Diablo Junction plus SGR - 28 miles

On the way to the Gate this morning, I caught up with a guy named Mark who must have been a Greg Lemond fan because he had an old ADR jersey and a GL frame. I passed him on Bancroft but then he caught up to me at the light on Ygnacio so we introduced ourselves and rode the rest of the way together. At first I thought I was stronger than him and I didn’t mind doing all the pulling, but then he came around me and insisted on doing a turn at the front so that was cool. We caught up to JB just below the Gate and then Mark took off by himself.

There was no sign of anyone else coming so JB and I started up alone. He looked like he had a few too many beers last night and wasn’t feeling too perky so I figured I might have some fun. It was warm this morning and I brought two bottles with lots of ice – that tasted really good as we got a little higher.

We didn’t see Mark after the start – he must be a fast climber. We did see the guy with the motorized mountain bike – he came around us quite fast above the Bump and looked like he was having fun. JB and I were riding at a casual pace and he seemed to be breathing harder than usual so with a mile and a half to go I launched my escape and stayed away until the Junction.

I tried to talk him into going down to the tire poppers and back up but he would only agree to the South Gate Kiosk so I took what I could get. On the way back up he was feeling better and did a little escape of his own at the steeper part just before the Junction. Nicole got there from North Gate at the same time as we returned from South Gate and so then we all went out for a Planet Juice. Then when I got home I put on my new tires – Hutchinson Fusion Comps… but they clash with my purple handlebar tape – might need to change that as well.