On Sunday May 10, the direction of our 8th Palo Alto to  San Francisco ride will change. Instead of ending in the Golden Gate city, we are riding to Palo Alto, the true cornerstone of the National Bicycle Greenway, a city through which all genuine rides across America on our coast-to-coast route at BikeRoute.com must pass per this news release. While, with the exception of Jobst Brandt (author of the wheel-building book “The Bicycle Wheel” and inventor of the bicycle computer, etc, he is pictured above talking to Don Armstrong the owner of the lot where we were getting our bus ready to sag me and the Eagle as we towed the Busycle to DC – story), the bike celebrities who have had such a huge impact on cycling have either died or moved away, Palo Alto still has the fruits of their labors including great access to the Dumbarton Bridge. Built in 1928, it crosses the Bay from its neighbor on the other side of the freeway, the City of East Palo Alto, with the only bike path to the East San Francisco Bay.

The above map is LIVE HERE!

Besides the first bike boulevard in the nation running right by its City Hall where our ride from San Francisco will end, Palo Alto also has a wonderful myriad of bicycle undercrossings and bike bridges and enjoyable bike roads that connect it to its mountains, the Pacific Ocean and Stanford University, a true bicycle heaven almost beyond compare.

Nor does San Francisco biking need any help. But the peninsula cities that connect to  it do. And it is the memorable as well as pleasurable biking our ride has discovered in Milbrae, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Burlingame, San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City and Menlo Park that needs to be celebrated. So, instead of getting beat up by the famous San Francisco hills at the end of our ride, they will be addressed at the start of our day when we are fresh and can enjoy a legendary city while fewer cars are on its roads.

And THX to civic leader, Yoriko Kishimoto, the former Mayor of Palo Alto, who is helping to lead us, the reception we are hoping to do at the Palo Alto City Hall  will also  be a notable one.

We are also discussing breaking this ride up to include smaller rides for the people who want to meet us in San Mateo for the 20 mile ride in from that city. Or the the ten mile ride in from Redwood City. Location(s) TBA.

For San Francisco to Palo Alto 2015:

– Meet at the Palo Alto, University Caltrain station at 7:15 for the 7:31 AM train ride north to our bike start in San Francisco OR

– Meet at the San Francisco, 4th & King Caltrain at 8:40 AM for the ride south to Palo Alto

btw: Yoriko sent me the following bit of bike history about Palo Alto. 

From “Palo Alto Remembered”, a book by Matt Bowling, Betty Gerard,
Palo Alto Historical Association Palo Alto Historical Association,
2012 – Palo Alto (Calif.) – 205 pages