Diablo Summit 32 miles

It wasn’t supposed to be TOO cold this morning, so it wasn’t hard to convince myself to leave the arm warmers and tights in the drawer. I did wear my mesh undershirt but that was my only concession to the weather.

Rick was at the Gate when I got there and JB rolled up a few minutes later. We each discussed the post season lack of motivation so I figured we were in for a relaxed ride. Rick said he wanted to do a Summit ride but had to go home without the usual après ride coffee. JB had to be at a sports pub for a Hawkeye game so he was only doing the Junction.

It was fairly warm at the lower elevations but we soon rode into a thick layer of fog. The fog was unusually dry; there was no dripping from the trees or condensation on the pavement, but it was cold and breezy. Rick and I worked it a little harder past the Bump and JB started to fade. Then finally, near Chainbuster I pushed it to about 90% all the way to Junction and finished in 40m38s, about 30 seconds ahead of Rick.

The fog was still thick at the Junction so JB turned down and Rick and I went up after a short break. We were near Juniper when we finally poked up over the cloud layer. The view was something like you see out of a jet window – looking down over the tops of the clouds.

Uneventful, uncompetitive ride the rest of the way to the Summit. A nice autumn morning, but next week I’m bringing my long finger gloves; the long trip down through the fog required a lot of braking with cold knuckles.

Happy 10th birthday to my wonderful greyhound Oberon! A washout at the race track; a champion as a family pet.