Diablo Junction – 23 Miles

I missed a ride last week for a rare weekend business trip so I was committed to riding today no matter what the weather. Luckily it wasn’t too bad. Not cold at all but lots of rain over night and more in the forecast. It wasn’t raining when I rolled out the door though so I was expecting a good ride.

Got to the Gate a little late and saw JB’s rock so I started up right away. Took off my gloves and unzipped my jersey and took in the sights. The normal streams were full of fast flowing water, there was even a miniature Niagara Falls near the farmer’s house at the bottom. The ditches were full of running snow melt, and in the few places that were flat, there were ponds of still water.

I first saw JB just below the Bump – he was probably a half mile ahead of me but I must have been going faster. With three miles to go I almost caught him but he apparently decided he didn’t want me to because after that the gap just got bigger. With two miles to go the rain started falling but it was just enough to be annoying. There was a ranger in his pickup who was kicking rocks off the road and he said to me “I think these little ones are the cause of most broken clavicles.” I agreed and explained that we called the corner just beyond there “Clavicle Cracker”.

So I get close to Chainbuster and JB has pulled far enough away that I knew I wasn’t going to catch him, and I pulled into the Junction probably a minute behind him. It was still drizzling and another rider came down from the Summit – he said it was even wetter up there. So JB and I decided going straight back down made the most sense.

After the ride I made a trip to the Performance store in Walnut Creek with my daughter. Dear wife had a couple of $10 vouchers from the expired Team Performance membership and I had a $10 off coupon if I spent more than $50. We decided to get some PowerBars and new tires for Eddy. If you’ve ever been there, you know there are some “Performance Customer Only” parking spots behind the store – well those were all full but I sort of thought it was OK to park in one of those other spots back there – NOT. Got a $20 parking ticket that blew all my savings from the coupons. So I won’t be doing much shopping at Performance any more – it’s not their fault that I got a ticket of course but that’s only part of it. Without the “Team Performance” incentive there’s not much to get me in there – their bicycle selection is really unexciting. Mostly I’ve bought tires, tubes, and Cytomax there for the good pricing but I think I’ll get that stuff off the web from now on and get other stuff from the smaller stores that I appreciate like Encina Cycle Center, Pleasant Hill Cyclery, Danville Pedaler, and Pegasus.

Diablo Junction - More Snow 23 miles

When the weather forecasters started talking about snow down to 500 feet today I resolved to go riding and bring my camera. It wasn't quite as white as they'd predicted but Mt. D did get a good dusting of flakes.

Nicole told me she and Rick wouldn't be coming and JB was sick yesterday but I didn't know how bad so he was an unknown. I ran a little late and got to the Gate at 8:07. No JB, no rock, I didn't stop. I rode the 5 miles there as fast as traffic would allow, trying to maximize workout effort and continued on up at a high aerobic pace. Seems like time to get serious what with the early Belgian semi-classics over and both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico underway.

Wildlife Encounter: Two deer, way up on a hill looking down on me near the Bump. If I hadn't been looking for snow I wouldn't have seen them.

It was very cold and really foggy so visibility was pretty low and I couldn't see if the summit was snowy or not but we didn't get that much rain overnight so I wasn't expecting too much. Below the Bump I closed in on a guy that I thought was going pretty well and I might ride with, but he was an older guy actually going pretty slowly and when I passed him I saw that he was on a comfort bike and was wearing a backpack full of stuff. I said "good morning" and went right around him... I hope he drew some inspiration from my powerful riding style.

I grunted up the Bump thinking I was doing alright (couldn't find my HRM this AM) and checked my time at the Upper Washout: 24 minutes... head slap! Not fast at all. I actually thought I was on a low-40's pace... NOT.

So reality took some of the wind out from under my wings and the next mile took 7 minutes and I got to the Junction at 49 minutes. There was one cyclist there and we exchanged greetings and I hadn't seen any other riders going up or down other than the comfort bike guy. The monster SUVs were starting to fill up the available space and Summit Road was closed so I snapped this quick photo:

While I was there, I saw a guy with a Kelme jersey come up from South Gate and head up Summit Road without stopping or heeding the "DO NOT ENTER" sign the rangers had placed there. I really wanted to go up also but my midwestern respect for authority prevented me from being too brazen about bucking the rules. Turns out Kelme guy got turned around in short order and wound up going down the North Side within a few minutes anyway. I hung around the Junction for a while and the other guy there expressed some concern for going down in such cold so I told him "you're just underdressed" which he really wasn't but he was just being wimpish. Maybe his jacket was a little thin but it was just not that frigid.

So I went down a few minutes later, after putting on my extra gloves. My face and neck did get pretty cold but it's not like it was sub zero blizzard conditions. I saw a few more riders and a lot more SUVers coming up and down near where I saw the deer earlier one of the riders said "Hi Scott" and I realized it was Peter. It took me a few to downshift and turn around but I did so and chased him down. Peter hasn't been riding recently due to back problems so I wanted to see him. It really hurt in the glutes to hammer so hard at this point and I figured it was good pain. Peter was riding his Cannondale hybrid which was black and pretty cool with bar extensions. We chatted until we got to the bottom of the Bump and then I excused myself but he knew I just didn't want to Up de Bump again. Anyway, good to see him on the Mountain. Man, my butt muscles hurt.

Product Review: Descente Coldout Gloves I've always liked the stuff Descent puts out. I wore Descente jerseys and socks in my early racing days. These gloves are REALLY great for my riding conditions - they're like really good liners with grippy things on the palms and fingers but they're warm enough to go without outer gloves most of the time. They don't block the wind much but they're much better than polypro liners when used by themselves and they have that ubercool Descente logo on the back of the hand. Used with an outer layer they're good to about freezing but don't quite have the insulation for temps less than that. Also they bled some dye onto my white handlebar tape so if you're picky about that stuff you may want to be careful. Descente Coldout Gloves get a DSPRS score of 9. I'd definitely buy another pair of these, especially at the Performance sale price of $10 vs. the MSRP of $25.

