2022 Diablo Day 08 - Wednesday

 Forgot the Diablo Bike Cam today... so you get a couple of archival photos.

Just me and JB, I pushed hard a couple times and it felt good, but I didn't last very long... short intervals of standing in medium-size gears, followed by long recovery phases of panting and twiddling in embarrassingly low gears.

Nice weather though - didn't even need arm warmers. 

JB said he emailed Ed Litton about maybe fixing and repainting his old Teesdale... apparently Ed and Tom were old friends so JB thought Ed might be interested... no response... not sure why JB is interested in the restoration after 20 years of storing the broken frame in his garage.

Hey - the portapotties at Junction are gone and the regular restrooms are open!

OK, here's the blast from the past photos because I forgot my bike cam today:

2010 - the year I broke my crank - probably time for new one again by now.

2011 - hospitalized with a staph infection... it was only one night.

2012 - Diablo Brother comes for a visit and a ride.

2013 - JB still has this same jacket, tights, and helmet (they were old even then). 

2014 - the year from hell. Broken pelvis in March, broken ribs in October, had my commute bike stolen in May and had to euthanize my dog in December... got VIP tickets to the AMGEN Diablo stage for my birthday though!

2015 - nothing memorable that I can remember - I think this photo was courtesy of Punkin Jay.

2016 - I won a company prize for this photo - they wanted people to send pictures of themselves being active. I forgot what the prize was, but I remember winning!

2017 - Boy I don't miss being this heavy.

2018 - the year I went all-in on sew-ups.

2019 - Shift to part time work affords more time for riding Diablo. Turned 60 years old and had my best fitness in years. I was even knocking at the Sub-40 Junction door.

2020 - Pandemic riding and social distancing became the norm. I grew the mustache thinking it was something silly to do for a couple weeks until this whole COVID thing blew over. I had the seizure with broken vertebrae in May... pretty scary but recovery wasn't too bad. 

2021 - I had returned to fitness after my seizure last year, then I broke my kneecap in January and all of that good conditioning leaked out. It was about 6 months before I could do Junction. One effective, but not recommended, way of forgetting your broken back is to break your knee.

2022 - I will never get that 2019 fitness back again, but I've got regular riding buddies who keep me challenged and in check.