Friday, December 28, 2012
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I love riding along the SF Bay Trail; I schedule myself to lead this club ride on the last Friday of every month. It allows me to ride at a leisurely pace with old and new friends and with people that I normally don’t ride with on a regular basis. It’s a low stress, flat, social ride with beautiful views of the SF Bay Area. On a clear day, you can see the orange color of the Golden Gate Bridge!
This route along the SF Bay Trail begins at the foot of the Ped/Bike Bridge at the north end of the Aquatic Park in Berkeley. We cross the bridge and head south on the Bay Trail out to the Emeryville Marina before returning for the loop around Cesar Chavez Park.
There’s a regroup at the Berkeley Marina near Dock B; this is a great place to stop-water and multiple nice clean restrooms are available.
The trail continues behind the DoubleTree Hotel, past the Hornblower Yachts and comes out on Marina Blvd back to University Ave. We head north on the Bay Trail to Gilman St for the short climb up to the upper parking lot of Golden Gate Fields. At the bottom of the hill, we cross through the lower parking lot and exit out on Buchanan St.
The Bay Trail continues under I-80 and parallels the freeway out to Central Ave. From there, the trail goes along Costco and around the EBMUD Treatment Plant to the Point Isabel Doggie Park.
The trail heads west out to Marina Bay and continues around the parks, along the Yacht Harbor out to the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Homefront National Historic Park. We ride around the Craneway Pavillion and head north to the industrial part of Richmond on Harbour Way S to Hoffman Blvd and Cutting Blvd. From Cutting, we take S Garrard Blvd to Richmond Ave and arrive at the rear entrance of Little Louie’s on Railroad Ave.
Little Louie’s has an outdoor patio with plenty of seating and places to park the bikes. For colder days like today, the outdoor tables are not set up, leaving us to have lunch indoors, which is nice and warm. We did have to poke our heads out the back to check on the bikes now and then.
BLANK
The post lunch route goes through the Ferry Point tunnel and comes out the other end at Miller Knox Park and the Golden State Model Railroad Museum. We pass the Richmond Yacht Club and the Brickyard Cove Marina and ride out and back on Sandpiper Spit to check out the luxury homes.
The short steep climb up Seacliff Dr drops us down to Canal Blvd and back to Cutting Blvd. We reverse the route back to the Bay Trail and follow it all the way back to the Aquatic Park.
I love this flat route not only for the gorgeous views but because it always brings me back to my humble beginnings of learning to ride a bike; that in itself keeps me grounded as a person and keep the ego in check too.
Thanks to everyone for joining me on the Bay Trail for the lunch ride out to Little Louie’s! This is from Bob Lynn:
it was cloudy and cold on the waterfront today but the company was warm and friendly. We had a good lunch at Little Louie’s.
Thanks Bob! It’s always the company we keep that makes everything that much more enjoyable!
17 people in attendance with 2 tandems
Weather: GREAT! COLD with overcast grey skies and no winds, temps ranged from the high 40’s to the low 50’s.
VDO Stats:
36.86 Miles with 470′ of elevation gain
Avg grade: 2%
Max grade: 10%
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What you are will show in what you do. ~ Thomas A. Edison
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Click here to view the route map & profile
Follow this route for today’s ride:
Ride Chronicles 
Hi Nancy. We really enjoyed this latest post. Thanks for sharing the great photos too. So lovely to see so many people on the ride having a great time.
Happy New Year and all the best for 2013!
Mrs Barnes, Thank you! Wishing you and the family a wonderful New Year! Nancy
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