2025 Diablo Day 12 - Saturday Morning Junction

 Not quite warm enough for shorts, but pretty damn nice.

I was feeling like a slug... I think all these years of work from home have caught up to me.

Some kind of trail running event going on; looked to be well-supported but it didn't look like anyone was doing serious competitive efforts.

Oh-oh, something's going on.

Medical helicopter - could be serious.

Oh, it was down there.

Now THIS is what April on The Mountain is supposed to look like!

April 01, 2025 Mount Diablo Trumpization

Federal Government will take over MDSP and turn it into a National Park so they can fire all the employees, cut off funding, and rename it Mount Donald J. Trump.

Also, he'll order the federal employees at Mt. Rushmore to "tear down those heads" and then he'll fire every one of them. He'll fly the granite rubble to the newly planned "Mount Trump Royal Airport" at the Summit, have his DOGE team reassemble them into the shape of a deformed Cheeto, and voila - we have Mar-a-Lago Contra Costa... membership fees will keep out the riff-raff.  Cyclists will be banned of course.

Idea: paint the road red to look like a long necktie!

Elon Musk will have his federal workforce of H1-B darkies mine The Mountain for rare earth metals to use to power his crypto machines so he can make enough money to buy that guy's property with the easement fence on Mt. Diablo Scenic and make sure that gate never opens.

2025 Diablo Day 11 - Saturday Morning Junction

Charlie came today - he was texting about doing sub-40 so I figured I needed a head start... which I did, but then I just twiddled up and he caught me anyway. Then we all connected at Junction and descended SGR together - check below for a video link!

There were a bunch of campers going up with firewood and backpacks and tents and stuff - Charlie thinks they may be Scouts.

Fun video of the descent - should open right up on your phone - totally click-worthy!

South Gate Descent

2025 Diablo Day 10 - Saturday Morning Junction

REEEALLY nice weather today. I didn't even wear a jacket, just a long sleeve jersey and my holey tights. It was a little chilly until about 1000 feet then it was great.

There was a group of about 6 guys who kept passing me and then stopping for a break and then they'd pass me again a mile up the road. They were friendly but I didn't understand that training regime. I finally got ahead of all of them for good, except 1 guy - his name was Carlos and we were riding together at about the helicopter turnout and we saw famous Cathy make a U-turn coming down to go back up. I told Carlos to say "Hi Cathy" as he went by and that she'd like that... because she's famous.

Had a decent Junction time and felt pretty good. I did an inspection of my tires though and there's only a few more rides in them... sew-ups are getting harder and harder to find too... I better get busy.

Photos in reverse order today - I can never figure out how Google sorts them when I click.

I stopped to pick a lupine.

I stopped to pick a poppy.

Wearing bright cycling clothes is a good way to get posted in
  Diablo Scott's Bike Blog

This is the payoff for a long, wet, winter...
a month or so of verdant hills.

I watched this guy for a while - it looked like he was just learning how to ride with Tri-bars... he was tucked really well but didn't look comfortable and he wasn't fast.

2025 Diablo Day 09 - Saturday Morning Junction

Partly cloudy, cool, and calm. There was snow at the Summit Thursday evening but it was melted by Friday morning.

First poppies of the season at Wildcat Terrace - I think that's the first place I saw them last year too.

Wildlife Encounter: turkeys

Oh I gotta stop for poppy photos.

2025 Diablo Day 08 - Saturday Morning Junction

Oh yeah - first ride of the year without a jacket - I had tights and arm warmers and a thermal T under my jersey... it was wonderful. Also - last day of Daylight Wasting Time!

I thought I was feeling good, but I got passed by a lot of folks.

I was hoping to see poppies, and I did, but they were outside of The Park in the residential area on Blackhawk Road. Apparently they're all over NorthGateRoad, where they usually make their first appearance.

JB decided to ride down SouthGateRoad with me to get in some extra miles for his weekly sum.

This rider had no trouble dusting me.

This rider had no trouble dusting me.

This rider had no trouble dusting me, but he has white shoes.

This rider had no trouble dusting me, but he has an Assos jersey.

This rider had no trouble dusting me... but he has Rapha tights.

I could've maybe outsprinted this guy to Junction, but I didn't know he was there until it was too late. We both sang along to my Little Richard song on the Diablo MP3 player.

Tuck!

JB forgot about this steep bit on the way out.

Poppies!