2019 SMR 37

Very pleasantly cool this mornng.  There was a little fog in the valley.

Not very many people on The Mountain, me and JB wondered if there were some event going on elsewhere.

At Junction, a guy drove up and asked me if I would help him carry a bench.  He was a volunteer that was refurbishing the Pete and Monica benches, so the first one was done and we put it back next to the Ranger Door.  And then I helped put the other one (by the stairs) in his vehicle so he could take it home and refinish it as well.  Make sure you notice them next time you Junction.

There were a lot of hikers today, most of them parked at Juniper.  At Summit one of them asked if she could take a photo of my bike.  I asked "Why?" and she said she was an Eddy Merckx fan!


Going down from Summit I sight Linda K coming up.  I turned around and rode up with her to the Lower Lot and congratulated her on her ONE MILLION FEET OF CLIMBING IN A YEAR trophy that she will be completing on Friday.  I won't be able to ride with her that day but hopefully she has a good group to celebrate with.  By the way, a million feet in a year is an average of Six Summits per week for 52 weeks.  I told her she made it look a little too easy; finishing a month early.

Putting the Monica bench in his vehicle for refinishing.

This guy said "nice bike" when he passed me.  So he gets blogged.

This rider about hurled at the top of The Wall... HAZZAH!

I really like this color of blue for a jersey.  As a bonus, it gives a sort of fluorescent shimmer to the snot on my sleeves.

Two of Diablo's celebrities!

This rider passed me at Moss Landing and then slowed down. 
I followed her for the next 6 miles thinking it'd be rude to pass her back.

You will love this... trust me.
Culture Club, No Doubt, Italian cotton sew-ups, and my shadow, harmonizing on Summit Road from Blue Oak to Juniper... artfully edited and produced.

2019 SMR 36

First ride since Standard Time started.  I must admit, it was nice to have had El Sol warm things up for an extra hour before starting.  Went with tights and LS jersey and was mostly comfortable.

Big group from Hercules Cycling Club on NGR today... those guys are always friendly.

JB's joke:  "What does an electrician say when he gets a shock?  That Hz!".

Spare the Air day today, but it wasn't really too bad, especially up a little higher.

JB quit at Junction, said he was just tired.  I didn't know what my best Junction-Summit time was but I figured I'd do a hard effort and see how I measured up.  Answer:  2nd best ever... missed it by 34 seconds.

2019 WNR 31

OK, we've started our Wednesday afternoon rides, during Daylight Wasting Time.  I'm calling them "Winter Wednesday Junction" on Strava but keeping my WNR numbering scheme for the Blog. 

Most of these will be just me and JB and Charlie.

2:30 o'clock seemed to be a fine start time.  

Charlie wore a snappy blue outfit and socks with an amazing fade pattern.

JB wore an old T-shirt and shorts that exposed a little too much in back.

Random guy who passed us. At Junction he took his bike to the bathroom with him.  I have never heard of a bike being stolen on The Mountain but that seems to have been his concern.

2019 SMR 35

Still haven't got Winter Wednesday Junctions started - this week The Mountain was closed for high fire danger.  We decided to try again next week.

This morning was COLD!  My fingers were painfully cold for the first hour or so despite wearing my second-warmest pair of cycling gloves.  Also full tights and winter jacket.  By The Ranches though I was already too warm with this attire.

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys after Chainbuster.

There was a trail running event going on.  The volunteers were really good about safety at places where the trail crossed the road.  Some of them though were still driving up before the event and they displayed imperfect safety skills with winding roads and passing cyclists.

From up high, you could really see the residual smoke in the air from the fires up north.  I think Diablo really dodged a bullet last week.

2019 SMR 34

After Thursday's ride, I made the tiniest rotational adjustment to my handlebars and it felt like a totally different bike.  A little too much though, so after this morning's ride, I rotated them back a half as much.  Standby for updates on this critical news.

The sun is no longer in my eyes as I ride down Walnut Avenue in the morning... unfortunately it wasn't out at all today and it was pretty cold until about 8:30.  I toughed it out in arm warmers.

The Ranger at North Gate asked us not to stop in the zone of the kiosk.  This is the place JB always takes off his jacket or something right before we start.  We're never there for more than a minute and we weren't blocking any traffic even if there were some traffic.  I'm not sure what he was concerned about but I wanted to oblige - he said just a little farther ahead or a little farther back would be fine.

JB's bike is still at the shop - he doesn't want the builder to feel rushed.

Wildlife Encounter:  lots and lots of deer.

Above The Bump, one male with a good set of antlers found himself in front of us without a clear exit strategy.  We tried to calm him with soothing words describing our peaceful intentions, but he was a bit panicked.  He trotted along ahead with frequent glances back at us to see what we were up to, and then he finally found a place where he could get off the road into a safe bushy area.

There's a pretty big forest fire going on in Geyserville - 80 miles to the northwest but you could see the smoke in the air and I could feel it a little in my throat.  Supposed to be some really serious wind the next couple nights too - could get a lot worse.  Diablo will be closed starting tonight, they're expecting power outages too.

THERE'S the sun!

 Fire is that way.

  These guys had their emergency lights on, but weren't in a hurry.

MARK!