New Rule in the Park

Enough is enough!




Finally, the Park Service has recognized the environmental impact and general unpleasantness of horse manure.



Either diaper your steed or pack some giant poop bags!



Set a new PB to the Loading Dock... then faded a little bit.





Roadkill Report: Chupacabras just past the Ranger House

Didn't stop until Devil's Thumb

Wildlife Encounter: spider near Surface of Mars

Hope this bullshit is over by tomorrow.

Epic Diablo Video from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

This is a must-click.

2011 WNR 01

All the crappy weather of the last few weeks is over and tonight was warm and windy.

I'm not in my groove though so I forgot my HRM and floor pump at home and my camera in my truck... so you get a photo of my bike in my truck:

Wildlife Encounter: Jackrabbit at the Loading Dock

Also, Grape Cytomax is some good stuff, but if you don't get it mixed up really well, the undissolved powder looks like green mold growing on the inside of your water bottle.

Ho-Hum

Another beautiful morning on the best Mountain in the world for cycling.

Wildlife Encounter: Coyote at Son of Chainbuster.







Check out my new YouTube channel (link in sidebar) - I've been uploading some old racing footage from VHS tapes. The Vimeo page is videos of me and my rides, but the YouTube channel is stuff I recorded off the TV. Lots more to come - subscribe and thumb me up!

Gate-Junction-Hole

Wow, great weather this morning. Could have done it without a jacket. Big change from last week.

No JB at the Gate so I went up alone.

Wildlife Encounter: Bunny below Bump

Then at Junction I went looking for a new viewpoint for a photo...

When suddenly... THAT GUY came down and I managed to trip the shutter on him...

He looked at me like "what are you looking at?"

Then I started down and happened upon JB at the Ranger House so I went back up. Also talked to BlogReader Keith for a while up there. There were some other guys there and we discussed the GoPro HD video camera because I thought one of them had a helmet mount for one... it just was for a light but he knew some interesting stuff about the company.

Somehow though, I can't believe there're that many people out there interested in watching crotch eye views of pigeon-toed cross-chainers like this pissant...



That dude's hit count will probably triple when my legions of readers click on that video.

Coooo-ho-ho-hold, but no Snow

A mile from home I was already wishing I had my booties on... and figured I'd later be wishing I had my neck gator and ear jock. Fortunately, I thought to bring double gloves.

We were supposed to get a news-worthy blizzard last night, but instead got squat.

OK, this is worth some Belgian Hardman® Points though...

I sent out a request for Diablo Snow photos thinking it was going to be a photo-worthy day, but as noted before, the prognosticators were WRONG!

Anyway, I did get a couple responses:

Blog Reader Curtis sent along this shot taken last weekend from the east side:

Blog Reader Scott sent me these two from last year's snow event.

And Blog Reader Keith sends this one along from last weekend when he hiked up from Junction.

Send Me Your Diablo Snow Photos

Another snow show is expected this weekend - go take your best snap and send it to me and I'll publish it with whatever credentials you'd like to include.

Here's one I took from DVC on Sunday afternoon.

Blog reader Pumpkincycle sent me this one, taken by a friend with a helocopter.

While I'm at it - here's another great website with old time photos and racing history:

http://www.cyclingpassions.eu/

Che Bella Montagna

Came down with a really nasty bug last week, and this week the weather has been awful. The rain finally let up over night and exposed the blanket of snow on His Majesty.

Left a rock on the post but JB didn't show.
Drizzled on me most of the way up, it was divine.
Not as many cars as I might have expected... probably the rain was keeping them away.
The snow level was down way below 2000 feet, but there wasn't much accumulation... just a little frosting.
End of the road boys... there will be no Summit runs today.







First snow of the winter, and first poppies of spring on THE SAME DAY - I'm a lucky guy.

No Fog, Only Wind

JB was late, caught me at Chainbuster.



Nice clear skies, but the wind was not my friend.






A shame that visitors won't get the greatest view in the Bay Area for a while.

It's Not Fog

Wildlife Encounter: Peloton of turkeys.

It's not fog - it's steam coming off the weeds as the sun warms up the Earth and evaporates the dew... kewl.

THAT GUY passed me before the Gate, he was in shorts already.

Then JB and I did the Hole. It was a little colder on the South Side.

Windiest Day of the Year

Much less foggy though.

Met Rick and JB at the Church and visibility was pretty good. By the time we got to the Dumpster Gate it was clear and almost warm. Then the wind picked up and it was kind of a warm wind that made me want to take off my jacket. When we got past the Bump, the wind was so strong it made riding close together pretty tricky... three to a lane was just making me a little nervous, so we spread out a little.

At the Junction, other riders arrived with similar experiences. I didn't park my bike because the wind would have blown it out of the rack. Then Mark, one of Rick's team mates, came up from the South and we decided to go up some more. Mark had a female companion (in white on the bench) was a good rider but didn't talk much. Rick and I stopped at Juniper but they kept going.

Coming back down was challenging too - I almost had to pedal down the Bump the wind was so stiff.

NOTE: Starbucks at the Encina Safeway still has peppermint lattes!

Classic January Ride Redux

Pretty much just like last week.

Even got pretty much the same photos - LOL.

Fog ceiling was a little lower.






Almost 70°F at the Junction.

This chunk of road is doomed. For a little perspective...

OBTW - I've added a favorite blog to my list: Fast Eddy's Flandria Cafe for lovers of Flemish cycling past and present. Really great stuff over there.

Classic January Morning Ride

JB and I were both about 10 minutes late so that worked out great.

Fog was thick and got thicker as we got higher. I wasn't sure we'd ever climb out of it.

Just about Chainbuster though was the ceiling, just as JB had predicted, and it was glorious. Sunny and blue skies, dry and (sorta) warm.

Re-washout is getting worse. I suspect contractor malfeasance.

After a short break at Junction we went on up to Juniper. Got warm enough to take off gloves and JB even took off his jacket.

Coming back down was pretty miserable though... I double gloved it and still my fingers had that lovely frozen numbness, plus visibility was close to zero so it wasn't that much fun either.

A quintessential January morning on The Mountain. Can't wait to do it again.