2026 Diablo Day 57 - Wednesday Morning Juniper

On my way to The Mountain I passed lots of fun decorated houses with Halloween themes.  

The harsh mid-autumn light was softened by the puffy clouds laden with moisture and waiting to drop rain by early afternoon. (that was my attempt at poetry)

I told Charlie I saw two Great Blue Herons and a hawk eating a mouse on the Iron Horse Trail. He proceeded to tell me about the habitat and feeding of the local avian wildlife; guy sure knows a lot about birds.

Contractors working on the Ranger Hut at Junction - looks like they have plans to move back in after all.  Then a guy in a pickup got out to ask us where "Mount Diablo State Park" is... we told him pretty much the whole Mountain is state park, and then he asked about "the lighthouse", so we gave him directions to the Summit.

We continued up to Juniper and then to Dragonfly Turnout; no dragonflies.  Charlie says they hunker down when it gets cold and only come out in warm weather; guy sure knows a lot about bugs.

2026 Diablo Day 56 - Saturday Morning Junction

Best weather of the year!  Lots of people enjoying The Mountain today - Search and Rescue crew, some kind of trail run event, bike riders, picnickers and hikers.

During my pre-ride checkout, I noticed a bunch of boogers on my gravel tires - I thought it was sealant and started to re-evaluate my opinion on tubeless tires... but then I realized it wasn't sealant boogers, it was tar boogers from the Sycamore re-paving work.

I also took a look at my brake pads trying to figure out a way to tell how worn they are - I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but I can compare this shot with future shots and maybe that will be revealing.

My stock gravel wheels are about 5 minutes slower to Junction than the road wheels for about the same effort... not really too bad of a handicap, fun in a different way.

Trail Run

Still doing roadwork on Diablo Rd on a Saturday.

On the way back down, I stopped at Horseshoe for some gravelly vanity photos. Trek Travel sent me a jersey for my New Zealand adventure so I wore it today. Vote for your favorite in the comments!

Horseshoe Picnic Area

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2026 Diablo Day 55 - Wednesday Morning Junction

I took Roxanne to Alamo Trek after last week's ride for them to put on her gravel wheels and provide the free new-bike-first-year tune up. On the way home they called already and said my brakes were almost gone so I approved their putting in new ones but told them I wanted the old ones for show and tell.

Apparently this is as thin as you want the pads to get.
I don't know if I'll ever learn how to do these myself.

It was cold this morning so I went ahead and put on my cold weather pants and a long sleeved jersey with an undershirt.  I got a little sweaty mid-ride, but I was happy to not be frozen.

I figured my gravel wheels would add about five minutes to my Junction time for the same effort as with my road wheels, and that was just about right.

Wildlife Encounter:  lots of deers and turkeys.

Lots of riders on The Mountain today too - gave me some good photos to share.

This guy ran in front of me, but not too close.

DO NOT ENTER!  (does not apply to DiabloScott)

2026 Diablo Day 54 - Wednesday Morning Juniper

Still in the throes of an early autumn heat wave. We decided to start at 8:30 and barely beat the scorching.

Roxanne is in the shop for her free new bike tune-up. Alamo Trek called me and said I need new brake pads already... 1100 miles seems like a short life-span but I'm new to all this. They said I should just plan on a couple replacements per year.  Riding Eddy today and I think he has the same pads that I put on about 5 years ago... I was reminded about how much harder you have to squeeze cable-operated rim brakes for the same effect.  

 

Maayan Jones was the rider killed by a truck in the residential area up the hill from The Athenian.  They took the ghost bike down about a year ago, but they just moved his memorial sign to the hole in the fence.  I approve.

Today we had an Alpe d'Huez jersey, a Mount Ventoux jersey, and two Mount Diablo jerseys.