South of San Francisco's city limits, the land runs out abruptly. Daly City's houses, the ones with the colourful matching boxes that inspired the song Little Boxes, cover the hills right up to the edge of high, crumbling sea cliffs, and below them the Pacific pounds a long empty beach.
The fog is the local character. In summer it rolls in from the ocean in the afternoon and often stays all day, pouring over the hills like a slow wave while the inland valleys bake. A sweater and a good jacket are essential even in July. Riding in it can be damp and chilly, with wet patches and limited visibility on the coast road, but when it lifts the light over the ocean is gorgeous.
Geology is everywhere here. The San Andreas Fault runs right under this coast, heading out to sea at Mussel Rock just south of Daly City, and the cliffs keep sliding and collapsing. Further south, the old Highway 1 route around Devil's Slide fell apart so often that it was replaced by tunnels, while the former roadway became a walking and cycling trail. At Fort Funston, the old military batteries sit on top of the bluffs and hang-gliders launch into the steady onshore wind.
The rides from here go two ways. Skyline Boulevard, Highway 35, begins nearby and runs south along the ridge of the peninsula, through the Santa Cruz Mountains, famous for its curves, redwoods and the gathering of bikes at Alice's Restaurant. It starts suburban but grows wilder and more beautiful the further you go. The Napa rides head north instead, across the city and over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin and into the wine valleys, where the morning fog burns off and the Silverado Trail runs between the vineyards.
Daly City is a big suburban city and has every service: fuel, supermarkets, fast food and plenty of Filipino restaurants, a reminder of one of the largest Filipino communities in the United States. The Serramonte area by the freeway is the easiest stop. If you have a few minutes, walk out to the cliffs at Fort Funston and watch the waves, but keep well back from the edge; it has a habit of falling into the sea.