2025 Diablo Day 45 - Saturday Morning Junction

Just me again - JB will be out for several Saturdays... but he checks up on me so I can't weenie out.

This was the coldest ride of the season so far - I dressed for about 90% protection - everything except the neoprene booties, ear warmers, and my bulkiest gloves. It was about right.

Pretty thick fog between 1000 and 2000 feet.

Wildlife Encounter: Coyote near Rock City in the fog.

Triple Crown jersey holder - little chance I'll see him again.

I caught this SF Randonneur  though. 

Bottom of the fog layer.

COYOTE!

Above the fog layer it was glorious.

This guy recognized my classic bike and checked to see if I was somebody famous.

Quite a few riders were wearing face coverings... maybe the cold? ... maybe hygiene? maybe ICE?

On the way down, the fog layer was a little thinner.

2025 Diablo Day 44 - Saturday Morning Junction BIG GAME DAY!

Big Game Day and I had my Cal jersey and flew my Cal flag. Didn't see any red jerseys on The Mountain.

Wildlife Encounter: DEER - one crossed the road in front of me, but far enough away that it was no big deal.

At Junction I saw a talked to a guy who couldn't unclip from one of his pedals - turned out a screw in his cleat had broken off so the cleat was just kind of spinning and he had to take his foot out of his shoe to get his shoe out of the pedal. We tried some ideas and he eventually got it tightened down well enough to get home.

 

2025 Diablo Day 43 - Saturday Morning Junction

Autumn fell hard this week - rain and wind and leaves and turkeys.

Wildlife Encounter: turkeys

I've got the route through the country club memorized now that I've moved to Danville. I used to have kind of a reluctance to ride through here because of all the resident vs bicyclist news - but I have never gotten any hint of unwelcomeness from anyone in here.

It was pretty calm until about 1500 feet when the wind started blowing and it didn't stop until Junction... where lots of us complained about it.

Earlier this week, JB and I were hoping to Summit on today's ride but we were both knackered after a plain old Junction.

2025 Diablo Day 42 - Saturday Morning Juniper

Yes, the winter bike is off the hooks. Looks like I'll need some new tubulars before the winter's over... getting harder and harder to find them and the choices are fewer and fewer.

JB's probably got one more ride before he's off for a month or so for some medical stuff. We decided to do Juniper and then evaluate whether we had a Summit in our legs - neither of us did. I felt pretty good aerobically but not strong enough for any more climbing.

On the way down I came across a guy who was off his bike and he said his chain came off and he didn't know how to fix it - so I stopped at a picnic area close by and he walked down to me and I put it all back together again. He said he was fumbling with getting his cleat in the pedal, fell over, and the chain came off. It was wedged in his front derailleur so kind of tricky... but a Diablo rider ought to know some basic roadside repair. It gave me a good feeling to be useful.

This grizzled old buzzard has reportedly been riding The Mountain for 34 years.

Chain guy.

2025 Diablo Day 41 - Saturday Morning Juniper

Day After Halloween ride.

Normal amount of riders. Warm sun with patches of crisp cool air in the wooded areas... I could've probably worn shorts.

JB has one more week before he's out of commission for a while, so we decided to extend our ride to Juniper. 

Nice of the POTUS to greet me as I left home.

2025 Diablo Day 40 - Saturday Morning Junction

No Kings Day marches in Walnut Creek and Pleasanton - I decided to ride Diablo instead.

It was warm in the sunshine and cold in the shadows... how perfect is that?

Wildlife Encounter: three deer where the Ghost Bike used to be. I didn't notice them until I was eye-to-eye with one of them.

JB gave me a bottle of home-made hot sauce from his home-grown peppers... had it on my chili when I got home; a fresh pepper kind of taste without too much heat.

2025 Diablo Day 39 - Saturday Morning Junction

 Very nice day, but boy summer is over and fall is in the air. I wore my arm warmers and that was about perfect. I couldn't find my Icy Hot though so the knee was complaining a little. It's about time to dust off the foul-weather bike.

People have been seeing tarantulas - not me... I mean I haven't seen any, I don't mean no one has seen me. Well there weren't many riders on The Mountain today so not that many people saw me today. Anyway - tarantulas.

Tomorrow I pick up my Burley Cargo Trailer - watch this blog for my pending Product Review. I'm going to be doing a lot of urban utility cycling starting soon.

Hey look - that piece of fence they cut out from the Easement is still there... probably waiting for another judge to overturn the order and be replaced.

Fall colors at Maple Rock!