Tour de Cure for Diabetes, Napa Valley - 100 miles May 1, 2005

Mark P, Adam, and I made the trip up to Yountville together in my car. The weatherman forecasted scattered showers but the early morning skies were blue and clear and dotted with hot air balloons over the Valley floor.

We got to the start right on time and as we were unloading my car a guy came by begging for a tube – he had a flat tire and no spare at the beginning of a 100 mile ride, so if he didn’t get a tube he couldn’t even start. Adam and I both had two spares so we figured it was safe to give him a tube. Adam handed one over and the guy tried to pay him but we told him to “pay it forward”.

After check in we got a brief pep talk, thanking us for our fundraising efforts and then we were off at 7:05AM. There was the usual sorting out of the big bunch and we did some camaraderie riding with the other Team BC riders (at least 7 of us were doing the full century), but as we reached the north end of town, Adam said it was time to get serious so we put our heads down and worked it. Mark stayed back and looked for the pace he could maintain for a hundred miles - we didn't see him again.

We blew past the first rest stop at mile 10.

We caught and passed little groups of riders as we smoked our way up the west side of the Valley. We wondered how all these slower riders got so far ahead of us and figured they must have started early. We kept hearing rumors that there was a pack of hammerheads up front and we were hoping to catch them but we never did.

At the north end of the Valley there was a 1.5 mile climb and at the top is the Sonoma County line – with a sign and everything. I launched my sprint too early and Adam beat me by about 20 bike lengths.

There was a rest stop on the other side of the hill, then a 25 mile loop around Geyserville. We got into some excellent groups in here and we were riding FAST. I started to get some leg cramps though so I was careful not to push too hard since we still had 40 miles to go after we came back over the climb. Back at the same rest stop, we had covered 55 miles and it was only 10AM.

Then we hooked up with Diego. Diego was a friendly guy from Uruguay and he was dressed in a full Team Quickstep-Davitamon outfit including the gloves – could have been Tom Boonen himself. He rode some nice paceline but his pulls were shorter and slower than mine or Adam’s. As three though, we were faster than two so we kept him until we passed a slightly slower group and then he stayed with them. It was starting to get really warm.

We were coming down the east side of the Valley now and it was getting pretty windy and even warmer. At mile 88 there was a final rest stop that we could have skipped but we decided to top off our water bottles there. On the way out we caught a big group of pretty fast riders and I figured we’d just sit in with these guys for another 20 minutes and we’d be done. But Adam decided he wanted to be in the front of the group and when he moved up the outside some other guys thought he was making a move so they went after him and then Adam responded by counter attacking and then there were two groups and a big gap and I was in last wheel. So I unleashed my ponies, showed the back bunch a clean pair of heels and bridged up to the fast boys. This group was doing 28mph and after a couple miles I knew I couldn’t hold on any longer so I dropped back and Adam did too… just to keep me company.

At mile 96 the PhotoCrazy guy took this shot of us:



At the finish there were volunteers clapping and cheering for the riders and a nice après ride lunch. And yes! I met my very ambitious goal of a 5 hour (ride time) century! We finished about 5 minutes before 1 o’clock and met up with some other Team BC members that were on the shorter rides and posed for some marketing photos like this one:




So thank you to all my supporters, and best wishes to all of you who told me of your personal experience with diabetic friends and family. This ride was a lot of fun, but I never forgot its purpose or who made it possible.

Scott

I got my first hate mail!
Someone signed "Jessica" (no e-mail addy provided) wrote in my guestbook and was mad that I called Arthur Mijares a dumbass (which isn't exactly what I said, but I'll stipulate it was the sentiment. He's the guy who wants to rename Mt. Diablo because he finds the word offensive and he says the devil is a living person.

I accidentally deleted Jessica's guest book entry while I was trying to respond to it (dumbass me!) Anyway - if you want to write back Jessica, I'm here for intellectual debate. Arthur is welcome too - in fact I'll publish his written statement RIGHT HERE if he wants to send it to me.

I've heard from a source I sort of trust that Mr. Mijares is not the whacko that his action in this matter would make him out to be and I'm willing to believe that. In fact that source says he even rides a bike! Still though, if you do a google search on +Mijares +dumbass you get a link to my blog so maybe that's how "Jessica" found me.

Here I am at the company picnic last year. 

No ride - it was raining. But here's a picture of me!



Blogspot has a new image hosting service that I'm checking out so I may have a bunch of photos to post one of these days in some kind of photo album. Stay tuned!

Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association!

Click here

Diablo Junction - 16 miles

Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure for diabetes! I’m doing the 100 mile ride in Napa on May 1. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/65tzt
Third Wednesday night ride of the year and not many people showed up. Me, Adam, and Nicole. Mark P and Robin had started up earlier.

So I started up by myself and didn’t see anyone ahead until well past Moss Landing where I spotted a guy about two minutes ahead. I made it my goal to catch him but he was going almost as fast as I was so it was a slow catch. Near the bottom of the Bump I figured I had him but there were two more guys behind me. Just as I was getting ready to pass him, he got off his bike! In the middle of the road!

