Diablo Summit 33 miles

JB, Rick, and me; eight at the Gate. First Saturday in a while that Peter wasn’t there.

We rode a conversational pace until the Bump. JB started to have trouble keeping up past there. On the Upper Washout I asked Rick if he wanted to do a “no stop ‘til the top” ride and he agreed with a smile.

Above Chainbuster we could see JB below and we yelled out to him that we weren’t going to stop at Junction so he wouldn’t think we had gone down South Gate Road.

As Rick and I went past the Ranger House I figured I had to pick it up a little bit and I crossed the line in 40 minutes flat. Then I held back enough that Rick could catch back up and we continued up Summit Road.

I was riding at about 90% but Rick was pretty much at his Diablo Challenge pace so I felt like I was helping him out by pushing him just a little harder than he would have gone by himself. JB must have decided not to summit because we didn’t see him again.

Near Devil’s Elbow we passed a tall guy on a Land Shark talking on his cell phone; I mean he was having an extended conversation, like some salesman in a rental car. So Rick and I passed him up without saying anything but a little while later he hung up and came around us pretty easily but didn’t get too far ahead. When we got to the bottom of the Wall there was one guy about 1/3 of the way up already, then the Land Shark guy, then Rick went up and I gave him a bit of a head start before I went. Then I PASSED ALL THREE OF THEM on my way up! Didn’t plan it that way, in fact I don’t like passing people on the wall, but that was pretty cool to pass three guys who started in front of me on a 17% grade.

Summit time: 73 minutes. Rick said it was his fastest ever time outside of his Diablo Challenge competitions.