Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association, 100km

Thanks to all my sponsors I raised over $1,100! My corporate team raised almost $8,000, and the Santa Cruz event raised around $25,000.

The Santa Cruz Coastal Tour starts in Aptos, about 1h45m from my house and the 100km ride was a mass start at 7:30 so that meant I had to leave home at 5:30am (this is a Sunday remember). The ride down went fine but I noticed the transmission on the old G20 is slipping worse and worse; I figure I’ll drive it till it falls apart, no sense spending more than the whole car’s worth for a new tranny.

I actually got there early and found the little park where the ride was to start from but they were still setting up and none of the riders was there, so I went in search of some coffee. Then I somehow got lost and by the time I found my way back to the park it was getting late. I got checked in, met Steve from Irvine who was borrowing my Eddy Merckx for this ride, and turned in my contributions. As Steve was finishing up his pre-ride rituals most everybody was leaving. We had to park our cars quite a ways from the start area so I went down once more to see if our team was still in one piece but they were all gone. By the time I got back to the parking lot Steve was gone too so I was the very last person to start out.

Here’s me at check-in: (note how many riders are eyeing my beautiful bike!)


I hammered hard for about 20 minutes before I started catching up to people, Steve first, then a small group of riders from some other team, then other folks from my team and shortly after 8 o’clock we were pretty much all together. It was cold and foggy but nice riding weather in the morning. We got to some nice rolling hills at about mile 25 which broke up the riding dynamics somewhat but we all re-grouped at the first rest stop (a gravel wide spot in the road) and all the other riders admired our team jerseys – there were even some unattached riders from one of our competitor companies there whose company didn’t sponsor them or provide matching team jerseys. I have to say that this first rest stop was understaffed, undersupplied, and underportapottied… I was unimpressed.

It was still foggy and chilly and now we were in the flat windy agricultural part of the county so Adam, Rick, and I decided to do some fancy paceline work and we made great time and had fun too – a few other riders tried to hop on our little train but none could hold on for long. At one point one of the out-of-whack orchard irrigation systems sprayed us with recycled water – yuck. About mile 45 we hit some more hills I did a few sprints to challenge Adam; the first hill was kind of long and he caught me before the crest, but I did surprise him and won the sprint on at least one other occasion. I tried to make my jumps when Adam was in too big of a gear and not paying attention, but after a couple times he got wise to me. I had to tell Adam about “fun ride” etiquette – he was unaware of some of the finer points like when you pass someone on a hill you can’t be breathing hard – you have to slow down just enough to catch your breath and make it look like you’re going easy… same thing goes for being passed; in general the rule is to go as fast as possible (while passing or being passed) while projecting the image that you’re taking it easy because this isn’t a race. There’s a certain amount of competition that’s expected, and a certain line that you don’t cross… century newbs like Adam sometimes don’t pick up on those subtleties.

Rest stop the second was even more disappointing than the first. Bottled water, ClifBars, and banana halves on the shoulder of the road next to a cow pasture. At least there was a semi interesting view of the coastline from here – there were big flocks of small birds eating bugs or something over the water… no whales though. A few of my team riders met up with us here again and Steve left with us three afterward.

A huge pack of racers on a training ride came around us on the coastal highway and they even dropped some of their own riders. Adam helped tow a guy back to the pack but couldn’t quite bridge so they both gave up. One more good hill and then we were back in Aptos and the ride was over. Steve, Adam, Rick, and I all finished together in a show of solidarity.

There was supposed to be an award ceremony recognizing people who raised lots of money (ME!) but it never happened. The lunch was an uninspired, unvegetarian barbeque so I had to settle for lettuce and tortilla chips on a hamburger bun and some generic soda. Honestly as good as these ADA folks were at organizing the fund raising you’d think they’d put on a better show for the payoff. Anyway it was a good time and I really feel like I accomplished something and certainly found out a lot about this disease that affects so many people. I got a lot of nice notes from my sponsors telling me about their own experiences with diabetes and this cold hard heart of mine softened up just a bit thinking that I might actually be helping to make things a little better in the world.

Here’s the Team BC photo after the ride – some of these folks had done the 50km or 25km options. Jeff and his son Ian did it on a tandem.



No ride stats – it was a team charity event, not a race or even a training ride!
(OK, 16.5 mph average but I could have gone a lot harder if I wanted to!)