Wildlife Encounter: A big snake – 4 or 5 footer. The guy ahead of me had stopped to escort Mr. Snake off the road safely.

I went around him and we decided it wasn’t a rattler. I came across a pickup coming down and warned them – I was rather surprised that the driver seemed concerned for the snake as well.

Now the two guys behind me were getting closer – I figured one of them was Adam and he’d catch me pretty soon, but another guy didn’t seem to be gaining on me so now I was the rabbit and not the dog.

Adam came by pretty quickly but I managed to hold off the other guy by secretly sprinting around blind corners so he would get discouraged at how big the gap was getting.

Junction time: 39m15s – excellent!

Diablo Summit 33 miles

Arthur Mijares, an anti-satanist from Oakley has petitioned the USGS to change Mount Diablo’s name because he finds it “derogatory and profane”. Mt. Kawukum is his suggestion for a new name. LINK1 scroll down to page 6 for the petition, LINK2 for a news article about it. I would call Mr. Mijares a dumbass but that might be libelous, so instead I’ll say this is a dumbass idea… that should be safe.

Today’s plan was for Rick and Nicole and their 5 year old son to ride up from Dublin and meet us at the café. They have a trailer cycle and their baby sitting plans fell through so this was their only way to get a ride in.

So it was just me and JB this morning, we waited a little bit for Peter but didn’t see him. There was a guy on an OCLV and in a Discovery jersey (first time I’ve seen one of those on the mountain) who was waiting for another buddy but JB and I left before they did. It was pretty chilly at the bottom, we both had leg warmers and arm warmers and he even packed his rain jacket.

Things started out briskly for a good conditioning pace. We both tested each other a little bit but I figured my chances were pretty good if I could hold things together for a sprint. I stayed glued to his wheel when he picked up the pace with a mile to go. He started trying to shake me at Chainbuster and he has some good speed but not much of a jump so his accelerations never opened up enough of a gap to get rid of me. I didn’t want to come around too early so I waited until only 50 meters to go and then I burned my whole book of matches and my plan came together perfectly. Gotta remember to play my strong suit in these things. Junction time: 42 minutes.

From the Junction on up things started to get warmer. The Discovery guy and his buddy had arrived and started up just before us but weren’t too much faster. Ranger scuttlebutt is that Summit Road will be repaved soon, and they may close the entire section to all traffic while they’re doing it so it won’t take so long. I think that unlikely as I’ve seen several repaving operations and they always did one lane at a time with traffic controls, but we’ll see. At Juniper I stopped to take off my arm and leg warmers because I was getting hot. The bugs were bad everywhere today, but up near the radio antennas there was a thick cloud of gnats that was like riding through a sandblaster – they’d smack into your helmet and get stuck in your arm hair and it was hard to breathe without sucking some in – yuck! There was also a foot race going on so those poor buggers had to deal with it too. JB beat me to the Upper Parking Lot by a couple minutes – my time: 83 minutes.

I called Rick’s cell phone and they were at Rudgear so it looked like the timing would be perfect for a meet-up at the café. Lots of riders were at the Summit and lots more coming up on the way down; road cycling has never been more popular around here. Rick and family arrived at the café just minutes before JB and me so today’s plan was perfect all around.

Diablo Junction - 16 miles

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Second Wednesday night ride of the year and we had a much bigger turnout than last week. New guy Mark, who is the husband of a work colleague showed up; he is an obviously skilled cyclist who’s been off the bike for a while (this was his first ride in 2 years!) so he lacks some fitness. Jeff, who is mostly recovered from a back injury and riding his new orange and black CF Orbea. Robin, who was just plain busy last week, on her new blue Cannondale (both Robin and Jeff made the jump from triple to double chainrings this year). Adam, who rode home from the office, rode up South Gate, and down North Gate to meet us at 5:30. Me, JB, and Brian, the fast triathlete that started riding with us last week.

Mark didn’t know any of us – his wife just told him about our corporate Tour de Cure team and that these Wednesday night rides were like training sessions so when he saw me getting into my car with my bike on the roof he came over and introduced himself. He followed me to Doncaster and we unloaded. Robin drove up a little later so the three of us started together. JB and Adam had a little bit of a head start and we rode by Nicole who was a little behind. Jeff and Brian weren’t there yet; one of these days we’ll have a mass start event.

From the Gate, Robin set a fast pace and I held back to stay with Mark. (I’m going to have to call him Mark P, or invent a nickname for him so he doesn’t get confused with Mark A). After a bit though he found his form and we caught up with her and passed her – she said she was missing her granny gear but was determined to become a power rider. Good on her!

We could see JB and Adam a couple hundred meters ahead, and at the bottom of the Bump I left Mark P to bridge up to them. JB said he wasn’t feeling too well so at that point Adam and I went on ahead together and JB drifted back. We kept up a pretty good pace after that and passed a few more people. At the Junction, Adam sprinted to the line and beat me by about 3 dozen bike lengths – whew, that was exciting! My Junction time was 40m22s so that was exceptional given what I thought was a pretty easy pace.

