Diablo Junction plus South Gate Road to Blackhawk – 38 miles

Rick, Peter, and I all started right at eight, JB said he was coming but we left without him and put up the rock. I felt pretty good, but not very energetic. It was a beautiful day, the sun was quickly warming up the mountain and there wasn’t much wind. There did seem to be a lot of traffic though, maybe some kind of trail maintenance event going on. Lots of riders too – regulars as well as some I hadn’t seen before.

Just before the Bump, JB caught us and made some remark about how he must be in top form to do that and I said if he were really in top form he would ATTACK us and so he did, because he is, and we didn’t see him again until Junction.

After the Bump I picked up the speed a little bit and Peter got shelled, but I tried to wait for Rick to catch up. Since he hadn’t done so by the Upper Ranch I decided to go for it and pulled out the plug. Never did catch JB, but I passed a bunch of other riders and finished with a 40m20s Junction time – about the same as last Wednesday.

TONS of riders at the Junction, and several really nice bikes, and there was lots of friendly chit chat. I examined my tires here and noticed some thread showing through the rear so I made a mental note to change it. I got 2000 miles out of that tire though so that’s reasonable. JB and Peter turned down so Rick and I discussed part 2. He asked for a ClifShot but nobody had one so he decided South Gate and Blackhawk would be a better ride than the Summit.

That residential section at the bottom gets worse on a weekly basis. I wonder how bad they’ll let it go before they do something.

So on Diablo Road and Blackhawk Road, Rick and I rode some good tempo and he tried to challenge me on a couple of sprinter hills but I beat him every time – he was close once though and really made me dig.

Then at 9:45 I’m pretty sure I saw blog reader Larry and a buddy on Blackhawk Road and I shouted out to him because he told me he’d be there, but I’m not sure he heard me and he didn’t stop.

Back to Walnut Creek on Danville Blvd and I did most of the pulling just because I was enjoying the power workout. A post ride Jamba Juice was especially delicious since the weather was pretty warm by then.

Then later in the evening I went out for a ride with my daughter and our Halfwheeler (she calls it the "two-headed bike"). She enjoys learning bikie lingo like “Let’s hammer Dada!”, but she doesn’t like it when I call her a wheel sucker. She also helped me put a slightly used tire on my rear wheel to replace the one with the threads showing. Her favorite part is using the floor pump.

Diablo Junction - 16 miles

Had trouble getting a group together today; people showing up at different times. Mark P and I met at the parking spot and we saw JB ride by so we followed him. Waited at the Gate for a while and Adam showed up. We were expecting Nicole and Jeff too but JB didn’t wait. Then a friend of Jeff’s showed up and introduced himself as Tim. So when Jeff finally did show up we all took off together but that didn’t last long.

Jeff and Mark stayed together, I hung on with Adam and Tim, who it turns out is an ex-pro who took a break from riding but is now back to racing Master 4’s. Adam and Tim had both raced Cat’s Hill Criterium last weekend so they were chatting about that while I was dragging my tongue trying to keep in their slipstream. We were really flying and zoomed past some other solo riders, but by the time we got near the bottom of the Bump I decided to back off (actually less of a decision than a capitulation).

So I rode the rest of the route by myself. I kept Adam and Tim in sight for a little while but by the Upper Washout they had a couple minutes on me. I was thinking I might be able to stay with them until we caught JB, but I didn’t have it. Then I started kicking myself for eating too much lunch (free sandwiches at vendor presentation) because I was getting that “I ate too much lunch” feeling and it was really slowing me down. Every time I do that I promise myself not to do it again, but free sandwiches are my weakness I guess.

Barely broke 21 minutes for the final three miles – pretty pathetic, but thanks to the fast start I still had an OK Junction time of 40m23s. No socializing; JB turned around right away, Adam and Tim had gone down South Gate, I waited for Jeff and Mark and then we went down together. Didn’t see Nicole until back at her car… she only made it to the first ranch.

Sure would be nice to have some bigger groups.

Diablo Junction - 16 miles

Had trouble getting a group together today; people showing up at different times. Mark P and I met at the parking spot and we saw JB ride by so we followed him. Waited at the Gate for a while and Adam showed up. We were expecting Nicole and Jeff too but JB didn’t wait. Then a friend of Jeff’s showed up and introduced himself as Tim. So when Jeff finally did show up we all took off together but that didn’t last long.

Jeff and Mark stayed together, I hung on with Adam and Tim, who it turns out is an ex-pro who took a break from riding but is now back to racing Master 4’s. Adam and Tim had both raced Cat’s Hill Criterium last weekend so they were chatting about that while I was dragging my tongue trying to keep in their slipstream. We were really flying and zoomed past some other solo riders, but by the time we got near the bottom of the Bump I decided to back off (actually less of a decision than a capitulation).

So I rode the rest of the route by myself. I kept Adam and Tim in sight for a little while but by the Upper Washout they had a couple minutes on me. I was thinking I might be able to stay with them until we caught JB, but I didn’t have it. Then I started kicking myself for eating too much lunch (free sandwiches at vendor presentation) because I was getting that “I ate too much lunch” feeling and it was really slowing me down. Every time I do that I promise myself not to do it again, but free sandwiches are my weakness I guess.

Barely broke 21 minutes for the final three miles – pretty pathetic, but thanks to the fast start I still had an OK Junction time of 40m23s. No socializing; JB turned around right away, Adam and Tim had gone down South Gate, I waited for Jeff and Mark and then we went down together. Didn’t see Nicole until back at her car… she only made it to the first ranch.

Sure would be nice to have some bigger groups.

Diablo Junction - 23 miles

Well I was more than a little disappointed that the rain kept me from riding Wednesday night. My legs on Wednesday were fully recovered and I felt great, but there was a thunderstorm and I don’t do thunderstorm rides.

So this morning I still felt pretty good, but maybe like I’d lost some of that power boost that I got from the century last week. The road was still a little wet and it was a cool, arm-warmer kind of day. Rick, JB, and I started off right on time.

I checked the web for coverage of the Giro prologue but since it was such a late start (Italian time) that I didn’t find anything. Rick and I discussed tactics for riding a 1.1km prologue TT and we decided you should just think speed and not tactics.

Starting way down at Moss Landing I got out of the saddle and pedaled slow RPMs in a big gear because it felt good and it was fun and I imagined that there was some training benefit for doing so. I got a little ahead of the guys but I really wanted to stay close so we could have a sprint at the Junction maybe. Then just before the Bump, Rick asked me if I was going to stand the whole way up – and I thought I just might do that! But at the Bump I sat down and pedaled a slightly smaller gear.

Somewhere near the Upper Washout we lost JB – I think maybe he stopped to take off his rain jacket. Rick and I were still together at Big Shady Oak and he wondered if JB was going to chase us down, but I said “There will be no capture!”. Then after Chainbuster I figured I’d take a hard pull and see if Rick could stay with me… but he couldn’t. Junction time: 42minutes, Rick was about 45 seconds back. A few minutes later, JB showed up shouting “it’s a mad sprint for third!” and that was kind of funny - sprinting for last place.

Back home by 9:40 ! Wife and daughter liked that, they had some bossing around to do.

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.

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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.