We want everyone’s GranFondo ride to start out quickly and easily. With 6,000 people though, it won’t be as easy as just walking up to the line a couple of minutes before the start.
The GranFondo start/finish and FondoSonoma Festival will be at the Finley Center in Santa Rosa at 2060 West College Avenue (click for map). This is the hub from which all GranFondo activity radiates. All you’ve got to do is get here.
Ride Your Bike
The Sonoma County Bike Coalition (link) is providing FREE BIKE VALET at the FondoSonoma Festival and the Finley Center is located right off the Prince Greenway bike path. Parking at the venue will be limited to non-existent and we strongly encourage everyone to get in the spirit of the day by arriving on your bike. We’ll have a bag check-in available that morning so you can stow a change of clothes, etc. Hot showers are also available at the Finley Center post-ride.
Local shops will be assisting with this effort by hosting GranFondo shop rides directly from their stores. Some Fondo Shop Rides will head out early in the morning in time for the start, and others a bit later for the FondoSonoma Festival. We’ll provide a roster of these shop rides in this space as the event gets closer.
Take Public Transit
The City of Santa Rosa is offers direct routes between the Downtown Transit Mall (click for map) and the West Side Transfer Center (click for map), which is located across the street from the Finley Center. Schedules are at www.srcity.org/citybus.
The City also offers free weekend parking in the downtown parking structure at 555 First Street (click for map) and at City Hall. There are other parking options in downtown, but there may be a fee involved. Either way, all of them are close to bus transit areas and a bike path leading to the GranFondo.
For those of you looking to get to downtown Santa Rosa, try Golden Gate Transit or Sonoma County Transit. Schedule information for both are available at www.511.org.
Carpool and/or Rideshare
There’ll be a need to get as many people in as many car seats as possible. Please ride with friends or make some friends via the PickupPal group we’ve set up at www.pickuppal.com/pup/group/LevisGranFondo. You can always throw up a request for a ride or offer an empty seat at our Facebook page or via our Twitter feed.
If You Must Drive
There is no street parking on the streets near the Finley Center (Stony Point, College, West Ninth) and next-to-no parking at the Finley Center. Several businesses in the adjacent Stony Point Business Park are open on Saturday and their parking must remain available for their customers. Do not park in any area marked as “No GranFondo Parking.”
Stay tuned for a map that will show more parking locations near the venue.