We all eventually re-grouped in the parking lot and socialized a bit before the cold ride back down. There were a couple of ladies in their car though that had just come down from the Summit and their brakes were smoking! They asked Adam and me if we knew anything about cars and we explained how to use 2nd gear and how to keep their brakes cool for the rest of the way down. They were grateful because they had no idea what they were doing wrong or even if something was maybe wrong with their automobile!

Wildlife Encounter: A familiar-looking raccoon hoping for a piece of PowerBar.

There was also a ranger there that asked if any of us knew about a bike to bike collision that happened sometime Saturday – apparently there was talk about it but no incident report and the ranger wanted it to be official for record-keeping purposes. If any of my readers knows anything about this please pass it along!

Diablo Junction - 16 miles

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First Wednesday night ride of the year and I was ready! Watching all the recent Euro races on OLN has really been getting me in the mood for more aggressive riding on the Mountain. Jeff at work passed out our new Team BC jerseys and shorts for the Tour de Cure so there were a bunch of us with matching kit.

Cindy started up before us, but Adam, JB, Rick, Nicole, and I got going just after 5:30. Rick won’t be a regular since he works in Oakland but it was nice having him for the season opener. Also a new guy Brian would be coming a little later.

It was quick from the gun, the four guys rode some good tempo but not too hard. On the Bump I did my regular routine of pounding up in a big gear (39x19) as sort of a power interval. Usually everybody catches up to me while I’m recovering from that effort but today no one wanted to close the gap. I slowed way down but JB and Adam decided to let me hang out there by myself so I got back into my groove and just rode my own speed. Rick started to drift off the back a little at this point. Coming around the Upper Washout I saw a flattened rattle snake and there was also a hang-glider (the parachute kind) floating around in the sky. It was a nice afternoon to ride. Saw lots of riders coming down but there didn’t appear to be a big club ride all together.

With two miles to go I was at 25m18s so I figured I would just break 40 and that would be a good ride. JB and Adam finally caught me near Big Shady Oak and JB rode right by. Adam stayed with me and tried to pull me up, but JB was wanted the win today and he didn’t slack at all. My Junction time was 38m30s (all right!) and he was about 15 seconds faster.

Cindy was at the Junction and we all connected, then she went down while we waited for Nicole. Finally Brian came in, he said he did 44 minutes from Alvarado Park, thinking that was about a 40 minute ride from the Gate (I think it must have been faster than that!). Brian’s a triathlete and has been training hard and says he’s improved a lot since last year. He also had a cool GPS watch thing with more functions than you could ever want.

OK guys and gals – so far I have $0 in my Tour de Cure sponsorship page… what do I have to do? Please click my link at the top of this entry… thanks.

Diablo Junction plus South Gate Road and Danville Blvd – 40 miles

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I was feeling pretty good today. JB has been running during the week and saying that his legs hurt so I figured he might not be too fast on the bike. Rick and Peter came along to make four of us. Nicole is training for Seattle to Portland by riding flat miles – the plan was for her to ride from home and meet us at the coffee shop in Encina Plaza.

We started off at a pretty quick pace right away. Peter and JB seemed to be the most interested in speed. When we got to the Bump things broke up a little bit with Rick starting to fade first. Then I let a gap open up and JB pulled ahead of Peter. I rejoined the front group near the Upper Wash Out and then JB started to fade so it was just me and Peter for a while. Then Peter opened up a gap and that’s how we finished – Peter, then me about a minute down, then JB another minute down, then Rick. My time was 41m30s so we’re getting into the competitive range again. Peter said he thought he might be sorry he rode North Gate so fast.

I put a new Ultegra chain on my bike last night and got the shifting to work flawlessly once more. Just over 2,000 miles on the last one (a SRAM 89R). I guess I only get 1,500 miles on a chain before it starts skipping and I have to live with that. Anyway, it felt good to know that I got the problem fixed finally.

There was a guy at the Junction with a Klein Mantra that had been modified for electric wheels – looked quite odd and I didn’t ask him about it but I did overhear him tell someone else that he rode from the Gate to Diablo Ranch before he had to pedal. I don’t get it.

Rick called Nicole and we firmed up plans to try and catch her on the Iron Horse Trail so pretty soon we all went down South Gate. Starting on Blackhawk Road, Rick and I started hammering and we were making JB and Peter hurt. By the time we got to Danville Blvd I was the only one pulling and was doing 25 to 27 mph. JB recovered and rode well, but Peter was in pain.

Nicole beat us to the coffee shop but I couldn’t stay so I just checked out her new Cane Creek wheels and headed home.

Diablo Summit, 33 miles

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Nice warm day – tights but short sleeves and half-finger gloves. I knew Rick and Nicole weren’t coming, but JB didn’t know. When I got to the Gate at eight, I saw JB and Peter starting up already so I chased them down. Then JB made us all turn around and start over so he could reset his odometer.

I’m still having trouble with my 24-tooth, I’m going to put on a new chain and see if that helps. I’m able to dink with the cable adjusters a little and get it to quit skipping, but it never lasts long.

