Saturday, August 30, 2014

2014 SMR 27

Whoa - hot this morning.


Lots of people riding anyway.


Tarantula Tally:  two cadavers


Kind of windy above Junction, but it was nice.

I'm 100% recovered from the pelvis fracture in March.
But I'm still nervous around the curves.

OOPS!  Camera mount let loose.

I've made the switch to mini Clif bars - because the big ones
are a bit too much for a plain old Saturday Morning Summit



Wednesday, August 27, 2014

2014 WNR 15

New guy MATT joins us tonight.  He's been up Diablo before on a solo trip.


Matt likes softball more than cycling, but the season's over.


Kevin wanted to go for a PB tonight and I thought he had it, but he flared out after about 4 miles.


Warmer than I was expecting, or I would've gone sleeveless.  


Matt got into cycling because his wife was a rider.  Then wife gave it up but he hasn't.

At the Junction, there was a guy there who maybe was kind of new to cycling.  He asked the group of us "How do you guys cool your legs off after a hard ride?".  I told him cooling off your legs wasn't an objective - better to keep them warm.  He seemed to think that professional athletes take ice baths after big efforts.  I've never heard of such a thing.  Massage: yes.  Jacuzzi: yes.  Compression sleeves: yes.  Ice baths: No... not unless there's some inflammation in your knees or something.


Tarantula Tally:  ONE crawler near Coyote Flats.  I think that makes the last six rides in a row.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

2014 SMR 26

Beautiful weather, lots of riders enjoying the Mountain this morning.





You know what's worse than the walk of ignominy?
Not even trying.


Tarantula Tally:  TWO.  One near Sunset... he was still but looked alive.  Then another on the way down past Son of Chainbuster... a couple had gotten out of their car to photograph it.

Wildlife Encounter:  a young deer on NGR outside of the Park... ran across the road in front of me.


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

2014 WNR 14

Intervals in Sunday's spin class

Me, Kevin, and Zach.  Kevin was eager to challenge himself after last week's PB.  Zach was more restrained after last week's MTB crash.  Also Zach's second time up so he understands the Mountain a little better than last time.


Tarantula Tally:  one crawler at the ZigZag


Starting to get that long shadow / sunset in your eyes feel that comes with this time of year.


I registered for Foxy's today - sound off in the comments!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

2014 SMR 25

Flat Damn It:  on Walnut Avenue, rear tire, I rode out to the traffic circle so JB would see me if he hadn't gotten that far yet.  Fixed it and then cracked the threads on my CO2 inflator... not the ones that thread into the cart, just the ones that thread into the holder so it still works fine.

Roadkill Report:  skunk on the approach to the Gate.

So I get to the Gate at 8:10 and no rock and no JB so I figured today would be a solo ride and I put myself in endurance mode.

Didn't stop at Junction cuz I needed the outhouse at Sunset so I took a little break there and rearranged my flat tire fixing stuff.  Determined that the punctured tube was repairable so I rolled it up better in my pocket.

Then at Muir I hear a pop and feel a little burst of air and I figure my repair failed for some reason, but it wasn't really that loud, and my tire wasn't going flat, so it must've been something else... like I ran over a balloon or something - yeah, I'm pretty sure I would've seen that.  So I pull over and inspect the tire and everything's fine and I conclude maybe the used CO2 cart in my seatbag vented off some pressure somehow.

edit:  yup, sort of.  I guess those plastic threads were more important than I thought.



At the Summit Lower Lot I always stop and make sure I'm ready for the Wall... I have a drink from my bottle and usually some HammerGel and take some deep breaths and get my heart rate down into Zone 1 before I start up.  It's probably overkill but it's routine and I like it.  It also gives me a chance to listen for any cars that are coming up so I don't get in front of one because they can't pass once you get past the split to single lane width road.  But today a big black SUV zoomed in right behind me right at the no passing point and the driver had to watch me plod up the whole way... he didn't seem to mind and I gave him a thank you wave at the top.

These guys had a bunch of microwave antennas; I think they
were trying to communicate with their home planet.


My Contour camera worked much better today - it's been getting kind of quirky the last few rides but did everything right today... even the GPS recording... I should do a video... except I didn't catch anything too interesting.  Did have a close call with a loose dog near the goat yard.

Rawhide from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

2014 WNR 13

Tarantula Tally:  One crawler near the 2,000 ft rocks.

Kevin wanted to do a PB so I made him suffer and he did... and he enjoyed it.




Seppi's first time up all year... he was dragging a bit.




Tarantula Tally:  one crawler near the 2,000 ft rocks.

Weather Words:  very nice!  Warm with a bit of a breeze.




Saturday, August 09, 2014

2014 SMR 24

Weather words:  cool and windy at the bottom, hot and calm at the top.


Smelled like smoke near Blue Oak which is scary - Ranger Carl said there's nothing going on in the Park but smoke from fires farther north is drifting in.


Brown fog over the east bay hills as well.


This guy pulled out in front of me on Walnut Avenue and we rode about the same speed all the way up.  He had a jersey that was the dark green of the official State Park jersey, but it was for something else.


Wildlife Encounter:  nothing special but big swarms of dragonflies and a huge flock of turkey vultures.

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

2014 WNR 12

Me, Kevin, Charlie, JB, and Zack.  A few other guys from work did an MTB ride up Little Pine Creek

I locked my keys in my truck on Doncaster but I figured I might as well ride since I had all the important stuff.  Decided to ride home afterwards and get a second set of keys.

Wildlife Encounter:  flock of turkeys at the ZigZag

Zack turned the first pedal in anger and I went after him.  Then he faded out and I finished strong... that felt good.

Tarantula Tally:  one crawler at the bottom of The Bump



Kevin bought a heart rate monitor because I told him it would make him faster... we'll see.

Wildlife Encounter: one deer at the old nursery



Saturday, August 02, 2014

2014 SMR 22

Wildlife Encounter:  two jackrabbits

Seemed to be a lot of people riding their MTBs up the road today.  Maybe the roadies are all at the Marin Century.

Roadkill Report:  ground squirrel... he looked so peaceful.

JB just returned from Iowa complaining that all he did was drink beer and not exersize.

Weather Words:  hot and windy

Tarantula Tally:  one crawler at the Bump

First tarantula of the season.

I told JB these guys would flare out and a few
minutes later they turned around and went down.

Accidental selfie

New bathroom at Muir -
old  one burned down in the Great Fire of 2013