Touring * Beginner *

From Interstate 5, take the March Lane exit and head west for several blocks, until you reach the brand-spanking-new Brookside Business Park. You'll know you're there because you see infant-sized trees and three or four very stylish multistory office buildings. Turn left onto Brookside Avenue, go a quarter-mile, and make a U-turn in the driveway of the ritzy gated community. You can park in front of the open area on the east side of the street, where a bike path winds away toward town.

This tour is an exploration of perfect, flat pavement in Stockton's newer well-heeled neighborhoods. Start by crossing Brookside Avenue to the two-skaters-wide concrete sidewalk (notice the abundance of in-line tracks here) and head north to skate back to the Brookside Avenue intersection. Here's where you can start exploring, either in the neighborhoods straight ahead or to the left, approaching the country club. The only off-limits areas are the business-park parking lots, protected by a fleet of friendly security guards. As you cross March Lane, the wide, grass-bordered sidewalks continue north, and the residential streets up that way are also wide and pristinely paved. Returning to the Brookside Avenue/March Lane intersection, head west past the million-dollar homes and the country club, toward the marina. The roomy sidewalks end just before the marina, but the development plans call for paving a connection from here to the Calaveras River Levee Bike Path (see the next listing) that ends half a mile to the southeast.