Product Review: SKS Adventure Fenders

I was looking for a quick release rear fender just to keep the skunk stripe off my back on rides where the roads are wet. I wasn’t looking to stay as dry as possible and didn’t want a full set of fenders that wrap almost all of the rear wheel and front wheel too, with mud flaps at the bottom, I wanted convenience and simplicity. These fenders came in a set that included a front one that I didn’t really want but it was only $15 for the pair so I just threw the front one away. The front one had some kind of thingy that you were supposed to attach with your brake bolt and then the fender attached to the thingy so it was kind of quick release but you had to leave the thingy on your bike all the time. The rear one has a hard plastic clamp that goes around your seat tube and attaches with a rubber band; it’s a pretty good system but it doesn’t allow for much adjustment in the up and down direction so as you can see, mine is up kind of higher than I’d like… good enough for me, doesn’t protect the guy behind me from my rooster tail though. The rear one also had something to go around your brake bridge but it only works if your brake bridge is circular cross section and mine’s not so I just left it off and used some tie wraps.

So really this review is only for the rear fender and remember that the intended use is only for a little protection, not full coverage and that’s how I’ll rate it. It’s reasonably stable back there – it doesn’t flop around too much and you do tend to forget it’s there. It looks kinda cool in a motocross kind of way and says “I don’t let a little rain keep me off the bike – I ride in the slop and I like it.” I do wish I’d shopped around a little bit before I bought this one though because I saw another similar one made by Zefal that attached to your seat post (vs seat tube) and had an adjustment gizmo that allowed you to get it down closer to your tire.

Anyway, this product gets a middle of the road 5 out of 10 on the Diablo Scott Product Rrating System (DSPRS). But remember, I was only shopping for a middle of the road product and it was pretty cheap so I’m not unhappy with it, just wish I would have found the Zefal first.

Junction plus Blackhawk

Got to the Gate at the same time as Rick and JB. Nice day, a little cold but spring is almost here.

We started pretty quick and had a little talk about the Tour of California and other current events. Then we had some good natured testing of each other with little attacks which were more like mini intervals.

Wildlife Encounter: A millipede (big fat one) and a coyote (above Bump).

Below the Upper Ranch we were still all together and I heard Jay's voice behind me say "A Klein on Diablo - must be Scott". We exchanged pleasantries and then he passed everyone. After the Upper Ranch, Rick launched the decisive attack. JB followed and for quite a while there was Rick, then 20 seconds, JB, another 20 seconds, and me. Finally after Chainbuster JB closed in on Rick a little bit and I stayed within a minute but couldn't close. After he finished Jay turned around and rode me up to the line and my time was 48m55. Felt like a harder ride than a couple weeks ago when I was a few seconds faster, but that one was in much warmer weather.

We hung around the Junction for a while. Jay had some "Lion of Flanders" socks on that were really cool and he said he also had a flag in his garage. Today in Belgium was the Het Volk race so we talked about that a little too; hardly anyone else I know follows the early season classics as much as I do so that was a treat.

JB suggested Blackhawk and off we went. After the descent I was the one who put in all the moves. Diablo Road, Blackhawk Road, Tassajara, La Gonda - every little sprinter hill I enjoyed applying some pain. Rick did a pretty good one in Danville but otherwise it was all me. It's all about power to weight on the long climbs, and undivided power on the shorter ones.

Tour of California, Stage 2.

The plan today was to meet Rick at his house and he would drive to somewhere near Sierra Road which is the toughest climb of the whole week. Word was there’d be a lot of riders there and the road would be closed to cars. He knows that area pretty well and easily found a good parking spot at a sports facility (with restrooms!) about 2 miles from the bottom so we unloaded our bikes and started riding from there. Turns out though that he had to leave right after the race and go to a job site so I would be getting a ride home with Nicole who drove to the start earlier and was planning to walk part way up (no bike).

I brought Eddy because I wanted to wear my SPD shoes since I knew I’d be standing around and walking a lot after we got there. Plus I always get smiles from people who remember the old 7-Eleven team days.

The route sheet said the race would get to the TOP of Sierra between two o’clock and two thirty, but I thought that sounded a little early. At the left turn onto Sierra it was already starting to fill up with people by noon. The police were everywhere and turning the cars around except for a few who had “local traffic” status. We found Nicole who had staked out a comfortable place underneath a tree near the bottom and was sitting on a portable stool reading some magazines. It was surprisingly difficult already and I was glad to have a little breather. Then we started up again and there were a few houses with very big properties that were apparently having a party and some of the cars that were going up had invitations. After the first mile or so though there were no cars at all, and no more houses – just hundreds and hundreds of riders and a few dozen hikers all going up this steep hill. And it was hard. I made this comparison chart to show how Sierra Road compares to the first three and a half miles of Summit Road on Mt. Diablo.

For the Sierra Road curve, the elevation pretty much starts at zero, and for the Summit Road curve, zero is really the elevation at the Junction. Interesting, no? You can double click on it for a bigger picture. I have the whole Mt. Diablo road profile in the "MY PHOTOS" section; click the link up on the right to go there.





I was dressed for cold but I was putting out a lot of heat so I took off my jacket (with about five pounds of junk in the pockets) and wrapped it around my neck but it sometimes felt like it was choking me and sometimes slipped around one side or the other and was a hassle. Anyway I think it took us about 45 minutes to go three and a half miles – we rode all the way up to the area where the official cars and “king of the mountain” flags were but the view wasn’t as good so we rode back down about 250 meters where there was a better view point.

Cell phone reception up here was sketchy but we did manage to contact Nicole and told her to give us an update once the racers went past her. Then we mostly people-watched for a couple of hours while the sides of the road filled up with bike racing fans. There were also some folks on horseback on the uphill side of the road and it looked like they had great vantagepoints, plus they could move around easier, and they seem to have gotten their pictures taken and published everywhere. I also met the independent photographer who was on assignment with PezCyclingNews and he was passing out some little cards to win a trip to the Tour of Georgia. I think the best shots of our crowd there at the top are on the Pez site.

