2019 SMR 15

JB's back from Hawaii, but his Della Santa is still broken.  He had some story about why he couldn't ride his other two road bikes and today he rode his folding bike.  He usually keeps this one in good shape and lets guests use it so it was ready to go.  Kind of slow though, Junction time was embarrassing.  I did that same thing I did on Wednesday... riding in a big gear, out of the saddle, low cadence... it made the slow pace more tolerable.  Then I took off for the last mile before Summit and passed up a bunch of people who had passed us earlier... that felt awesome.  I'm feeling really good on the bike the last few weeks.

I asked JB if he had thought about replacing or repairing his Della Santa and he said "not too much".  I offered some suggestions on possible new bikes and told him "the more you think ahead of time about your budget, the less likely you are to get the bike you really want."  He said he already had the bike he wants and it was custom made for him by one of the most famous frame builders in the country.  So I expect he'll figure out a way to get it repaired and restored as good as new... but it'll take 5 months or so.

Wildlife Encounter:  one mama deer with a baby at Hotel Road, and a loose cow at Diablo Ranch - see photo below.

Roadkill Report:  snake.

Almost crowded on The Mountain this morning... big groups, small groups, individuals.  They were all smiling though and that made me smile too.  Also there were a few guys kind of talking to themselves, but I couldn't hear the conversation.  Didn't see anybody I knew well, but quite a few of the regulars and semi-regulars.  Started a little cold and windy, then we rode through a fog layer and the sun felt good but it never got warm.  There were wet spots under the tree canopies.

JB's folding bike.

Junction is a good place to re-group.

Loose cow round-up.

2019 WNR 10

JB's still in Hawai'i, but Charlie is back from Hawai'i and he put the call out and we got a good group!  Me, Charlie, Justin, Kathryn, and Shawn.

Justin and Shawn were challenging and pushing each other so we kind of left Charlie and Kathryn behind.  I rode in the front and the pace was a little slower than I would normally have gone but I was enjoying the social element so I had fun riding out of the saddle in big gears and slow cadence.  I didn't do any research but I opined that this was good training for muscular strength and didn't do much for aerobic improvement.  A couple times I did a little acceleration in my big gear and was satisfied to see that it worked.


Then with 1 mile to go I went full-gas and tied my best ever Split 6 Segment  on Strava.  Almost 10,000 people are slower than me!

MY CURRENT PLACE

2510 / 12398

Wildlife Encounter:  Two baby deers on The Approach (ridiculously cute), and one big buck on the hillside above The Bump.

Guy with a Triple Bypass jersey passed us here.

This guy had special shorts with a semi-transparent panel that showed everybody how muscular his buns were.

Big Buck!

No WNR

No Wednesday Night Ride this week because RAIN!  Marginal but likely that the Saturday ride will happen.

The Eroica California folks have uploaded a new video of my event, and yours truly is prominently featured at time 0:53.  This video really captures the old timey grizzled bike rider flavor of the event.

Also, happy birthday to my cat, Ace,  he's five.

2019 SMR 14

Went with normal summer uniform this morning, hoping the sun would burn off the fog.  The weatherman was right again, and it quickly got warm.

I told JB last week that Roland Della Santa had died - the famous custom bike builder that made his bike - and today he told me that he can't ride it anymore because a crack had developed in a dent that resulted from a crash years ago.  So... ironic and sad.  He's not sure if he'll get it repaired and repainted or retire it and get something new.  Whatever he decides, it will be quite a while before he has a fun Diablo bike again.

Anyway, he rode his old Trek commuter bike with heavy wheels and fenders and he wasn't having much fun and he said he was only going to Junction anyway.  I started to think about motivating myself to continue on to The Summit alone.  And then who do we run across but our old friend Juan V from Davis.  Juan had already been to The Summit earlier and was on his way down when he saw us, and he turned around and started up again.  We all had a nice conversation getting caught up and when we got to Junction, Juan and I went up Summit Road, and JB went down.

Then when we got to about Muir, Juan said his objective was to do 5,000 ft of vertical for the day, which he just completed so he stopped and we said farewell, and I continued on to The Summit.  Man the bugs were really bad though - that place where they're always bad... the last half mile or so before the Lower Lot... but they were exceptionally bad today; the swarming was like smoke in the air and I had to be careful not to breath them in... mostly successful with that.

There were a LOT of people enjoying The Mountain even though the wildflowers are mostly gone, must have been the weather, and maybe the AMGEN Tour of California and Giro d'Italia were getting people out on their bikes.

Fog in the morning.

The Trek TANK

Bharat got started early I guess.

Still kind of foggy

HERE's the sun

Juan opted not to do the Davis Double this year.

I thought I would photobomb this guy's selfie, but then I realized he was photographing his buddy coming up.

2019 WNR 09

Well after a hard ride last Wednesday, I thought I'd be more social tonight.  Shawn did Grizzly Peak on Sunday so he was still recovering.  Justin is getting over some serious allergies.  Joey got a new road bike and he's mostly a mountain biker.  And Kathryn came but wasn't planning on a suffer ride.

Wildlife Encounter:  a snake with a post-meal belly bulge...about the size of a mouse.

So I rode with Shawn and we put some time in front of everybody else but it really wasn't too fast, and then Colin caught us and he said he was on PB pace so I went with him for the last three miles and motivated him by going faster every time he slowed down a little bit.  At Junction he said he beat his best time by a minute!  We agreed to go for a Sub-40 attempt together one of these days... but that'll really hurt and I'm not at all sure I've got it... but it'll be worth the effort.

DiabloShoutout to Punkin Jay, who is not doing the Davis Double, but made it to Toyon tonight.

Colin on his way to a PB.  Jay on his way to Toyon.

Whew!

Cheeeeeese.

Another WNR in the bag.

2019 SMR 13

Started off a little cold - good thing I had a big serving of oatmeal this morning.

Got all the way to Junction before I realized I hadn't drunk any of my iced tea.  Could've gotten by with a single bottle for sure.

DiabloWife got me some carmel-toffee ClifBars for my birthday... a little sweeter and stickier than my usual flavors but it was definitely tasty.

Things are starting to turn brown my readers.  At least a lot less green.  And a lot fewer poppies and other colorful wildflowers... please get up there and enjoy our Mountain before the color fades and the water evaporates.

It is my honor and privilege to be DiabloScott; thank you for your support.

Custom Landshark and Rapha shorts??? I feel like I should already know him.

I've been seeing this guy a lot recently... Rocky Mountain bike in Molteni colors... but I don't think I've seen the Paris-Brest-Paris jersey before... hazzah.

I always appreciate when the wildlife doesn't run away when I ride up... this deer seemed to know I was no threat.  The turkeys were too dumb to know me from Nimrod.

Diablo Shoutout to regular Kasters... aka Sandal Guy