No bakery – but not your usual bike ride

Interesting ride today.  

My biking group does a regular Wednesday ride often from Montclair in Oakland to Moraga and back.  Today, several of the group opted to extend the ride to Danville, although 3 of us stopped in Alamo (which is on the route to Danville).  While in downtown Alamo (if there is such a thing) we saw a water main break along Danville Blvd, gushing like a big fountain, a couple feet across and a foot high.  This was accompanied by the strong smell of gas!   Robin, Gail and I had intended to get coffee at the Alamo Starbucks but the smell of gas was TOO STRONG and we opted to backtrack a block or so to PEETS where we got coffee and snacks.  We sat outside and were treated to a serenade by a huge black dog in the back of an SUV that pulled up next to the patio seating  (Arrrrrru..).

I think the dog was trying to tell us something , because we had just finished our coffee when a fireman came through telling everyone that it was time to leave, they were evacuating an area of several blocks in Alamo due to the gas leak.  He told us to  HEAD NORTH, NOW!  We hopped on our bikes and easily rolled past the massive stream of cars trying to get out of the parking lot, and headed north along Danville Blvd, zipping past the solid line of cars trying to evacuate.  We continued to get whiffs of gas all the way up to Newell Ave in Walnut Creek (3-4 miles).

Here is a link to the news story

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/07/24/alamo-gas-leak-prompts-evacuations/

On the return ride we stopped to get water at the convenience store at Olympic and Tice Valley 

Rd.  There we saw the emergency broadcast network come on TV calling for evacuation!

We also met up with the others of our group who had gone on to Danville (actually to the bakery described in my blog om July 8).  They circumvented the evacuated zone using the Iron Horse trail.  The trail actually passes quite close to the location of the leak, but the authorities deemed it ok for travel ( maybe walkers, joggers and cyclists have supernatural powers in such situations). Actually, one of our group contacted me later to say that the park service did close the Iron Horse trail and that two employees were there as he went through but did not stop him.

The evacuation order was lifted at 3:20 pm

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23723415/alamo-gas-leak-forcing-businesses-homes-evacuate

Never a dull moment...

Central Coast Century - Sandy's Deli and Bakery in Cambria

This really didn’t start out to be a Bakery Ride.   I headed down to San Luis Obispo about 11 am on Friday for the Central Coast Century.  Steve G. was driving and had made the hotel arrangements.  I was along to help balance the male/female ratio, and to see the countryside.   We stopped once for coffee and snack at a Starbucks, memorable only because of the girl with the Orange hair.

After stopping at the motel in SLO and rendezvousing with some others, Steve, Miss Linda, Pam and I headed to Avila Beach to meet up with Robin.  It was a beautiful afternoon, and lots going on at Avila, including food booths, music and more girls with orange hair.  We had wine and a few snacks, met up with some others then about 7pm headed back to SLO.

 We found a nice restaurant (Gennaro's Grill & Garden is located in a delightful Old Victorian) and loaded up on pasta for the long ride on Saturday. 

Saturday morning the ride started a 7am in Avila Beach. 11 of us rolled out at 7:10.   The first 3 miles of the ride are on a bike trail winding along San Luis Obispo creek, a great way to start the ride. 

The ride then headed up Los Osos Valley Rd towards Morro Bay, and takes a nice detour on Turri Rd. 

The route also took us over Park View Drive in Morro Bay State Park, along a scenic golf course to our first rest-stop.  It was manned by a nice couple with their big pick-up truck and camping trailer.  There we had the first of many peanut butter cookies and some bananas.

The route continued through Morro Bay and up to the south end of Cayucos, where it makes a right turn onto Old Creek Rd.  This is the beginning of a long climb up to Rte 46.  

The ride organizers had a rest-stop a bit past the top of the hill at the intersection of Old Creek Rd and Rte 46.  There we encountered the cookies and bananas for the second time.  Don’t get me wrong, they were very good cookies, and I am a cookie guy,

We headed west on Rte 46 and after a gradual climb of a couple miles, had a long, fast and fabulous 6 mile descent to Rte 1. Two strong ladies lead the way (I sure couldn’t catch them).

Once back down to Rte 1 we turned right and rode up to Cambria, for the 3^rd rest-stop, around mile 50+. And there we encountered more cookies (ugh).  I know many strong, fast riders can go all day on cookies and powerbars, but I didn't have my Frosted Mini-Wheats with banana for breakfast, and wanted some real food. Three of us opted to find a sandwich shop, as the sanctioned lunch wasn’t until mile 70, and even little rollers coming into Cambria seemed like major climbs to me.

