Diablo Junction - 16 miles

Last night I was browsing eBay for some bib shorts and put in a bid on some blue ones that were apparently leftovers from a racing team in Seattle. I only have one pair of bibs that aren’t black and I thought it would be nice to have some other colors. These were made by Hincapie Sports, never been worn, and looked like they would retail for $100 or more. The sponsor logos said “Wines of Washington” and “The Tasting Room”. I’ve never heard of such a team but what the hell I bid $29 and they wound up going for $30 – oh well.

Finally we had a pretty big group from work this afternoon. As I was unloading and talking to Mark P a woman rode up and asked us if we were with the Diablo Cyclists and I showed her where those folks met up, and then I noticed she was wearing a “Wines of Washington” full team kit! That was strange.

So JB, Mark P, Jeff, and I all started out toward the Gate and we saw the Diablo Cyclist pack about 100 meters ahead of us. I thought we might wait for Rick, Adam, and Brian but when we crossed the line JB dropped the hammer and I glommed on to his wheel. There was a bit of a headwind so I was getting a lot of benefit back there and I could hear him breathing heavily while I was relatively comfortable. We caught up to the main Diablo Cyclist pack below the Bump and I thought we might integrate with them but JB kept on plowing so I kept on sucking his wheel. Past the Bump though I cracked and he rode away from me but Jay K merged up from the gruppetto and rode with me the rest of the way.

At the Upper Washout (3 miles to go) my split was 18m24 so that was an excellent start. Then I heard the unmistakable squeak of Adam’s Cannondale behind us – I’ll be happy when his new Dean comes in. He and a guy in a USPS jersey blew by Jay and me with little fanfare. JB wasn’t too far ahead since he pretty much cracked a minute after I did but when Adam and Postieguy passed JB he hung on for a while and increased the gap between us.

With 2 miles to go my split was 24m35s so that wasn’t too bad even though I had slowed down quite a bit. I figured I would certainly break 40 and that would be an OK result. Jay would normally have dumped me by now but he’s tapering down on his efforts so he’ll be fully rested for the Terrible Two on Saturday so he twiddled along and chatted as I tried to keep my tongue from dragging on the asphalt.

And with 1 mile to go I was at 32m30s and I started to feel a little better so after Chainbuster I put my head down and power cranked for a couple meters before the burn came back and I downshifted again. Junction time: 39m01s and that’ll do.

Mark P and Jeff came in a little bit later – Jeff looked like Mark had half-wheel-helled him the whole way up but Mark looked relaxed and cool. Brian (JB’s nephew) rode in ahead of Nicole and Amanda – he’s a good sport and has been riding JB’s heavy touring bike with panniers but I think he’d rather be playing basketball. There was a nice big group at the Junction and people were talking about recent events and races as well as the upcoming Death Ride.

Next week: HURL RIDE!