Diablo Junction, 16 miles

NEW PB! 35m 51s !!!
Previous PB 37m 05s.

Today’s contingent: Robin (on her new Marin road bike), Tiffany, Cindy, Nicole, Edgardo, Adam, JB, and me.

The weather: Warm, clear, no wind.

The Diablo Cyclists are now leaving at 5pm so we won’t be riding with them any more this year. But I saw Mark and some of his peeps from Rivendell riding on Ygnacio while I was driving to North Gate. Mark keeps telling JB that his Atlantis just "looks wrong" with those skinny tires on it. Adam's bike was making a creaking noise that we all decided was due to alloy nipples. Mark and his buddies didn't know that the DCers had changed their start time so they all started with us. Adam was itchy to do a fast one so he was glad Mark came. As we approached the Gate he casually asked Mark, “Are you going for it today?”, and Mark said, “No, hadn’t planned on it, why… do YOU want to go for it?”. Adam said he wanted to do a good effort so as they crossed the line I saw Mark hit his stopwatch and they both sped off into the distance.

I felt good and wanted to test myself after the century. I started out in fast time trial mode, not sprinting the flats at all and my legs felt just a bit of soreness from Sunday. I was thinking if I had an extra day of recovery I could do a new PB but I didn’t think it was going to happen today.

So I stayed in fast steady mode and didn’t push too hard up the Bump and I was at 18m30s at the Upper Washout. Now I was feeling even better and I was passing all kinds of people including all the women from work and my legs were like pistons! I still didn’t think I was on PB pace but I kept thinking about how perfect the weather was and how I felt really smooth and efficient even in my big gears.

Two miles to go and I figured I could come in near 37 minutes which would be close to PB territory. Coming around the hairpins past Upper Ranch I could see Adam and Mark just past Chainbuster at 27 minutes so I knew they wouldn’t do sub 30 but I was surprised how close I was to them (that is to say, a little more than half a mile back). When I powered up Chainbuster myself I figured I was going to do it but I was definitely starting to wear out. I concentrated on efficiency and keeping my breathing regular and when I got to the Ranger House I knew I was going to smash my record. Still, 36 minutes was out of the question, wasn’t it? I mean that’s more than a minute off my previous best time. Unable to analyze any further due to blood shortage in my brain I just stuck my head down and went anaerobic for 300 meters and when I looked up at the line I saw my new PB.

JB wasn’t actually too far behind and he knew too that I had done an awesome ride – I made him go look at my Flight Deck to get the actual number. He’s really getting back to his pre-crash fitness now and it won’t be long before I won’t be able to ride away from him anymore. The Diablo Cyclists split up shortly after we got there but it was nice to see them for a little while. After the BC women got to Junction we all went back down North Gate Road except Adam went down South. We came across Edgardo near the Lower Ranch and invited him for beers at Round Table because tradition says that if you set a new PB you have to buy beer for everyone (or coffee if it’s a Saturday morning ride). It was a very tasty beer tonight.

Do you want to know what the best part of the whole ride was though? As I was coasting down to my car past the kennels and nursery I thought, "I feel so good I could probably turn around right now and do the same time again!" I’m afraid to think of what’s next.