Finally about 2:30 we started seeing the race caravan of officials, police motos, and one Cliff Bar van passing out free samples (I scored three mini bars!). Then the noise started to escalate – everyone was on their feet craning for a look. The cowbells and whistles and cheers got louder and closer and the crowd opened up and there was Leipheimer and Kohl, and Floyd wasn’t far behind them. Got really good looks at Simoni, Creed, FredRod, Hincapie, lots of famous guys. It took over 20 minutes to get the rest of the field up and there were a few stragglers even beyond that.


Here's a shot taken from almost my exact place on the hill - shamelessly copied from the web somewhere:









Then we rode down to Piedmont and watched most of the riders finish the loop before they turned into town. We hooked up with Adam who had ridden all the way from work, including 10 miles or so with a T-Mobile rider who wasn’t racing but was doing the whole route just for training! (If you saw the T-Mobile rider with no helmet and no race number toward the very end of the hill climb that was him – Bram). They were ahead of the race until the end of Calaveras, then they pulled off to watch and started again after everyone went by. Adam said a lot of fans were cheering them on, not realizing they weren’t part of the race and he was a little embarassed but also jazzed to be riding along with a Euro Pro.

Here's Bram Schmitz. Adam says he's a good guy and he liked riding the Calaveras Reservoir section and thought the fans in California were better than in Europe!

Best excuse I’ve had for taking a day off from work in a long time!

I’ve been looking forward to today for months now. The threats of cold rainy weather never materialized and it was a great day to be in San Francisco watching a bike race. Dear daughter and I took the BART to the City this morning and got to Embarcadero about 10am. I trained her to answer “Levi!” if anyone (especially a news reporter) asked her who she thought would win.

We met up with Rick and his son who’s about the same age as my daughter and watched the racers go by from various vantage points along the Embarcadero. I had my digicam and camcorder but didn’t actually take too much footage. The crowd was really thick at the start and at the expo, and I guess it was pretty crowded at Coit Tower also but we never made it up that far.

Some of the racers had full-on time trial bikes and some had regular road bikes – some of those had clipons attached though. Some were obviously really going for it and some were obviously not.

(I have a photo to insert here )
This is Martin Elmiger of Swizerland who finished 92nd in the prologue, but whose photo turned out the best of the few I took. Martin finished the Tour in 52nd place on GC.
Tour of California Prologue!

OK, here’s my embarassing story; I had a big California Flag that I was waving at riders that I knew had a California connection. There was no start order list that I could find but I did have a lits of the riders and their numbers and I did identify the team order so I knew which team the next guy would be on and when they got down to the team leaders it was clear who it would be. So when Levi’s turn came – about 4 riders from then end, I told Rick that I was going to run in the street with my flag and he should get some photos. Well when Levi got within eyeshot, I jumped out (way in front of him so he wouldn’t be startled or have to change his line) and started running with the flag held high over my head and shouting like a fool, when suddenly I tripped on something and went face down into the pavement. My hat fell off and my keys fell out of my pocket and I scraped myself off of the road and onto the sidewalk before Levi got there. It was a total dumbass move and I felt ridiculous and then three SF cops came over and advised me not to do that again or else!

Then I heard that Levi won the Prologue so maybe he enjoyed my little stunt.

Then we hung around the Expo area for a while and scored some schwagg. My daughter got a T-Mobile poster with all the rider group photo; she really likes “the pink team”.

Very cool day – not quite as exciting as the SF Grand Prix, but in some ways bigger because this is a stage race and the Euro Pro’s are taking it pretty seriously.

Diablo Junction 23 miles... IN THE SNOW!

A little late getting to the start today because of demanding females in the house, but it was a righteous start. No rock on the post so I took off not knowing if anyone else was coming. Overnight weather forecast was for thunderstorms but none were obvious so I figured all systems were go. It was dry but the clouds were low and I couldn't see the mountain's top from anywhere on the ride. Just before I left, DW said "Mt. Diablo's closed because of snow" and I said "No way, you were watching news of Mt. Hamilton or something." Once again, had to eat my words, sort of.

About a half a mile up I encountered JB and he told me to wait for him so he went back to the shack and reset his computer or whatever and caught up to me near Moss Landing. He was packing for severe weather and wasn't in any shape to challenge me for the sprint so we had a cordial ride. Still couldn't see the snow though and questioned whether it was really there. He said we should ride until we get to it and I said as long as it's at Junction I agreed - not actually thinking that were the case.

We got around the Upper Washout and saw that the snow line was down below Junction and realized that this was going to be a really memorable ride. We were being passed about every 30 seconds by an SUV with kiddie sleds inside and just tried blending in. A few hundred meters below the Junction we saw a Ranger directing people where to park and a few hundred meters beyond that we saw the point where they stopped traffic all together. No vehicles, two or four wheeled, were allowed past the Junction on Summit Road. There were dozens of autos parked in places where autos never park and there were kids sledding down the hill from the picnic area just up the hill.

Shot the shoot with a few other riders near the benches and then split up to go home. What a fun day.

Diablo Junction - 23 miles

Just me today so I slept in a little bit. Rolled out at 9am and that extra hour of sunlight really warmed up the air. I had shorts on for the first time this year, and a long sleeve thermal shirt under a short sleeve jersey. Also first time on the Klein since the New Year's Day ride. Lots of broken glass on Bancroft near Countrywood - probably a wreck and the tow truck didn't clean up.

Started up pretty quick but I've been coughing a lot and hacking up some gross sticky stuff so I was limited on aerobic capacity. A little ways up the road I saw a couple guys I figured I could pass easily but then they pulled off as I got closer - I greeted them and one guy said "We did it! 1.7 miles!" I said "All right! Time for a beer!"

