Gate - Junction - Juniper - Hole

Valve in my innertube failed on morning pump up so I called Rick to say I'd be late. He and JB did a couple miles warm up and then came back to the Gate to meet me.

Rick is training for the Challenge so JB and I were soon dumpage.

At Junction we all decided to go up but Rick was doing Summit and JB and I turned around at Juniper.

Team Chevron was there again. Lots of riders scattered all over the Mountain.


At the Gate, JB had gone through and then there was a near collision between riders on SGR right behind me.




Home early today and that's all.

Gate - Junction - Juniper - Muir - Gate

Not sure why Rick didn't show up today. JB and I both got to the Gate about the same time and launched a relaxed one.
He remarked that it was casual day on the Mountain... lots of riders on hybrids and MTBs with hardly any lycra.

At the Junction we saw a guy walking up from the Easy Side - turned out he had broken a spoke on his Race Lites and was afraid to ride on the wheel. I'm sure he was being overly cautious but some people get really finicky when their skull's on the line. He called his wife for a ride home.

So then we went up to Juniper and it was getting warmer. JB's tire was getting soft so he pumped it up some and went down. I went up to Muir to sit on my favorite picnic table for a while.

Dudley Driveby: at Toyon. Gym shorts, windbreaker, and jacket.

2008 WNR 17

JB, Jeff, and I started up just after the Diablo Cyclists. It was hot but cooling off quickly.

Got to the bottom of Chainbuster and noticed my cleats were loose... very loose. Pulled over and discovered I didn't have a screwdriver. We had just passed Craig and another guy from DC and Craig lent me his multitool which was good enough to hold me the rest of the way up. I've gotta get those allen head screws I bought in there instead of those crappy pan head screws that come with the cleats.

Jeff didn't stop so we had to catch him and then he faded a bit while JB and I sparred - then I faded too.



Still managed to pass another half dozen riders or so before I got to Junction.





A great ride tonight, but the end is nigh. Probably only 5 or 6 WNRs left this year.


Rick and I signed up for Foxy's Fall Century - drop me an e-mail if you're going to be there too.

Got an honorable mention on PunkinJay's Blog for a couple of my photos. Whenever he goes to the Summit, he climbs the Wall TWICE - just because!

Gate - Junction - Tire Poppers - Gate

Beautiful, beautiful weather today.

Nobody at the Gate so I put up a big rock.

My cheering section.

Sunrises are getting later

Started off kind of slow figuring JB would catch up to me but I was solo to the Junction.

There was a huge crowd of riders from Chevron at the Junction... I don't know if they were training for something or if they were just a club that decided to ride My Mountain today. They had a support vehicle and everything.

So I went down the South Side to check out the road work.


There's equipment and materials all over but the surface is pretty nice.



Still a lot of grit on the road though... don't expect full traction around the corners.

The three sisters from above... and some mad photo editing skilz!

The repaired sections are pretty long and they did a pretty good job I think.

Most places they repaved the whole road width, but some places just one lane.

I'm faster than this guy.

Lots of dragon flies at one corner of SGR - those boogers are hard to photograph!

Saw JB coming up NGR while I was going down so I turned around and rode with him for a while near Clavicle Cracker... said he overslept.

Then I finished up with some wind sprints in the Shadelands before going home.

2008 WNR 16

HOT HOT HOT and no wind.
Rode the whole side with Jeff - he must have dripped 3 liters of sweat from his head.


Jeff just got a new bike too - warranty replacement for a crack in the bottom tube.

When the sweat dried off my arms there was a crusty layer of salt scum left over and I could feel it cracking like an egg shell when I moved... neat feeling.

Gate - Junction - Juniper - Summit

A beautiful day it was today. Started cold it did, with wind even. Warmer it got as higher we went.





Rick had family obs so it was just me and JB; he outsmarted me in the finale to Junction but I almost had him.

How about those opening ceremonies?

There were some interesting cloud formations to the south but my photos of them were less interesting.

Got quite warm on Summit Road.

Maybe people are riding later in the day because there weren't many cyclists.

Dudley Driveby: Near Blue Oak.

The coming down side of the Wall, as climbed by Challengers.

An anonymous rider begins the infamous Summit Wall

And they're all made out of ticky-tack and they all look just the same.

But they have a nice view of Diablo from down there.

2008 WNR 15

One of my photos has been accepted by Panoramio for inclusion in Google Earth! The one of the Summit Wall taken from the Lower Parking Lot I posted a couple months ago.


It doesn't appear on GE yet, and one factor that GE uses to figure out whose photos to include at the broadest zoom is how many people show interest in it... so please go HERE to view it and add a comment and link to it and e-mail it to yourself and add it to your favorites so it'll show up at a high level from Google Earth - thanks! Then I'll have a good reputation with the Google folks and they'll post my other photos as well.


So anyway, I felt pretty good tonight and the air was clear and the temp wasn't too high and the wind wasn't too bad either. Started off solo and then about 8 Diablo Cyclists passed me before the Bump and then about 8 more before I got to the Junction, only managed to pass about 3 riders myself but anyway, felt pretty good.






Bad news, the wrist strap on my heart rate monitor broke so I just had the display bit in my pocket... it lasted about 5 years so I guess that's good enough and they're cheap now anyway so I'll just go get a new one and a box of Clif Bars one of these days.

Big turnout tonight.

Don't forget - South Gate Road is CLOSED. This means you and the bike you rode in on.

Gate - Junction - Juniper - Gate

I thought I was going to be doing a solo ride today, thinking JB was still in Hawaii... so I started about 15 minutes later than usual and when I got to the traffic circle there he was - changing a flat tire. If I hadn't been late I would have missed him.

So my plans for a slow ride with lots of photos were down the tube but it was a good ride anyway.

Perfect weather and the air was the best it's been for a long time.

Wildlife Encounter: This happy lizard that didn't mind his photo being taken at all... I guess I don't look very scary.

Dudley Driveby: Above Son of Chainbuster. Camping shorts and a jacket.

JB tried to shake me with a couple of accelerations - I closed up the gaps a few times but at Chainbuster he got away for good.

Ate a banana at the Junction and then we did the usual Hole route back home.