It’s been forever since I really decided to devote a whole day to riding my bike; it’s something I used to do all the time and considered core to who I was, but for a lot of adult reasons it had been so long since I did it; probably years at least. So I fully committed; I just woke up, put on some bike clothes, and headed out about 10 am. My first set of stops was some local places that I love to visit, so after leaving home, my very first stop, only a mile in, was the High Street Pharmacy:
I love this place because it’s locally owned and they sell all kinds of random stuff; in this case I needed some batteries but I also bought myself a little snack. Then right up the road I rode past my yoga studio, Left Coast Power Yoga, where I teach on Sundays. They were closed of course but I love that place.
(Note the “F*ck IRGC” sticker, IYKYK). Then I crossed the street - literally - and hit up my local gym. I didn’t want to go in because I didn’t have a lock for my bike so I just did some ceremonial pushups in the parking lot.
Next I rode down 38th to Allendale, maybe another mile, and stopped off for a picture at my favorite donut place, Donut Savant. They are amazing, especially the cronuts. They’re closed on Tuesdays so I couldn’t stop but that’s ok - we’re headed places! My next stop was a quick trip to my office at ArtHaus, in Jingletown:
I’ve had a small office there with my brother for about 8 months now; it’s a great way to get out of the house, and we use it for recording our podcast. I love the building; it’s like an artist community and it’s a really fun place to hang out. I wish there was more community activity and it was more vibrant but that’s OK. Next up, I rode over to a little park that I like to use along the channel between Oakland and Alameda:
The park is apparently called the Tidewater Boating Center but I just think of it as the start of the bike and jog trail that I often use that goes along the water and then circles back and over to Alameda. You can get in a full 10 mile jog this way, of course I’m on my bicycle. Eventually I made it all the way into Alameda and decided to head down to the beach, but first I stopped at the shopping center across from the beach and took this picture at this store I love called Modern Mouse that sells local handmade artists’ stuff:
I’m up to maybe 13 or 14 miles by now, and I rode along the beach in Alameda and took a picture out in the sand:
I kept riding up all the way to the other side of Alameda and stopped at my favorite shopping complex with the Target and the Panda Express and Habit, etc., and took a picture at the little area outside where you can eat and watch kids play on the fake grass and hills:
Now you face one of my area’s little biking challenges: the Posey Tube, which is a bit of a nightmare for cyclists; loud, full of car exhaust, with only a tiny space to bike in. But it’s a rite of passage.
Once I rode that gauntlet, I went back to my office to take a lunch club meeting with my Toastmasters public speaking club, then I left the office and rode up along the Oakland side to where I used to do a lot of open water swimming, a dock at the Jack London Aquatic Center, which is still a fun place to just go hang out and soak up the sun:
After that I proceeded up the coast past Jack London and all the way over to the shipping district where I stopped at Shoreline Park. We’re probably now 25 miles or so in. It’s a little oasis admist all the trucks and shipping containers.
I continued on to the Bay Bridge bike path and rode all the way in to Treasure Island and rode around all my favorite haunts, like Mersea and the Gold Bar, but they were all closed in the middle of the day. I stopped and took a picture along the coast looking back over the city.
I left Treasure Island by the same path and joined up with the bike path that goes up the coast to Richmond. I took a few pictures along the way, including the Smoothie place which is intermittently open and where I had a great Banana Split smoothie.
I kept going all the way up the path until it ends at Point Richmond and then joined up with the Richmond Parkway and then San Pablo boulevard and kept riding all the way up to Pinole. This is not a part of the bay that I ride a lot, but it’s where I went many years ago when I rode that 200 mile charity ride in one day, and it’s a nice pleasant ride through some small towns nobody’s heard of like Hercules and Rodeo.
Finally I made it all the way up past the Vallejo bridge and to Crockett, where you meet up with the entrance to Carquinez Scenic Drive, which takes you to Port Costa. It’s a great winding little road that feels like you’re headed to the middle of nowhere.
By the time I got to Port Costa I was at 75 miles. Port Costa is tiny and it feels like a place out of time; there’s probably only 50 houses total and about 3 businesses, one of which is a biker bar called the Warehouse where you can get a plain turkey sandwich and a beer, cash only, and sit outside on mismatched chairs or inside next to their collection of weird memorabilia. It’s a Bay Area gem for sure.
To leave Port Costa you take a widing road that leads to a bike-and-pedestrian only path that eventually dumps you into Martinez.
After riding through Martinez, you end up joining up with the Contra Costa canal trail which I used to ride all the time when I lived in Walnut Creek, it joins up with the Iron Horse trail network; there are at least 50 or 60 miiles of consecutive trails in that area.
I was kind of eager to get home by now! I rode down to Walnut Creek and past my old condo and stopped at my old 7-11 (not pictured!) and my old coffee shop, Bondadoso, which was also closed, it was too late in the day. Great coffee there.
After that it was a quick jaunt over to the Walnut Creek Bart station. It was getting late and I was over 95 miles already so I decided to bail and took BART to the Fruitvale stop, where I rode the remainder of the distance home and ended up at exactly 100 miles! It was a really fun trip and a great choice for a ride; about the smoothest 100 miles you can get in the Bay Area unless you go pretty far out. Next time I’m shooting for 200k, or about 122 miles!