Peter was talking about his new Cannondale commute bike with fenders and racks – sounds like a good package since he rides from Walnut Creek to San Ramon nearly every day. We also talked about cars and auto mechanics and we all had a lot of stories to tell.

We rode together at a conversational pace, all the way to the Junction – no sprinting for the line. And we all agreed to hit the Summit too; I hadn’t eaten yet this morning so I munched on a PowerBar. While we were hanging out at the Junction, JB noticed a black dot on his yellow front tire – we tried to figure out if it was a blob of tar or a bubble of an inner tube but we were afraid to scrape it because we couldn’t see any casing threads. He left it alone. Also while we were there we saw a guy that we often see but never talk to – he always wears red bib shorts over a red shirt, he has bright yellow shoes, hairless legs, and he parks his car just INSIDE the Gate (like, why pay $5 to park there when you can park for free a little ways down?). We never knew if he was arrogant or just a little odd because, well because we never talked to him. Anyway he didn’t stop at the Junction and we started up about five minutes after he went by.

Again we all stayed together for most of Summit Road too.

Wildlife Encounter: A coyote trotting on the road ahead of us, going the same direction as we were. He pulled over on the shoulder to let us go by and we made some jokes about wearing coyote-proof toe warmers and having a can of Acme coyote repellent. I made up a news story about how a ranger might find chewed up remains of a cyclist and then have to hunt down and shoot the man-eating coyote and the autopsy would reveal bits of lycra and chamois in the coyote’s stomach.

And then we saw RedBibsMan about a mile and a half below the Summit. Peter used this event to launch his attack and passed RBM handily. JB had been making excuses and even talked about stopping for a rest until this point, but he too found the strength to accelerate past RBM. I stayed back for a little while but when I did pass him he gave me a pleasant greeting so I figured he was a nice enough guy. Then in the Summit Parking Lot we exchanged some short conversation about the great weather. Maybe next time I see him I’ll ask his name. Until then, RedBibsMan he’ll remain.

It was really encouraging to see SO MANY CYCLISTS on the mountain this morning. On my way down there must have been 50 on North Gate Road.

De Ronde van Vlaanderen is THIS SUNDAY - my favorite race of the year and one of the Five Monuments of Cycling. I'll be following it on CyclingNews.com meet me there.

Diablo Summit - 33 miles

Best weather of the year by far today. First time up with no jacket, but to be safe I had a T-shirt under my jersey, arm warmers, and tights. JB and I started off at a quick pace, I tried not to let on that I wasn't feeling 100% for some reason (probably not enough time at the health club the last couple weeks). He said there were a couple guys we could probably catch that started about 5 minutes before we did.

So by the top of the Bump there was no doubt that he was going stronger than I and that was OK and we stayed together until Big Shady Oak when he took off trying to break 40 minutes. He didn't quite do it, and I was about a minute and a half slower at 41m55s.

At the Junction we met the two guys he thought we could catch but didn't - they were Bill and John from Orinda and had both just gotten confirmations for the Death Ride so they were starting their training today. JB had to go home but Bill and John invited me to go to the Summit with them so I did but first I took off my tights and rolled down my arm warmers - it was getting hot. We talked a bit and found out that Bill knew some guys from my company. They were both a little older than me and were both strong friendly riders. They hadn't done the Death Ride before and asked me what I knew about it - training, gears, clothing. I think I helped a little bit. So by Muir Picnic Area it was pretty clear that they were riding stronger than I was and that was OK and they slowly rode away from me. They got to the Summit about a minute and a half before I did.

Just as I was getting ready to descend, Peter showed up so I talked with him for a while. He's registered for Primavera and that's always a good century. Another rider rode up just after he did and said to Peter - "How can I get as smooth as you? You have a very smooth pedal stroke!" That's true, Peter climbs in the saddle with really nice form, and I'm sure he likes to hear that.

Diablo Junction plus SGR, 33 miles

The ride was to start at 8:30 today but I got there at 8 and found JB’s note under a rock saying he was up but would be back. I rode up to the “curvy road next 6.5 miles) sign and then my rear tire went soft.

Pulled out my flat fixing stuff and got to work – found a little shred of a thorn in there that was difficult to remove. JB came down and stopped about a minute later, then Mark came down with his new custom Rivendell cyclocross bike so I had some good conversation while I got the tire back on. His bike had a front derailleur as a chain watcher over his single chain ring with a 9-speed cassette and he said he didn’t get any chain rub over the whole range. It had a single bottle cage, cantilever brakes, threadless headset, and with sew-up cyclocross tires mounted it weighs 18.5 pounds. The paint job was a nice, flat grey with one extra Rivendell panel where the seat tube bottle cage would normally go.

So back to the Gate where we met up with Rick and started back up. I did a good effort up the Bump but then it started to get way too warm for the clothes I was wearing. We all rode together then until the Upper Ranch where JB started to fade. I was on Rick’s wheel thinking JB would launch an attack from far behind and that’s what happened when we got to the Ranger House. Rick tried to follow him but I just sat up.

