My San Francisco: Ornot’s Matt Quann

Where to ride, pizza and host your campfires

By The Editors
January 8, 2016 9:00 am

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). 

MEET US AT YOUR INBOX. FIRST ROUND'S ON US.

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