2020 SMR 38

 Lots of frost everywhere this morning. I used all my cold weather gear except for booties and neck gator... I don't like booties unless it's going to be cold for the whole ride and it looked like that wasn't going to be the case. I even took my gloves off at The Washout.

At Junction, JB considered turning around, I suggested South Gate and he agreed, but at the Tire Poppers he decided to take the flat ride home and I turned around to climb SGR. I checked after, and it was only my second SGR climb of the year, so all my photos today are dedicated to the South Side of The Mountain - enjoy!  The light's not as good over there though... and it was colder than the North for some reason.

I had a HammerGel before going back up and somehow got some on my hand because my fingers were sticking together in kind of a creepy way... cold, sticky, and numb.

JB and I parted ways at the Tire Poppers.

SGR cracks could swallow your front wheel.

2020 WNR 33

Beautiful sunny day, a little warm in some spots and a little cold in the shade.

Charlie had candy for breakfast and he pushed it the whole way up. Usually he starts strong and then fades a little, and lately he's been fading later and later and today he didn't fade at all and had his 2nd best time to Junction, and then a best ever time Junction to Juniper.

We talked a little about COVID and other news, but there was more riding than talking. At Junction Ranger Jordan (I think) told us the new rules are masks when you're standing around, so we donned masks and posed for photos. There was a guy there with a custom Waterford we talked to and he said it was custom for a friend of his that got old and quit riding so it wasn't exactly his size but he really liked how it rode. It had English touring handlebars and toeclips, very classy.

There was also a pretty big group doing repeats up Summit Road and I hypothesized they were folks trying to get their million feet of elevation in before the year's over.

2020 SMR 37

 Hooboy it started off cold... with frost on the ground and ice on the roof. My fingers were feeling it.

The sun took charge by about 8:30 so it was much nicer, but not warm.

Hardly saw any riders on the way up, hardly any cars either... it was a quiet day on The Mountain.

Then on the way down, I saw a huge group of club riders at Junction.

Wildlife Encounters: lots of turkeys and one very young deer on The Approach, one coyote at the NG Ranger House.

"WHO'S a good boy?"

2020 SMR 36

Forecast was for rain, it rained overnight, but the sky was dry at 7:30.

Wildlife Encounter: mama deer and one baby at one of the houses along The Approach... they looked pretty tame.

Cold though, and thick fog until we got almost to Juniper - then we popped up above the cloud layer and the sun warmed our old bones, and we were treated to that marvelous view from above.

JB was feeling frisky, pushed the pace uncomfortably high the whole day. He first thought there wouldn't be much traffic, but there was - and most of them parked at Juniper I think.

On the way down, I stopped at Juniper to zip up and met Cathy - turns out we have a lot of the same Strava friends.

2020 WNR 32

 1030am Start time was perfect.

Free admission to Veterans at all State Parks today, so there were more cars than usual.

At Junction Charlie said he could be talked out of an add-on segment. I convinced him to do Juniper with me; he did a new personal best   Д Mt. Diablo Summit Road: Junction to Juniper

This guy's objective of making my blog finally came true!

Charlie almost merged back in too early after this guy with a trailer
passed us safely in the pull-out section below Juniper.

Charlie really wanted to pass these three riders before Juniper to pad his
"passed-em : passed-me" ratio.

I was hoping for a little more sun...
I didn't suffer but would have worn tights if I'd had a better weather report.

GO BEARS!
Also - note patriotic socks on Veteran's Day