After a while at the Junction we went down South Gate Road to the Kiosk where I turned around but JB and Rick went all the way down for a Bump de Bump. The top part of SGR is a lot nicer than the lower part because you don’t see all the urban sprawl down in Danville.

Still don’t have the new derailleur installed on my Merckx – it won’t go high enough on the braze on to clear the big chainring without bumping it. This operation is going to take longer than I thought, hope I don’t have to file the slot bigger.

Diablo Summit 33 miles

Before the ride this morning, I was following the live coverage of one of my favorite Euro races, Belgium’s Omloop Het Volk, on CyclingNews.com. The weather in Ghent was a couple of degrees above freezing with light snowfall and the classics riders were all attacking each other over the slick, wet cobbles and I had a feeling that all was right with the world.

On the way to the Mountain, I happened upon Rick in his Explorer and grabbed a side mirror for a little while, then drifted back and rode motorpace for a mile or so at good speed. We started toward the Gate together after he unloaded and then we found JB riding down to look for us.

It was cold, but dry and calm. JB took off his GoreTex jacket at the Gate and then we got going. The new welcome sign looks like it’s done now, I’ve got to get a photo of that. There’s a lot of barbed wire fence along the ditches of this lower stretch that’s just about horizontal from the wet weather and soil shifting but we didn’t see any loose cows today. Things were reasonably cordial until we got to the Bump where Rick started to fade.

I sat on JB’s wheel for quite a while, feeling not a bit guilty. A little farther up I got a gap on him without really trying so I thought I had a good chance of winning a good one today. He did a 38 minute Junction ride a couple weeks ago though, so he’s a lot stronger than he was last year now that he’s fully recovered from his broken clavicle and back on his Della Santa. Still, I sensed that he was working a little too hard for what we were doing so I just waited. As we passed Clavicle Cracker we both did the little collar bone salute in unison.

Rick had dropped quite a ways back by now. JB and I were together with 2 miles to go and we started to get serious. He was trying to ride a fast steady pace hoping I’d fade too (which is usually a good strategy to get rid of me) but he wasn’t going fast enough to do it. With one mile to go he was still happy to let me sit on his wheel, even though we had a bit of a headwind by now. As we passed the Ranger House I kept telling myself “uphill finish, into the wind = GO LATE” so I didn’t make my move until we had about 100 meters to go. He was breathing hard and watching for me in his helmet mirror. I came around him on the right and heard him mutter an expletive so I knew he had already given up. I did a token out-of-the-saddle sprint but even that wasn’t necessary – I finished well clear of him. Junction time: 41m25s, best of the year so far.

Sitting on the benches, he said “There is sure a lot of weakness leaving my body” (a reference to the cyclist’s definition of “pain”. Rick arrived after a bit, and so did Peter (who confessed that his motivation to rise early was failing him lately). I suggested we do Bump de Bump but Rick and Peter said they wanted to climb so I went with them while JB did South Gate and back up.

Rick had been working some late shifts so he was a little off his edge and I welcomed the easier pace on Summit Road but Peter dusted us after Juniper. There’s a new photo sign at the Juniper parking area now that points out some of the things you can see from there. Up around Muir Picnic Area I asked Rick if he was going to make it and he said it was too late to quit, but it wasn’t long ago that I had felt the same way about this point and in the space of a couple hundred meters my attitude changed from “might as well finish the job” to “what’s the point?” and had turned around.

No trouble on the Summit Wall. Lots and lots of riders in the Upper Lot today – a few too many cars and SUV’s but it was a nice ride. The water’s out up here though so no place to fill up your bottles and the restrooms are closed (there are some porta potties available).

Nice descent, including a strong sprint on the double dips. Good to feel good.

Diablo Junction, 26 miles

Today looked like it was going to be a race against the rain. Dark clouds and weather reports both indicated the wet stuff would be here soon so I figured it would be a quick one with no lollygagging.

JB rolled up right after I did, and then we took off right at 8 o’clock. Turns out Rick was a couple minutes behind us but he hadn’t called so we didn’t wait – he waited for us until 8:10.

I thought it would be interesting to see who and how many riders would show up today. First we came across a couple near the Double Dips and one of them was having wheel problems but they didn’t need our help. Then we saw a couple of singles coming down after an early start. JB was on his touring bike with fenders and panniers and he wasn’t quite recovered from last night’s party at the Pyramid Alehouse so I was enjoying being the stronger rider today, playing around with my big gears at low cadence.

The first drops of rain came near the Upper Washout, and it quickly became a sort of heavy drizzle for the rest of the way up. I think I saw about a dozen other riders all together, most of them looked like they were ready for the weather, and also a couple of joggers. Anyway, we didn’t stick around long and just after we headed back down we came across Rick near the Ranger House so we turned around and rode in again with him. Then Grant Peterson showed up, did one lap around the parking lot to put on his arm warmers and started down with us, but he turned off onto the dirt trail at Chainbuster.

