TakingMyTime

The wife and I would like to drive up to the bay area this coming year and participate in an organized ride with a mileage of around 35 - 50. Neither of us is very good with hills. I was looking for some first hand suggestions for rides of this type anywhere within 150 miles of SFO.

blt

The Bay Area isn't exactly known for its flatness, the only rides I can think of that are pretty flat are the two shorter routes in Foxy's Fall Century out of Davis, around 75 miles from downtown SF, but that isn't until October 20.

They don't have a route that exactly fits your 35-50 miles, but the so called "Flat 50K" is about 31 miles long, a little under your range, and it is FLAT. It is an out and back, imperceptible uphill going out and imperceptible downhill going back. Having a headwind or tailwind will affect you WAY more than whether you're going uphill or downhill.

Foxy's so called 100K Century is a little less than 100K, more like 59 miles, a little over your range, total elevation gain listed of 1100, but there is really one "climb" that lasts about 1.4 miles with an elevation gain of about 285 feet. The second steepest part is about 5 miles long with an elevation gain of 215 feet, not a very big deal.

Party Pardee, on April 7, is also a nice ride with a shorter route that I personally would consider not too bad in terms of climbing, but it has a lot more climbing than either of the shorter Foxy's routes, the shorter route is only about 26 miles, even more under your range than the Foxy's Flat 50k, and has more climbing than even the Foxy's 100k (they list 1505 feet of climbing). That ride fills up pretty fast with registration starting January 1.

If your range is within 150 miles of San Francisco, there may be other fairly flat rides around here, but I can't think of any off hand, and I wouldn't know them personally. Foxy's is a well organized ride, the 50k and 100k rides are pleasant enough. I don't think they are as interesting as Foxy's 100 mile or a lot of other rides in the greater Bay Area, but the more interesting rides all are a lot hillier, and many well out of your distance range.

fietsbob

Napa Valley ain't too bad , but the place burned in many places this year.. sad , it was where I grew up.

East side , Silverado trail is lower traffic than the highway on the west side.. many cross roads connect between them ..

spdntrxi

just search gran fondo or century rides in norcal. Their are a few websites that will have detailed listing. Lots of organized bigger rides will have lower mileage rides within them and have elevation gains/routes... so you can see if they fit the bill.

TakingMyTime

I had been doing that but I thought I might be able to speed up the process by asking. The search continues.

Scarbo

As others have said, rides in the SF Bay area tend not to be very flat at all. There is the Grizzly Peak Century ride that takes place every year in April/May; but even the short routes have a lot of climbing. If you go further afield--towards Sacramento, perhaps--you might find more suitable alternatives, such as:

https://davisbikeclub.org/2018-foxys-fall-century/

https://www.wildflowercentury.org/

I know this is not a bay area ride, but any ride sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club is absolutely stellar and worth participating in. These rides fill up fast, so if this one appeals to you, better be ready to register on time. The scenery is absolutely splendid:

Wildflower Century Registration - SLOBC

anotherbrian

Bike Around the Buttes (Sutter Buttes) is almost pancake flat.
https://www.bikearoundthebuttes.com/
and happens in April. It’s a good time to ride it (still green).

I’ve not done the organized ride, but the basic loop is ~39mi and 300ft of climbing. The loop is more scenic than Foxy’s shorter routes for sure. The organized ride has longer routes but I’m unsure where they go — likely into the flatlands that extend in all directions.

turkey9186

Lodi Sunrise Century, Delta Century, Napa Tour De Cure, Wine Country Century, Honor ride in Sacramento, and Ride to Defeat Diabetes in Vacaville are all fairly flat organized rides.
If you just want to come up and ride for a few days, there are a lot of options. Amtrak to Martinez or Suisun and stay in a nearby hotel and ride from there. Hotel in Napa and explore that area. Ride from Martinez or Suisun to Sacramento and then take the Amtrak Capital Corridor back.
it involves a little bit of climbing, the Americas Most Beautiful ride in Tahoe is also a great ride.