Without much trouble the 3 food seekers found Sandy’s Deli and Bakery www.sandysdelicambria.com 

and I can highly recommend the sandwiches and the BEAR CLAWS!  I had a BLT on Sourdough that was excellent, Robin had the Vegetarian sandwich, while Denise went for the Turkey.  All were great, and the coffee wasn’t bad either.  There was a constant influx of people including several cyclists, so much so that I didn’t get an espresso because waiting in line would have put us too far behind the other riders.

After our sandwiches and pastry we headed south and met up with the group in Cayucos, enjoying some fabulous views of the ocean along the way.

As we returned along Osos Valley Rd the wind was at our back and despite the slight incline (1-2%) we were able to cruise at 20+mph easily.

We ended the day with at fabulous dinner at Novo in San Luis Obispo.

 All in all a great day!
------------------------

Ride Summary

Distance:	102.23 mi
Time:	7:40:39
Avg Speed:	13.3 mph
Elevation Gain:	4,885 ft

Route:     

Bakery: Sandy’s Deli and Bakery

Pastries: 

Map:

Epilogue: While this was envisioned as a ladies weekend away, a few lucky guys were allowed to come to chaperone. I am honored to be in that group.

Montclair to Danville featuring La Boulange de Danville Bakery

If you want to attract a good group for a bakery ride, make sure you include FUN in the ride description.  The two organizers of this ride did just that and got a good turnout.  We had about a dozen riders, both sexes equally represented.

We started out with a climb over the Oakland Hills (Liemert and Butters) and some folks were wondering about the organizer’s definition of FUN. But after the climb comes the fabulous descent down Redwood Rd and the FUN aspect was restored. If you are unfamiliar with Butters, it is one of Oakland’s biking treasures.  It winds up the Oakland hills, parallel to Joaquin Miller, but is basically a quiet country lane cut into the side of a steep canyon.  Oak trees overhang most of the length, and it gets to 10% grade in one section that is owned by the Butters Canyon Conservancy http://www.bcconservancy.org/, but that is short and it levels out quickly

Ascending Butters Canyon (image from their website).

We descended Redwood Rd and turned left onto Pinehurst and climbed over ‘little Pinehurst’, then turned toward Moraga on Moraga Rd.  The little climb went by quickly as one of the riders had just returned from vacation, and he filled us in on his various adventures while driving from Chicago to Oakland, visiting old friends in the Rocky Mtns and experiencing the vast emptiness of Utah and Nevada.

The remainder of the ride out to Danville is flat, and it seems to be the season for deer to get hit, as we saw 2 down along as pedaled east toward Lafayette.  The temperature was perfect for riding, even the little refrigerated zone in the pocket of redwoods near Pinehurst and Moraga Rd was quite temperate - not even a shiver as we rolled through.

On the way out of Moraga we took St. Mary’s Rd, past the college, turned right on Glenside then left on Reliez Station Rd.  This is not my favorite route, as there is a steep and narrow descent at the east end of Reliez Stn Road.  It is one of those descents that can be somewhat terrifying on a bike, as there is no shoulder and it is long enough that cars get impatient and try to pass (eventhough the cyclist may be breaking the speed limit).  Moreover, there is a stop sign at the bottom, where it intersects Olympic. So screaming down ahead of cars, then hard braking for the stop at the bottom gets the adrenaline going. All that aside, we descended as a group, so no cars were tempted to pass –  …..On the return, we took the Moraga-Lafayette bike trail west from the end of Olympic  (no need to climb up that narrow road).  The bike trail forms the little loop that you can see on the map (below).  It is a great trail for biking, as well as walking, etc.  There is a lot of parking available along Olympic, near the trail head.  To get from Olympic to Danville Blvd, we took the flat route along Newell, Lilac,Lancaster/Castle Hill.  Another route is Tice Valley Rd (not my favorite, but some folks like it).

 

Once on Danville Blvd we headed South to the bakery.  One of the great things about the Danville location of La Boulange is that the back entrance is right off the Iron Horse trail.  The Iron Horse parallels Danville Blvd from Rudgear Rd all the way to Danville and both are good cycling routes. The road is faster.

Boulange de Danville  

Boulange de Danville is one of the several La Boulange bakeries in the Bay Area (http://www.laboulangebakery.com).  They have excellent pastries, including an almond croissant to die for, dreamy fresh fruit Danish, fantastic pineapple upside down cake and myriad other treats, as well as very nice tidy little sandwiches. Oh yes, your espresso drink will be served in bowl.  I highly recommend their Mocha on a cool day, but went for a cappuccino on this day.

