2026 Diablo Day 26 - Wednesday Morning Junction

Good weather and I felt good. Saw Colonel Al on the approach but I didn't know it was him until after I passed. We exchanged pleasant but very brief greetings.

I started a little later than VSBC did, so I didn't see too many riders.

At Junction, my Garmin computer told me the battery on my derailleur was needing a charge. This was the first time, so when I got home I set up the cradle and USB cord and everything went fine; I think it took about an hour and then I put it back in and made sure it worked for next time. The Trek guy said they usually last about a month and that's about what I got out of it.  There's also a SRAM app on my phone that I check before each ride and it tells me if the batteries are good to go... I didn't know it talked to my Garmin too.  There's a space on my Garmin for heart rate and last week it talked to my Garmin watch and I could see HR on the computer - but this week the watch and the computer weren't shaking hands... I gotta figure that out.

I felt good and I had a pretty good Junction time, but I still think my endurance is suffering from this anemia. Dr. T should be back from vacation and hopefully she'll have a remedy.

I don't know who this was walking with Al.

2026 Diablo Day 25 - Wednesday Morning Junction

I missed Saturday's ride because I was still a little sick so I slept in, and then when I thought I would go, it was too hot.  It kind of caught me by surprise, but better planning would've permitted me a Saturday Morning Junction.

Today started off a little chilly but warmed up fast and it was excellent weather with a little wind in the lower elevations.

The VSBC was at St. Tim's where Charlie and I meet up. Their guy Mark invited me to ride with them or have coffee in the parking lot after... nice folks.

Roadkill Report: snake.  He went fast.

Wildlife Encounter: mama deer and babies... so cute.

My gravel bike handles this punishing terrain with ease - even with 28mm road tires.

I had a good ride, but Charlie was faster so he had to wait for me a couple times.

No vultures at Vulture Gulch

Update on my diagnosis of anemia - here are my recent test results; I've always had good values until a couple years ago they started to drop slowly. Usually for anemia they look for things like internal blood loss like ulcers, or maybe cancers like leukemia, and even parasites. They didn't find anything like that fortunately. My doctor asked me about fatigue, and I said no but my endurance is down; she wasn't surprised, but she has no idea why this is happening.  Iron supplements are probably in my future and the side effect of those is severe constipation... what fun... but at least it's not leukemia.

2026 Diablo Day 24 - Saturday Morning Junction

 First ride in two weeks - I got a really bad repiratory infection and I've spend the last ten days in a Robotussin bender... so my endurance was down, my iron level is still down, my breathing is still affected, and it was HOT.

At Junction I talked to Steve who just retired from a fire fighting career
and has taken up cycling after a long absence.

I paid extra for the cycle computer that tells me I'm worthless and weak.

2026 Diablo Day 23 - Saturday Morning Junction

It was cold this morning, so I got a late start and it warmed up pretty nice - a little too much wind for my lame arse though.

I'm getting used to the carbon wheelset on Roxanne - they are definitely more dodgy in the cross winds. And the geometry of my bike makes carving those lines just a little different from all the road bikes I've had - something I'll get used to, but it's been instinctive for so long when you've been riding race bikes for 40 years... and now it's something I have to think about a little.

In medical news - I've been seeing a doctor for anemia. My hemoglobin was too low to donate blood last month, so I told my doc and she ordered some blood tests and didn't find anything horrible (leukemia, colon cancer etc.) but also didn't figure out why the value isn't higher - my red blood cell factory is just on strike or something.  I keep thinking about pro-cyclists and blood boosting and how they would enhance their hematocrit to the max allowable by the rules - which is about twice what mine is now.  Maybe I'll get a prescription for EPO or a blood packing procedure and then my old endurance will be back where it used to be.  More likely I'll have to take an iron supplement; which has zero performance benefit but might reward me with a constipation badge.

This guy passed me like hot shit - then he quit.

This guy was the real deal.

2026 Diablo Day 22 - Saturday Morning Junction

I got Roxanne's road wheelset installed on Thursday, took her for a cruise on Friday, and up Diablo on Saturday.  With the light wheels she handles pretty much like a relaxed road bike. While I miss the aggressive handling and uncomfortable efficiency of a racing bike - I'm accepting that comfort is more important to my aging corpus. I was a little surprised though that my Junction time was about the same as any hard effort - hardly any weight penalty and lower gears help with the steep bits.

Roadkill Report: Alameda Whipsnake below the Kiosk.

Wildlife Encounter: a turkey looked like it was in a cage near Buckeye Group Camp - I stopped on the way back down for a photo and the cage was empty - maybe he was behind the cage and I was mistaken.

Lots of glory for Memorial Day

I hung with these guys for about a mile.

The empty turkey cage

Hey, that looks like a Trek Checkpoint SL5 - available at your local Trek dealer.

I look so modern with a bike from this century.

Oh yeah, Tesla terrorist got a good yelling at.

These things are so beautiful when they're racing - this was sad.

Check out all this cool data on my new Garmin 1050:  I especially like the gear indicator, even though it doesn't say what your cogs are, you know if you have any left.  Posed in highest gear because that's how I roll... downhill.

Also, the app keeps track of how much time you spent in each gear - how did I ever ride without this info?

2026 Diablo Day 21 - Wednesday Morning Junction

My third time up Diablo with Roxanne.  #1 was aborted because of brake rub.  #2 was complete to Junction, but then I buggered up my shifters - turns out there's a little SRAM button for micro-adjustments and I somehow bumped it or something when I stopped for a photo on the way down, and then it was half ghost shifting the rest of the way home - see previous blog entry... anyway, I figured that out on my own and today the braking and shifting were perfect.  Still using the gravel wheels with 42mm tires and aluminum rims but my road wheels with 28mm tires on carbon rims are in the shop and I'm picking them up tomorrow.

Quite warm today - I need to dig out my sunscreen.  Maybe start earlier too if it gets really hot.

Brush must be cleared... but come on.

Stud Muffin Monthly will be offering me a modelling contract soon.

 

2026 Diablo Day 20 - Saturday Morning Junction

The friendly folks at Alamo Trek got the brakes on Roxanne fixed up perfectly (still waiting on my road wheels though), so I rode the new bike with the stock gravel wheels to the Junction for the first time this morning.  On the way down I somehow buggered up the derailleur adjustment and I kind of limped back home after failing to figure out how to un-bugger the thing... there's no knurled knob to tighten up the cable or anything on an electronic derailleur - there's a couple buttons you have to push at the same time while doing something else and I'm going to figure it out as soon as this posts.

The weather is getting really nice and lots of riders were out on the roads and on The Mountain.

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys

The USA National Women's Team was out training and I decided to allow them to pass.

OK, these next three photos show an interesting stupid move.

This guy passed me at Bridal Nook - no big deal.

Then he took the inside line around the hairpin - DUMB

And another guy coming down had to do an emergency move to avoid him.  We had a mutual head-shaking moment.

Roxanne's publicity shot.  I'll make a product review post one of these days.