Saturday, September 01, 2007

Gate-Junction-Summit-Jamba

How do you know when your gloves need to be washed? This topic has been debated since gloves were invented. They pretty much always stink so that's not a good indicator. Today I decided that salt stains between all the fingers means they've got one more ride in them. These babies are going in the washer this afternoon.



Roadkill Observation: A cat (sad, but fortunately not gory) and a frog (slightly gory).

Blog Reader TBV asked if he could ride with us today, I agreed after making sure he wouldn't be half-wheeling me into oxygen debt. He runs the outstanding Trust But Verify website chronicling every detail of the Floyd Landis doping case and appeal. And he showed up in full Floyd kit:

He's also the guy who suggested to Floyd that he ride the Diablo Challenge next month... no confirmation but if he does come TBV thinks he'll cut seven minutes off the record.

Wildlife Encounter: three turkeys near the Dumpster Gate

JB and Rick went on ahead and I rode with TBV until the Junction. It was nice and shady and the bugs hadn't come out yet. Then Rick and I went to the Summit, JB went down, and TBV said he hadn't decided which way to go.

More heat on Summit Road, it wasn't smoggy though and the views of the East Bay were really clear. As always in September, there were a lot of riders obviously training for the Challenge. There was also a surprisingly large number of attractive female riders and they're always a welcome addition.

Coming back down, we saw TBV coming up near the summit - good on him. Then we stopped at Biff Point and Rick described his crash from a couple months ago. It really is easy to take that corner too fast - he didn't start braking until he was almost in the gravel, then he tried to hold it together but the front tire dug in and he endo'ed and the bike flipped. He still has a little hematoma on his hip but is otherwise fine - he got a new helmet and shorts out of the deal so that makes it a little easier too.

That Jamba went down extra good today.

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