Okay, after several failed attempts to organize this ride, let’s give it a try: This Saturday, 10:30, Walnut Creek BART. About a 35-mile round trip, moderate hills, taking us to Martinez, Port Costa, and maybe the John Muir house. Some notes from Short Bike Rides San Francisco: “This mellow, mosey-along kind of ride offers highly scenic views of Mt. Diablo and the Easy Bay Hills as well as of the Carquinez Straits and the tiny and ancient hamlet of Port Costa. I don’t know which is the bigger treat: riding the eroded and unrepaired Carquinez Scenic Road, which is closed to cars, or shooting the bull with the locals at the Warehouse, an immense, historic bar [side note: has 200+ beers, and might have a BBQ running] in Port Costa right out of a country-music video. Then, of course, there’s the John Muir House to be visited, charming downtown Martinez to peruse, and the uncrowded multiuse paths of Contra Costa Country to check out.” And a few other excerpts: “You’ll find yourself climbing through a beautiful and very Spanish-looking old graveyard”, “postcard views of Carquinez Straits […] Forty percent of the land area of California drains its runoff water through these straits.”