Diablo Summit plus Hole in the Fence – 31 miles

Just me and JB again. There was a period of a couple years when he and I were the only ones who met at “Eight at the Gate”. The group got big, then small, then big again, and now it’s back to just us most of the time. Anyway it was great weather, a little cooler than it has been… tights and windbreaker cool. I felt pretty good again too. I sprayed some silicon lube on my cleats this morning (Look red and white ones that aren’t supposed to squeak but have been recently), and it worked for a while but then they started to squeak again even though they still felt slippery… they must be worn out. I have some new black ones that I could put on – used to use black ones all the time but got hooked on the red ones when some came with a new pair of pedals.

A little breezy as we started to climb – very clear though, like after a rain. I did some long stretches out of the saddle just to test the legs and it felt good. I got ahead of JB each time so I started to think about beating him to the line. Finally, after Son of Chainbuster I kept on going and I really pushed it the last mile. Junction time was 42m35s and I saw my HRM go to 182.

After I caught my breath, another rider there introduced himself as John, a blog reader who e-mailed me earlier in the week for some Diablo information. In the e-mail he said he was getting back into riding after a long hiatus and was hoping to break 45 minutes. I asked him how he did today and he said he did 45 minutes! He said he saw a rider coming behind him and figured it was me so he poured it on to stay ahead of me and got a great result. I expect you to be a regular from now on John, see you next week.

There was also a guy who came up South who had a Rivendell with a Speed Blend tire and he was happy to demonstrate it for me. I asked JB what was next and he said “anything but up” so we went down South.

The breeze was a lot stronger on this side of the Mountain and I wasn’t descending very well. Then this tall guy blew right past me and then he blew past JB also, and then he slowed down after he was in front of us… the quintessential dufus move. He wasn’t a bad rider, but he should have stayed in back of us.

Back home on Danville Blvd – JB didn’t want to do any of the sprinter hills.