Bike to Work Day

I bike to work most days. I live three and a half miles from the office, the route consists of good roads and multi-use trails, it’s faster than driving, and it’s fun.

Adam has been rallying up support to get more folks to ride in for this year’s Bike to Work Day and he did a great job. Eighteen people pledged to ride in, but twenty actually did! The bike rack in the parking garage is overflowing, and Adam convinced the office manager to cough up the funds for a biker’s breakfast with brekkie burritos, juices, bagels, fruit, soymilk, and ClifBars. Many of these folks haven’t ridden their bikes in years and some of them groused a little about hills and dodgy roads but everyone seemed to be glad they did it.

Here’s a composite photo showing the actual bike rack this morning, CrazyEddy with the posing with Adam’s Cannondale, and the whole group of cyclocommuters at the brekkie buffet (I’m in back holding up the white helmet)..




Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23…That’s Sunday – better click the link NOW before it’s too late!

Diablo Junction, 17 miles

JB is feeling much better but still doesn’t have his Della Santa wheels fixed and still can’t get out of the saddle, so today he rode up his touring/commute bike with the granny gear. He left just ahead of me, trying to get a head start. The Diablo Cyclists were congregating at the church and it looked like a big pack. I caught JB before the Gate and we rode together for the first couple of miles. Mark A. and another guy came flying by us near Moss Landing but the other guy lost Mark’s wheel after another couple hundred meters – he was a stocky guy with good speed but not a super climber, I see him a lot up here but don’t know his name.

Near the bottom of the bump a rail-thin teenager with red aero booties came around us – he looked like a natural grimpeur. Right behind him was “Big Jim” the Diablo Cyclist guy I saw on Primavera last month. I dropped JB at this point and rode with Big Jim to the Bump and then pulled ahead of him too. Then I passed StockyGuy, and I almost caught the GrimpeurKid too!

Around the Lower Ranch I got passed by StockyGuy but I stayed ahead of Big Jim all the way up to the Junction. I kept looking back expecting more of the DC riders to catch me because there were a lot of them down there, but I must have been burning up the course! Elapsed time: 41m43s (remember that I rode the first two miles pretty leisurely).

It wasn’t until I got to the Junction that I noticed Mark was riding his single-speed QuickBeam with cyclocross tires on it… that guy is an animal, but also very soft-spoken and friendly. The GrimpeurKid was there putting on some knee warmers and Mark joked that he could use arm warmers on his legs because they were so skinny. Another twenty or so folks rolled in while we were waiting around and it was good to have such a great turnout.

Wildlife Encounter: Three young deer munching grass on the slopes above the Upper Washout on my way down. No mother doe in sight, must be the time of year to cut the apron strings. Also a whole flock of turkey vultures fighting for the good parts of a squirrel carcass. I was concerned they wouldn’t get out of the way in time – that would be interesting, a collision with a vulture in flight with a beak full of entrails!



Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23…That’s Sunday – click the link NOW!

Diablo Junction, 26 miles

Just me today, everyone else is either on vacation, injured, or otherwise occupied. I decided to go a little later than usual to spend some time with the girls before they went to a birthday party; I got to the Gate at about 10:30.

It was cool and very windy this morning. For a change of pace, I decided to do a strength ride instead of an aerobic ride so that meant using bigger gears and slower pedaling cadence. I managed to do the whole of North Gate Road in a 21 except for a few sections where I got into the 19 or 17. Kind of enjoyable, certainly a different ride experience whether or not it has any training benefit. My cassette is shot though, the new chain helped for a while but I’m skipping on several cogs now. Ordered a new one from Excel Sports Boulder – the local shop couldn’t provide one, saying there was a world-wide shortage of Shimano components… not sure whether to believe that or not.

There are a lot more cars this time of the morning, another good reason to go earlier. Pretty uneventful ride, I much prefer having friendly competition and company.


Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23.

Diablo Junction, 17 miles

JB, Lois, Nicole, and I all met on Doncaster Street, next to the Mormon Church. Cindy met us shortly after that. Cindy’s returning to road cycling after a long hiatus and recently bought a beautiful Landshark bike from the nice folks at Left Coast Cyclery. I had recommended that shop as one that would give her good customer service and she told me they really treated her well and they certainly sold her a nice bike that is a good match for the kind of riding she’ll be doing.

