Wednesday September 17 – Diablo Junction, 16 miles.
Well there’s a new guy at work, Jeff, who told us he rides a bike and was interested in coming with us up Mt. Diablo today. He said he’d been up from the south side and rode to the Summit once so he knows what he’s getting in to but wasn’t an experienced climber. He seems like he’ll fit in just fine and it’s been a long time since we’ve had any new riders come with us so we welcome him. He has a Giant road bike with a triple crank and a sensible selection of shoes, clothes, and equipment… he was a little slow getting it all together though and we got a bit of a late start.
Adam and Leif started off earlier than the rest of us so Me, JB, and Jeff start up at a comfortable pace and Jeff doesn’t have much trouble keeping up. Near the double dips the Diablo Cyclist peloton passed us up and we picked up our speed just for appearances, then slowed down after a respectable time. We pointed out all the locations with nicknames and told Jeff the story behind the names and he seemed to adopt the appropriate reverence for the whole idea.
Near the bump an old guy on a Merlin and his daughter (I’m guessing) passed us but the daughter (maybe 17 years old?) dropped pops so he started riding with us. I was 23m38s at the Upper Washout and I told Jeff that a good indicator of the Junction time was twice the Upper Washout time.
Up near the ranches Adam and Leif came back down from the Junction to ride with us. Leif and JB paired up and pushed it, Adam and I rode together and discussed La Vuelta a España, and Jeff rode with the old guy on the Merlin. My Junction time was 45m37s and Jeff was a few minutes after that.
There were more riders at the Junction than last week but not nearly as many as earlier in the summer. Sarkis even showed up and chatted for a while before we all turned down. It was a windy descent and I took it carefully. Disappointing not to see any tarantulas tonight. It was really starting to get dark by 7:15 – we’re going to have to make these last few rides efficient.
