Diablo Junction plus South Gate Road and Danville Blvd – 40 miles

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I was feeling pretty good today. JB has been running during the week and saying that his legs hurt so I figured he might not be too fast on the bike. Rick and Peter came along to make four of us. Nicole is training for Seattle to Portland by riding flat miles – the plan was for her to ride from home and meet us at the coffee shop in Encina Plaza.

We started off at a pretty quick pace right away. Peter and JB seemed to be the most interested in speed. When we got to the Bump things broke up a little bit with Rick starting to fade first. Then I let a gap open up and JB pulled ahead of Peter. I rejoined the front group near the Upper Wash Out and then JB started to fade so it was just me and Peter for a while. Then Peter opened up a gap and that’s how we finished – Peter, then me about a minute down, then JB another minute down, then Rick. My time was 41m30s so we’re getting into the competitive range again. Peter said he thought he might be sorry he rode North Gate so fast.

I put a new Ultegra chain on my bike last night and got the shifting to work flawlessly once more. Just over 2,000 miles on the last one (a SRAM 89R). I guess I only get 1,500 miles on a chain before it starts skipping and I have to live with that. Anyway, it felt good to know that I got the problem fixed finally.

There was a guy at the Junction with a Klein Mantra that had been modified for electric wheels – looked quite odd and I didn’t ask him about it but I did overhear him tell someone else that he rode from the Gate to Diablo Ranch before he had to pedal. I don’t get it.

Rick called Nicole and we firmed up plans to try and catch her on the Iron Horse Trail so pretty soon we all went down South Gate. Starting on Blackhawk Road, Rick and I started hammering and we were making JB and Peter hurt. By the time we got to Danville Blvd I was the only one pulling and was doing 25 to 27 mph. JB recovered and rode well, but Peter was in pain.

Nicole beat us to the coffee shop but I couldn’t stay so I just checked out her new Cane Creek wheels and headed home.