2011 WNR 06

Just me tonight.

Passed two old geezers - woohoo, things are looking up!

Also, saw a tarantula on the way back down... he must've been confused or scared by the weird weather.

Not much else to write about, so here's a video from 1988... anybody know if this guy is still around?

2011 SMR 20

I was feeling slow, so I got a head start on JB.
Cool and windy at the start, warm and calm a little higher up.

Then JB and I went up to Juniper.
Then I went up to Muir for a DIABLO SPY CAM.

Hella lotta riders today, lots of people training for the Death Ride I guess... good day for a DIABLO SPY CAM.

Milliron

Beaker

2011 WNR 05

HOT!  Felt good though.

Big shady oak was a nice relief.

JB disappeared up the road around Upper Washout, leaving me to finish alone.

Lots of people at the Junction, mostly talking about how hot it was.

Wildlife Encounter:  Coyote at the Bump on my way down.  He watched me come to a complete stop, posed graciously while I pulled my camera out, and then disappeared into the tall grass with an evil burst of laughter before I could trip the shutter.

This couple was headed up for a night of camping and enjoyed having their photo taken.  That's a lot of baggage they're carrying.

2011 SMR 19

First things first - got this video of a rattlesnake near Junction... 

JB had a garage flat and called to say he'd be late so it was just me to the Junction.  I got passed by a steady stream of single riders... about one every 5 minutes.

The only guy I passed caught me back up a few minutes later.

At the Junction there was a downed tree all cut up... couldn't figure out where it came from though.

When I went over to take a photo of it, I almost stepped on the rattler!

I heard a siren down the south side somewhere and hoped it wasn't a rider.  Went up to Livermore Overlook but couldn't see anything from there.  Also heard a helicopter and thought I might even see an emergency airlift from a great perspective... nope. Then JB called and I rode back down to meet him and we took the snake video and then went down SGR.  There was a fire truck and some rangers next to a damaged car and some broken glass but we couldn't figure out what had happened; they had the autos stopped in both directions but were letting bikes through.  I first heard the siren just before 9am so the accident was probably 15 minutes or so before that.  We went through the area probably between 9:30 and 10:00 when it was just wrapping up.

At the bottom we met a MTB guy who admired JB's Della Santa and said that he had TWO Della Santas and used to race with Roland Della Santa and had worked at bike shops all over the area including The Bike Route in Concord where I bought my Ciocc in 1985, and California Pedaler where I bought my Merckx in 1993, and some other ones I never heard of.  Anyway, he had heard that the incident on SGR was a descending cyclist who hit a van going up; didn't seem to match with what we saw (blue car) but his info seemed to be good.  so I don't know if they airlifted the rider out and I was just too late for the helicopter, or if they ambulanced him down SGR and the helicopter never landed.

Then back on Danville Blvd.  Didn't get any cramps... good day!

Club Sport Ride: Bears, Pig, Carq, Pig Again

Ride left from Orinda and it took me almost an hour to get there.

Roadkill Report:  An opossum just down the street from my house.

Eight of us including Coach Janet; owner of a Triple Crown jersey.  She explained the route and distance and then asked if anybody was worried about the ride... everyone knew what to expect, so we rolled.

Did The Bears first with that long grind up Pumphouse Hill - that was enough to size everybody up... no goats, no slugs, good distribution of weekend warriors.

Roadkill Report:  SKUNK!

Long, screaming downhill and then the right turn on to Alhambra.  A few people voiced some fear as The Pig grew nigh. Just before the climb stars is a farm with emus and vineyards - this is where the big fire was a few yeas ago... always nice to see how well it's recovered.  I was the second one to the top so I made the first guy go back a ways and repeat for the video.

Same old pig farm that's not a pig farm... a little more crusty perhaps.

Somehow we got from the top of The Pig to Carquinez Scenic Straight and that's always fun.  Then a short stop at the Bear Claw bakery where bananas cost $1 but the toilet is clean and they like bike riders.

Some more rolling stuff around some boring industrial parts of Rodeo, Crockett, and Pinole on the way back to Orinda and then I excused myself from the group to take the short cut back home via Alhambra... the only time I've ever done The Pig twice in one day.

Not sure why my video quality sucks but I made the movie so I'm putting it out there:
https://vimeo.com/24992619

https://vimeo.com/24992619