Farther down the road we came across a cow that had gotten loose. Rick didn't flinch but JB was cautious going around her, and I was very cautious. Later JB said "she didn't look like the kind of cow that would dart in front of you." And even farther down the road, just before the double dips, we saw another cow west of the road running (yes running!) a long distance along a path, we were quite surprised to see how far she kept up that speed. The rain has reduced the integrity of quite a few of the cow fences on North Gate Road - I suspect we'll see more loose cows in the coming months.

More rain on the way home but it was still very enjoyable day on the bike.

Diablo plus South Gate, 33 miles

It wasn’t raining, but the roads were wet this morning, so I took the Merckx off the hooks in the garage and prepared myself to get a little sloppy. I made the green lights at both Treat and Ygnacio so I thought it might be a good day. Rick was waiting for me at the Gate, he just got back from a skiing trip, and JB rolled in a few minutes later. One guy on a black Trek started up just before us so we figured he’d be our rabbit.

When we got to the Bump I went out for a long interval and powered up the hill in my 21, so I had a big gap but when I sat back down the other guys caught me up pretty quickly. The rabbit wasn’t having much difficulty staying ahead of us but we finally caught him near the Lower Ranch. Just as we were getting ready to pass him though, he does a U-turn and heads back down. I don’t know what he was doing but it sure seemed like he just didn’t want to get passed. Then I started to fade a little and wound up getting to Junction about a minute after JB and Rick.

Shortly after we got there, Grant Peterson arrived with his Rivendell Saluki.

.

The Saluki is an interesting blend of road bike and mountain bike design concepts and componentry. Looked to me like something you’d get if you wanted the absolute most versatile, go anywhere bike you could get – maybe for a trans-Siberian bike tour, or something for the survivalist after they drop the big one. I don’t know how many people will want a bike like this, but I’m pretty sure nobody else is selling anything similar. It was certainly the focus of much curiosity at the Junction ranger office. There was another guy there who recognized Grant and thanked him for writing his “Roads to Ride” books and being a general inspiration to Bay Area cyclists for the last 20 years or so.

So when it’s time to leave, I suggest going south down to the Boundary Gate and then back up, but Rick and JB decided Hole In The Fence was a better option so I agreed to the “miles vs. climbing” training plan. Then I did little sprints up every single roller all the way home, just to get even. Somewhere along the ride today I lost my Accelerade water bottle; I either left it at the Junction or it fell out of the cage while I was riding. Not a big loss, but odd that I didn’t notice until we got to Danville.

Diablo Junction, 23 miles

8:20 at the Gate and no one but me was there. There was a rock on the post though, which meant one of four things: JB got an early start and would be back down before 8:30, JB got an early start and would NOT be back down by 8:30, someone left a rock there from some previous ride, or none of the above. This system just isn’t very precise.

At 8:30 Peter rode up and said “hi”. He said he passed by Nicole who was unloading her bike but had told him Rick was already ahead. I was sure Rick hadn’t passed me, and Nicole wasn’t there when I went by, so someone was confused. Peter also told me that Nicole dropped her bike when she was getting it out of the Explorer, and the saddle landed in a pile of horse poop! We decided not to wait for her and go looking for Rick (maybe).

Peter got a new Specialized saddle and matching shorts – he’s one of those guys who has a lot of saddle troubles but he thinks this one will do the trick. Luckily for me I seem to be fine with whatever saddle looks cool. We also discussed training philosophies, heart rates, spin classes, and metabolisms. It was pretty social until near the Bump where his speed was a little uncomfortable for me, but I stayed with him. Later in the ride we both picked it up a little more and I didn’t have any trouble at all, and as we got closer to the Junction I got the feeling that he was having trouble staying with me. No sprint today, but I could’ve taken him for sure if there were.

Quite a few other riders showed up and mingled at the Junction, but we didn’t see Rick so I called him on my cell phone to ask where he was (thinking Juniper or so) and he was at home! Then Peter remembered that Nicole had said “the guys have already left” and that he just assumed that included Rick too. No sign of JB either but he doesn’t carry a phone so there was no way to check up on him.

Nice ride today – no wind or rain, not too cold, not too foggy, and I felt pretty good despite this cough that I can’t seem to shake.

Diablo Junction, Blackhawk, Camino Tasajara, Danville Blvd - 34 miles

It’s been raining the last couple days and the roads were still wet but it was clear and not windy. I was on my foul weather bike and met Rick at the Gate, JB showed up a few minutes later and we set off. There was one guy who started up just before us but we never saw him, so I’m sorry for thinking he was a poser. We rode at an off-season pace until we got to the Ranches and then we took turns testing each other out. At Big Shady Oak, Rick tried to go for a flyer but JB soon caught and passed him and was the first to the Junction. Peter was coming down about the time we got there but he didn’t turn around.

We hung around there for quite a while talking to the other riders and looking at pictures in the display case. JB was having some kind of problem with his DuraAce SPD pedals but he got that worked out and just as we were leaving he realized he also had a flat front tire. He must have gone harder than we thought because then he started to take out his rear wheel to fix the flat on the front. I kidded him that it was probably a failed patch because he’s one of those guys with dozens of patches on his tubes, including the spare. He said he doesn’t have any failed patches and he found a thorn in the rubber. So we waited around a while longer and then decided to go down South Gate.

