2026 Diablo Day 30 - Saturday Morning Junction

Well, I just saw this - a Diablo Grand Fondo coming next April!  I'll figure out a place to watch from the side of the road.

GFNY Walnut Creek

For today's ride - it was a little too windy in the early morning, so I got a late start but it was really nice.

I started taking iron supplements for my anemia on Wednesday and they made me a little nauseated so I cancelled that ride with Charlie... wasn't too bad but I didn't want to risk it getting bad 10 miles from home. Today I felt fine. If I get my hematocrit up maybe I'll even put in some decent SGR times pretty soon.

I played with an optimum tire pressure calculator early this week. Now I've always been a 90-95psi kind of guy, but this thing said I should be around 65psi.  So that's what I put in for today and I must say it felt pretty good... the road was a little softer and the traction was a little better. I wonder how many other outdated notions I'm hanging on to.

I did feel a little better on the bike too - I did more out-of-saddle accelerations and recovered a little faster... I'm still out of breath too easy though, so those hard efforts don't last very long.

This guy told me it was his 2nd Diablo, and that he was
looking forward to slimming down and getting fast. Chapeau.

On the way home I happened upon a family's lemonade stand at the country club book exchange. I like supporting entrepreneurship, plus I wanted to give the residents the best possible interaction with us cyclists... so I stopped for a cookie and a water bottle full of lemonade.  It was the good kind of lemonade... just the right amount of sourness. The boy was proud to tell me the cookies were home-made.  There weren't any prices posted... seemed to be one of those "pay as much as you want" places, so I gave the boy $5 and told him if that was enough, I'd like to pay for the next bike rider that came by too.

Then later this afternoon on a group dog walk I had an Alison sighting on the Trail in San Ramon. She stopped and talked with us a while... because that's how she rolls.

2026 Diablo Day 29 - Friday Morning Junction

3rd of July and I have plans for tomorrow so the ride is today. Very nice weather and pleasant riders with happy greetings.

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys

My rear blinky cam ran out of juice before even one file was recorded... so I'll probably just leave it off and you'll get front photos only.

At Junction I saw a Trek Domane that had the same road wheels I have on Roxanne - I think his bike had 32mm tires on or so - I might go that wide whenever my 28s wear out.

Uneventful but enjoyable ride today.

Happy watermelon and fireworks day.

2026 Diablo Day 28 - Wednesday Morning Junction

Happy July!  I wore my patriotic flag socks. I happened to see Charlie riding yesterday near my house and it looked like he was in serious training mode.  I wore my Cal jersey today, but Charlie came loaded for bear!  I could tell he was itching to dish out some suffering.

The friendly folks of VSBC got started just before we did, and then kind of spread out. One guy passed me and said he also had a Cal jersey - but since he wasn't wearing it, he will not get the Cal Jersey Diablo shoutout.

Wildlife Encounter: We saw lots of deer - all young ones with spindly legs, all loners.

Near Rock City we heard lots of coyote howling... it was either a buffet or an orgy.

Roadkill Report: a tarantula!  Don't usually see those until August or so.

Did you hear that the guy who invented the "Heat Index" died recently?  He was 84 but he felt like 90.

I hammered past Ted because he was dogging it in here...
but then he caught me back before Junction.

 

Coyote party was somewhere around here - both sides of the road.

2026 Diablo Day 27 - Saturday Morning Junction

Started a little early this morning, and felt pretty good. Split times were good too. It was a little chilly and I had a windbreaker. The news this week has a lot of stories about killer heat waves in Europe... so I'm not complaining.

I think I smudged some energy drink on my camera lens - these photos all have a blurry spot... I just cleaned it as I was typing this. Better photos next time I promise.

 

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.