2017 SMR 45

Quiet up there this morning.

JB texted me sick.

Only saw one rider my whole way up.

I decided to conserve energy for 2018 New Year's Day Summit.  I'm going to come back Monday and make that a LINK.

Edit:  LINK

OK, nobody got me new rims for Christmas... but check this out... when you can see the wear pattern on the brake surface around the spokes... it's time.  So I bought some new sew up rims for myself... I'm going to come back here and make that a LINK when I build my new tubular wheels.

2017 SMR 44

No wind in the air today!  Looked like some good riding.  Overcast though so I wasn't confident it would warm up.

Stopped on the way down to help a new guy put air in his tire - then Steve and Dan rode by on their way up and we talked about Diablo and new bikes and Christmas.

Strawberry lemonade in bottle 1, peach tea in bottle 2.

Where do you think this photo is?

I'm thinking that's the 2,000 ft elevation sign on NGR (sort of behind "The").

Edit - nope, it's Curry Point.

#ShareMtdiablo

2017 SMR 43

In case you missed it, JB and I made the MountDiabloCyclists' demonstration video last week.  Colonel Al used this to show the park staff how well the new bike turnouts work.  What you don't see in the video is that the car was following us for a while but apparently saw the "bike turnout ahead" sign and waited to pass us... exactly what is supposed to happen.

Posted by Al Kalin on Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Started off beautiful this morning - sunny, calm, not too cold.  But there was wind up there.

Turned around at Junction.  App said 35mph steady winds and 50mph gusts...yeah... no.

#ShareMtDiablo

JB mixes up an "interesting" concoction for his water bottles.

Hop The Dots execution score: 9
Needed a little more height.

2017 SMR 41

See-your-breath cold at 7:30 as I rolled out the door.

There was a footrace going on that had parts of Bancroft and Ygnacio closed off... made me 2 minutes Late at the Gate.

Another day of arm-warmers and knee-warmers and my wind-breaker.  I noted that arm warmers provide a really long surface for wiping your nose, but they also show dried-up snot from the previous week's ride.  So my new technique is to rotate the arm warmers about a quarter turn on each new ride to provide a clean surface - then when you've got 360° dried snot, you know it's time to wash them.

Last week I told myself to remember to quirt some lube on my cleats - I remembered and it worked.
I also remembered to spread some chamois cream in the relevant areas... and enjoyed that smooth slick feeling all morning.

This conscientious cyclist is warning the moron trying to pass her around a blind corner that I was coming down... might've been a close call.  Thanks.

2017 SMR 40

My plan to under-dress for the first hour of the ride worked again... I was a little cold until almost Junction and then it warmed up nicely and I took off my winter gloves.

At Junction we connected with Colonel Al and his friend Carlos who was a Euro Pro! about 30 years ago.  He said he loved my "old school" Eddy Merckx.

Al rode with us to Summit and he talked about an e-MTB ride he'd done a few days ago to the "old hotel that burned down"... with swimming pool and chimneys and everything still there... but the place he was describing was not where I always thought the "old hotel" was.  So we kind of argued, but neither of us was really sure what the real story was... it was a park employee at the visitor center who told me (a long time ago) that it was just above Junction, off the road that now goes to the park superintendent's house ... sort of across Summit Road from the Sunset picnic area... I started calling it "Hotel Road".  Al said maybe that's what somebody told me but he's actually been there and it's on the south side of The Mountain closer to the Summit... and you can get there from Curry Point.  Hard to disagree with that.  I took solace in the fact that if I were wrong, it wouldn't be my fault.

And after the ride, we discovered THE TRUTH.  The hotel was indeed where I thought it was, and the place he had been is called The Green Ranch... located of course, on Green Ranch Road.  It wasn't a hotel, but a summer home for a rich Berkeley family built in 1939 and demolished (not burned) in 1993... odd that I had never heard of it but nice to have some more history.

LINKS!

The Green Ranch
The Mountain House Hotel

This guy looked about 7 feet tall.