Northern Contra Costa County

Bill Bushnell — Saturday, December 23, 1995

After I had hoisted my bike up the stairs at the Rockridge BART station, I started down toward the west end of the platform to wait for the next train. Denise Jeong was to meet me here, but she was nowhere to be seen. But, I looked around behind me and saw her walking her bike in my direction.

“Did you bring something warm to wear?”, I asked her.

“I think so. These gloves aren’t too warm in cold weather.”, she said, showing me her knit gloves, the kind with little rubber bumps on the palms.

In a few minutes the next eastbound train came and whisked us off to Pleasant Hill. When we exited the train, I noticed that quite a crowd of cyclists had gathered in the parking lot below.

“Maybe we’re going to have a good turn-out for the ride today.”, I said, “but it’s odd that I don’t recognize anybody.”

When I exited the BART station, I saw Bruce King and his son Casey warming up in the parking lot. Bruce and Casey were whizzing around with Bruce on his mountain bike with slick tires, and Casey on the “Alley Cat” attachment. Co-leader Roberto Urquia was waiting just outside the station. He had printed out several copies of the route sheet.

As we made our way over to the assembled group of cyclists, Roberto told me that they were on a different ride from ours. So, it would be only us five on the ride today. We signed the sign-up sheet and headed off on our tour of northern Contra Costa County.

We started up Coggins Drive and continued on Oak Park Blvd. At Pleasant Hill Rd. we turned left and then right at Withers Rd. We turned right again at Reliez Valley Rd.

I was just starting to get warm. Casey preferred to let his daddy do all the pedaling except on the steepest hills. If he didn’t exercise, he’d turn into a little ice cube on a day like today. We stopped several times alternately to peel or to put on clothing until our bodies were comfortable.

At Alhambra Valley Rd. we turned right and continued north to Martinez. We turned left at Alhambra Ave., right at Alhambra Way, right on Estudillo, right on Terrace Way, and right again on Shell Ave.

Shell Ave. climbs steeply over a low hill and then down through an older part of Martinez. We crossed Pacheco Blvd. and continued past the Shell refinery. We turned left at Marina Vista and headed west into the main part of town. As we passed the Amtrak station we saw the Zephyr pulling into the station. It was just beginning its run from Oakland to Chicago. We watched the porters and one of the passengers scurry quickly out of the train to enjoy a cigarette while the train was in the station.

After riding through town, we climbed a very steep one-block hill on Marina Vista and turned right on Talbart St. and continued on the Carquinez Scenic Drive. The Scenic Drive climbs past old St. Catherine’s cemetery, a place that looks scary even in the daytime. The cemetery has a decayed look about it with the old cyclone fence broken and lopsided in several places, leaves scattered across the pathways and graves, the cracked headstones listing ominously, and hoary trees reaching their scraggly branches toward the rare winter sun.

Past the cemetery the Scenic Drive alternately climbs and descends along a steep hillside that plunges precipitously to the Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way below. Many good views across the Strait and back toward Martinez can be enjoyed along the road.

A couple of miles from Martinez the road is closed to autos because it is washed out and unstable in several spots, but it is passable to hikers or bikers. At the gate Bruce and Casey decided to turn back because Casey was cold. Bruce and Casey went back to Martinez and enjoyed a hot meal at Jack-in-the-Box.

Roberto, Denise and I continued past the slides and detoured briefly down to the waterfront of Port Costa. What a strange little town! We stopped just past the cafe in a parking lot filled with muddy puddles. Most of the buildings look old and poorly maintained, but there are a few new houses built in the old style along the main street.

We returned to the Scenic Drive and stopped at the parking lot for Carquinez Strait Shoreline Regional Park to enjoy a snack. After our snack we descended into Crockett and then turned left on Crockett Blvd. and began the gradual climb up to Cummings Skyway. Crockett Blvd. reminds me of a typical long, gradual climb one might experience in the Sierras. We turned left on Cummings Skyway and then left again on Franklin Canyon Rd. and enjoyed a long gradual “pedaling” downhill all the way back to Martinez. On the way down we saw a freight train heading west along the ATSF tracks parallel to the road.

At Alhambra Ave. we turned left and returned to downtown Martinez, stopping at the Amtrak station again for a bathroom break and a snack, and to see yet another train at the station. This time the station was crowded with people traveling somewhere for the Christmas holiday.

We headed east on Escobar and continued on Marina Vista past Shell Rd. onto Waterfront Rd. The headwind was fierce, and we were unable to maintain a paceline. About two miles past Shell Rd. Waterfront Rd. was flooded by a lake of water at least 8-10 inches deep. We were thinking of turning around when a pickup truck driver stopped and offered to take us through the huge puddle in back of his truck. We gratefully accepted the offer.

Once on the other side we turned right on Solano Way, waited and watched yet another Amtrak train go by on the nearby tracks, and then continued past the noisy, smelly, evil-looking Monsanto plant. At Arnold Parkway we turned left and at Port Chicago Hwy, we turned right and a half-mile later we were at the North Concord BART station.

While Roberto got his temporary bike permit, Denise and I fought with the new BART ticket machine. The machine wouldn’t make change, so Denise had to make do with an extra 15 cents on her ticket. After we got into the station, we found that we just missed the westbound train. The next one would be arriving in 20 minutes, and the station was a cold place to wait! Fortunately, the next train was waiting on the tail track behind the station, and after a few minutes it pulled into the station. The temperature in the train was a comfortable 69F.

At 15:26 the train left North Concord. Roberto exited at Pleasant Hill, and Denise and I both continued to Rockridge.

The ride turned out to be slower than I had expected, but it was still fun. Next time I’ll rate the pace of the ride as “B”.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

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