The sun was pretty bright by now and I was wishing I put the dark lenses in my Bolles. Rick said he wanted to do hole-in-the-fence but JB and I embarassed him into doing Blackhawk. We did some good drafting work on Blackhawk Road and then I won the stoplight climb. We stopped several times to change gloves or roll up arm warmers, and then I had to tighten down my brake hood so it wasn’t an aggressive ride home, but I was first up all the little sprinter hills.

Starbucks in Countrywood after the ride – thanks for the gift card Mom and Dad!

Product Review: Smartwool Hiking Socks



These are a little shorter on the ankle than I would have chosen for a winter cycling sock but that wasn't a problem. They're thicker than most bike socks I have and they felt real good inside my Cannondale MTB shoes (that I purposefully chose to be a little on the roomy side). No booties today and it wasn't as cold as last week, but these socks kept my toes happy on the uphill, the downhill, and the rollers. I suppose their true worth should be measured when they get wet but I wasn't about to test that. Anyway - they're comfy and warm and they don't itch and I give them a 9 as a cycling sock - SmartWool does have some other models so check out their website if you think you might like a different style.

Diablo Junction - 23 miles

Seems like the 8:30 start time is gaining acceptance during these cold winter mornings. I know I had no trouble hitting the snooze button a couple extra times. I haven’t ridden the mountain for a month and only have a few rides on my commute bike since Christmas – the combination of bad weather, holidays, and sickness has been keeping me off for that long.

So I roll up at 8:30 and meet up with JB and Rick. JB was on his Della Santa for only the second time since last April when he crashed it (he rode it last weekend too, when I was sick). Nicole gave herself a head start and JB asked us to guess when we would catch her. Rick said “mid-Bump” and he called it exactly right.

The fog was thick and it was pretty cold but not windy. I’m still not exactly healthy yet – I’m tempted to claim I had walking pneumonia or something but it’s probably just a really bad chest cold. After every hard effort I would cough and cough but I kept on going. Anyway, we caught Nicole at mid-Bump and it was still foggy and JB asked us to guess when we would rise out of the fog (he likes to do these polls, I’m not sure why) and Rick guessed 1200 feet, but it was probably closer to 1400 feet – right at Clavicle Cracker.

As soon as we popped out of the clouds it started to get warm and we started to get hot. We all had booties and our warmest jackets on and we certainly needed them, but near the Upper Ranch JB decided to take off his jacket so I used the opportunity to attack! I didn’t know if I could stay ahead for that long with my chest still full of sand and glue but I figured “what the hell?”. Rick didn’t come after me but didn’t stop for JB either. As I came around Chainbuster I thought I had a pretty good chance but when I got to the Ranger house JB was close and getting closer. I about killed myself that last 300 meters but I crossed the line first. Then I coughed and heaved for about 5 minutes… it was grand.

We three put on our ear jocks and glove liners and Rick even had ski gloves. Nicole never did make it to Junction, we turned around to ride her in but she had already given up and went to Mia Café for brekkie. Sure was nice to wrap my hands around a hot coffee cup.

Product Review: Castelli Thermolite Socks



Got two pairs of these from my brother for Christmas. They’re much thinner than I would expect in a cold weather sock, but they come up about mid-calf so they cover up that bare patch below the bottom of your tights that can appear with shorter socks. I also had booties on today so I was plenty warm, but I do remember having cold toe problems with regular socks and booties that I didn’t have today with these socks. I’ve never had special winter cycling socks before, I think partially because I was concerned that the extra thickness would make my shoes fit too tightly and that would negate the benefit of extra insulation, so these Castelli socks were comfortable and warm and fit well in my regular road shoes, and they didn’t itch at all. They also seem to be extremely well made – no stray threads or funky stitching. These guys get my highest rating – 10.





Ride to Heather Farm Park with CJ on the Giant Halfwheeler - 3 miles




Dear wife gave me this trailer cycle for Christmas and I love it. After a few rides around the neighborhood to make sure my daughter was ready, we rode the 1.5 mile journey to the park – part road, part trail.

Product Review: Giant Halfwheeler

I looked around a lot at different styles and this one had several features that made it superior to the others. First the seatpost attachment is completely quick release with no special clamp thingy that has to stay on the regular bike – so taking it on and off is painless, not like some other trailer cycles I’ve seen. It’s aluminum and light weight, it has a little splash guard for the child rider (for the rooster tail from my rear wheel), her own water bottle with cage (actually above the handlebars, not below like in that photo), the tow-bar part folds so you can put it in a vehicle easier, it's got a nice chain protector, and the tire is a decent design that rolls well. The seat height and saddle position are adjustable, and the handlebars rotate in the clamp for higher and farther away as the kid grows. It’s a nicely-painted silver with black trim and the ubiquitous orange safety flag in the back.

