Originally Posted by stephr1

There are a lot of really nice options for road biking (I'm on an mtb). Lots of hills with minimally used roads and great challenges. Check out a ride along Calaveras Blvd. that goes past the reservoir. Lots of nice twists and turns and very much "out in the country. Depending on where your family is, might be bale to ride out of the garage and get there on bike

The bay is only a short ride away from almost anywhere in the valley. I ride out to it once a week. If you're really ambitious, you could prob'ly make the ride from the valley over to Santa Cruz (like, whoa, dude, ~23 miles) for lunch.

A few weeks ago I took CalTrain (local transport that runs between south bay/Gilroy to San Francisco) to SF. Rode from the train station past the SF Giants ballpark along The Embarcadero past the Ferry Building and Pier 39 (big tourist spot, but great for clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl Cycled up to the GG Bridge and on over to Sausalito (say that with a slight, nasal twinge and sat in a small park eating pizza by the bay enjoying views of the SF skyline, Angel Island and Alcatraz. And then took a ferry ride back to SF. Very nice. Also, fall/winter is a good time in the Bay Area. Temps are a bit cool (by our standards) but the marine layer that covers up SF (and the bay and GG Bridge) during the summer is pretty much gone.

We do get an average of 29"/year of rain but we also get a bunch of sunny days during the winter. In the past, I've been able to hike in shorts @ 65F on Xmas day! We have our "cool" days, but if you're used to east coast winters, you'll find our weather very temperate.

Nice that you have that option. Hope it works out for you. Careful, tho. Once you come out and experience things here, you may find it hard to go back.

Cheers.....