JB was on-board for a Summit ride yesterday so we planned on 3500 feet of slow and steady climbing and arriving at the Wall with something left in the legs.
Blog Reader Mike posted a photo of himself in a Grateful Dead jersey last week, so I obviously assumed this was he - but astoundingly it was not, and there are two such jerseys on the Mountain.
On the Bump, we happened upon Diablo Regular Ernie - he has a unique climbing style incorporating low cadence in a big gear out of the saddle. He said he has high blood pressure and spinning makes his heart rate too high.
We also discussed various wildlife and what it would be like to collide with them. We agreed that bucks and bulls would be the worst, but turkeys would be more likely.
Wildlife Encounter: turkeys
Tarantula Tally: one cadaver
Few things enhance one's studliness quotient more than passing another rider on the Summit Wall.
From the Summit we looked for smoke from the Yosemite rim fire - it was sure hazy over in that direction, but nothing we could point to and say "that's it".
Someone pointed out to me last week that there was a sequence of dots painted on the Wall, and he thought they may have been some kind of indicator for the cyclists. Hard to believe that since 1) I hadn't noticed them, and 2) there's no indication of what they indicate. They do seem to be kind of evenly spaced, and maybe they'll help you gauge your climb... anyway, here they are:
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The Summit Wall is 270 meters from the barrier gate to
the "DO NOT ENTER" sign (facing the other way) at the top.
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| Four dots at 55 meters |
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| Three dots at 110 meters |
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| Two dots at 160 meters. |
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| One dot at 220 meters. |
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| 270 meters from the barrier gate. |
The Facebook page of the Amgen Tour of California asked if the fans thought Leopold Konig's win on the Summit of Mount Diablo helped prepare him for his summit finish win in the Vuelta this week... so I posted this video to show what it looks like to weekend warriors.
Not König from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.
2 comments:
Hey that is me! "Bertha' GD Jersey, Giro Hlemet and Serfas tail light!
My Strava for that day http://www.strava.com/activities/78942946
and I even shot some video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Topas2JNg8
:)
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