They have plenty of seating, but the place can be popular on Saturdays.  Note that there is a Peet’s Coffee in the same shopping center,  and this particular Peet’s is very popular with cyclists.  The day we were there lycra was in full display at both La Boulange and Peet’s as well as the surrounding sidewalks.

We returned to Lafayette by retracing our route along Danville Blvd and the Newell neighborhood, and then took the Lafayette-Moraga Trail to Moraga. 

During the return ride I started to feel a bit beat. When a Shot Blok didn't help, I realized that on the previous day I was a bit under the weather, and evidently had not fully recovered by ride time on Saturday morning.  I started to fade about mile 40 and (wouldn’t you know) the remainder of the ride included the climb up ‘big’ Pinehurst to Skyline Blvd.  Oh well, I have felt worse, so I found my granny gear and slogged my way up, DFL at the top. 

Got home, walked in and my son asks if I’ve heard about the ‘Crash’?  There it was on the TV

Summary:

53 miles, 3227 ft of ascent

Calories Burned:  1668

Bakery Items sampled:  Almond Croissant, Fruit Danish, Bread Pudding, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and Macaroon.

Route: ***

Pastries: *****

Map:

Note:  Working on graphics, hope for improvement by next post.

Orinda/Pinole Loop – Destination: Bear Claw Bakery in Pinole

Orinda/Pinole Loop – Destination:  Bear Claw Bakery in Pinole

Old School Pastries in Pinole

Normally, this ride would start in Orinda and do half the Bears loop on the way to Pinole, and the other half of the loop on the return trip.  But, as I needed to get in a longer ride, I started from home in Oakland, rode up Tunnel with my friend Tom.  A bit up the hill caught a glimpse of a rider in white ahead of us, and I realized it was Robin (our other riding partner).  From Tunnel we took Grizzly Peak Blvd north to the Fish Ranch Saddle and regrouped.  I checked the time and it was 8:54.  We cruised down Fish Ranch and then along the shoulder of SR-24, pausing only briefly to regroup at the Wilder exit.  We arrived at the Orinda Library at 9:02 (8 minutes of intense biking!) and the group we were to meet at 9am was gone!  They are never this punctual..

The group had decided to ride the BEARS loop counter-clockwise (good choice to get the climbing out of the way before gorging ourselves on bearclaws) and after climbing all the BEARS and rolling through the pastoral golden backcountry, we arrived at the Bear Claw in Pinole, parked bikes along-side headed into the bakery.

I would say that this is an old school bakery, items consumed include the requisite number of bearclaws, breakfast burritos  (too small), cinnamon-raisen snails, apple fritters (excellent according to Larry) etc.  They have an espresso machine and regular coffee, soft drinks, but no sports drinks. There is only one bathroom, and as riders were leaving the line was long, so I opted to stop at one of the public restrooms on the way back out of Pinole.  This proved satisfactory, except that I ended up between groups and rode back to Orinda solo. Making the right turn onto Castro Ranch Rd, I spied a rider some distance ahead, but didn't have the gumption to catch them.  I stopped at Wildcat and San Pablo Dam Rd and called Robin, as I had planned to ride back with her.  She and another rider were a few minutes ahead of me, and they waited in Orinda.  In a few minutes I was there and we returned via Pinehurst.  This turned out to be a 60 mile ride for me with 4600 ft of ascent.

Ratings:

Ride ****  Bears Loop has everything, scenery, relatively good roads, climbing, descents,

Baked Goods ***  Worth the stop, but a bit old school.

Facility ***  Clean, but a bit noisy.

Staff ****  They were very welcoming and came around to the tables to fill our water bottles!

Starting in Orinda is a really nice way to do this ride.

Route from Orinda;

North on Camino Pablo

Right turn onto Bear Creek Rd and over all the BEARS

Left turn onto Alhambra Valley Rd (becomes Pinole Valley Blvd)

2340 San Pablo Ave.Pinole, CA 94564 | (510) 724-3105

Return route:

Retrace Route, but take a right at Castro Ranch Rd

Up the hill and over the ridge, descending to San Pablo Dam Rd

Left (south) on San Pablo Dam Rd, to Orinda

Great Rides to Bakeries in the SF Bay Area

I like to ride bikes and eat pastries, so I'll be posting some great Bay Area rides along with the bakeries I encounter along the way.