Diablo Junction plus Juniper, 29 miles

Didn’t sleep well at all last night – I’ve had a stiff neck for the last few days so I tried to sleep on the couch with a heating pad and it helped some but I didn’t feel rested this morning and the neck still hurt so I skipped brekkie, dropped a couple generic aspirin, downed two cups of coffee with Equal, and mixed up my Cytomax. Nicole arrived right on time to pick up her bike that I’ve been letting her store in my garage and we left for the Gate together. JB said yesterday that he wasn’t sure if he would be coming or not so I said I wouldn’t wait.

I told Nicole that I was planning on doing Juniper so I’d leave her at the Gate and then meet back up with her at the Junction and she was fine with that idea so off I went. Weather conditions were excellent; no wind, cool and sunny. I was planning on an endurance ride – no intervals and no stopping at the Junction. I don’t think I got out of the saddle for more than about 10 cranks in some of the steeper spots and I was enjoying the ride when I marked my time at 3mtg – 19m22s. Hey I thought, that’s a sub 40 pace! I was kind of surprised but I figured I’d keep the same attitude and hold on to the high-aerobic pace and just let the numbers do whatever they were going to do. With 2mtg I was just under 25 and I figured I’d wind up just under 40 and I’d have a big smile on my face as I motored on through the Junction on my way to Juniper. With 1mtg I couldn’t believe I was at 31m21s… now this is PB territory. I started to pick the pace up a little bit at a time, still not red lining though. Then I realized I could really SMASH my existing PB and break 38 minutes, which was my goal for the Hurl Ride so I dug really deep and dieseled all the rest of the way and crossed the line at 37m05s !!!!! Holy crap – a minute and a half slashed off my best ever time on a day when I felt crappy and wasn’t even trying for the first half of the ride. I couldn’t help but think how much faster I could be on a good day!

I rode a few cool down laps around the Junction parking lot where Peter was resting and then we two went on to Juniper at a relaxed pace. Peter had already been to the Summit so he was starting to fatigue and I didn’t feel like I was slowing him down any and my Juniper time was 55 minutes even. When we got back to Junction it had been an hour and twenty but Nicole wasn’t there. She usually does about a 60 minute ride so I figured she had been there and turned around already. Peter went down South Gate for some extra miles and I started for home but soon ran into Nicole and JB. This was his first Diablo ride since the snake scene and he was moving kinda slow but he was doing it. I guess he showed up at the Gate shortly after I left and did the whole ride with Nicole. I turned around and rode with them back up to the Junction, then we all went to Peet’s for coffee, my treat.


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