2026 Diablo Day 44 - Saturday Morning Muir

Beautiful day, had a little extra time, rode a little conservatively and felt good all the way to Muir. I saw Colnago Ted and Tuck next to each other descending Summit Road, but I don't think they were riding together.

I had a Dolly Parton playlist on the Diablo Bike Sound System. What a loss.

The Berkeley Bike Club was on The Mountain today... those are some hard-core folks. They didn't stay in a pack, so I was being passed every few minutes by another one.

My disk brakes are getting a little noisy. The folks at Trek Alamo showed me how to adjust them, but I haven't fiddled with them yet... I guess it's about time to learn; in fact, I should probably get good at it... and tubeless flat fixing too, because the gravel wheels are going back on pretty soon.

This week I received a gift card from a class-action suit against Anthem Blue Cross - the suit claimed they over-charged members. I got an email a few months ago from some lawyer that got my name from somewhere, I checked it out and it was all legit so I said "yeah, I want in", and then I got $120 to spend; not enough for anything really cool, so I ordered a bunch of gels and powders from Hammer Nutrition.

Cal Jersey Autoblog

2026 Diablo Day 43 - Wednesday Morning Junction

After Charlie and I did a fast pace to Juniper last week, I was wiped out the rest of the day, so I asked for some mercy today, and we did a fast pace to Junction only.  It got pretty hot later in the afternoon, so that was another good reason to go light today.

Tarantula Tally: one squished one.

RIP Dolly Parton. I don't have a personal story, but I always admired her ability to maintain that loveable persona no matter how big she got in the entertainment world. I once heard her on an interview show, and she was asked about regrets. She said she was planning to do a duet song with Elvis Presley, but she didn't like the terms his manager put on the deal, so it never happened. She regretted that she let business decisions get in the way of making history.

It was a little windy coming down. I find myself being extra cautious on the descents these days. A little of it is the way my new bike handles; mostly it's my deteriorating skills, nerve, and reaction time.  

I always like to take the outside line around this turn.

Tarantula

We stopped to help this guy, but he didn't need anything.

2026 Diablo Day 42 - Saturday Morning Juniper

I contemplated a PB attempt to Junction, but opted for a tempo ride to Juniper.

Wildlife Encounter: one deer.

Tarantula Tally: zero

Hardly saw any cars on the climb up, but quite a few coming up when I was going down. Also a club of odd go kart looking things... maybe three-wheeled motorcycles with very low center of gravity. 

Air quality was about the same as last week - not smoky or smoggy, but not that Forrest Febreze, and you could see it in the valley below.

Deer!  Getting mature and solitary.

I see this hiker with his camera most every Saturday morning.

This guy had the physique of a Greek statue. He passed me like I was a statue.

This driver's lucky I didn't smack the mirror off his cage.

The go carts.

Six shifts per kilometer - I wonder how that compares to Tadej P.

 

2026 Diablo Day 41 - Wednesday Morning Juniper

Felt good again today!  I was really wasted by the time I got home though.

No deer, no tarantulas, they would've just slowed me down anyway.

Saw Colonel Al at the Tire Poppers - he admired my new bike and then invited me to visit the Veterans' Hall to play pool sometime... I politely declined. 

The air quality was a little better than last week, but from Juniper you could see the haze on the other side of the Oakland Hills.

I always go real fast in here so cars don't try to pass me.

Really, pool is a fun game.

2026 Diablo Day 40 - Saturday Morning Juniper

Chilly this morning, I think I even felt a little drizzle on the pre-ride dog walk. HELLO - we still have a month of summer.

There was thick fog almost all the way to Juniper.

Tarantula Tally: Zero 

Wildlife Encounter: Two deers

There was a club of about a dozen Vespa-type scooters going up, they were safe and courteous. I hadn't seen scooters like that for quite a while.

This first guy in the photos below was wearing an OKOBOJI jersey, I had never seen before. Okoboji is a lake resort in northern Iowa near where I grew up... I jokingly call it the Santa Cruz of Iowa. I hoped to catch up to him at Junction to ask about his story but he wasn't there.

The scooter club

Looks like the same two I saw last week on the other side of the road.

2026 Diablo Day 39 - Wednesday Morning Juniper

Beautiful day. yesterday Charlie hinted at doing Juniper but didn't commit until this morning. So we took it a little easy to Junction, took a shorter than usual break, then went up. 

At Juniper you could really see and smell the smoke over the valley. AirNow says the air quality is "moderate"; with a score of 53.  It really wasn't too bad compared to times when we've had closer fires (like 180), but it was enough of a reminder that you don't want to be breathing TOO heavily.

Tarantula Tally: ZERO. Come on fellas.

My people    

Trail progress

I always like to stop here and make sure I have everything ready for the climb.
Batteries, bottle positions, have a HammerGel. Charlie puts up with my delay tactics.

Look at all that DATA!!!