden it, but the knobby-tire types might be interested in trying it out. Continue on Bunker Road. This climbs slightly until it enters a tunnel between West and East Fort Baker. The tunnel is sloped downwards and has a tailwind in this direction, but it's only one lane (for both directions), so be alert. If you get a good head of steam, this tunnel can be pretty fun. The bike lane is usually not usable due to debris and sand.
After exiting the tunnel, bear to the right until the road ends at at
an unmarked road called perhaps Sausalito Lateral.
For intermediate route only
Turn right on Sausalito Lateral. This is a fairly busy road which
climbs for 1km or so, and then goes underneath Highway 101. After the
underpass, turn right on Conzelman and then left back into the Golden
Gate Bridge parking lot. Cross the bridge, and then get on the bike
path at the other end. Do not go into the bridge tourist area; stay on
the bike path until it hits Lincoln, then turn left. Follow the easy route instructions from there to
Embarcadero BART. Total riding is about 45 km.
For advanced route
Turn left on Sausalito Lateral. This goes down a steep hill into Sausalito; by the time it
gets down there it goes through a couple name changes and is called
Bridgeway at the bottom. Bridgeway has a nice view of the bay, then
enters the Sausalito tourist district. It eventually exits to a more
realistic business district and then ends at a freeway ramp after
about 5 km. There's a bike path to the right of the freeway ramp;
take it. This is not bad as bike paths go but don't be fooled; we are
taking it only because there is no other bike-legal route north in
Marin.
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The bike path is popular but fortunately mostly with bicycles rather than rollerbladers and dog-walkers. After about 4km there is a water fountain and a cul-de-sac from a road called Sycamore; take Sycamore. Sycamore ends at La Goma; take La Goma across Miller, then turn right on Monteford. At the intersection with Molino stay on Monteford and follow the bike route signs, bearing right on James. Turn left on Molino, and then bear left on Edgewood. This avoids a very steep section on Molino.
We're taking a slightly long way around, because Highway 1 between 101 and Mt. Tam is very narrow and has a steady stream of people burning irreplacable fossil fuels and polluting the air to get to places where they can stroll on concrete paths beneath redwoods (which elsewhere are being clear-cut to make room for more strip malls and tract housing), an activity they refer to as "enjoying the outdoors", and God forbid they be delayed for a few seconds by someone who is not in an air-conditioned cage.
Anyway, after about 2 km uphill on Edgewood, bear left on Sequoia Valley Road. Sequoia Valley continues to climb for about 2 km until it hits Panoramic Highway. Panoramic is aptly named; it has some outstanding views of Muir Woods and the coastline. The climb is varied; there are extremely steep sections, combined with flats, downhills, and grinding climbs. The total altitude gain is about 250 meters over 10 km; at 10km, we turn right on Pan Toll Road.
If any of you are off-road types, there's a fire road which parallels Pan Toll Road and meets up with it at the east peak. But I expect most of us will stay on the road, which is similar to Panoramic, but steeper and less varied in grade. Pan Toll lasts for 2km, then we turn right on Ridgecrest Blvd. Ridgecrest takes us past the radio telescope at the western peak (which is actually the highest paved point), at about 750 meters, then down into the valley between the peaks, and up to the east peak parking lot. The east peak is the highest point on the mountain (770 meters), but we'll have to do some walking to get there; the path to the top is narrow and rocky, with no bikes allowed. There's a snack bar, water, and restrooms in the parking lot.
After the peak, we mostly reverse our path to return to the bridge; when we're climbing out of Sausalito, just continue on Sausalito Lateral past where we joined it. It goes under the freeway, and then a right turn, a short climb and a left turn will take us back into the Golden Gate Bridge parking lot. Cross the bridge and then take the completion of the beginner's route. Total riding is about 95km.