Diablo Summit - 32 miles.

Peter and I waited until almost ten after eight and no one else showed up so we started off. I got way ahead of Peter and figured he must be having some kind of minor problem because I could see he was still riding but not very fast. By the bottom of the bump I realized that Rick was riding up to him and Peter must have slowed down for him. Around the lower ranches Peter dropped us and I was about 30 seconds behind Rick. Didn't feel like doing a hard effort today for some reason and I didn't try to catch up to Rick. By the ranger house though I realized Rick was having a pretty bad day and I kicked it up and passed him easily before the Junction. Elapsed time was 42m26s which is pretty good considering it was a very relaxed effort.

There were a lot of folks at the Junction and somehow JB sneaked in without my seeing him - I was surprised to look over on the bench and see him sitting there. Peter, Rick, and I all decided to do the Summit so I pulled out my Power Bar and Rick begged for a bite. He's been trying to lose a couple more pounds before the Diablo Challenge and he didn't eat any carbs last night. I also gave him a pack of Clif Shot and he slurped every microgram of the stuff out of the envelope.

JB turned around and went home. The Summit Road was getting very windy and I took it slowly. Rick and Peter set a much higher pace and I didn't see them again until the Summit. Summit time: 81 minutes. Again I was surprised at such a respectable time since I didn't seem to be pushing it at all. One of these days I'm going to have to make an assault on the Summit and see how fast I can do it when I'm really trying. Maybe next year's Challenge?