Please ignore this page and go back to our Ride A Bike Across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito page if you’re not an experienced rider on a quality street bike.
We recommend the new Conzelman Road route to Sausalito for all bike riders crossing the Golden Gate Bridge due to its greater safety and even more beautiful views than the route via the Sausalito Lateral and Alexander Ave. By request from some of our readers we present the old route here for experienced riders looking for a higher-speed descent.
This route places you on a narrow 2-lane road (shown above) with cars and trucks going 45+ mph (75+ kph) in each direction, with buses and tourists driving unfamiliar rental cars thrown in. Please be careful if you elect to ride this street.
After crossing the Bridge on the west (ocean side) sidewalk, you’ll see a marked bike path that leads through a small parking lot (shown below) and up a small road.
Follow the road shown above up the hill, which joins Conzelman Road after a short stretch. Turn right (downhill) on Conzelman and after only about 20 yards (18 meters) you’ll come to the junction with the “Sausalito Lateral”, which gets its name from going in a lateral direction from the highway in order to reach Sausalito.
Be careful at the intersection of Conzelman Road and the Sausalito Lateral. It is a terrble design because it’s right in the middle of a freeway on-ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge and cars are accelerating at speeds of up to 60 mph (95 kph) through this intersection. Non-locals do not expect to see bikes crossing this kind of road, so you can’t assume they will slow for you.
Wait patiently for a good opening in traffic, and turn left onto the Sausalito Lateral. After about 200 yards (180 meters) you’ll go through a narrow tunnel, then start downhill. Afdter another 100 yards (90 meters) you’ll come to a stop sign. Be sure to stop here, since the merging traffic from your right does NOT stop and is traveling at high rates of speed.
Once you go through this stop sign you’ll have about two miles (3 km) of open riding on the descent into Sausalito.
Insiders Tip: Watch for a sign for East Road to Fort Baker on the right as you near the bottom of the hill. This tells you that you’re about to enter the area where traffic can stop suddenly and unexpectedly, so it’s time to slow down when you get here. This is also where bike riding families and less experienced riders will re-merge with your route, so watch out for them as well.
There have been several accidents in the 6-block stretch of road between this spot and the flat streets of Sausalito. Bike riders have rear-ended stopped cars at high speeds and were seriously injured.
Insiders Tip: One crosswalk where pedestrians force cars to stop suddenly when they approach is a famous location for accidents and near-misses. We used to live nearby and sometimes I’d see an incident nearly every day during the summer.
From here on all bike riders are on the same route. Return to our Ride A Bike Across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito page for information on the rest of your journey.
Note: We chose the walking route on the Google map below since that’s the only way to get it to show a non-freeway route. This map actually shows the Sausalito Lateral – Alexander bike route for expert riders.
