Walnut Creek/Orinda California Beta

[Rontele]

Will be there for work starting April 19th for approximately 3-days. Need rec'ds for restaurants, etc. Also, looks like Diablo State Park is nearby and I am planning on bringing my mountain bike shoes and helmet. Any place to demo a bike?

[Relentless]

Hey-

Surprised to hear you'll be there - must have family in Orinda, cause no one stays here otherwise. Not that it's a bad place, just most tourists tend to gravitate towards SF.

Anyway - I'll split this up into two sections - one for riding, and one for food.

Riding is good in Mt.Diablo, but bring a ton of water and sunscreen - it's called Mt. Diablo cause it can get hotter than hell there. IMO, better riding is to be found in the Berkley Hills (closer to Orinda). Joaquin Miller Park in oakland is only 15 minutes from Orinda, and has ripping loops in the shade. It's a small park, but it you hook it up with Redwoods, right across the road, you'll get some good milage out of the area. Alternatively, if you are looking for a shuttle run, PM me and I'll give you directions to a discreet but fun DH run. Briones is good for a short spin right near Orinda, as is Sibley


Joaquin Miller Park
http://www.oaklandnet.com/joaquinmillerpark/

Redwoods, Briones, Sibley
http://www.ebparks.org/parks/

For Food - Orinda has a few good restaurants, such as La Piazza for good pasta + pizza, but you'll find the majority of good restaurants in the area gravitate towards lafayette, which is right in between Walnut Creek and Orinda. Chows, The Metro Grill and Pizza Antica are all great dinner places. Blue Ginko has bitching Sushi,

Chow
http://www.chowfoodbar.com/laf_location.html

Metro
http://metrolafayette.com/

Pizza Antica
http://www.pizzaantica.com/

Blue Ginko
http://www.sporq.com/lafayette/blueg...18mtdiabloblvd

Let me know if you have any other questions, etc.

[cramer]

Downtown walnut creek has a lot of great restaurants, it just depends on the kind of food you like. You can just walk around down there and find a good place. If you are there on a tuesday, stop in for 50 cent tacos and i think its 1.00 or 2.00 margueritas at the cantina off of main st. after work. They serve those out in the bar. For sushi you can't go wrong at house of sake in walnut creek. Its pretty good. For steak you have ruth kris, vic stewarts and flemmings. those are all kind of pricey for a dinner by yourself. but if you travelling for work, thats the kind of places i usually go feast at on the companies dime. If you want a stiff drink, Mr. Lucky's is the place to go off of locust.

Like i said, it just depends on the food. But walnut creek has a restaurant every other business front, so you arent going to have any problems eating there. I dont make it to lafyette or orinda much since i moved. So not sure about those downtowns.

[irul&ublo]

hop on bart...go to the city; eat there

[The Reverend Floater]

The only lunch joint you need to know is Nations.

[Rontele]

Thanks guys, good stuff. Don't know where I am staying and likely will have a rental car. If I fly in Sunday, I'd like to go to San Francisco for the day.

[Bennett]

Catina has been closed for years. It's now a Maria Maria. No more taco Tuesdays.

Havana is really good. Awesome halibut and nice scenery.
Montecatini and Salvatore's are the good Italian places. Can't go wrong with either.

You can park downtown and walk anywhere. Everything is really close.

As for Diablo, nearly all of the singletrack is off limits to bikes. If you're up for fireroad, rolling hills and a possible 3500 ft climb, hit it. It's not hot here yet so don't worry about the heat.

[Rontele]

Catina has been closed for years. It's now a Maria Maria. No more taco Tuesdays.

Havana is really good. Awesome halibut and nice scenery.
Montecatini and Salvatore's are the good Italian places. Can't go wrong with either.

You can park downtown and walk anywhere. Everything is really close.

As for Diablo, nearly all of the singletrack is off limits to bikes. If you're up for fireroad, rolling hills and a possible 3500 ft climb, hit it. It's not hot here yet so don't worry about the heat.

Where is the singletrack?

[Bennett]

From the top it's called "Summit Trail."

There is a section called Oyster Point that is legal, that's a better ride and doesn't involve starting from the peak.

