A SERIOUS CYCLIST’S GUIDE to SAN FRANCISCO and BEYOND
Jonathan Van Coops
ISBN 13: 978-1-58790-687-9 / 134 pages / paperback / 8.5” x 11” / illustrated maps and photographs / color / $34.95
16 Bicycle Rides in the San Francisco Bay Area
ABOUT THE BOOK
Some of the most beautiful and challenging ‘world-class’ rides for any serious cyclist are found in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. A Serious Cyclist’s Guide to San Francisco and Beyond is intended for cyclists everywhere and presents maps, profiles photographs and detailed descriptions for sixteen memorable road bike rides in the San Francisco region, with routes covering about 900 miles and including over 59,000 feet of climbing. Geographically, the courses are situated within San Francisco, along the Marin and San Mateo County coasts and through the suburbs and parklands east of Berkeley, Oakland and San Jose. This set of rides presents a Central and South Bay complement to the many familiar North Bay ‘wine country’ rides found in Napa County and Sonoma County.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Van Coops was one of those kids to whom a bicycle gave wings. He grew up in the 1960s riding in the San Francisco area’s East Bay flatlands. By 1970, he had nailed cleats on to his cycling shoes and began riding his modest French ten-speed road bike gradually further into the hilly Regional Parks and watershed lands east of Berkeley.
A lover of bike racing but not a licensed racer himself, he became a decent climber by necessity and began focusing on longer distance rides in his teens and twenties. Three and four-hour rides covering 60 miles or more became regular weekend workouts. Throughout his thirties and forties he rode constantly and completed the various San Francisco area ‘century’ rides and an array of west coast long-distance cycling events.
After many miles on that trusty Peugeot, he began assembling a varied collection of bikes in the 1980s. At one point, he owned ‘primo’ steel-frame, Campagnolo-equipped Colnago, Masi and Coppi road racers, a Schwinn Paramount track bike, Santana tandem, and a pre-WWII Schwinn balloon-tire cruiser complete with ‘tanks’ and horn. These are just the ‘notables.’ Since 2006, he’s ridden another steel-frame road bike, this frame custom-designed and crafted by East Bay master builder, Bernie Mikkelsen.
Repeated hip, shoulder and wrist surgeries during the past forty years have definitely impacted his current cycling adventures. His regular routes have become shorter and flatter but he continues to ride almost daily. Now, at 70, his jaunts on the ‘Red Mikk’ are typically in the one to two-hour range, leaving time for his other passions: cartography, writing and preparing healthy, delicious meals fit for any serious cyclist and their friends!