No one man holds the keys to San Francisco.
Well, Frank Bullitt.
If you’re looking, though, for the best bike tour in all of northern California, we know a guy.
His name is Matt Quann, founder of Ornot Bike. We quizzed him on the best ride, hike and place to set up a bonfire in our fair city.
Here’s what he told us, along with all the gear you need from his superior made-in-California brand.
Name: Matt Quann
Neighborhood: Upper Haight
Favorite Friday night activity: A campfire at Ocean Beach. Fall is usually the best time to do this, as the days are a bit shorter and the fog and wind are on vacation.
Favorite Saturday morning activity: Ride. As cliché as it may be, the ride up Hawk Hill in the Headlands and down to Rodeo Beach is hard to beat. Throw in a little dirt riding and you can easily spend hours out there. When pressed for time though, one-and-a-half hours will get me there and back, and I feel like I’ve been to another land.
My other favorite is called Planet of the Apes — it’s the old road that used to connect Pacifica to Half Moon Bay. Now it’s abandoned — completely overgrown with vegetation — and leads to dirt roads that you can take to Montara.
Favorite way to get around town: Obviously with a bike. But if it’s bizarro day and bikes aren’t an option, then I’m a fan of the MUNI/skateboard combo. Sometimes when I need to get downtown, I’ll shoot down there on MUNI and then skate to wherever I’m going.
Nopa
Favorite restaurant meal in S.F.: There’s a lot to choose from, and a burrito is always a good go-to here. But I don’t have any problems with gluten and love some good pizza action. Una Pizza is the best — it’s all they do. And, if you have patience, the wait at Nopa is worth it.
Favorite weekend getaway: If you have a place to stay, Truckee is pretty hard to beat. There are so many ways to play outside, no matter which season. After a few years of drought, we’re off to a good start this winter season with lots of snow, and it looks like it’s on track to stay wet. Everyone loves to ski/ride Squaw and Alpine, but on a powder day with equal amounts of snow, the backside of Northstar can be a lot of fun with half the crowds and fun trees.
Favorite hike: When I hike, my requirement is that the trail should be so steep and rocky that you couldn’t ride a bike on it. There are plenty of these up in Tahoe, but I usually opt to ride my mountain bike instead.
Favorite activity performed on a body of water in or near the Bay Area: Surfing. I surf at Ocean Beach when it’s not a giant mess. It’s a 10-minute drive from my house, and being in the water is a great way to get some perspective and take a break from being plugged in. It’s one of the only places where the iPhone doesn’t get to come along.
Favorite cup of coffee and/or juice: I could go on and on about this one, but I’ll leave it at just two. The first one is my local shop, which happens to be a small coffee bar inside of Haight Street Market. They serve Four Barrel coffee, and since it’s at a grocery store, the snacking options are pretty limitless. Outside is a parklet right on Haight Street where you can watch everything go down: tourists, families, transient street kids, old-school locals, tech bros, hipsters … My second favorite is Equator Coffee at Proof Lab in Mill Valley. It’s a lifesaver when you’re coming back from a long ride in Marin and you’ve exhausted your food supplies. Oh yeah — and Trouble in the Outer Sunset. I need to go and get some coffee now.
Ornot also makes some highly covetable gear for cyclists:
We’re getting the Thermal Jacket (top row, folded), the Golden Jersey (second from left, middle row) and the Wind Jacket 2.0 (lower row, left).
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