BikeAlameda

Angel Island Tour

(submitted by Erik Freitag)

Did a family outing to Angel Island today. No good pictures of anyone on bikes, but here are some notes:

The ferry to/from Alameda only runs on weekends and it has a transfer (in the TO direction, at Pier 41 in SF), but it looks like a determined group could get from Alameda to Pier 41, then to Angel Island on weekdays - this would be two ferry tickets per person, instead of one). You could also take BART or a ferry to Embarcadero and make your way up to Pier 41 on a weekday.

From Alameda (west-end), there's only one Ferry - everyone has to be up and at the dock at 9:10 on Saturday or Sunday. Going to Angel Island (AI) requires a transfer, an immediate transfer, at Pier 41 in SF - unbelievably good views of SF on your departure from SF to AI - bring a camera.

From Alameda, bikes have to be stashed at the stern before departure, so younger riders might need some help hoisting their bike into the stand-up bike stands on the boat. You have to hassle the bikes from one ferry to another at Pier 41 but the SF-AI ferry has a bike stand right in the middle of the bottom deck - easier to manage than the high-tech bike holders on the SS Zielinsky (I probably spelled this wrong). Overall, the Ferry crews handled the bike loading/unloading really well.

Tickets are $12/adult, free for kids 5 and under (check website for specifics http://www.eastbayferry.com/when/angel.html). This is a round-trip ticket and includes the AI admission fee. You might also want to buy an AI map for $1 when you get there.

There are concession stands and a snack bar at the dock on Angel Island. You can ride your bike to the "Bike Route" sign (I mostly walked - there are a lot of pedestrians). We took the bike route left, which is steep enough to knock you out of your SPDs if you are not ready for it. The "Bike Route" is almost an MTB trail - a bit of paving, a bit of gravel and a bunch of dirt and rocks for about 1/3 mile, where it hooks up to (paved) Perimeter Road. We took the clockwise direction. We took it slow and easy - there are some hills that can make an infrequent rider get off and walk, but they aren't very long. We stopped at several sites - Immigration Station, Hospital, Guard House (also a visitor center), Nike Missile Base (missiles long gone of course). Some near-perfect photo-ops along the way, your choice of San Francisco, Golden Gate, Bay Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael bridge, or Tiburon as a background. Some lucky park employee (or is it employees?) have a great place to live along this road.

The total Perimeter Road loop is only five miles with some ups-and-downs, with one challenging hill that's about 1/4-1/2 mile long. Lots of pedestrians. No bikes allowed to the top of the island (Mt. Livermore). The website says there are some other MTB trails, but I didn't see them. There are restrooms all over the place.

We brought snacks and four water bottles, which we finished, and we bought lunch at the Cove Cafe and ate on a picnic table in Ayala Cove near the ferry dock. Really nice location, with one annoying bee. Be warned that both the Ferry and the snack bar are charging tourist prices ($1.75 for hot chocolate on the Ferry, $40 for sandwiches, drinks and onion rings for 4). The fog burned off at noon, so if you need sunscreen, bring some.

The kids played on the beach (some maniacs were actually swimming), and I rode the loop again - took about 22 minutes, and I only broke the island's 15 mph bike speed limit once. We did not visit the visitor's center at the cove. There was a guided tour of some Victorian Houses on the island today - we didn't go (three houses, I think).

The return Ferry goes direct to Alameda, and leaves pretty much on time at 3:10 - uneventful trip, bike racks on the stern again. The crew boarded the bikes first this time, and the first bikes on were able to use a small bike rack on the main deck - everybody else went back to the stern to stow their bikes. Loaded the bikes on the car, and "they" drove home. I rode my bike - we both got home to Harbor Bay around 4:15 - I believe they stopped for a Foster's, though.

Ferry website: http://www.eastbayferry.com/when/angel.html
Angel Island website: http://www.angelisland.org/

Route to Pleasanton (commute, not a training ride)

(submitted by Erik Freitag)

HBI shoreline bikepath to Doolittle [1] (wooden bridge)
Doolittle to Williams [7]
Williams to Washington [4]
Washington to Dolores [1]
Dolores to Bancroft [1]
Bancroft to Estudillo [1]
Estudillo to Estudillo/Lake Chabot Rd [1]
Lake Chabot Rd to Fairmont/Lake Chabot Rd [1]
Lake Chabot Rd to Somerset [3]
Somerset to Redwood Rd [2]
Redwood Rd to Castro Valley Bl [2]
Castro Valley Bl to E Castro Valley Bl [6]
E Castro Valley BL to Dublin Canyon Rd [3]
Dublin Canyon Rd to Foothill Rd [1]
Foothill Rd to Stoneridge Dr [2]
Stoneridge Dr to Hacienda Dr [8]
Hacienda Dr to Owens Dr [3]
Owens Dr to Rosewood Dr, done [2].

