Diablo Challenge is next week and The Mountain was teeming with riders rehearsing for the big race.
Last hot days of summer are about over, and we're looking at rain this week... I should probably give the foul weather bike a tune-up.
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| Cactus jersey and orange shoes - this guy knows cycling fashion. |
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| Everybody and their brother passed me on the way up. |
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| Search and Rescue practice |
Today was the first time I've used the Hole in the Fence in probably 10 years... but it'll now be my standard entrance. I met Colonel Al near there and he said we should refer to it as "The Easement"... OK.
Didn't charge my camera batteries and they ran out before I even got to Diablo.
I passed a big group of riders stopped just before the Tire Poppers and they asked a quick link - I stopped to look through my bag - nope.
Then I got passed by everybody and their uncle on the way to Junction. Nice weather though.
Tarantella Tally: 1 near Live Oak
Wildlife Encounter: BIG pack of turkeys near the helicopter pad
Roadkill Report: Little snake, big raccoon, regular-sized squirrel.
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| I always marvel at how beautiful The Mountain is while I'm on the way to ride him. |
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| Here's where you get off the street and on to the trail. |
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| Here's where you enter the Sudetenland. |
Got drizzled on a little bit on the way out, but it never got wet.
A little windy and cool for the first Saturday Morning Junction of September.
I expected to see more riders with the Diablo Challenge coming up.
Wildlife Encounter: turkeys.
The tarantula signs are out - be on the lookout for the creepy crawlers!
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| I helped with this pace line for about half a Planck time before my legs went soft. |
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| I sucked these wheels for a full 2 nanoseconds. |
Warm today - maybe summer's last stand; last heat wave of the season.
Lots of riders, and some of them came through the NEWLY RESTORED HOLE IN THE FENCE!
Wildlife Encounter: a couple deer crossing the road on my way down. Also lots of bugs at Junction.
Passedem-Passedme ratio: zero to a bunch. Actually I passed two people but they were not very serious, and they weren't especially fit, and they weren't riding bikes. Actually I did pass two cyclists but they were stopped below the Tire Poppers at the same place I usually stop and I just got going before they did and I kind of know one of them ... so I'm not counting them since they weren't even moving.
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| Colonel Al with the publicity shot. |
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| There she is - after 3 years of denial. |
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| And there's the other side entrance. |
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| A happy Hole in the Fence new user. She had to ask me which way was up. |
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| Dierdre |
We're having a heat wave.
There was a sizeable fire in Dublin yesterday afternoon - I got to see the tanker plane flying overhead - impressive, scary, got her done. Still kind of smoky today though.
Here's the latest on the hole in the fence. The elitist snob fence is still up, but someone cleared the bushes around the semi-secret bypass so now it's easy to find and use.
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| This is the view as you're descending from The Mountain just as you pass the end of the stucco wall. |
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| This is the view as you're starting up The Mountain - the bypass is over to the left. |
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| Another view in the direction of starting up The Mountain. The view here used to be hidden by a bunch of bushes on the left... no more. You can clearly see the path leading down to the same path that went to the defunct hole. |
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| And this is what it looks like up close. |
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| There are about 15 sections of about 8' iron fence between the end of the stucco wall and the newly-exposed bypass end-run. |
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| There were a lot of fast guys on The Mountain today - including this one. |
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| And these two too. |
Well the big news last week is that the Court ordered the elitist snobs in the country club to tear down that gate, so SGR riders coming from Danville will again have safe access to the Park.
https://bikedanville.org/court-orders-reopening-of-historic-easement-to-mount-diablo-state-park/
The Court ruled that a metal fence erected in September 2023 unlawfully blocked the “Cut-Through”—a public right-of-way connecting Alameda Diablo to Mt. Diablo Scenic Boulevard that has been in continuous use since the 1970s. The injunction requires the fence to be partially removed within 30 days after the bond is posted.
The fence is still standing as of today though.
In related news, the Ghost Bike has been removed after 6 years.
Wildlife Encounter: a mother deer and a few fawns frolicking in a big open area - it was a nice parallel with the kids in my neighborhood and the first day of school.
JB arrived a little late and showed me his thumb surgery scars - pretty impressive; lots of swelling and bruising. His doctor's advice was just not to crash and he'd be OK.
