2017 SMR 17

The heat wave begins.

JB is in Europe, so just me - and tons of riders in special event jerseys... like Team in Training, AIDS Ride, etc.

Turned around at Junction cuz I got work to do.

Auto blog for CAL jersey.  Actually this looks like a skin suit.

2017 SMR 16

71 Strava Flybys!  Yes, Death Ride training is in full swing.

Kind of cool weather-wise.  Glad I had my windbreaker.

Jeez, these Death Ride guys are smooth and fast

The million dollar view.

This guy was on his second Summit already.

This guy is a regular, I think he said his name was Ted.
He had a classic steel Cinelli with clinchers.  Also has a Gios.

Happy Mother's Day to all my mom-readers.

2017 WNR 04

Seven of us tonight.

No wildlife except bugs.

Jeez, it's COLD?

The Mountain is getting less green.

2017 SMR 15

I checked - here we are in May; 15 Saturday Morning Rides and this was only my FOURTH Summit of the year.  Mostly problems with the weather, but some of those misses were just wussing out I think.

Today's Special Guest Rider:  JUAN who's training for his SIXTH! Death Ride

Started off kind of cool, but looked like it would warm up... never did.

No wildlife encounters, no road kill reports, but there were a LOT of people enjoying The Mountain today.

Photo-Bombing is when you get yourself into someone else's photo.
What's it called when you take a photo of someone else taking a photo?
These guys were from a Daly City club.

2017 WNR 03

I think eight of us from work tonight, including a new hire, and a recently resigned!

35°C to start out though... that's hot.  I had frozen my water bottle to the slush point, but it was melted all the way by the time I parked.

Mom and Dad sent me some birthday money last week and I used it for a professional bike tune up at Big Dave's Bikes.  My cables were frayed and my shifting was a little off, and boy they fixed it up good.  Turns out my cable guide under the bottom bracket had lost a screw so it was only being held on by the cables and that was messing with my shifting.  I brought in a set of pretty cables I had intended to put on myself but hadn't gotten around to - glad I waited because they did a better job than I would've.

So yeah, a hot ride, a hard climb, and a nice descent.

Wildlife Encounter:  Turkeys.  Big ones.  Lots of them.  All over The Mountain.

Check out that beautiful new cable housing!

I love riding in formation.

Diablo Shoutout to Blog Reader MIDLAND who forgot to charge his electronic shifting system and had to use his little ring.

2017 SMR 14

Looked like good weather, but I sported my arm warmers.

Got really windy about Chainbuster.

Al said there were 45mph gusts at the Summit, so I went home, and JB went down Southgate with Justin who showed up after we got there.

This guy passed us like we were standing still.

There he is way up there already.

2017 WNR 02

Only four of us tonight.  Good weather with just enough threat of rain to make things interesting.

Wildlife Encounter:  Turkeys at Little Pine Creek

I decided to go faster than last week, but slower than next week... to give the impression of consistent improvement.

Ranger Carl sighting at Junction - not many other riders for some reason.

2017 WNR 01

Well, weather and workload have conspired to keep this first Wednesday Night Ride of the year until the middle of April!

Big crowd though, 7 of us tonight.  Regular rider Elmar has resigned though so this year will have quite a different flavor.

2017 SMR 13

Oh yeah, spring weather has returned to The Mountain.

JB yelled at this guy for passing around a blind turn...
clueless guy claimed it wasn't a blind turn.

Colonel Al executes an almost perfect cowboy dismount.
Knee extended but toe not pointed.

 Al showed me a phone app he's developing for Diablo visitors - it has phone numbers, contacts, and information, plus a way to report hazards and such.  Looked useful, and almost ready for release.

This washout is at Juniper.
Odd because it's not a place where water runs off.

 JB had baseball tickets and I was knackered by Juniper so that's where we turned around.

This guy wins the prize for Most Magnificent Beard.