I've been to Athens. It definitely doesn't have mountains comparable to what you can find in the Santa Cruz mountains. The sheer variety of terrain from desert to open fields to redwood forests in the Bay Area beats Athens. For food, try getting great Asian food (Chinese, Japanese and Indian) in Athens. It's not even close. I will say that the archaeological/ancient monuments in Athens beats the heck out of anything in the Bay Area. I'd say that music in the Bay Area can be pretty good, but not being big on nightlife I can't say that I'd be authoritative on it.
For cycling, the only places I think are comparable (still a step down) are Mallorca and Girona in Spain. I did a superlative trip to those places before the pandemic ( https://blog.piaw.net/2019/05/index-2019-mallorca-and-girona-fixed.html), and they are outstanding because the number of cyclists in Mallorca feels like you're in a century ride every day (cyclists outnumber car drivers on most of the mountain roads!), and the large number of hotels/apartments in the area means you get very good prices for lodging. But I'd still say that the food in the Bay Area for sheer diversity beats what you can find in either Mallorca and Girona. Even then their hills aren't comparable to what I'd find in the Bay Area. Bay Area mountains are suitable preparation for the alps or the Sierras. Everything in Mallorca and Girona is gentle by comparison. But of course, that means that Bay Area cyclists regularly need low gears (24x36 back in the pre-1x drivetrain days, 40x51 or 38x51 nowadays) that other locations do not require. Some people find that to be a bug and not a feature. On Fri, Dec 16, 2022 at 8:17 AM John Dewey <johnrd...@gmail.com> wrote: > Well, LONELY PLANET disagrees, with this to say: > > https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-places-for-a-cycling-holiday > > I've lived both places as cyclist, and confirm LP. Athens, with its > year-round warm sunny days, an endless matrix of beautiful quiet country > lanes (i.e. no traffic), delightful hills (mountains neaby), pine forests, > no traffic is a cycling wonderland like no other. Not comparable. Add the > music, UGA for culture, enviable culinary arts, ticks all the boxes. > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/146626768@N06/albums/72157709138882807 > > Jock Dewey > > > On Friday, December 16, 2022 at 7:21:17 AM UTC-8 pi...@gmail.com wrote: > >> It's not hype. The Bay Area has the best winter cycling in the world. But >> you don't have to live here to enjoy it --- come visit for a few days in >> winter with your bike. It's not a coincidence that the spate of outdoor >> companies in the 1980s (Patagonia, Power Bar, Clif Bar, Specialized, >> Ritchey, North Face, in addition to Rivendell) all started here. >> >> On Friday, December 16, 2022 at 6:44:30 AM UTC-8 fra...@gmail.com wrote: >> >>> I enjoy watching those videos as well! I could never keep up with he or >>> Ms Cools but those rides look beautiful! >>> >>> On Thursday, December 15, 2022 at 9:54:47 PM UTC-8 Luke Hendrickson >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Dude living in San Francisco here: it’s pretty great 💅🏻 >>>> >>>> On Thursday, December 15, 2022 at 2:26:54 PM UTC-8 George Schick wrote: >>>> >>>>> At this time of the year I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous of >>>>> cyclists who live in California, especially in the the NoCal area of the >>>>> "Frisco" bay. Lately I've been leering enviously at YouTube videos posted >>>>> by "Henry Wildberry" where he and his riding companion(s) are cycling up >>>>> and down some excellent North Bay area hilly/mountainous paths and roads >>>>> equipped with little more than "fair weather" garments vs. what we have to >>>>> wear in the Midwest Winters. Makes me want to move there...but not really. >>>> >>>> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/T-wop9umlJs/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/444ce594-9cbd-4413-b8c8-4b95ecdc58can%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/444ce594-9cbd-4413-b8c8-4b95ecdc58can%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAPh0EZ5V%3DDcgRCzpVaeCoZ61FLwq2o3_Ko10-ycoDifaDd4jjw%40mail.gmail.com.