The pedals won’t accept toe clips and straps so I’ll be replacing those soon because CJ’s feet came off the pedals a couple of times when we went over bumps – she should learn how to use toe clips anyway, but it would have been nice if the Halfwheeler came with pedals that the toe clips could attach to. The crank takes pedals that are ½ inch threaded (kid bike/BMX standard) so the choice of replacement pedals is limited as well. Most of the trailer cycles have the same type of pedals and cranks so this isn’t really a disadvantage to the Giant model.

The attachment to the adult bike seat post isn’t *exactly* quick release – it’s a cam on a swing bolt and you have to open the skewer and then unspin it several turns to swing it open and unhinge it before the clamp opens up completely. The skewer fits into a depression in the clamp so it’s *almost* foolproof, and this seems like a good alternative but I would worry that someone who doesn’t take the time to understand how the attachment works might screw it up and have an unexpected disengagement. The quick release on the folding part works the same way.

Ours is the single-speed version but Giant does offer a 7-speed version. I originally thought I’d want the 7-speed model so we could go faster (!) but I think the other six gears are mostly lower than the gear on the single speed so they might help on climbs but they wouldn’t provide any increase in flat land velocity. There’s a version in steel too, presumably for the Rivendell fans (I don’t think it’s lugged though).

This product gets a 9 on my rating scale. I do think it’s the best of the models available (possible exception would be the Burley but that costs twice as much), but a couple of thoughtful modifications would make it even better.
If anybody could use a pair of mint-condition resin platform ½” threaded pedals for a kid’s bike, they’re yours for the shipping costs - drop me an e-mail.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2006: I've had this Halfwheeler for a year now and I still use it a lot. I did put the toe clip pedals on (MKS) and they work great; dear daughter learned how to use them quickly and her feet don't fall off the pedals nearly as much even with the straps pretty loose. I also put a different bottle cage on since the one that came with the Halfwheeler only held a small, non-standard bottle. One thing I didn't mention before was the quick release on the boom - a very handy little device that lets you fold it for easier hauling in your car, the Halfwheeler by itself is pretty long so without this there's no way it would fit and you'd need some kind of rack attachment; most trailer cycles do NOT have the folding option. And I put some thread lock on the seatpost clamp to keep it from unscrewing out of the clamp when I'm unscrewing the quick release and have had zero problems since then. We ride this to the park, the club, the bike shops, and to Jamba Juice and dear daughter usually chooses the Halfwheeler over the automobile when given a choice to go anywhere. Be sure to check out our photo on the photos page.

Diablo Junction plus South Gate Road to Danville – 33 miles

Thursday and Friday are work holidays so a good opportunity for bike riding. Everyone except JB and me had Christmas activities planned though, so it was just us two this morning. It was cold and windy but not foggy. A couple guys rolled up at the same time as JB and while we were getting set they started ahead of us. We got going just a little bit later and we kept them in sight for four miles. Finally at 2 miles to go I jumped and passed them both quickly, but the INSTANT I came around them a killer headwind came up so I had to really grit my teeth and grind to keep going. Things got a little easier after Chainbuster and I did keep my lead the rest of the way to the Junction but it wasn’t fun. JB made the move too and came in ahead of the other two guys by a little bit.

At the Junction JB decided he’d had enough. I called the Mt. Diablo info line and the recording said the winds at the Summit were 13 to 39 mph! So I decided South Gate would make a better ride and we split up.
It was one of those dicey white-knuckled descents down to Danville, with strong gusts of wind that were trying to blow me into the ditch but I played it safe and made it down in one piece. Then it was a long time trial back to Walnut Creek on Danville Blvd.

Diablo to Muir Picnic Area – 28 miles

My first real ride in three weeks! Nicole talked everyone into an 8:30 start time this morning, but I got there at 8 anyway and rode to the top of the Bump nice and easy just to be riding. It was *really* foggy and the road was wet with condensation. On the way back down I came across Peter and invited him to start over with us, and he did. When we both got to the Gate, Rick and Nicole were just starting out so we timed it perfectly even though JB wasn’t there yet.

Peter was the friskiest and he started to push us a little bit so we rode away from Nicole but the three of us stayed together the rest of the way. The fog broke at Chainbuster and it was suddenly very warm. The thermometer at the Junction said 68°F. JB showed up shortly after that and we all stripped off our winter duds and went on up Summit Road. I completely ran out of energy past Juniper though – not exhausted, just out of gas and I pulled off at Muir Picnic Area. I even felt a little bit shaky. First time I’ve abandoned a ride in a LONG time. Turns out I'm coming down with a booty-kicking head cold... that must have been why I felt so weak.

On the way home I came around the roundabout at Walnut and Oak Grove just as a kid on a motorized scooter came from the other side. I took the lead and then made sure he wasn’t going to catch me, but I still was feeling kind of weak. At every stop light I had to slow down for the signal change and the kid got closer. I had no trouble staying in front but I couldn’t lose him altogether. Finally I had a long red light at Ygnacio and he pulled up next to me and expressed surprise that I could ride faster than his scooter. I think he thought that was a compliment but he was just so clueless it didn’t mean anything.