Diablo Junction Plus South Gate Road and Blackhawk 38 miles

Just as I was ready to head out the door this morning, I saw that I had a flat rear tire. I tried the pump and run technique but no dice; I had to change the tube and I was going to be late. To help things along, my daughter insisted on helping me so I was going to be even later.

Rolled up to the Gate at 8:10 thinking JB would be gone already, but he was there talking to the Gate Ranger whom he described as “chatty”. The ranger was doing some kind of study about bicycle accidents and said that the Juniper pull-out was the statistical hot spot. JB also got some new purple tires on his bike so we matched, but I just received some new black and gray ones so it won’t be for long.

Nothing eventful on the way up, it was a cool morning but warming up fast. As we approached the Junction I did a good hard sprint but JB didn’t follow me.

Quite a few riders hanging around up there, discussing the Giro, the weather, the road conditions… all was right with the world. Then we headed down to Blackhawk. There were lots of riders and even some big groups coming up.

I pushed it pretty hard on Blackhawk Road and on Crow Canyon Road, and did a couple little hill sprints- JB didn’t feel obligated to play along so I had to wait up for him a couple times. We got on the Iron Horse Trail off of Crow Canyon and then rode the rest of the way on Danville Blvd.