Diablo Junction, 26 miles

Just me today, everyone else is either on vacation, injured, or otherwise occupied. I decided to go a little later than usual to spend some time with the girls before they went to a birthday party; I got to the Gate at about 10:30.

It was cool and very windy this morning. For a change of pace, I decided to do a strength ride instead of an aerobic ride so that meant using bigger gears and slower pedaling cadence. I managed to do the whole of North Gate Road in a 21 except for a few sections where I got into the 19 or 17. Kind of enjoyable, certainly a different ride experience whether or not it has any training benefit. My cassette is shot though, the new chain helped for a while but I’m skipping on several cogs now. Ordered a new one from Excel Sports Boulder – the local shop couldn’t provide one, saying there was a world-wide shortage of Shimano components… not sure whether to believe that or not.

There are a lot more cars this time of the morning, another good reason to go earlier. Pretty uneventful ride, I much prefer having friendly competition and company.


Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23.