2015 SMR 07

Short ride today so I can get home to celebrate Diablo Daughter's birthday.

JB was drilling it and dropped me before The Bump

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys near the vineyards before The Gate.

Poppies are popping up all over The Mountain.

Thank you Leonard Nimoy for creating 
such a fascinating character.

2015 SMR 06

Foggy and windy at the Gate.  No shorts today.  JB was late so I started... opposite of last week.

Plenty of riders despite the weather.

Fog went away well below 1,000 ft, but the wind got worse.

I decided if JB didn't show up I could quit at Junction.

Sweet smells and bright colors on The Mountain.

Well some folks went with shorts I guess.

JB showed up at Junction and we went up.  He might have quit also if I weren't there.

JB likes to ride scary-close to the edge.

I'm never sorry though when I don't quit.

This guy started up The Wall with me and I challenged him to a sprint. 

Talked to him later and he said it was his first ride up Diablo.

There was a car revving the engine behind us the last 200m.

Descent was a little spooky... that's always true for windy days.

2015 SMR 05

Hello - SHORTS!

Haven't quite settled in to my new routine yet and I was almost 15 minutes late to the Gate.  What new routine you ask?  New cat and new dog that require attention before allowing me to leave.

Ace

Isaac

All the trails that are near Castle Rock are closed down.  There's a sign at the Little Pine Creek trail entrance off of North Gate Road that says don't go there.

Castle Rock Area In Mount Diablo State Park to Close for Falcon Nesting Season Walnut Creek, Calif.--The area known as “Castle Rock” in Mount Diablo State Park will be closed off to visitors from February 1st to July 31st to help protect the Peregrine Falcon during their nesting season.  http://www.parks.ca.gov/NewsRelease/493

OK, I'm not really sure this meets the definition of road kill, but it must be posted:
Roadkill Report:  a fish - big goomer, about a foot long.

Met JB at Junction just as he was heading up Summit Road - I guess he didn't get my IM L8 text and thought I wasn't coming.  He gave me a minute to eat my mini Clif Bar and then we rode to The Summit together.

Somebody shouted out to ME from a trail below Summit Road but I don't know who it was, so leave a comment if it was you.

Felt good all the way up and down - no rib pain at all, not nearly as fit as I'd like to be, and my confidence at speed is coming back very slowly.

Diablo Shoutout to blog reader DOUG, who has been enjoying fame ever since I posted this photo of him in 2007.  He says people recognize him around town and he always gets good tables at restaurants.

Doug

Holy cow you guys, get your bike to Diablo and enjoy this weather.

Morning from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2015 SMR 04

I'll be glad when the sun starts rising earlier because it's right in my eyes most of the way out to The Mountain... all the way down Bancroft and NGR up to the Gate.

Then, it started to get too warm for my jacket and tights... no biggie, just a little uncomfortable.

Then it started to get crazy windy.  This ride was just no fun at all.

I quit at the Junction but JB said he was going up.  Then I got a puncture at Big Shady Oak and while I'm fixing it JB comes back down... said he got up to Blue Oak and the wind was getting worse so he threw in the towel.

This guy hardly noticed the wind.

This guy dropped his banana.

Then banana guy caught us and we rode together to Junction.

Moss

Flat tire repair spot.

Dip Sprint!  (smoked em)

2015 SMR 03

Still feeling a little of the vertigo but it was manageable.  Happy with just the Junction though.

Told JB this joke:  What kind of bagel can fly?  A plain bagel.

Foggy this morning, but I figured it'd burn off quick.



Then it got super super foggy between 1000-1500 feet.



Then we turned a corner and that beautiful blue sky just opened up above us.

2015 SMR 02

Feeling some dizziness this morning - rode out to NGR and then turned around back home.  Probably would've been fine but I'm playing it safe.

2015 SMR 01

After just having done the Summit on Thursday for New Year's, I managed to convince myself a Junction ride was enough.