Felt like I was getting a good ride in; even if it was a little slow it was faster than any recent ride in full winter clothes. I pulled off below the Lower Ranch for a minute to take a phone call (wife relaying semi-important work message) and one guy came by me so I gave him some encouragement. Also a car slowed down to see if I might be in trouble but I just gave them a thumbs up and they kept on going. After I started up again I thought I might catch the other rider but I never did see him. Looked around for something interesting to write about but didn't see any critters or anything. Junction time was 44m47s - oh well, it's February.

Talked to a guy at the Junction who had a classic steel bike (Austro-Daimler) set up with a flip-flop hub - he even had the rear respaced for 120mm. We discussed classic steel bikes and flip flop hubs, sew up glue, and college savings plans. Then I had a beautiful ride back down. Can't hope that the weather is going to stay this good until spring, but can enjoy it for now.

I am REALLY looking forward to the Tour of California!

My website statistics program tells me that a lot of folks find my blog from searching on product reviews of various things I've written about so I'm going to try to do more of that, starting now (plus it breaks up these long stories with some photos). Feel free to add your comments to any of my reviews.

Product Review: Do Wrap Pack












I got this on-line from the DoWrap folks. I'd been looking for a cycling wallet that would hold my ID, Chap Stick, and assorted stuff but I wanted one that zipped so my change wouldn't fall out. Found nothing at REI or any of the bike shops and then I saw an ad for this one on RoadBikeRider.com. It is EXACTLY what I wanted and it's the perfect size and it costs $8. It's just the right width to fit in a jersey pocket and it's really well made. I sort of wish it were water proof to protect my cell phone better, but so far it hasn't been an issue; I put a plastic bag and rubber band in the Wrap Pack so I can put the phone in there if I get caught in a downpour. I give this product my highest rating - 10 out of 10.

Diablo Junction - 23 miles.

Earlier this week I decided to get serious about my sticky STI problem on the Belgian Beast. The front would shift both up and down but sometimes on upshifts would drop right back down - like the ratchet just wasn't catching, and I had to keep pumping it until it would stay. In the rear the downshifts went OK (pulling the cable) but the upshifts usually didn't work at all (cable release), I would just flick and flick on the small lever and nothing would happen but it generally got better after a few miles of riding. So I bought a big can of WD40 and emptied about half of it in there hoping to bring the shifters back to life. I think earlier I had been thinking of this as a lubrication procedure but now I was seeing it as a flush. I squirted the oddly sweet smelling stuff into every place that looked like it might pivot or rock and I ran the shifters up and down and squeezed the brakes at the same time. After I thought I got everything twice, I did it again. Dirty fluid was dripping out of there onto the cardboard box I parked on and it seemed like it was working; my shifters were clicking and the derailleurs were moving.

The weather report said that showers would come overnight into this morning but when I went to sleep last night everything was clear. Woke up at 6:30 this morning and just assumed that it would be OK to ride but when I looked out the window at 7 o'clock it was raining heavily so I decided not to ride. Checked some e-mails and drank some coffee and looked out the window at 8:30 and it was CLEAR! So I changed my mind again and chamois'ed up.

A few shifts and WOW! It seemed good as new - shifting was a whole new satisfying experience. Out on Bancroft I met up with a guy in a yellow vest from a cross street who looked about my age but in better condition and he came around me without any problem. I got to the Gate at about 9:20 and put a rock on the post, not knowing if JB was coming. Yellow vest guy was there changing his gloves or something but I decided it would be OK for him to pass me again so I started up. Last night I did a hard hour on the elliptical machine at the club so today my legs were already aching a bit and I also am getting a cold so I wasn't setting any speed records but I felt like I was getting in a good workout.

Wildlife Encounter: SLUGS - lots of them. Most were less than 10mm long but I don't usually see any up here so it's worth noting - once.

Past Moss Landing I saw JB coming down and he turned around and rode with me a while, we discussed the weather and then when we got to the bottom of the Bump he went back down.

Did the last three miles in 24 minutes and got my heart rate over 180 a few times so I tried to convinced myself I was doing some good training that would pay off later in the year. Absolutely nobody at the Junction - I sat on the bench for about 10 minutes, didn't see a rider, or ranger, or auto of any kind. Turned back down and did see a few riders coming up. At the Bump I saw Grant P and another Rivendell guy coming up - Grant looked like he was struggling with a too-big gear and I wondered if he was on his semi-single speed Quickbeam bike.

Time to nurse this cold - yuck.

NGR - SGR - 31 miles

Almost an exact copy of last Saturday's ride, but the weather was a little better. Got going a little late - usually I try to sneak out of the house without waking anybody up but this morning my wonderful daughter caught me and insisted I make her a bowl of grits before I went so I had to comply. Same trouble shifting the rear derailleur (I got some new stuff to spray in there but I didn't do it yet). I've also been noticing that my chainring has a sort of wobble (my newish FSA Gossamer Compact) - I don't know if it's slightly bent or if it's flexing as I pedal… I'm going to have to check that out. I didn't know if JB would wait or not because it was 8:05 when I got to the traffic circle but then I saw him coming toward me; he had turned around at the Gate. He said he had encountered Mark A on the way out and was glad he had an excuse not to try and stay with him - he had to turn around and find me.

The road was oddly wet even though it hadn't been raining and the trees weren't dripping. There was a lot of water in the lower creeks though. And that old barbed wire fence on the uphill side of the road is almost horizontal now from ground movement - I predict a Great Cow Escape one day soon. At the Bump JB opened a big gap on me and I thought I must be riding rotten but I caught him back and he said he was just doing a maximum heart rate experiment. A little further up we saw Mark coming down so he must have done a pretty fast ride. Then we held it together until near the Junction where JB didn't have any trouble opening another gap - even though he was riding his Trek with panniers and full fenders.

