Just turned on to this lovely bicycle route, by a longterm BUUG member, who is also a prominent Unix expert and administrator for BALUG (Bay Area Linux User Group). It actually starts at one end, in Ohlone Park...finally ends up in Richmond. See map above (click on it for better details).

My first ride on that pathway, was two days ago, to Solano Avenue, Albany...where there was this humongous street fair, where I volunteered at our "Berkeley Linux User Group" (BerkeleyLUG) booth. Lots of curious folks asked very smart questions, even though many of them still use Windoze, and never even heard of Linux or Ubuntu!

The Greenway goes much further than Albany...I intend to ride the trail in full very soon...once this latest mini heat wave is over. You know how September can get! In fact, there was a 3-day heat wave until the day I went to Solano...it had cooled down nicely, and we even had a light, premature rainfall from 5 pm on. So I rode my new bike in this delicious rain, and stopped along the way to Rockridge BART, at Au Coquelot Cafe on University, for an iced tea, and to try out their new free wifi.

Then I continued in this barely moderate rain, along Shattuck, then up Russell and zigzagging through all the lovely neighborhoods, coming out via Alcatraz to College Avenue. Got off at your usual stop, 16th & Mission, walked the bike one block up to 17th, then rode the remainder "home". I was wonderfully exhausted from the great exercise...and am glad to be resuming my workouts once more, after three years' neglect.

Bicycling doesn't even feel like exercise, but it surely is! Makes it psychologically easier to round this out with yoga and mild weights. My social group for hackers, BUUG, has been such a great success, I'm thinking about starting another one, this time a bicycling group, "Cycle Nerds" or some such.

Solano Avenue Stroll is a lovely (and looong, uphill slope) of small shops, restuarants, and tree-lined green patches. Very villagy in a Berkeley way, I could spend some quiet hours holed up in a little cafe every now and then...reading or wifi browsing.

Here's a wikipedia page about this exquisite urban trailway:

wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohlone_Greenway

The Greenway is lined with Calif. cottages and low-rise apartments...love to live in one of 'em, w/backyard facing the trail. There are even benches scattered throughout, where one can pause and admire the cute guys whizzing by! Hmmm...did I die and go to

heaven perhaps?