I'm from SoCal, driving up to Clear Lake for sailing on Saturday, will be driving back to OC on Sunday, most likely coming down on 175 and 29 thru Cobb, Middletown, Calistoga, Napa, Benicia.
Thinking of throwing my bike in the car and stopping along the way somewhere for a couple hour ride before getting to the central valley. I'm doing a 12,000' century next weekend, so I'm not looking to do a major climb this weekend so I will have to try Diablo some other time.
I found a route on Strava that starts in Benicia, heads up toward Vallejo, back down over the Carquinez bridge, a climb on the Cummings skyway in Crockett Hills, then on to Martinez and across the Benicia bridge to finish up. 26 miles, 1500 feet, which is in the ballpark of what I'm looking for.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20640086
Does this sound like a good route? Any other suggestions? I don't want to drive too far off east or west of my drive home route, as it will be a long driving day already. Thanks much.