Again I had entertained thoughts of doing the Summit during the early part of the ride, but by the time I got to Junction it seemed like a better idea to go down to Danville. Not much change in the road conditions from last week - still lots of wet slippery spots, and still big piles of mud and rock at some of the turnouts. There were a lot more people this week though and that makes it more fun.

We took Diablo Road into Danville because I wanted to check out the Pedaler since I haven't been there in a while. JB went back to Walnut Creek but I stopped at Peet's for a coffee and looked in the window of Pegasus Bicycle Works but they weren't open yet - maybe I'll bring my daughter down to shop for kiddie shorts or something as an excuse to browse.

On the way back I saw maybe 50 women riders headed south and I thought they might be the Cinderella training group from my health club. Didn't get passed by anybody on Danville Boulevard and made it home in time to get a lot of work done.

Up North Gate, Down South Gate and Back Though Town - 31 miles

All the weather reports said it was going to be a fine day and I was glad I finally got a new Flight Deck because I wanted to ride the Klein. Woke up at 6am and didn’t even think about looking out the window, I just trusted the reports. Then I happened to hear a traffic report on the radio that said the weather was creating problem so I peeked through the curtains and saw thick fog and drizzle. Well, now I was glad that I put a Race Blade fender on the Belgian Beast. I added a layer under my jersey and put on two layers of socks and rolled out into the elements. It wasn’t actually too cold so I figured I’d be pretty comfortable even if I did get a little damp.

More shifting problems on the old 8-speed Ultegra stuff – I did a lube/flush after my last rain ride but it didn’t seem to work very well. Almost makes me want to put downtube shifters back on … hmmmm. As I got near the end of Bancroft, I saw JB go through the traffic circle from Oak Grove – I like when we both get there at the same time… no waiting around and wondering if the other guy is going to show. We wiped the rocks off the post because we knew no one else was coming.

All the washed out areas on North Gate had been repaired and there were no single lane zones but there were still some cones in areas where the shoulder had washed away right up to the pavement. It was so foggy though, and the visibility so low, that we didn’t have the usual sensation of knowing exactly where we are on the route and we came upon the Bump rather suddenly. I was grinding my lowest gear and thinking I’m in miserable condition but comforted myself thinking it was just all the extra clothes I was wearing and the intense power work spin class I did last night.

Wildlife Encounter: A coyote crossed the road in front of us, then followed us up the hill for a ways – they’re cuter in the winter when they’re so fluffy, in the summer they’re kind of scraggly looking.

We kept hoping we’d pop out of the fog layer and the sun DID get a little brighter but visibility at the Junction was still pretty low. We saw a few people ride in from both directions and I said hi to them and then we rolled down South Gate.

South Gate Road was slippery from the rain and mud on the surface so we took it pretty easy. It was also colder on this side and I had to stop and put on my glove liners. The road condition though was very good until we got down to the Hole in the Fence where it had been under water and there was mud and gook everywhere. JB led the way back to Concord through all the side roads that I should know by now but never bothered to learn.

Still trying to figure out where to watch Stage 2 of the Tour of California from. Either Happy Valley or closer to the finish in San Jose.

Anybody else go back to downtube shifters after using brifters for so long?

Product Review: Planet Bike Fenders

These were inexpensive, give good coverage, and went on easily. They get a Diablo Scott rating of 10 out of 10.



Here's my uber-commuter with Planet Bike fenders and lights.



And here's my fixie with lights too. I haven't taken any long rides on this bike but it's fun on commutes and around town. Almost time for a new driveway - look at the size of that crack!






Also, I added a "comment" feature to my blog so you can leave a comment on any post. I used to have a guestbook but it filled up with spam and porno links so I had to delete it even though there were some nice messages in there. At the end of each post you'll see something like this:

// posted by Scott @ 10:12 AM 0 comments links to this post

The "0 comments" is one link and the "links to this post" is another but it looks like they kind of run together.

To leave a comment click on the "0 comments" link (or it might say 1 or 2 comments etc) at the bottom of the post you'd like to comment on. There's a simple verification procedure to make sure you're a person and not a spambot, but you can be anonymous if you want to.

I'm not sure what the "links to this post" link does, but if you do then feel free to use it!

Diablo Junction – 23 miles

Woke up this morning at 6 o’clock and it was raining. Weather report said that it would get nicer soon though so I chamoised up. Decided to take Eddy since it would be wet and I really don’t like the Klein to get too dirty. Still had the sew-ups on Eddy though so I put on the new wheels I built for him a few months ago on the Hugi hubs and did a little brake and derailleur adjusting and declared my mechanical issues resolved. Then I got dressed and hydrated. Before I left though, I realized I needed a spoke magnet for the computer to work so I scavenged one from the bin.

As I rolled away from home I noticed that I didn’t hear a single ping from my new hoops and I thought; “Yes! I rock at wheel building!” But before I got to Bancroft Rd. I had to readjust the magnet for proper pick-up. Now I was running a little late. Made it to the Gate at 8:08 and I had noticed both Rick’s car and a rock on the post so I figured I was the last guy to start.

I hadn’t called to check on the status of the roads, but it’s been almost a week since the torrential rains so I was reasonably confident that things would be OK and the ranger at the North Gate kiosk barely looked up from his magazine when I rolled through. But I was curious as to what the road conditions would be like since they’d been closed due to mudslides. I was having a little trouble shifting, which isn’t uncommon in the cold – I dunno something about STI and cold weather don’t go together. Down at the bottom I noticed there were several places where someone had obviously been shoveling some mud off the pavement but they didn’t look too bad. As I got a little higher I noted some pretty severe cracks in the soil and a few trees that were precariously uprooted but still somehow standing upright and everything seemed fine.

Climbing the Bump seemed harder than it should have, so I resolved to increase my strength training at the Club and then after the Upper Washout I saw my first major road damage from the rains. There was a section where the road had washed away on the right shoulder and they’d put up some pylons to keep people from driving too close to the edge. Then there was another section with big boulders and piles of mud that had been pushed around by a bulldozer. Up a little farther was a piece of road that had been reduced to single lane, with a stop sign and everything because of some washout damage to the pavement. JB caught up to me around here and reasoned that his computer clock must be a bit off so we checked and it was so that’s why he got a late start. A little farther up I saw somebody in a yellow jacket and wondered if it might be Rick.