There is some info on it here.

http://www.mtbguru.com/trip/show_sta...r-point-gpx-t0

[AKbruin]

If you feel like making a 35-40 minute drive to Marin, I'd be happy to show you some fun trails. I imagine either Sunshine Bikes or Fairfax Cyclery in Fairfax offer rentals/demos. There is definitely riding around where you'll be in the East Bay, but it's not exactly epic. Dhelihiker knows more about that area than I do though.

As for food, you're only two BART stops from Rockridge, which is a fun area with many good options. With only a little more effort, you can make to the Gourmet Ghetto in North Berkeley, which is great.

[cramer]

Catina has been closed for years. It's now a Maria Maria. No more taco Tuesdays.

Havana is really good. Awesome halibut and nice scenery.
Montecatini and Salvatore's are the good Italian places. Can't go wrong with either.

You can park downtown and walk anywhere. Everything is really close.

As for Diablo, nearly all of the singletrack is off limits to bikes. If you're up for fireroad, rolling hills and a possible 3500 ft climb, hit it. It's not hot here yet so don't worry about the heat.

Wow, i didnt know they closed cantina. It looks like the maria maria place does have taco tuesday. but they are 1.00 and shredded beef or shredded chicken. If i recall, the 50 cent tacos were onlly ground beef. Either way, that sucks on cantina. We use to get alot of us together after work back in the day. Good memories..

[Relentless]

Where is the singletrack?

Def singletrack to be found in joaquin miller park, and in Marin.

[myles long]

Joaquin Miller Park in oakland is only 15 minutes from Orinda, and has ripping loops in the shade. It's a small park, but it you hook it up with Redwoods, right across the road, you'll get some good milage out of the area. Alternatively, if you are looking for a shuttle run, PM me and I'll give you directions to a discreet but fun DH run..

The shuttle DH runs in Joaquin Miller end only a couple houses down from me.....let me know when you are here if you want to ride there, its my backyard

[Dhelihiker]

Shuttling JMP? dude really its a 20 minute peddle.

I think I am in town that WE and I should have a Nomad you could use.

Walnut Creek is the ritzy shit. World class cougar hunting.

Seriously, pm me, Ill grab AKbruin and we can rip Side-o, done and done

[myles long]

Shuttling JMP? dude really its a 20 minute peddle.

agree, i ususally just peddle it..but there are a bunch of people who shuttle if thats what you're into.

[MTT]

hop on bart...go to the city; eat there

I spent almost a year Working out of San Ramon.

BART in Walnut Creek gets you pretty much anywhere very fast.
Only issue might be where are you staying in relation to the Train Station.
Hell the Bus line between Walnut Creek and Dublin goes by sooo many good places that you would never find driving a car!

There a too many good options to name right in Walnut Creek and south along the 680.

But Three days? Just go to San Francisco 2 of the evenings.

EDIT
Just read the other posts.
The Locals have got you hooked up from A to Z

[Bennett]

AKBruin's suggestion of Marin is actually the best riding. Way better than Diablo. Only problem is you have to drive to get there, cross a bridge, and if you're following the rules, get a day pass from Fairfax bikes to ride in the Boy Scout area ($5).

Do Tamarancho, up White Hill, and then down Solstice. Tamarancho is a blast. The climb up White Hill is a living hell, but you have to earn the downhill of Solstice (soooo good).

Tamarancho riders should recognize my avatar picture.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Fuck all that shit, we're going to the Condor and staying there.

[Rontele]

AKBruin's suggestion of Marin is actually the best riding. Way better than Diablo. Only problem is you have to drive to get there, cross a bridge, and if you're following the rules, get a day pass from Fairfax bikes to ride in the Boy Scout area ($5).

Do Tamarancho, up White Hill, and then down Solstice. Tamarancho is a blast. The climb up White Hill is a living hell, but you have to earn the downhill of Solstice (soooo good).

Tamarancho riders should recognize my avatar picture.

Is this feasible for after work?

[myles long]

Is this feasible for after work?

It probably is feasible but there would be a decent ammount of traffic and you would drive right past the stuff in Joaquin Miller/Redwood on your way.