When we first moved to the San Francisco Bay area, I found myself looking for nice places to ride. I’ve found a few routes that I enjoy – most of which are no more than a 90-minute drive from where we live (in Santa Clara). This morning we road what I call the Coast and Hills route.

The route begins at the parking lot at San Gregorio State beach (intersection of highways 1 and 84). Since we have a park pass, we can park at the state beach for free. There are other options along the coast for parking if you do not have a pass. The ride involves climbing up and down some hills along California’s most scenic highway – highway 1. Then turning towards Pescadero, riding through downtown Pescadero, and then along Stage Road. As the name implies, Stage Road probably used to be used by Stage Coaches, and as a result, none of the climbs are too steep. The road winds and turns along climbing two nice size hills before returning to highway 84 and highway 1.

You can start and park anywhere along the route, however, I like to start at San Gregorio because it puts us in Pescadero about mid-way through the ride. We see a lot of cyclists stop at the local store – which has a sandwich board outside announcing that they are “The butcher, the baker, and the sandwich maker”. We haven’t yet found that we needed to stop for sustenance, but it is nice to know that it is available along the route.

Here is a fun collage I put together of the route. Click to see a larger version.

Download GPS Track in GPX format