2014 WNR 10

Me, Kevin, Charlie, and new guy Mike.

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys

Absolutely perfect weather.

Kevin tried the Chris Horner Snickerbar nutrition - didn't work, he suffered.

Mike knows he needs a road bike, seemed to enjoy the ride anyway.

At Mile 2, Mike says "this is kind of a relentless climb."
Hasn't even started yet buddy.

Black Jersey Guy followed me for a while to make
sure I had some good photos to post.

2014 SMR 21

Warm today.  Went sleeveless.  Right knee was an issue again, just when standing and only for a few strokes if I kept going, but it would stop if I sat down.  Weird but painful.  Doesn't sound like any of the major knee problem symptoms I've heard people talk about though.

Wildlife Encounter:  dragonflies... not normally blog-worthy, but there were zillions of them.

Poor garbage truck driver had a heck of a time passing cyclists.
Garbage day on Saturday?  Not a good schedule.

Cervelo Guy speeds past at Muir.

This guy was cheer-leading at the top of The Wall.

Rivendell Mark at the ZigZag

2014 WNR 09

Big crowd from work tonight including new guy (and Diablo virgin) Zach, who has yet to establish a nickname but did a fine ride.  

Also along for the ride was Smooth Joey who by riding with us, bit off a lot less than he normally chews.

Really humid tonight... sweat wasn't evaporating.

Mileage marker muncher Nancy shouts out en passant.

Wildlife Encounter:  Turkeys at the Upper Ranch

Joey sets up the photo:

  

I  provide an action shot of my barely discernible sprint.

My knee was kind of complaining tonight... it better stop.  "shut up knee".

Punkin Jay and Jeanne offer some criticism 
on one of my previous blog posts.

2014 SMR 20

Today is the Death Ride... I figured there wouldn't be too many hard-core riders on the Mountain; I was wrong... hundreds of cyclists of all abilities were enjoying the roads and trails of the state park today.  Seemed to be a lot of cars also but there weren't any special activities going on.  One family at the Summit was even dressed up in their go-to-church clothes.

Tuck and Dudley were among the cast today as well.

Diablo Shoutout to blog reader Smooth Joey, 

who contracted a custom bike made to look and ride like a Klein

2014 WNR 08

Had a Cavendish moment on the trainer at the Club Sunday:



Replay
from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.
Me, Charlie, Kevin, and JB tonight.

It was Kevin's first day on clipless pedals... he worried and fussed but did fine.

Local pro Kirk Carlsen of the Jelly Belly team set a new Strava record for North Gate to Junction on Sunday:

 Д Mt. Diablo NGR: North Gate to Junction

Merits a kudo.

2014 SMR 19

JB ordered a new set of bottom bracket bearings for his Della Santa.  Typically for him, he waited until the existing set was completely unusable.  Today he rode his Trek 520 with rack and pannier.

Wildlife Encounter:  deer on the trail next to the road below the Gate.

Had my seatstay cam pointed a little too high today.

This guy was Diablo Serious.

Started up The Wall about   20 meters ahead of this rider.

Finished about 30 meters ahead.  BOO-YAH

Friend said he saw two bad crashes yesterday on SGR, ambulances and everything.  Makes me feel better about candy-assing all the turns going down.  I don't much notice any residual broken pelvis pain, but my descending confidence is still way down.

2014 WNR 07

Another Wednesday Night Ride... not too hot, not too windy, not too crowded.

Diablo Cyclists call an emergency mid-Mountain chat session.

Most folks do the right leg aft swing dismount like this rider.
The forward swing looks cooler, but if you bugger it up
you'll catch your foot on the bars and go down on your arse...
and I'll post a photo of it right here for the world to see.

2014 SMR 18

Me and JB to the Summit on another beautiful day.

Tarantula Tally:  one cadaver.

Looked pretty smoggy over the 680 Valley, but bright blue skies everywhere else.

Diablo Shoutout to blog reader Keith who was within a couple hundred meters of us the whole ride.  That's him in the video on the Wall.

Oddball Encounter:  two unicycle guys... odd but awesome.

Some kind of serious injury at the ZigZag coming down... ride careful my readers.

OK, you totally have to do this:

Diablo Karaoke from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2014 WNR 06

Cool and breezy tonight - supposed to drizzle by morning.

Charlie called... can't come because he forgot to pack his shoes.  So just me, Kevin, and JB.

Wildlife Encounter:  deer at the bottom of the Bump.

JB goes for a full aero attack down the dips

Kevin had his first ever gel today.
Hated the taste but thinks it worked.

This lady is becoming a Wednesday Night Regular,
but she always rides by herself.

2014 SMR 17

Front tire was soft this morning - rode fine on Wednesday so it must be a really slow leak... I decided to risk it.  Still felt good at Junction, noticeably a little low at Summit, but I figured I could make it home.  Descending down the Bump though, I started to get that squirmy feeling around the curves and so I babied it the rest of the way down.  Stopped at the Church where the race registration was and borrowed a pump from a guy.  Got home and it was soft again so I barely made it.

Today was the Diablo Time Trial - 10km race from North Gate to almost Junction.  First rider was scheduled to start at 8am so I started at 7:30 to avoid the ignominy of being passed every minute.   A lot of riders had the same idea as me and my passing ratio was zero to something.

Cool and windy at the start - warmer and calm after about 5 miles.

And he's OFF

Hey - is that the famous Nate English
of the Kenda 5-Hour Energy Team?

Four people walked their bikes up the Wall while I was at the Summit.
Well, at least they tried.

2014 WNR 05

Pretty hot tonight.  Me, Kevin, and Evan from work.  JB showed up late and then passed us all.

Kevin didn't feel good so I stayed with him and coached.  I thought he was going to vomit at one point.  We saw a guy near Junction and I convinced Kevin to beat him to the line... success.

Diablo North Gate time trial is Saturday - I think I'll show up early to beat the rush.

2014 SMR 16

Beautiful weather this morning.  Maybe a little too warm and a little too windy to be perfect weather, but beautiful.

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys... dozens of them, including a whole bunch of little babies who were kind of cute in a turkey way.

These two guys in white were speaking a cool
language that sounded half Polish and half Arabic.

Blog Reader Smooth Joey is almost as fast on his
fat knobbies as he is on his cool pink road bike.

Plaid shorts - would be uncool except MOVEMBER
for prostate cancer.

Not even that Dos Equis guy could make this thing look cool.
Still, I have an odd desire to try one... somewhere very private.