2013 SMR 21

Hottest place in the solar system was the Diablo Weather Station this morning.

Wildlife Encounter:  Deer and turkeys

Up to Junction, down to Kiosk, and back up.

On the descent, at 40mph, a juicy bug splatted into my arm, providing a bit of spot cooling as his guts evaporated.

2013 WNR 11

Two new college interns at work came with us today.  Evan is a roadie, Ted is mostly an urban mountain bike guy but he did pretty well.

Tall Charlie is going to France in a couple weeks to ride the Alpe and other iconic mountains.

Heat wave's coming soon.




Never seen a car up there before.

 

Bump Runner

 

Tiene Duros





New Guy Evan and JB finish in a dead heat.



Livestrong Davis - Volunteer at Power Stop 2

Diablo Daughter and I volunteered for the annual cancer charity ride.  

Lots of ClubSport people doing the ride too, so we had good exposure.

Filling up the GORP tray like a pro!  

Captions escape me.

At the finish line, there was an announcer who would call out the finishers and some of their stories.  Like "Here comes John who's riding in memory of his father, uncle, two brothers and son who all died of cancer."  "Here comes Julie who had one lung removed three years ago."  

Despite all the sadness that was everywhere, the overwhelming atmosphere was positive and supportive and hopeful.  And Diablo Daughter wants to do it again next year too.

2013 SMR 21

Diablo Time Trial was today, so I gave myself a head start and finished about the same time as the first starter.

Then I went up Summit Road a piece.

2013 WNR 10

Yeah, did some Zone 5 training today!.  Started out with Deanna (who just finished the SF-LA AIDS ride),  Ed, and Tall Charlie.

Took off from the Gate and opened up a huge gap.  Then Tall Charlie caught me back.

Passed up these guys before the Dumpster Gate but then they caught me back up too.  But then I got my second wind and passed everybody.

Max heartrate = 179.

This little guy was really good at pulling garbage out of the bins.


Apparently, 7 miles apart is the appropriate distance between Trek dealers. Any cyclist near North Gate has probably been to Encina Bicyles - a great and convenient shop, a little on the small side, Trek dealer but not exclusively.  The best part about Encina though is their really really good mechanics.  And the best of them, Dave Bzdula, has attacked the peloton and opened up his own store - Big Dave's Bikes in Pleasant Hill; a little on the small side, Trek dealer but not exclusively, more or less convenient depending on your location... he's sticking with a proven business model and DiabloScott wishes him veel succes. 

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2013 SMR 20

Cool at the start, warmed up quickly.

Passed'em - Passed me ratio=  2:2

Continued on up to Juniper.  Felt good but ran out of time.

Yeah!  Do this, Danville!

DANVILLE -- Some call it "the Khyber Pass of Danville" -- a narrow, winding stretch of Diablo Road with hazards from commuters rushing to work and school and a growing number of bicyclists pedaling to Mount Diablo for exercise.

The solution: Get Danville to widen a 1.7-mile-long stretch of road and add bike lanes there, say some residents, cyclists and leaders of the nearby community of Diablo.

The suggestion, however, is getting a cool response from town planners who worry about the steep financial and environmental cost.

Widening the road would require grading large chunks of hillside, chopping down more than 150 trees, relocating a creek and changing the bucolic nature of the road lined by oak and eucalyptus trees, Danville planners say.

The Danville Town Council will hear both sides of the debate Tuesday night in a public hearing before a possible vote on plans for the 66-house Summerhill development south of Diablo Road.

2013 WNR 09

Me and JB at the Gate.  Warm and breezy.

At Mile 2.0 we are very excited to see this new sign!

DO NOT PASS AROUND BLIND CORNERS!

CHING CHING... PASSED-EM TALLY GOES UP BY TWO.

Two Bridges and Carquinez Scenic

Most folks near Diablo have ridden the Carquinez Scenic Drive... it used to be a road but it washed out every year so they stopped fixing it and just allowed cyclists and hikers in the last 10 years or so.  But word came down last week that they were going to repair it again to be part of the Bay Trail and that would mean it's going to be completely closed during construction.

So some internet friends decided to have a last chance ride that included the Drive.  We met in Martinez at 10am.

We were all ready for temps in the high 90's, but it stayed a little cooler closer to the water.


Two Bridges and Carquinez Scenic from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.


Back to Diablo next week.

2013 Ride Ataxia Davis

A fun ride in the heart of bike country, for a good cause!

This was Kevin's first organized ride - he was a little nervous, asking all kinds of questions on the drive up.

After things spaced out, I had him practice pace-lining, taught him about elbow flicks etc, and he really enjoyed it.

Met Tall Charlie at the first rest stop - we didn't see him at the start and he must've made a few green lights getting out of town that we didn't.  He stayed with us most of the rest of the way.

About mile 35, Kevin drifted off the road and crashed.  Not too bad and the SAG driver showed up within a few minutes with bandages and stuff, but he's going to be hurting later tonight.

Yeah... that'll buff right out.

These Davis roads are a lot of fun.

Home stretch

Uploaded my Strava data during the post ride meal, and someone had already defined the route and I was the tenth person to record it... that says something about how popular Strava has become.


OK, this is actually a photo I found from last year's ride, but I did see some of these folks... wheelchair trailers.  Just wow.

The Man with the Plan

2013 Ataxia Ride Davis from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.