Some of the most beautiful and challenging world-class rides for a serious cyclist are found in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. What is a serious cyclist? Anyone who rides and loves bicycles and bicycling enough to continually and enthusiastically devote time, energy, and money towards the pursuit of cycling, in any of its facets, from racing to road and mountain biking and more. Of course, tourists and commuters qualify! A serious cyclist is anyone who rides regularly, as a necessity or for leisure and someone who revels in the cycling adventures that become their stories of athletic self-challenge and personal achievement.

A Serious Cyclist's Guide to San Francisco and Beyond is a comprehensive and easy to use guide intended for cyclists everywhere, presenting maps and detailed descriptions for 16 memorable road bike rides in the San Francisco Bay Area - 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 complements the many familiar North Bay wine country rides found in Napa County and Sonoma County.