There were lots of muddy, shoveled sections between the Ranches and the Junction, and the creeks and ditches were as full of rushing water as I’d ever seen. I pulled in just under 50 minutes and greeted Rick (it was him) and JB who hadn’t been there too long yet and were BS’ing on the bench. I did a wheel evaluation and the spokes on my front were WAY slack and I thought “Whoa – how did I get away with THAT?” JB and Rick both commented on how loose the spokes were so I borrowed Rick’s wrench and tried to layer on some tension to the front (which was far worse than the rear, which seemed to be OK).

JB wanted to go down to Blackhawk but Rick needed to go to work at a construction site and I didn’t trust my wheels so I went down with him (slowly). He said he saw a deer leg on the side of the road coming up that had been picked clean by the vultures but we couldn't find it on the way down. We noted a few more interesting weather-damaged areas and then sucked down some caffeine at Mia Café. Rick suggested I look into some race blade fenders since I had a skunk stripe up my back... they were only $15 at Encina so I just might do that.

Blackhawk and Back via Danville Blvd

The weather has been rotten for weeks but it seemed like this morning I would get a lucky break. Yesterday’s storm was over and today’s storm wasn’t supposed to start until this afternoon. There were tree branches everywhere but it wasn’t windy and it wasn’t rainy.

My plan was to ride with the Diablo Cyclists on their published 9am ride to the Summit, followed by Blackhawk for about a 40 miler. None of my regular buddies was coming so this sounded like a great ride. I know quite a few Diablo Cyclists from just riding on Diablo but I’ve never been a member.

First ominous sign – my Flight Deck wasn’t working… changing the battery didn’t help… I futzed with it for about 15 minutes until I couldn’t wait any longer and it bugged me that my first ride of 2006 would be without benefit of computer.

Got to Countrywood and met up with everybody there. Then the discussion turned to what ride we’d be doing since DIABLO IS CLOSED DUE TO MUDSLIDES! Mark had already tried to do a “pre-ride” up the mountain by himself and was turned around at the Gate by a ranger. They weren’t letting the runners up either. I was bummed but at least I’d be getting a fun ride in whatever it would be.

Then a guy I hadn’t met before asked me “Are you Diablo Scott?”. I admitted that I was and he introduced himself as Chris and said he’d been reading my blog for a year and a half. He said the demands of new fatherhood had caused him to take a break from cycling but my blog motivated him to get back on the bike; and that’s about the nicest compliment anyone could have given me I guess.

A couple of the jokester DCers had on long argyle socks, and one guy had on a “Happy New Year” hat on over his helmet – we decided he should lead us through town. So we started rolling (about 20 strong) and still there wasn’t consensus in where we were going but Part 1 was going to be Danville Blvd. Rumors about doing Bollinger Canyon started to filter through the pack so I figured I’d better save my legs as to not embarrass myself on a climb.

Danville Blvd was littered with an even higher density of tree bits blown off by the storm than the other roads around, and there were also a lot of puddles and piles of wet leaves so we were a little careful but we held a pretty good clip. The pack split into two with about 8 fast riders moving ahead and I found myself in this first group, not having too much trouble keeping up until the wind started gusting. I wanted the pack to stay together but that is a ride leader’s job and I was just a scab. I also wanted a good workout ride but didn’t want to flare out too early with these fast guys. We all regrouped on the south side of Danville anyway, then stayed together through some back roads I didn’t know very well until we got to Tassajara where we did a few little hill sprints and worked out those winter kinks – I played along but didn’t shake things up very much. Then we stopped at a Chevron station in Blackhawk which is apparently the standard restroom break location and collected a few riders that had slipped off the back. Most of us had mud stripes up our butts at this point, except for a few riders that had rear fenders on.

I don’t remember ever riding this loop in this direction – we rode to Blackhawk from Danville on Sycamore and Tassajara and then on Blackhawk Road past Mt. Diablo back to Danville – usually I do it the other way around, after climbing Diablo. We had a few more sprints and some fast paceline work here and that was fun and challenging. Then it was back to Walnut Creek on the Blvd and the trail. I’m calling it 35 miles, it was a little less than two hours ride time.

Then most of us went to Starbucks for a cuppa and I got to know some of the Diablo Cyclists a little better. If I had the opportunity to do more rides like this I’d definitely join their great club.

NO RIDE
I haven't ridden in almost a month! I do have some stuff to write about though.

My Giro Eclipse helmet, about 3-1/2 years old, broke today. Giro recommends replacement every three years... hmmmmmm. See photo below:



The straps that wrap around to the back of your head, to the adjusting device in back, just broke - on both sides, for no apparent reason. I noticed it when I took my helmet off after my morning commute to work today.

Went out tonight and bought another one of the same model - I tried on a bunch, but you gotta buy what fits and as the guy said, I have a Giro head. The new one's purple!

Also, I got new clincher wheels built for the Belgian Beast, new lights and a comfy saddle for Dave the Fixie, and Planet Bike fenders for the urban assault bike. Looks like I won't be able to ride next weekend either, but I should have time to take photos of my stable and blog about fenders and flashers... < sob>.

Diablo Junction plus Hole in the Fence - 36 miles

Forecast was for a beautiful day so I just brought my windbreaker. Another 8:30 day so I figured JB and I would do some sparring before Rick and Nicole got there. But I didn’t get to the Gate until 8:10 and I had seen Rick’s car so I wasn’t sure what was going on.

About a half mile below the Bump, I came across a descending JB who invited me to turn around and start over. I hesitated but eventually did so. Back at the Gate he said he had seen Rick just a little way higher than me but it looked like he didn’t turn around.

