Diablo Junction - 16 miles


I had a family activity this morning so I didn’t ride in to work. Today was the first day I’d commuted by car in two months, and the first day I drove my bike on my car to the Mountain since last October. That’s not too shabby of a streak.

Absolutely perfect weather tonight – warm and calm. JB and Adam met me at the Church. We paused for a couple minutes at the Gate and I saw my neighbor Jim go by. We started off just afterwards and JB was on FIRE. I hung on his wheel easily for a couple miles and we passed Jim again but this time he stayed with us. Adam was enjoying watching this from behind. I finally sat up near the bottom of the Bump and quickly lost contact with all of them.

So then I did a regular pace, mostly working on strength; I should probably do more intervals. I passed a few people and finished up in 43m40s. Bugs were bad at the Junction so we didn’t hang around long. JB had a PB for the year so he volunteered to buy beer at Round Table. Saw Douglas again at the Junction; he said today he stopped to pick up every piece of litter he saw on the way up and enjoyed all the stops and felt good about doing his bit too. Summit Road is still closed but I saw one guy ride up without getting hassled. I think as long as the construction crew has finished for the day the rangers don't care if the bikes go up but I don't think it's good riding.

On the way down we hooked up with Amanda and Edgardo and all descended together. Amanda is a surprisingly good descender for the little time she’s been doing this; we weren’t going gonzo but way faster than most rookies would dare go. One guy passed us but didn’t move off the front so we just followed him, then when we got to Moss Landing I got to the front and drove it and he was on my wheel and then sprinted at the dips just like I always do with Rick. He enjoyed that but I had fun too.