| Jim,
I just got back from that area yesterday (class in Santa Clara)
and I spent a few hours in Palo Alto on Friday. While there I went
to a shop called Palo Alto Bicycles. They are a good sized shop
(they have had a catalogue business for years and carry their own
line of bikes in the same way as Nashbar and Performance) but I'm
not sure about the rentals. You could ask them since they are right
in town. If not there are a lot of shops in the Bay area and San
Francisco is only 30 minutes north so you should be able to find
something. You will also get an idea of how mountain bikes have
proliferated. I saw hundreds of people riding in my short stay and
most were on mountain bikes. I've never seen so many people on bikes!
If you took a poll you'd probably find that people spend more time
wearing cycling shoes than regular shoes and I think cars come with
roof racks as standard equipment.
As for where to go...I'd say north. Cross over the G-Gate bridge
(you might want to drive) and head towards the Muir Forest. See
the forest while you're there but just up the road, and I do mean
UP, is a place called mount Tamalpais. I drove to the top in my
rental car (a Chevy Celebrity-not the Shelby Cobra I dreamed of
having to drive on Rt 1)and encountered quite a few cyclists riding
up (and down). It's quite a haul but the top is beautiful with a great
view of San Francisco and the coast. The road consists of a lot of
switchbacks and is two lanes wide with good pavement all the way up
(unlike some places here in the east). The ride down would be a scream.
Maybe some of the west coast people in this conference could
give more details and options but that area looked great to me.
Jonathan
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| I'm not sure where you can rent. As I understand it many shops won't rent
due to insurance problems. However just check the yellow pages you'll be
very surprized at the number of shops. This really is a great place to
ride, both on and off road.
If you're at the Palo Alto office then there are three shops within walking
distance, two of them are top quility shops, the earlier mentioned Palo Alto
bikes and Wheelsmith. Check out Wheelsmith and have a good day-dream. I don't
think either will rent though.
If you really want to ride trails then there are plenty in the hills but that
would mean that you are going to do some serious riding. Will you have the
time? If you don't have lots of time then just explore Palo Alto, Stanford,
etc.. If you do find a bike and want some trails then give me a call. I'm at
the Cupertino site (about 12 miles from Palo Alto). We don't have DTN so the
number is (408) 864-8162.
You didn't say when you would be here. I'm going on vacation, in the opposite
direction, back to Ithaca, NY, from April 28 through May 8.
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It's called "Any Mountain" or "Ski Any Mountain". It's a huge ski shop that
started dealing in wind surfing about a year ago and just opened it's bike
shop about a month ago. I didn't even think of it but since they do a huge
business renting skis they might very well rent bikes also.
>> They are located on Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road (or is is Saratoga-Sunnyvale?),
Cupertino is sandwiched between Sunnyvale and Saratoga. The road is called
Saratoga-Sunnyvale in Saratoga, Sunnyvale-Saratoga in Sunnyvale but is called
DeAnza Blvd. in Cupertino. Got that?
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