So JB and I started up again and rode a pretty good pace. He had a new fanny pack on for holding his Gore-Tex jacket which he usually takes off at some point in these autumn rides.

Wildlife Encounter: A jackrabbit with ears higher than my hubs bounded out of the ditch near the lower farm and I thought there was no way I could hit that thing and stay upright. Luckily he saw us, changed directions to run parallel to the road, and then decided to jump back into the ditch. JB was oblivious to the whole thing because he was futzing with his cyclocomputer. Anyway, a jackrabbit is much bigger than a ground squirrel, but thankfully much smarter as well.

Below the Bump, I noticed JB was breathing hard and I thought that was kind of strange. A little while later he said “Why are you in such a hurry?”, and I joked “I’m trying to catch Rick.” But it was clear he wasn’t having a good day, and I like when that happens. When we got to the Bump I decided to do a big gear drill in a 21t and that was kind of fun. I slowed down just after the 1,000 foot sign waiting for JB to catch me but he was farther back than I expected. This was kind of fun so every time I went around a blind corner I did a little sprint and every time I knew he could see me I dropped it down into an easy spin. With a mile and a half to go, Rick came down and said “hi” to me but didn’t turn around until he met up with JB. Then Rick bridged back up to me and we discussed the recent Roberto Heras doping story while we pretended we weren’t riding too hard. He also explained that Nicole woke up this morning, stepped outside, and seeing her breath… pronounced it too cold to ride.

After Chainbuster I did another big gear drill and dropped Rick. That felt pretty good too. Junction time: 42m28s… hey, it’s November. But the itch to kick ass is starting to bubble up.

Rick had a kiddie party to go to so JB and I went down SGR without him. There was some kind of search and rescue practice going on near Rock City, and the weather was getting really nice now. I led all the way down at a comfortable pace and then we turned off at the Hole.

The rest of the way we stayed together and chatted and I’m learning my way around those back roads, but I did make sure to do a little interval on every elevation increase… feels good to inflict some pain.

Diablo Junction plus South Gate and Blackhawk 40 miles

Nicole talked us into the 8:30 start time again, I have to say I don't mind too much. It was COLD when I left and I had on my winter jacket and full gloves but by the time I got to Northgate Road I was already too warm. I got to the Gate at 8:10 and saw JB's rock. I knew I'd never catch him so I stopped and tried to reset the clock on my Flight Deck but I had forgotten how and wound up resetting everything to zero EXCEPT the clock. I figured I could re-enter the data when I got home because I keep track of that kind of stuff, and Flight Decks allow you to enter the odometer so you don't lose that number on a battery change or screw up. What I didn't realize was that I also reset the speed to kilometers per hour so I didn't have my usual reference units telling me how well I was going. I can work just fine in metric units, but I just didn't know if 25kph was faster or slower than I usually go in this or that particular section. Also made me realize how much feedback I do get from my computer - I don't even know if I’m having a good ride without one!

Anyway I rode up a ways and then turned around. I found Rick and Nicole coming up so I turned around again, and a little ways farther up we saw JB but he had to go back to the Gate for a an official odometer data point. We all rode together until the bottom of the Bump when Nicole dropped back. Stayed together for another couple of miles and then Rick made the first move. JB and I came along for a while and then JB tried something. After Chainbuster I dropped back and let them go. I was maybe 20 seconds behind and saw that Rick was ahead but JB made a failed attempt at a sprint so Rick was the strongest today.

Product Review: PowerBar Endurance Sports Drink - Got a free sample of this stuff from Performance a few weeks ago and decided to try it instead of my usual Cytomax. On the Diablo Scale of 1 to 10, this gets a 2. Tastes bad, doesn't mix well, no apparent performance benefit. Any future free samples I get will be summarily shit canned. Only redeeming feature - it didn't give me a stomach ache.

We didn't wait around long at the Junction. Somebody said "Blackhawk?" and off we went. I led the gruppetto down South Gate Road but probably not as fast as Rick or JB would have gone. When we got to Blackhawk Road I started dishing out a little pain myself. Opened up a gap on both of them and increased it all the way to Camino Tasajara. After that I waited for them and when they caught me I rode their pace for a while but still sprinted up the little hills just to see them suffer. On Danville Blvd I pulled most of the way and Rick held on but JB fell way back and when he rejoined he made some excuses about how slow he was but he didn't even convince himself. Felt good to be on the giving end for a while… maybe had something to do with watching a tape of Boonen's amazing 2005 Paris-Roubaix this morning.

Critical Mass San Francisco (I don't know, about 9 miles I think)

Adam and I were jazzed about this ride; the Halloween Critical Mass typically draws an even crazier peloton than most months. We rode our bikes from work to the Walnut Creek BART and it started to drizzle on us but it didn't dampen our spirits. At every stop more and more Mass Riders got on the train and the ambience began developing.

We got to Peewee Herman Plaza at a quarter til 6 and the festivities were in full schwing. There was a guy in an Evel Knievel costume doing some stunt riding in the circle. There were costumes of all kinds. One guy had a fish bike that was really cool - it had two side-by-side wheels in front like a cargo bike and the front was a sort of paper machier fish head with big eyes that lit up with lightning bolts and a moveable jaw operated by a lever in the cockpit. The bike was articulated and the rear section was like a scaly fish body but the scales were all "FREE AOL" CDs… very creative.

As always, there were people handing out flyers promoting protests and activism, I almost scanned one in for your reading pleasure but it's got too much fine print… suffice it to say there was a big anti-Bush Regime sentiment at the Plaza.

There are always a few guys with trailer-mounted stereo systems. One guy I've seen several times has like eight giant car speakers mounted on this big long deck-plate kind of wagon with batteries inside and he has enough watts in there to power a concert at the Pavilion.

