3 hardy souls in attendance: Jason Stone, Bob Freitas and myself. dubbed the 1st CR "refinery ride" by Bob the title didn't disappoint. we started out at the orinda bart station around 10am and admired the cioccs, coopers and masis for a bit then headed north on camino pablo riding alongside san pablo reservoir - this was the traditional scenic part of the ride and was quite nice in the late morning sun. just warming up then we would marvel later at the summer-like temps and lack of water on the route. we hit the bay around rodeo and went through the conoco refinery property - seems like a better use of this land nowadays would be upscale mcmansions with an incredible bay view. after a decent climb down the hill we went trying to pay attention to the road surface but mostly checking out the interesting scenery along the way. we stopped at the vista point overlooking the carquinez straight and learned about the native carquin indians and the 1st bridge built there in 1927. just before rolling into crockett i spied a restaurant named "the dead fish" - gotta keep that in mind for the next time out that way - love a place with a sense of humor... we had a bite at a deli in the thriving metropolis of downtown crockett then were on our way toward the more interesting scenic part of the route: Carquinez Scenic Dr. - this was very different but seemed a lot like the paradise loop ride without the pretense. we found port costa not intentionally, a tiny town with a few closed shops and what looked like the post office and a bar in one hosting several harley riders taking it easy on a sunday afternoon. backtracking a bit we found the closed to car traffic part of the road which was beautiful in it's own way. The section through martinez was pretty nice and i would've liked to check out the downtown area but we were way behind schedule so kept up a brisk pace back to orinda through lafayette partially on the lamorinda trail.
this was the route we took (as far as i could tell):
my pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericm/sets/72157625395838290/
Bob's pics here:
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/NITROBOBs-GARAGE/Crockett-Martinez/?g2_page=1
Jason's pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21306332@N07/sets/72157625396750798/
'til next time, "Have a Nice Ride"...
