2019 WNR 20

The Mountain was closed over the weekend for high fire danger, so I didn't get in my Saturday Morning Summit.  I needed both Junctions today to hit my July climbing trophy from Strava:  success.

Tonight was kind of the last bit of the heat wave, so it was hot but not oppressive.  On my first trip up, I decided to make a record attempt at segment "Split 2".  I had no idea what my best time for this segment was, and I held back a little bit because I had lots of riding left to do...and it was hot... but I did a PR.

One guy was about 30 seconds behind me for the last three miles or so and I figured he was just waiting for the perfect time to pass me.  I was just riding my own ride and a few times I put out a little more than average and the gap got pretty big - so then I figured he was on the limit keeping up.  Finally he passed me 100 meters or so before Junction and was happy with himself.

Wildlife Encounter:  lots of deer - different places - made me extra careful but none of them crossed the road in front of me.

Back to the Doncaster Staging Area to wait for the WNR regulars, not sure who was going to be there, but Lance Oldstrong showed up to ride with Midland - so I figured I could go with them if none of my crew came.  Then Shawn got there and said there might be one more so we waited for a while and then got started a couple minutes behind.  Shawn pushed pretty hard for the first couple miles but then started to have a harder time on the steep stuff.  When we realized we could catch Lance he was re-energized and full-gas the rest of the way.

Right about Chainbuster, I started to have chain skipping problems... I futzed around a bit with my barrel adjusters but couldn't get it to stay in any one gear so I kind of had to soft-pedal it the rest of the way in.  Couldn't even figure it out at Junction while I was stopped - but when I got home I did an investigation and realized it was a sticky link - no amount of barrel adjuster adjusting was going to fix that - but it's very satisfying to figure out the problem, and find out I don't need an expensive new part or visit to the bike shop.  Never had a link get sticky for no reason before.

Diablo Shoutouts to:
Bernie
Doug
Lance Oldstrong
Midland
Deadhead Mike

Not a lot of riders on The Mountain tonight, but I seemed to know more of them than usual.

My chaser.

The CATCH

Lance asked me for some sew-up advice, and then he ignored it.

THERE'S my problem!