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