Sunday, December 12, 2021

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Saturday Morning Junction

Bad weather starts tonight. No where near as bad as the tornado that hit Kentucky overnight, but a lot of rain's coming. Anyway, today was nice, sunny, and not too cold.

We got kind of a late start - my fault. 

Got passed by a huge motorcycle club around Chainbuster... they were about as courteous as you'd expect a motorcycle club to be... only a few did sketchy passes and they kind of squeezed us a bit around the tight spot.

The grass down low is verdant, but up a little higher it looks like the carpet at Walmart food court.

Bumped up my score (HA!) for the FLOAT of The Bump.

After NYD, I'm going to have to put on some new tires... just a note to self.









Congratulations to this couple who were posing for photographs in celebration of their soon-to-be new family member... exposing a new baby to Mount Diablo can't start too early.





Wednesday, December 08, 2021

Wednesday Junction

JB said he could ride at 1pm, Charlie and I confirmed. First time we've all three been together for a while for assorted reasons.

JB gave me a ration about driving to the start... he's kind of right, but I'm not ready yet to add 5 miles to the start and another 5 to the finish... I barely make it to Junction the way it is... I think I did 65 minutes today.

Rain is coming, but not too much yet... things were soggy and foggy.

I got wrapped up in other things and didn't prepare well enough - didn't have time to put on the Icy Hot for example.

I now have 75 Bumps in the last 90 days, so I'm pretty sure that's the highest count any Legend has ever had, so I am now going to declare myself the Legend Of All Time (FLOAT)!  I'm thinking maybe keep doing repeats until New Year Eve and maybe 90 Bumps in 90 days will be an unassailable record.

 






Diablo Shoutout to Punkin' Jay


Fog floor at about 1500 ft.

This guy's bike looked like he could ride it across Siberia.



Saturday, December 04, 2021

Saturday Morning Junction

Me and JB. We talked about school shootings and booster shots.

It was cool and foggy and I forgot my gloves. No tights or jacket either, just arm warmers... it was OK.

Diablo Shoutout to BlogReader  DOYLE and his wife Tere.

No roadkill, no oddballs, no wildlife. Did see a helicopter though.

At Junction I talked to a guy who was surprised that I was the original owner of my bike... and I thought... yeah almost 30 years; I guess that's more unusual than I imagined. Then we talked about road biking in the 80's... we could've talked a long time.

I still haven't ridden above Junction since the patella fracture in January. It's probably about time to at least think about it. Especially now that I am the FREAKING LEGEND OF ALL TIME (FLOAT) ON THE BUMP SEGMENT!

I used to could climb out of the saddle with suplesse like this guy... hope those days will return.




Doyle!

This is my turnaround spot for Bump repeats.




Fog thinned out at 2,000 ft.



DiabloScott:  FLOAT!!!



Wednesday, December 01, 2021

Wednesday Bump Repeats

Beautiful weather but kind of hazy and poor air quality. It was WARM; I took off my arm warmers about Mile 1.

I put new brake pads on the rear of Eddy... worked good.  I should probably do more maintenance and cleaning.

Charlie hurt himself and JB had a doctor appointment so I set off with the objective of maximizing my Legend of The Bump points... 71 Bump in the last 90 days.  I told the Strava folks that the rolling 90-day thing was a good idea, but there should also be a "Legend of All Time" category; you know, so it can be me.

Saw JB later on his way to Junction.

Saw a tow truck going up too, then heard that a well-known cyclist got hit by a car in the wrong lane - not sure if that was related.

I got my pickup fixed last week so it's purring like a puppy. Left my work phone in the truck and when I got back from the ride, I had an "urgent" message from the boss. So I called him back and then I called a new client and got a new project going. That worked out really well.




There's like 6 versions of these brake pads... the mechanic at Sports Basement recommended these.

Not much left there!

OK, solo breakaway success.

There's that haze.



Grass could be a little greener, sky could be a little bluer.



Hey, a Rivendell!




Saturday, November 27, 2021

Saturday Morning Junction

Some pretty great weather was had today.

JB said I was leaving a scent of Icy Hot behind me and he had to be careful to stay out of my wake.

I got some new brake pads for the rear - not urgent, but better get those on pretty soon.

Christmas songs playing on the Diablo Bike Speaker, and the holiday spirit has arrived on The Mountain.


'Tis the season for the jingle bell.



This driver was the unlucky recipient of a DiabloScott Vituperative Tongue-Lashing






Bharat and I discussed complex engineering challenges at Junction.




JB's jacket almost fell into his rear wheel.