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.

New Crank in Slop

Surprised this morning that it wasn't raining harder... forecast was for heavy precip. I was prepared to cancel when I woke up but when I looked outside I decided to go for it. Got my new crank on earlier this week but I needed to put on the chain and pedals before the ride.

New and clean... that won't last long.

No one at the Gate, I put up the rock. Nice to hear the creeks burbling.



One nice thing about riding alone... you can stop whenever you want for a photo.

Wildlife Encounter: pair of coyotes at Burma Road... ran off before I could get my camera out.



Hardly anyone on the Mountain. Saw two riders coming down, and a ranger sweeping rocks off the road.

Oh oh... what's this???

Dayum.... they just repaired this section.

Hope they got a warranty.

Pavement hasn't broken off yet, but it's undercut bad and deep.

Saw a couple more cyclists at Junction.


Not really very cold today, just wet and a little windy... probably about 1.5 Belgian Hardman® Points.

Funky fungus at Big Shady Oak

Le Befoure Chotte

Le Afteur Chotte

I may have found a work-around on the photo blogging thing... crop all my photos to be tall and skinny... like 9w and 12h... that seems reasonable.