Bike It - Bay Area bike maps— a few-paragraph review. ...
Feb 19
Bay Area bike maps— a few-paragraph review. Google Maps and OpenStreetMap both have decent bike path coverage in the Bay Area, but it’s not perfect, and often doesn’t show hills or road conditions. Here are a few notes on the bike maps I’ve picked up over the years (starting in the upper left and going clockwise): Bay Trail maps (6-map set, though I’ve read there’s a single-map version now as well). These cover the present and planned multiuse paths that run around the Bay, from SF down the peninsula, up the East Bay, even to Richmond. They’re an interesting set, with trivia on the back, and useful for finding hidden little parks in nooks along the bay… however, they don’t have bike route coverage once you get away from the Bay, and many sections of bay trail aren’t fully connected. So I’ve only used them a few times.  East Bay Bicycle Coalition maps. Between these two maps, they cover a broad area, including the Oakland and Berkeley hills, various Grizzly Peak routes including “Three Bears”, Livermore, Antioch, Concord/Walnut Creek and the Iron Horse Trail, and more. They’re very detailed, and I’ve frequently used them to plan rides or navigate, though the legend takes some getting used to. Highly recommended if you want to ride around the East Bay, especially if you want to get out of city centers. Marin Bicycle Coalition Map — another excellent map, with detailed coverage of rides such as Headlands, Paradise Loop, Alpine Dam, Stinson/Muir beaches, and China Camp. It only has big-picture lower-resolution coverage once you get farther North (Point Reyes, Nicasio, Petaluma) — see the Sonoma County map below. I’ve probably used the Marin Bicycle Map more often than any other (and on their web site, they say they’ve sold over 40,000 copies of it over the past decade). Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition map. This was new to me recently, and is decent if you want to bike around Petaluma, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Napa Valley, or so on. The main map doesn’t have a huge amount of detail, but it’s enough to navigate between cities on a bike and plan a route. It also has more detailed city maps for a few of the major cities. Post-Car Adventuring — It’s more like a stack of a dozen postcards with a fastener in the corner. It covers some farther-out trips (Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Lake Tahoe, and so on) accessible by combinations of transit and bike. I like the concept and the writing, though it seems a bit light on detail or maps. It’s really more an introductory booklet to some ride concepts that you might want a separate map with. I am curious about the Big Sur / Esalen Hot Springs trip they mention. Short Bike Rides around San Francisco— one of the first books I used to plan some of the early 20-40 miles rides (and I used it again recently to help plan the SF -> Montara ride). A great little book with a fun and slightly quirky writing style — I recommend buying it. My copy’s heavily used, with pages torn out, splattered with mud, and then stapled back in. The maps and navigation notes themselves aren’t great, though— black and white line drawings without much supporting detail, making it hard to find your way back onto the route if you get lost. Map Adventures brand Golden Gate National Rec Area and Mt Tam area hiking and biking maps. Unremarkable— for biking, I’d rather just have the Marin County Bike Map, instead. But these seem to have decent hiking trail coverage and mileages. San Francisco Bike Map (the official SFBC / SF Muni / etc one)— I rarely use it any more (both because I know the city, and because google maps has pretty good routing within the city limits), but it’s a good city map— it color-codes streets by how steep they are, and shows recommended bike routes (not only ones with bike lanes), bike shops, and so on. If you know any great ones I’m missing, let me know… View high resolution

Bay Area bike maps— a few-paragraph review.

Google Maps and OpenStreetMap both have decent bike path coverage in the Bay Area, but it’s not perfect, and often doesn’t show hills or road conditions. Here are a few notes on the bike maps I’ve picked up over the years (starting in the upper left and going clockwise):

  1. Bay Trail maps (6-map set, though I’ve read there’s a single-map version now as well). These cover the present and planned multiuse paths that run around the Bay, from SF down the peninsula, up the East Bay, even to Richmond. They’re an interesting set, with trivia on the back, and useful for finding hidden little parks in nooks along the bay… however, they don’t have bike route coverage once you get away from the Bay, and many sections of bay trail aren’t fully connected. So I’ve only used them a few times. 
  2. East Bay Bicycle Coalition maps. Between these two maps, they cover a broad area, including the Oakland and Berkeley hills, various Grizzly Peak routes including “Three Bears”, Livermore, Antioch, Concord/Walnut Creek and the Iron Horse Trail, and more. They’re very detailed, and I’ve frequently used them to plan rides or navigate, though the legend takes some getting used to. Highly recommended if you want to ride around the East Bay, especially if you want to get out of city centers.
  3. Marin Bicycle Coalition Map — another excellent map, with detailed coverage of rides such as Headlands, Paradise Loop, Alpine Dam, Stinson/Muir beaches, and China Camp. It only has big-picture lower-resolution coverage once you get farther North (Point Reyes, Nicasio, Petaluma) — see the Sonoma County map below. I’ve probably used the Marin Bicycle Map more often than any other (and on their web site, they say they’ve sold over 40,000 copies of it over the past decade).
  4. Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition map. This was new to me recently, and is decent if you want to bike around Petaluma, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Napa Valley, or so on. The main map doesn’t have a huge amount of detail, but it’s enough to navigate between cities on a bike and plan a route. It also has more detailed city maps for a few of the major cities.
  5. Post-Car Adventuring — It’s more like a stack of a dozen postcards with a fastener in the corner. It covers some farther-out trips (Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Lake Tahoe, and so on) accessible by combinations of transit and bike. I like the concept and the writing, though it seems a bit light on detail or maps. It’s really more an introductory booklet to some ride concepts that you might want a separate map with. I am curious about the Big Sur / Esalen Hot Springs trip they mention.
  6. Short Bike Rides around San Francisco— one of the first books I used to plan some of the early 20-40 miles rides (and I used it again recently to help plan the SF -> Montara ride). A great little book with a fun and slightly quirky writing style — I recommend buying it. My copy’s heavily used, with pages torn out, splattered with mud, and then stapled back in. The maps and navigation notes themselves aren’t great, though— black and white line drawings without much supporting detail, making it hard to find your way back onto the route if you get lost.
  7. Map Adventures brand Golden Gate National Rec Area and Mt Tam area hiking and biking maps. Unremarkable— for biking, I’d rather just have the Marin County Bike Map, instead. But these seem to have decent hiking trail coverage and mileages.
  8. San Francisco Bike Map (the official SFBC / SF Muni / etc one)— I rarely use it any more (both because I know the city, and because google maps has pretty good routing within the city limits), but it’s a good city map— it color-codes streets by how steep they are, and shows recommended bike routes (not only ones with bike lanes), bike shops, and so on.

If you know any great ones I’m missing, let me know…