One of the benefits of riding our BOB ride is that because it contains all of the best and most popular rides through the East Bay hills, you learn lots of great routes that you can ride all year long. You can easily use BART to reach these routes, and for returning back home.
Note that the BOB ride parallels BART and that allows you to break into and out of the BOB route in several segments as desired.
The first segment starts and ends at Orinda BART: you ride the 27 mile loop around San Pablo reservoir back to Orinda via Lafayette, or stay on Bear Creek Road to end up at the intersection of Wildcat Canyon and Camino Pablo (2 miles North of Orinda). For services, there is Cafe Teatro right by the Community Park, a Starbucks and Safeway one block North of the park, plus just South of Orinda BART there is another Starbucks. Along the 27 mile route there are virtually no services or restrooms until you reach Lafayette - which has lots.
The second segment is from Orinda South on the BOB route for 34 miles to Castro Valley. If you continue South on Redwood Road from where BOB turns East onto Heyer Avenue, in just 2 blocks you reach a Safeway and Peet's Coffee. And just 1/2 mile further South along Redwood Road you reach the Castro Valley BART station. Note that you can also start at Castro Valley BART and ride the reverse BOB route back to Orinda.
From Castro Valley BART you can do the ride up and over Palomares, then either return back the same way or turn right on Niles Canyon - if you follow Niles Canyon for around four miles you reach the Union City BART station. If you turn left on Niles Canyon and go to Sunol, then you have an option of turning left at the first stopsign after Sunol to go to Pleasanton - another BART station. For services, in Sunol there is a store and porta-potties at the Sunol train station.
Or, you can go South from Sunol up and over Calaveras and back up to Fremont BART - just as on the BOB ride. Remember that there are no services or water along the Calaveras Road between Sunol and Fremont.
So you can see there are lots of great options for doing just portions of our BOB route as shorter rides, starting and ending at BART.
