Day 3 Finally some rollers

June 9, 2009

Albany to Napa

Both MBW and I had a rough night, which was no fault of our fabulous hosts. MBW is not feeling tip-top and goodness knows what my problem was. Since I'm on this regimen of not getting stressed or antsy about schedules, I just let things roll. With only a little effort. I was also prepared to just drive to the next stop. But MBW wants to continue. She decided not to ride at all today, just get some OTC meds and see what happened.

So at 10:30 we finally got on the road. Huffed and puffed all the way to Fat Apple's for second breakfast. About a half mile away. Hey - at least it was in El Cerrito, the next town. And I knew that we'd have a chance for cupcakes at last at Fat Apple's. (I was right.)

Ah. The first cupcakes of the tour. Plain old yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Sometimes the simplest are the best.

I was not completely looking forward to today's ride. I knew it would be hillier than I'd done yet, and I wasn't looking forward to riding along Hwy 29 from Vallejo to Napa. Wide shoulder but v. fast traffic. The late start would get me there about rush hour. But we weren't going to stress about that. The new me and all.

There's a great route on the East Bay Bicycle Coalition's West of the Hills bike map called the I-80 Bikeway. Pretty much parallels - you guessed it - I-80 from El Cerrito Del Norte BART station to Rodeo's transit center. I followed that its entire length, then continued on to the Carquinez Bridge.

The route is nicely rolling and goes through lots of suburban landscape. Not particularly exciting but McDonald's was there when I needed a pit stop. I went really slowly, as is my wont, and managed all the hills and traffic without much problem. Drivers were very considerate when the shoulder disappeared.

I'd only driven through Pinole, never stopped there. Spent an hour there today. I first stopped near a bus stop to take a photo of a mural across the road. A Pinole resident named Jim was there waiting for the bus. I asked him a little about the old town just ahead. He said it wouldn't take me long to see it. (He was right.) I told him about my tour, which he thought was great exercise. Yup, I said. I'm doing it now because I'm 54 and it ain't gonna get any easier. He professed astonishment, said I was a fine looking lady and where was my husband. I said she's coming up soon with her trike, etc. We chatted about the state of fitness of the high school generation (which is bad, of course), then I wished him good day and he wished me a good ride.

It was time for a break, so I settled down with water and snacks and map. Then MBW called to say she was nearby, so we rendezvoused. I thought it was high time to try out those cupcakes we'd picked up at Fat Apple's. Your basic yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Nothing fancy but really good. I'd rate it a 4 out of 5. Our first real cupcake of the trip. Finally!

Then onward through Hercules and Rodeo. I was thinking Rodeo was a cute little town until I went around the bend and saw all the refineries on the hill above town. Ah yes. Forgot about those.

So you ride through somewhat quaint Rodeo and then go around a curve . . .

Also, there began a 2 mile climb. Not too steep, but gained about 300 feet. At then end of that climb, though . . .

View across Carquinez Strait of Mare Island with, I think, Sonoma Mtn in the background.

There was the Carquinez Strait. That's where the mighty Sacramento River, which has drained the upper Central Valley, and the San Joaquin River, which has drained the lower part of the Central Valley, run together out to San Pablo Bay, then SF Bay, then to the Pacific. Across the way is Mare Island, which used to be a big Navy shipyard. And on the south side of the bridge is the C&H sugar refinery in Crockett. And further up the way a big PG&E power plant. You get the picture. But we're all getting smarter about how to use what we've got. More of the land around there is public, and getting restored and interpreted.

Al Zampa and Carquinez bridges crossing Carquinez Strait. You can see the C&H sugar refinery on the right through the bridge cables. The bike lane on the Zampa Bridge is the side closest to the camera.

Before the bridge was a great vista point with that fabulous view and some good interpretive panels. The panels were mounted on trusses and braces from the original 1927 bridge that the Al Zampa Bridge replaced. The railings were the original 1927 pedestrian walkway railings.

Latticework brace from original 1927 Carquinez Bridge (which the Zampa Bridge replaced) now used for holding interpretive panels at vista point west of the bridge. This railing was used on the original 1927 Carquinez Bridge, now used on the vista point west of the bridge. This railing was used on the original 1927 Carquinez Bridge, now used on the vista point west of the bridge.

This railing was used on the original 1927 Carquinez Bridge, now used on the vista point west of the bridge.

Onward across the Zampa Bridge, which has a wonderful bike/ped lane. (FYI, Zampa Bridge is I-80 southbound, Carquinez Bridge is I-80 northbound. They're right next to each other.) On the north side is a bike/ped overlook with more great interpretive panels.

The bike lane on the west side of the Al Zampa Bridge over Carquinez Strait.

This shows how much the bay marsh has been filled in since our kind has taken over. At least now we understand better how that's been a problem and are taking steps to remedy it.

Rolled off the bridge into Vallejo, along Sonoma Blvd. I wasn't having any fun with no bike lane and lots of commute traffic starting to happen. About halfway through MBW caught up to me. I was feeling great at the last overlook but by the time she showed up I was fading. Over some food I looked at the time, and the maps, and thought it was going to be a sag day. I am not happy, as a member in good standing of the EFI Club (Every F Inch), to not continue, but the late start meant a late finish and I wasn't doing that to MBW again.

So we drove to our Napa hotel and we're living large, sitting together typing our respective blogs. And still it's about an hour later than I wanted to get to bed.
Read MBW's blog for her take on today.

Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 107 miles (172 km)

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