Diablo Bump de Bump – 35 miles

43m30s up NGR and 35m30s up the Easy Side.

Met up with JB and Rick on North Gate Road right on time.

Wildlife Encounter: Three coyotes playing chasing games with each other down by the trees in that big cow pasture on the west side of the road past the Dips.

I thought we were taking it pretty easy and I purposefully didn’t do any intervals hoping I could keep everything together til the Junction. We were actually making decent time though and passed up quite a few other riders on the way there. About half way up Rick said we should go SGR and back up and that’s what I was thinking too. I didn’t get to ride Wednesday because of a school function so I was looking forward to an extra climb.

Wildlife Encounter: More coyotes on the lawn of the Ranger House.

Summit Road is still closed to all traffic, but the ranger there told us they don’t go up there looking for anybody. She said they should be all done by Labor Day weekend and figured that would be a very busy time in the Park, but that it was going to be very nice. It’ll certainly be a welcome change to ride on pavement that isn’t full of pot holes.

Descending SGR was uneventful except for the hippy guy who cheered us on like we were in the last 10 minutes of an ultra marathon. There was also a very large father and son group picnic going on so cars were parked along side the road for a big stretch. We turned around at the Tire Poppers and started back up right away. Two guys passed us right at the start but we had a good excuse. One guy was really fast but the other guy in sort of a French tricolor jersey slowed down a bit after the Kiosk and I caught him and used him as a pacer for a while. I cracked after a while though and then JB and Rick caught and passed me. Then there was a final push for the line and JB smoked us all.







This is Mia Café in Encina Grande: they make a nice cuppa and you can sit inside or outside. They’re always happy to see us in there.



And this is Encina Bicycles right next door: small shop but really good folks, especially the mechanics.