Diablo Junction - 23 miles

Will called me yesterday and said he'd like to ride and asked if I'd consider starting a little earlier so we agreed to meet at 7:45. I told JB about it so he wouldn't wait around for me and I knew he wouldn't have any trouble catching us because Will hasn't ridden much in the last couple years. Rick and Nicole are doing Seattle to Portland this weekend so it was going to be a small group.

Well I knew I needed to get on the road but the Tour was on TV and there was a good breakaway with Richard Virenque and Paolo Bettini and I couldn't tear myself away from the race until I knew what would happen. Once I was pretty sure RV would take the stage I hopped on the bike and sprinted all the way to the Gate. I happened on a guy with a Cal Triple Crown jersey and I pulled him at about 25mph for 3/4 mile before I pulled over for him to take a turn and instead of coming through he turned off on to a side road! While I was riding solo on Bancroft I saw Mark Abele going the other way and I figured he had already done his ride and was on his way home by 7:40. So anyway I got to the Gate at about 7:50 and I was already tired but I knew Will had already started up so I just kept on going.

I caught Will just below the Bump and JB caught up with us a few minutes later. Will faded pretty fast so JB and I rode together to the Junction. There was a guy already at the Junction who asked us if we'd seen a guy with a flat anywhere down below and we said "no". He said the guy climbs like a goat and was wearing a gray jersey, we again said "no". JB had another BBQ to go to and he left but I hung around Junction until Will got there. A little while later Mark Abele shows up! I asked him if this was his second time this morning and he said he got a flat and his spare tube failed so he rode home on a soft tire, got three more spare tubes, replaced the leaker and came back. Turns out Mark was the guy in the gray jersey who climbs like a goat! I should have known!

So "Kaiser" Will was totally spent after just a Junction ride and we went down to Jamba Juice to catch up and cool off.

Wildlife Encounter: A coyote with little fear of high speed bicycles ran across the road in front of us near Moss Landing.

Century Sign-Up: Today I sent in my registration for the Marin Century on August 3. Hope to see you there! e-mail me at DiabloScott@Terra.es