Diablo Junction + South Gate Road, 36 miles.
The weather reports said today was going to be clear and warm. A quick check out the window at 6:30 showed dry roads and blue sky so I figured it would be my first ride of the year without a jacket or tights. By the time I got out the door though, it was raining! I went back in, put on my jacket and tights, and changed bikes.
The rain was just light enough to make seeing though my glasses difficult, and the roads were just wet enough for everything to get grimy. I got to the gate and met Rick and JB. JB was in full winter gear and Rick had on shorts and a light jacket - the weather fooled all of us. We started at a moderate pace and then I did a big interval up the Bump and tried to recover without slowing down too much. Both Rick and JB know I like to do this and didn't interpret my move as an attack (and even if it were an attack it wouldn't have worked). We were together again by the Upper Wash Out and I did a few more intervals before I started to fade and they pulled ahead of me for good with about two miles to go.
At the Junction Rick wanted to go up but JB and I talked him into going down the south side. We did "the hole in the wall" which is an access through a fence into an exclusive country club neighborhood and a shortcut back to Danville that avoids the heavy traffic on Camino Diablo. Then we came back to Walnut Creek in some other neighborhood roads with lots of little sprinter hills and I jumped on every one. Rick tried to match me once and declared himself the winner when he pulled about a half length in front of me, but it was no where near the top of the hill so it was just a little joke. I really like those long epic climbs, but I'm much better at the little ones.
HELLO! Scraped a pedal on the way back to Walnut Creek. Remember I'm on my Eddy Merckx with the new Shimano M515s so there was lots of clearance. It was sort of an uphill left turn and the road was banked. I was pedalling out of the saddle and SCRAPE - a real wake-up call.
I’m riding the Tour de Cure charity ride for the American Diabetes Association. Please visit my sponsorship page and donate $5 – I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Scott
http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1678&px=1722708