shrimp123

think about uvas reservoir loop (lookup on strava). It is abt 65miles and ~2500ft. pretty and fun ride. Bur be prepared for windy/chilly sections and electrolytes+snacks and backup tube.

and then there is livermore vineyard+winery loop. not looong, but interesting.

prototoast

Santa Rosa Cycling Club Wine Country Century would seem to meet your requirements. They have routes of varying lengths, gorgeous scenery, and about 70 miles from SFO. I've done it a few times and have enjoyed myself.

https://srcc.wildapricot.org/event-2282358

prathmann

These are the two that I thought of when the OP mentioned choosing a flat ride. The Lodi ride offers both nom. 50 and 100 km options (actually 39 and 63 miles) and the longer of these has a total cumulative climb of about 400'.
tourdellevigne

turkey9186

The only climbing I remember in the Delta Century was from the islands to the levees. Oh yeah, and off the Ryer Island ferry. Great early season warm up ride.

TakingMyTime

I just wanted to let you know I am still reading these and there are a l lot of great suggestions.

blt

Two things about the Wine Country Century.

One is that historically it tends to sell out, and it looks like this year, as a consequence of the fires, the number of entries is a little lower (2,000 versus, I believe, 2,500 in the past). The consequence of the fires may be that demand is a little higher (people wanting to be supportive, etc.). For anyone who wants in this year, I suggest not waiting much past the January 15 start of registration.

The second thing is that it isn't as flat as some of the other suggested rides. For some reason, the Santa Rose Cycling Club believes that electronic mapping systems overstate elevation gain and "rate" its routes as having less elevation gain. Having ridden the century route, I think that the electronic mapping systems are more accurate than the SRCC. For instance, SRCC says the 100 mile route is 4222 feet of elevation gain according to RidewithGPS, but SRCC claims about 3300 feet. I say no way to 3300 feet. MapMyRide said in excess of 5,000 feet, and while that may be excessive, my brain and legs are convinced that there is no way 3300 is right.

In any event, most of us judge elevation gain by what the electronic mapping systems say, and it is better to compare apples to apples. If you use Acme mapping system, and Acme says 4,500, then you'll compare to other 4,500 foot gain Acme rides, don't compare to other 3,300 Acme rides just because SRCC thinks Acme overstates everything.

Thinking about what the OP is looking for, SRCC lists the 35 mile route at about 1200 feet of elevation gain, and doesn't say what any electronic system says. SRCC lists the 100K route at about 1800 feet of elevation gain, and says RidewithGPS lists it at 2063. 100K may be a little long for the OP, and there is one decent climb fairly near the end of that route. It is nowhere near the world's worst climb, and I didn't even find it to be bad when I was near the end of the 100 mile route and my legs were pretty worn -- although I have to admit, for some reason I screwed up in my understanding of how long it was going to be, I thought it was going to be longer than it turned out to be, I was pacing myself for a longer climb, so I was more inclined to think it wasn't so bad when I got to the top sooner than I thought.

Wine Country Century is a good ride, and for some of us, the 35 miles with an alleged 1200 feet is a walk in the park, but it isn't as flat as other rides in the roughly 35 mile range.

Stick69

We are training for the Velo Love Ride in hopes the weather is good.

https://www.chicovelo.org/velo-love-ride-february.html

bikingshearer 

Bike Around the Buttes, Cycle for Sight, Delta Century, and the late-season Giro d'Vino (a November wine tasting crawl cleverly disguised as a bike ride) should all have options that fit the bill, mileage-wise and lack of elevation change-wise. Google 'em for more info.

FrenchFit 

Whether coastal or inland, keep in mind the possibility of strong wind. We've been rudely surprised signing up for organized rides out of our area to find out days before the forecast is for 30mph gusts.

turkey9186

This^ May to October it is not unusual to see 20-40 MPH west winds around the north bay. If it is 50 in SFO and 110 in Sac ride west to east.

caloso

Bike Around The Buttes is great, but it's not exactly the Bay Area.