Diablo Junction from Work - 31 miles

Adam is just back from his trip to Italy so it was a fun day. Adam, JB, and I met Mark P and Jeff at the Church and then rode to the Gate together. Adam went to the front right away and Jeff got on his wheel like he was ready to do something so I got on Jeff's wheel and we had a little team going for a while. Jeff looked strong and smooth and Adam was having fun pulling us two geezers and making us hurt. JB and Mark didn't come along so we had a big gap as we approached the Bump.

It was pretty breezy so this mini paceline was certainly helping Jeff suddenly sat up so I accelerated to stay with Adam and he said that Jeff's good about going hard until he totally cracks. I allowed myself to think Adam and I could get a gap big enough to beat JB but then I saw him coming fast toward us. He caught us at the bottom of the Bump so Adam went with him and by the top they had about 30 seconds on me. There was another guy there who looked pretty good so I shadowed him from 20 meters back for a couple minutes, then passed him below the Upper Washout, then pushed hard to make sure he wouldn't have to pass me back.

Still windy above the Ranches and it was hard to keep a rhythm. Adam and JB were far gone and I was a safe distance beyond the guy I passed. My split times were mediocre so I just kept plugging. Actually got a little tailwind before Chainbuster so that was nice, and Junction time was 43m40s. JB must have been well below 40, then Mark came in saying he took two minutes off last week's time! We had told him his saddle was too low so he had changed it for today and I guess it worked.




Snapped these photos on the way down to use in my Location Names page. This is Dumpster Gate, aka Boundary Gate. Years ago there was barbed wire fence on both sides of the road here (and most of the mountain) and there was a gate where those traffic blocker posts are. This is the access point to some MTB and hiking trails down to Little Pine Creek. There was a dumpster where that photo sign is now. The fence, the gate and the dumpster have been gone for a long time but the location nickname remains.