Stephanie Reed gave a presentation on her trip around the bay at February’s EBBC meeting. Read about her journey here.
Fulfilling a Vision: Biking 250 Miles of the Bay Trail in Five Days
By Michelle Quinn-Bay Area Blog,New York Times [March 13, 2010]
Last September, Stephanie and Tim Reed biked out their Oakland front door and pedaled to the Bay Trail, a 21-year effort to create a continuous, 500-mile hiking and biking trail along the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay, linking the area’s nine counties. With 298 miles completed, the trail is a work in progress with pieces added in chunks, each addition attended by some civic hoopla. Last November, a deal between Chevron and the East Bay Regional Parks District will add two more miles along Point Molate in Richmond, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“We’re getting to the more difficult gaps,” said Laura Thompson, a Bay Trail project manager. The project is part of the Association of Bay Area Governments. “One challenge, for example, is at San Francisco Airport and finding a safe route for bicyclists and pedestrians over Highway 101 and then back over 101 again.”
This spring, a bridge, which was placed over a slough, will open between Oakland and San Leandro, the last gap in a long stretch of trail, largely completed, from Oakland to Hayward. One proposed name is The Bill Lockyer Bridge, after the state’s treasurer, who initiated legislation to create the Bay Trail when he was state senator in 1987. The Bay Trail plan was adopted by the association in 1989. The bridge will mark the completion of the trail’s 300th mile. Another new segment that may be open soon is a two-mile stretch at Moffett Field in Mountain View, which has been a complex process because it involves getting federal agency approvals.
For five days, the Reeds — she is 59, he is 56 — biked 250 miles, traveling clockwise around the Bay, down towards Milipitas where the East Bay and Peninsula meet in a “V” at Alviso.
Heading north, they hopped on BART for just a few stops to get around San Francisco Airport, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and from Novato took Highway 37 (not an official part of the trail) east to Vallejo. Their last night was spent in a historic hotel in Benicia, after which they crossed the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, which had just opened its bike path, before heading south back to Oakland.
For their no-car vacation, the Reeds didn’t carry much, eating at restaurants and stopping at supermarkets. They stayed with friends on two nights and in hotels for two nights. In total, they spent about $500. At several points in their journey, they met detours or dead ends, including on their first day trying to get on the Bay Trail at Tidewater Street in Oakland, which is temporarily closed due to construction, as The Oakland Tribune reported.
Read the interview with Stephanie and see pictures at: bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com