Saturday, August 29, 2009

Gate Junction Hole

Leaving home at 7:30 it was already warm.

Blood donation effects are now completely gone - so that's four weeks. I can donate again end of November and probably will.


Half-mast for Senator Kennedy. No wind.


JB was a little late and he caught me at about mile 2.

Pass ratio = 6:2.

Tarantulas are out but I haven't seen one yet.


Big crowd at the Junction.




We went down the south side and through the hole.


Rick passes along this flyer prepared by (I assume) the folks who live between the fence and Diablo Road.

I think most folks take the short cut because the regular access road is in such terrible condition. It would probably be cheaper for the Diablo association to re-pave Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd and re-direct the riders than it would be to put in a gate to keep us out of the shortcut.

Most of the riders I've seen in there are safe and respectful and most of the residents don't seem to mind too much. The landscapers and contractors would appear to be bigger problems than the riders but maybe there are some cyclists who race through and blow stop signs and it doesn't take too many to piss off a lot of residents.

Anyway, there's no reason not to ride nice in there. I'm not sure what prompted this particular flyer but those folks obviously have the means to make it difficult for us if they wanted to.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

2009 WNR 19

  • It was the last of the Club Sport Diablo rides so I went up with them; but it was only three of us. Not many people on the Mountain after about 6 o'clock.
  • Nancy lead us from the Club to the Gate at a pace lots faster than I usually go but thankfully let up once the climbing started. She's a strong rider with multiple big events on her sheet. Then she kept playing the "You don't have to wait for me" card so Bill and I pulled ahead some.
  • Bill's a strong rider too; 6 inches taller than me and 66 years old so riding behind him was easy but coming around him was not. He passed me on the Bump but then pooped out a little so I did the last 3 miles by myself but never got too far ahead.
  • Pass ratio: 2:1
  • Took a few other photos but for some reason they were blurry. I think my camera is getting wonky.



  • Wildlife Encounter: Nancy saw a tarantula and I saw a black-eared jackrabbit.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Eight at the Gate

But JB was late.
No reason to wait.

Remind me not to forget my camera next time... the ole cell phone functions poorly in this capacity.




Passed-em:Passed-me ratio = 1:0 woot!

A guy with a bright rain jacket and a huge delivery boy basket on his handlebars almost caught me after the Bump but I reached into my suitcase of courage and put some serious distance between us... then he turned around and back down.

Met blog reader Keith at the Junction, then JB came up a little later, and Peter came up the Easy Way, never did figure out what he was doing.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

2009 WNR 18

Started with Adam but that didn't last long.

Warm and just a little breezy tonight. Lots of squirrel road kill for some reason and no vultures.

And in an instant my passed-em : passed-me ratio goes down the crapper.


JB caught me at the Upper Ranch and said he was on schedule for a sub-40 so he didn't slow down to talk; turned out he didn't quite do it though.

The unmistakeable signs of the end of the Wednesday night riding season are getting harder to ignore.


That boot I put on my rear tire last month finally failed so I mounted up a new tire that I've had ready for a long time. Helps to buy tires when you don't need them and can shop around.



Sunday, August 16, 2009

Tour d'Organics Sebastapol 2009


I did the first edition of this century 5 or 6 years ago and we nicknamed it the Tour d'Starvation because they ran out of food at all the rest stops and they had wrap nazis making sure we didn't take more than one. They've gotten their routine down much better now.


Dear daughter and I didn't do the Tour de Cure this year so I figured this would be a good alternate ride and it was really fun.


The 35 mile course had three rest stops and enough hills to feel like you did something so it was perfect. The rest stops still were giving tiny samples but you could have as much as you wanted. One thing they didn't have though was salty stuff.


Most of the other riders enjoyed seeing us on the tandem and a few were really surprised a 9-yo could do it.



Klein Krown goes to this Q-Pro in USPS Master paint job:

Odd looking handlebars.

And of course, I made a video:






2009 Tour d'Organics Sebastapol, CA from Diablo Scott on Vimeo

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

2009 WNR 17

Hoohah hot : 98°F.

Started on time but JB was late. I was ahead of the Diablo Cyclists and Mark A passed me with about a 20mph differential in speed on his super-secret prototype Rivendell racing bike (lightweight lugged steel with SRAM, designed with Diablo in mind). Then a few more guys passed me. Then comes #5 Ward and he rubs my face in it and asks if he's "ruining my ratio" - HA! So far I didn't even have a numerator.




Then I passed a guy who started just in front of me so my passed-em/passed-me ratio was 1:11.



Felt pretty good but the blood donation was still a factor - I went anaerobic on the Bump and never really recovered. Then the guy I passed changed places with me again bringing my ratio down to 0:11 (he was a null statistic now).





After the Ranches I was just completely drained but at least it cooled off some.



JB finally showed up at the Junction not feeling much better than I did.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Gate-Junction-Kiosk-Gate

Started off alone, JB was a few minutes late.

Absolutely beautiful day, cool and clear.

JB caught me near the Lower Ranch, we passed a guy but then he passed us back (I'm calling that a net-zero) and then he and JB pulled ahead of me near Big Shady Oak.

It's been a week since my double red blood donation and I really could feel it today - I went for a little green light sprint on the way out and instantly went anaerobic, my heart was pounding and I got out of breath - same thing happened when I tried a couple intervals on North Gate. It was a little like riding at altitude. Blood folks said my hematocrit was 43 before the donation, I don't know how much it dropped after... I'll ask them to check next time.







Lots of riders at the Junction but I didn't recognize any of them. JB had to go back down so I decided to do the Kiosk.






I buggered up a curb hop on my way home Thursday. Managed to avoid hitting the deck but impaled my leg on the chainring in the process. Chainring was undamaged despite calf muscles of iron.

What's cooler than a chainring tattoo? A chainring SCAR!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

2009 WNR 16

Evil forces collaborated to keep me at work until far too late. Didn't get started until about 6:10. Started up solo thinking I might catch the ClubSport folks so I was riding a good tempo.

Passed-'em : Passed-me ratio = 3:2.

Then I came around Chainbuster and there they all were. One rider had a flat and the others were waiting for her so I stopped too.


She didn't have the kind of natural rhythm you see with folks who've changed more than a handful of tires on the road. Didn't know how to use a CO2, had to think about every step of the process, kept the bike inverted on its handlebars and saddle the whole time, and put the wheel back on the bike before filling up the tire. They did seem to be enjoying the experience and learning as they went so I didn't offer much in the way of instructions.
We all managed to make it to the Junction by 7:30 and by then it was starting to get cold (!) so we didn't stay long.
Also there appeared to be some kind of official dragnet going on. An official park truck asked us if we had seen a silver sedan drive by and which way it went (up). Then another car with the Parks Superintendent came by very fast, drove through the picnic area just above Junction and then went down SGR. It was almost exciting.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Gate-Junction-Juniper-Gate

Met JB at the Gate.
We wondered what's happened to Peter.

Passed-'em/passed-me ratio = 3:0

Saw Chris Horner guy at the Junction coming down from the Summit; he went postal on another rider who didn't get out of his way fast enough... I think he listens to gangsta rap on his iPod.


















After the ride I went to donate blood, double red cells...I think they've got me on speed dial now.




Sometimes I get a little light-headed during the procedure.