After a lot of hooting and noise making we started rolling and Adam and I were eager to go so we got near the front. After about a block though we pulled off and watched the crowd go by because it's much more fun in the middle. We saw Wonderwoman, Ninja Turtles, ghosts, pirates, and assorted weirdoes; we felt a little out of place being dressed so normally. It wasn't raining but I kept my coat on just in case.

We rolled down Market Street for about 8 blocks at 1.2 miles/hour. Adam was on his fixed gear and his gear ratio was a little too high for such a slow speed so he walked a good chunk of those 8 blocks (no trouble keeping up!). Then we turned right and went through the Tenderloin which was kind of eerie because there aren't many street lights in there. Then we headed north on Van Ness and that's when the cops got a little more involved. They blocked the intersections for us and made sure no cars tried to crash our party. At one intersection there was a really mad guy in his car yelling at us and telling us we were all worthless disgraces and should be ashamed of ourselves! That's the kind of guy I like to piss off, so I just waved and a few people rang their bike bells. Then we turned on Broadway and started riding toward North Beach. I found myself separated from Adam and realized that I was surrounded by police motorcycles and a couple of squad cars; I turned around to realize I was the Lanterne Rouge of San Francisco Critical Mass! I don't remember being passed by too many people, I was just fitting in and enjoying the slow ride. Then at the west end of the Broadway Tunnel we all stopped and crowded together. It was about an hour into the ride now and we filled up about two solid blocks as crowded as we were (maybe 2,000 riders?) We just malingered there for a while and let the atmosphere get electric, and then the guy with the amphitheater sound system cranked up some satanic speed metal music and we bombed through the tunnel like we were crazed demons being released from hell to take over the Earth HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Anyway, quite an experience with the music making the whole tunnel vibrate and scaring the bejeezus out of the cars on the other side.

After that Adam split to go catch a BART home, but I stayed on for a while longer. We rolled through North Beach and entertained the restaurant patrons. We wound up at a big intersection and corked all the streets while some of the stunt riders performed some more trick riding. I decided I'd had enough at that point and found my way to the Embarcadero and then to the BART station. It was a very tame Critical Mass; no confrontations, no taking over any bridges or freeway on-ramps, just a bunch of regular joes enjoying this monthly coincidental convergence on their bikes

Bonus Post

I've been riding my Eddy Merckx 7-Eleven bike to work the last few months, as well as a few rain rides on the Mountain. The front brake has been getting really grabby though, and on a downhill section where I would ride the brake, I'd get a violent chatter out of the fork. I wasn't sure if it was the brake, the headset, or the rim but it was getting too bad to ignore. My wheels are conventional Mavic Open Pro's on DT Hugi hubs and suspecting the front rim was getting worn (remember this is my rain bike so the brake surfaces get a lot of abrasive abuse), I popped in my old sew-up front wheel and - voila! No more grabbiness at all! So the front wheel is shot, the rear is probably not far behind; I figure why not ride my sew-ups all the time? I've got a few (really) old tubulars hanging in the garage for spares, so I made sure the glue was still good on the tires that were already mounted and I had a tubular commute bike.

I desparately wanted to believe the guys on rec.bicycles.tech that say sew-ups are no more prone to flats than clinchers but it wasn't my experience. I don't think I ever went more than about 200 miles without getting a sew-up flat. But I was really enjoying riding my sew-ups to work and I figured I could keep on doing it until I used up all my old tires and then I wouldn't have to build up a new set of clinchers so soon and then I at least would have a reason to finally throw the sew-up rims away for good (or maybe not). Anyway, I got 7-3/4 commutes on the tubulars before my flat. Screw that, my nostalgic feelings for rim glue and latex evaporated in a big poof of compressed air. I'm building some new clinchers on those DT Hugi hubs next week.

Time to start riding my Rockhopper to work anyway - the only bike with lights attached.

Diablo North Side up to Toyon, Down South to Hole in the Fence - 40 miles

A coolish morning, but I wore shorts and my Shower’s Pass jersey. Rick and Nicole were planning to be at the Gate at 8:30 so JB and I rode to the top of the Bump and then back down to meet them.

Rick said Foxy’s Fall Century went well – the roads were in better condition and there wasn’t as much wind as when we rode it together. This time he rode with Joe and the total ride time was 7-1/2 hours! I’m glad I didn’t go.

We stayed together until Moss Landing and then we left Nicole to ride at her slower pace. I got stung by a bee yesterday morning and my left hand was painful all day but this morning it was just a little annoying.

JB started panting pretty hard going up the Bump for the second time and I secretly enjoyed putting the hurt to him, so Rick and I kept just ahead of him forcing him to dig a little. The Mountain isn’t very green yet despite some recent rains; I do have my yellow lenses in the Bolles though so the colors were interesting.

JB was breathing really hard near Chainbuster so Rick and I pulled away from him. We rode side by side rather than drafting which meant that we would have a fair challenge to each other and also that we were both riding away from JB individually. Rick tried his sprint a little too early and he opened up a gap but then I countered and beat him by a couple bike lengths at the line.

There were a few guys hanging around the Junction station. One guy came down from the Summit and locked up his rear wheel and skidded, nearly running into another guy – the ranger saw this and told him to slow down and ride in control.

I wanted to go down to the Tire Poppers and then come back up to the Junction, but JB wanted to go up first, then down South Gate and around so he said we should all go up first and then Rick and I could still turn around at the Tire Poppers. So we all went up to Toyon (bottom of the Speed Trap – neat view from up there) and then zipped up for the descent.

Nicole had been to the Junction and turned back down by then, so we just kept on going down South Gate. When we got past the Kiosk Rick said, “So Scott – Hole in the fence?” and that made me mildly pissed off because they knew I wanted to go back up but I figured what the hell and went along with them. Somewhere near a golf course I saw a rider stopped on the other side of the road and he was wearing a Shower’s Pass jersey also so I acknowledged his excellent choice of clothing with some chest pointing and he reciprocated with a thumbs up. We three took the backroads through Danville and Alamo to the south side of Walnut Creek and then split up and I went home.