2023 Diablo Day 45 - Wednesday Junction. Turnout Pledge Ride #19

 The Mount Diablo Cyclists are fund raising for more bike turnouts! I have pledged to donate $5 for every time I ride Diablo until the end of September; won't you join me?  The State of California will MATCH our donations! Here's the link - tell them DiabloScott sent you.  

LINK->  Bike Turnouts

Charlie suggested 9am, I agreed, then he cancelled.

Spare the Air Day. It was smokey and the views were affected, but it didn't interfere with good breathing.

Right near the Tire Poppers, I saw that someone had left an old innertube and a gel pack on the side of the road. I made a note to pick it up on the way down, because that's the kind of guy I am.

I only saw ONE car on the way up, and he was in the other lane. Then I saw two cars on the way down and they were both in the other lane - it was a good day to Diablo.

#TheLastFlatIGot:  Rode into Junction just fine, but when I mounted to head back down I realized my rear was flat. Didn't find anything in the tire except a couple small rocks in the outside tread - the puncture was a pinhole a few inches away from the valve. Nice place to change a tube - sitting on the bench, using the Eagle Scout box pump (although the gauge was broken).

At Junction I talked to a rider who asked about my DiabloBikeCam - she was thinking it would be good for accident documentation or something, I told her maybe, but it's mostly for fun. Then she let me take a selfie with her, then she told me her name, then I forgot it.

But I remembered to pick up that old innertube.

The Haze

Lots of these weed trimmings were on the road everywhere.

I hope this person was just forgetful, and not so rude to leave their junk here.

2023 Diablo Day 44 - Wednesday Junction. Turnout Pledge Ride #18

The Mount Diablo Cyclists are fund raising for more bike turnouts! I have pledged to donate $5 for every time I ride Diablo until the end of September; won't you join me?  The State of California will MATCH our donations! Here's the link - tell them DiabloScott sent you.  

LINK->  Bike Turnouts

Charlie's first Diablo since contracting COVID last month. He was a little reluctant to push too hard - he said his heart rate was about 20 beats faster for any particular level of effort. We rode about one minute per mile slower than usual, so it was still a reasonable time.

Wildlife Encounter: DEER

Wildlife Encounter: MORE DEER

At Junction I saw a bunch of people I knew, and one of them introduced me to her friend and said "this is Diablo Scott" and her friend said "Wow - I've heard so much about you. It's like meeting Diablo royalty". Then I took a selfie that didn't turn out. Then I realized I knew her from back in the old Club Sport days.

Me and Charlie and Colnago Ted talked about wheels and jerseys... specifically, brake track warning indicators and short zippers.

2023 Diablo Day 43 - Saturday Junction. Turnout Pledge Ride #17.

The Mount Diablo Cyclists are fund raising for more bike turnouts! I have pledged to donate $5 for every time I ride Diablo until the end of September; won't you join me?  The State of California will MATCH our donations! Here's the link - tell them DiabloScott sent you.  

LINK->  Bike Turnouts

Charlie sent me a link to the NGR repair project web page - check it out - lots of cool photos. I hope they put a turnout lane in there too.

MDSP NGR Updates

Hurricane Hillary is cooling things down a bit - OK, I don't know if that's true but it was cooler today than Wednesday.

I saw a guy in a Cal jersey but I couldn't find him in the Diablo Bike Cam video.

Talked to Ted passing out Turnout Project fundraising literature at The Junction again, he said business was good. He's quite the ambassador for this project. He said quite a few people commented on the YouTube video I made of us last week, and he's never felt so famous... I guess I should've warned him about my loyal enthusiastic fans.

One month of summer left... I better get something done.

2023 Diablo Day 42 - Wednesday Junction. Turnout Pledge Ride #16.

The Mount Diablo Cyclists are fund raising for more bike turnouts! I have pledged to donate $5 for every time I ride Diablo until the end of September; won't you join me?  The State of California will MATCH our donations! Here's the link - tell them DiabloScott sent you.  

LINK->  Bike Turnouts

On Monday I went to renew my library card and very pleasantly surprised that one of the designs available was Mount Diablo with poppies! Go get yours.

It was hot today, I should've gone a little earlier, but I got to Junction about 11:00 and it was 93°F. Too hot for anything faster than a "no nonsense" pace. The heat definitely was affecting my performance - heart rate was as fast as if I were going hard, but I wasn't. Garmin estimated I sweated 2 liters of fluid out! I took a LONG break at Junction and refilled my bottle from the spigot.

1028 calories burned = I deserve a pizza.

Alamo Trek did a great job fixing my derailleur cable repair - shifting was perfect. They deserve more business. I'll check them out when it's time for new handlebar tape or something.

Today's prep included CBD cream on my knee, Voltaren on my knee, Icy Hot on my knee, and sunscreen everywhere else. Two ibuprofens and two E-caps. Bottles started off frozen... that didn't last long. After I got home I had no knee pain and no sunburn and no cramps - I was just tired and hot. Then my smart watch's emergency alert alarm went off and I thought it was a car alarm at first. I don't even know what triggered it because I was stopped and preparing to walk my bike in the door... weird. I disabled that function - I'll rely on my fans to recognize an actual emergency if I ever have one.

All kinds of unique characters on The Mountain this morning, and all kinds of bikes.

Hotter than it looks.

Cathy P hit her 1,000,000 ft elevation for the year today, and I was there.

2023 Diablo Day 41 - Saturday Junction. Turnout Pledge Ride #15.

 Check out this promotional video for the Diablo Bike Turnout project:

LINK->  Bike Turnouts

Alamo Trek messaged me that my Klein is ready, but I didn't get it picked up in time for today's ride. I had the clincher wheels mounted on to the Merckx and did a few pre-ride checks and adjustments and looked forward to a fun day in the saddle.

On Blackhawk road I realized I couldn't shift into the little chainring, so I stopped and did another adjustment (keep reading for the REST of the story).

Roadkill Report: the raccoon and the opossum were still there, but now there was a rat too... stinky carnage.

Around the Helicopter Pad I passed a couple guys and one of them noticed my Eddy Merckx and chatted me up about old bikes... we rode together for a while and then he heard Bob Dylan on my Diablo MP3 speaker, and then we talked about our experiences going to Cal. His name is Alan and he had a custom Independent Fabrications bike just for him.

At Junction I met with Ted who can talk classic bikes with the best of them. He was there passing out the Donate for Turnouts pamphlets. Also he had ridden a Legnano that he just finished restoring and it was a beauty.

Then when I was almost home... basically the same place where my derailleur cable exploded on Wednesday, I threw my chain off the big ring and it got jammed up behind the crankarm... took me quite a while to undo that - no damage though.

I see this guy all the time on The Mountain, but usually don't have time to say anything other than HI. Talked to him a little today, but forgot to ask his name.

Alan. Dylan fan, Cal alum.

Her saddle's too low... right?

Ted's recentist restoration.