Yeah, cold enough for one Belgian Hardman Point

I'm still feeling a little out of sorts related to the vertigo thing on Christmas.  I have to be really careful and concentrate on every little movement.  It was a slooooow descent.

Wildlife Encounter:  Deer near the old nursery.

Roadkill Report:  Raccoon on Bancroft center divide

Roadkill Report:  Skunk at Moss Landing

#SelfieWithRoadKill  
Somebody tell me if that's a thing.

Diablo Shoutout to: Keith!  Not sure why he's on a mountain bike... Christmas present?

And another Diablo Shoutout to: Mike!  

My fingers and toes still haven't warmed up.

2.015 New Year's Day Morning Summit

Best of the New Year to all my readers!

Really cold, but not as bad as they were predicting.  No problem for experienced cyclists.

I passed through the Gate at about 7:40.  Hardly saw anyone on the way up, but scores of riders climbing when I was coming down.  Not sure why this "crack-o-dawn" idea hasn't caught on.  The runners seem to like getting an early start though.

Diablo Shoutouts: Keith, Smooth Joey, Punkin Jay, a few others I probably forgot.

Post your photos on the MDSP Facebook page!

Do people ride Mt. Tam on Jan 1?

Sun came up, sky was blue.

Good morning San Francisco!

Party on 

I always like the way
Strava profiles look on my phone...
make it seem steeper.

19 KOM's!
New Strava feature for best of year.

Selfius obligitorus

Enjoy:

NYD 2015 from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2014 SMR 35

JB texted me this morning to say he was staying home with a sore throat.  I allowed myself an extra 20 minutes to get ready and for it to warm up a little bit.  35°F at 8am... mite chilly.

I wasn't sure if I'd make the Summit today but that was my objective.  Ten weeks since my rib crash, and the ribs didn't hurt at all after the two ibuprofens kicked in.  On Christmas Day though, I had a kind of scary bout of vertigo and I don't think that's completely gone away either... very weird sort of out-of-body sensation so I promised myself I'd be real careful and not ignore the signs if it started happening again.

Saturday Morning Shoutout:  Smooth Joey on Summit Road.

Wildlife Encounter:  deer near Little Pine Creek

So climbing wasn't much of a problem other than 10 weeks of lost fitness.  Descending though was a little spooky - didn't feel natural, had to concentrate on every little movement, had all the sensations of a brick on a skateboard.  Made it home safe anyway - success.

Salted Watermelon GU - truly tasty, thanks Santa!

New outhouse at Muir -
same as the old one that burned down in the big fire,
but NEW and clean.

Rain + cold weather = clear blue sky

The Curious Tale of the Malfunctioning Flight Deck

I have always had a Flight Deck computer on my Klein. This unit uses special buttons under your brake hoods to cycle through the computer functions instead of buttons on the face of the unit like most of them.  It also knows what gear you're in and has a little display for that so you don't have to look back at your cassette.  Not everybody likes them and they never really caught on in big way, but I've gotten used to it.  

Sometime after my pelvis crash in March, the buttons stopped working; I still had speed and odometer and gear indicator, but I couldn't scroll to the stopwatch or trip distance functions.  I figured I somehow mangled the little wires that go under your handlebar tape.  I got used to the limited functionality and I have Strava on my phone for GPS trip data anyway, so I figured I could live with that - but also considered switching out to a Garmin cyclocomputer or something similar.  

Some time after my rib crash in October, the battery went dead in my Flight Deck and I changed it out and reset all the inputs.  But I didn't realize until TODAY, that the buttons magically started working again.  Maybe it just needed that new battery (even though the LoBatt indicator never came on).  Or maybe when I re-wrapped the bars in November I somehow unmangled the little wires that go under the handlebar tape.  At any rate, I got my functionality back, but didn't get to use it today because I didn't figure it out until half-way through the ride.

Last night I searched on POV videos of riding Diablo on YouTube and they all suck.  Mine (on Vimeo) are way more interesting.  Come on... go ahead and watch.   

Me GottaGo from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.