Numbers in brackets [] are traffic lights or stop signs. There are also six sets of RR tracks on the Doolittle/Williams and Williams/Merced stretch.

Return trip: Everything in reverse, except I cut off Stoneridge to take Stoneridge Mall Rd through the mall.

No serious traffic issues in the morning (except for the lights), but coming home there's always a problem at Stoneridge/Johnson/680 (hard to merge with the straight-through lane) and Stoneridge Mall/Dublin Canyon Rd (can't trip the straight-through light).

Distance: 26 miles Time: two hours in the morning (not a record-breaker, I'm sure), and 2:10 coming home due to traffic and headwinds.

Route Evaluation: Way too many traffic lights and stop signs (just under 50, I believe). Some industrial mess around Doolittle/Davis/Williams, some quiet neighborhoods in San Leandro and Castro Valley, a real park road ride past Lake Chabot, some real urban street riding in Castro Valley and Pleasanton, and the next best thing to a country road (Dublin Canyon - with a speed limit of 55 mph), but right next to a freeway.

I've had to wait for skunks around Mt. Trashmore, yell at deer around Lake Chabot (Hey Dummy! Get out of the road! seems to work best) and I was once delayed for half an hour by a woman on a spooked horse on East Castro Valley Boulevard. The stretch along Dublin Canyon/Castro Valley BL has been under construction for over a year, but they seem to be almost done. I carefully planned this route to minimize climbing, since I'm not good at it. Keith Vetter's excellent klimb program says there's about 970' of climbing overall. There's nothing I would call steep, and many a fitter cyclist has passed me with a cheerful "Good Morning" or "Are you OK?" going up Lake Chabot Road and Castro Valley Boulevard. The stretch along Dublin Canyon Road (also known as the Dublin Grade if you listen to radio traffic reports) is not steep, but is a couple of miles of steady climb, maybe 3-4% grade. Climbing seems to be much easier if you weigh less, which I don't, so I think this is probably a conditioning question, not a gearing question. This route is also cleverly planned to go near as many BART stations as possible (San Leandro, Castro Valley and Dublin/Pleasanton), in case things go wrong, or you have to get home in a hurry. I love every minute of it, and it never seems to get old, but it is not an idyllic romp in the countryside. Headwinds coming home at night are the norm.

Why to do it

Some people are aghast at the "waste of time". Here's my thinking: by car, the one way trip is 40 minutes (rounding up). By bike, 120 minutes (rounding down). If I go to a club to work out for one hour, it takes me 90 minutes to do the workout, and commute to and from the club. If I bike, I save 10 minutes! Of course, if you count the return trip, and assume I wouldn't go to the club twice in one day, things get a little hazier - I get to subtract one hour because I enjoy riding my bike, and I don't enjoy driving, so I'm only out 10 minutes.

Alternatives

From the 580/150th street point, you can also take Foothill through to Castro Valley.

You can cut out a few of the zigs and zags by taking a right turn from Dolores onto Bancroft instead of a left (toward Estudillo). Then go all the way to 150th and make another left. Proceed up the hill till you cross over the 580 freeway and take a right at the light. Go to the next light at Fairmont and turn left to go up the hill. After passing Lake Chabot, continue to Castro Valley Blvd. and make a left. Continue through town and go up the hill again after crossing the intersection at Crow Canyon Rd. At the bottom of the hill the road goes back under the freeway and ends up taking you right to the intersection of Dublin Canyon Rd.

All the way around Bay Farm Island

From Mark Irons

Whether you have kids or not, having to listen to other people drool over how wonderful theirs are can be a stone drag. I'll try to spare you that, but would like to share a ride I took with my 7 and 10 year old sons yesterday.

We road from our home at Oak street near Otis to Bay Farm via the bike bridge where we followed the trail around Mount Trashmore on San Leandro Bay to the model plane field. There we took the creepy crossing of Doolittle where the crossing button doesn't give you a walk signal if you don't get to it before the light change and you can't see the west bound signal of the folks screaming in from Oakland. But we made it safely and proceeded all the way around to the bridge again and home. Previously we have transported bikes by truck to near the Harbor Bay Country Club for shorter rides but never have we done this complete circuit before. (It is my ususal solo ride for excercise.) It was an incredible confidence boost for these kids and they were really able to master gear shifting and other skills for the first time. We only passed about twenty people total on the Bay Farm portion! It is too bad that getting to and from the bridge is such a nerve racking hassle.

Having taken this ride many many times it is not exactly exciting but still never boring, and always beautiful. When I look south to the San Bruno mountains I always think about how their silhouette is the same as it has been forever, since before the indians built the shell mounds on the East End and probably had a relatively great life here. Bike riding gave me my first whiff of freedom as a kid and getting to share this ride with these boys made me really glad we picked Alameda to raise them.