So we all rode together for a little while but Cindy was eager to push it a little while Lois was more interested in conversation so we split into about three groups. JB’s rib is still painful and he still doesn’t have his Della Santa fixed so he was back with Nicole. I rode with Cindy at her pace for a while; we’ve been in the same office for three years and we’ve both been at the same company for a long time so it was nice to get to know her a little better today.

At the three miles to go point (3mtg) I took off and rode it in 18m48s which would be great if I had been pushing the lower half of the mountain. My Junction time was 43+ so that wasn’t too bad for an easy ride. When Cindy got there, we talked for a while more and then went down to sweep up the slower riders and ride back up again.

On the way down, below the bump, there was A SNAKE in the road! It looked like it had already been run over but I steered wide anyway. Later JB told us he ran over it by accident but didn’t crash this time… man, he’s going to get snake phobia if this happens again.

Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23.

Diablo Junction plus Juniper, 29 miles

Didn’t sleep well at all last night – I’ve had a stiff neck for the last few days so I tried to sleep on the couch with a heating pad and it helped some but I didn’t feel rested this morning and the neck still hurt so I skipped brekkie, dropped a couple generic aspirin, downed two cups of coffee with Equal, and mixed up my Cytomax. Nicole arrived right on time to pick up her bike that I’ve been letting her store in my garage and we left for the Gate together. JB said yesterday that he wasn’t sure if he would be coming or not so I said I wouldn’t wait.

I told Nicole that I was planning on doing Juniper so I’d leave her at the Gate and then meet back up with her at the Junction and she was fine with that idea so off I went. Weather conditions were excellent; no wind, cool and sunny. I was planning on an endurance ride – no intervals and no stopping at the Junction. I don’t think I got out of the saddle for more than about 10 cranks in some of the steeper spots and I was enjoying the ride when I marked my time at 3mtg – 19m22s. Hey I thought, that’s a sub 40 pace! I was kind of surprised but I figured I’d keep the same attitude and hold on to the high-aerobic pace and just let the numbers do whatever they were going to do. With 2mtg I was just under 25 and I figured I’d wind up just under 40 and I’d have a big smile on my face as I motored on through the Junction on my way to Juniper. With 1mtg I couldn’t believe I was at 31m21s… now this is PB territory. I started to pick the pace up a little bit at a time, still not red lining though. Then I realized I could really SMASH my existing PB and break 38 minutes, which was my goal for the Hurl Ride so I dug really deep and dieseled all the rest of the way and crossed the line at 37m05s !!!!! Holy crap – a minute and a half slashed off my best ever time on a day when I felt crappy and wasn’t even trying for the first half of the ride. I couldn’t help but think how much faster I could be on a good day!

I rode a few cool down laps around the Junction parking lot where Peter was resting and then we two went on to Juniper at a relaxed pace. Peter had already been to the Summit so he was starting to fatigue and I didn’t feel like I was slowing him down any and my Juniper time was 55 minutes even. When we got back to Junction it had been an hour and twenty but Nicole wasn’t there. She usually does about a 60 minute ride so I figured she had been there and turned around already. Peter went down South Gate for some extra miles and I started for home but soon ran into Nicole and JB. This was his first Diablo ride since the snake scene and he was moving kinda slow but he was doing it. I guess he showed up at the Gate shortly after I left and did the whole ride with Nicole. I turned around and rode with them back up to the Junction, then we all went to Peet’s for coffee, my treat.


Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23.

Diablo Junction and Bump de Bump 36 miles

Yes, a rare Sunday morning ride. JB is still nursing his wounds (the bruised rib is the worst part), Rick has left for his Bike-opelli MTB adventure in Colorado, and the wife decided I needed to help with her yard sale on Saturday so that leaves today for a ride. Nicole rode up yesterday as part of a wedding processional (bride and groom rode up separately from opposite sides and rode down on a tandem). So it was just me and it was a beautiful, warm, sunny morning. I rode along in autopilot, just appreciating the mountain's splendor and not pushing myself too hard but planned all along on doing Bump de Bump.

Wildlife Encounter: Coming around one switchback I happened on a group of three young deer who, upon seeing me darted adroitly straight up the steep incline to my left; it was such a smooth maneuver as to have been choreographed. Also, although I didn't see it, there was definitely a skunk encounter of some sort in the vicinity of Son of Chainbuster.

I passed about a half dozen riders on the way to the Junction and then I kept on going down South Gate Road without stopping. I did pause briefly at the South Gate Kiosk to fill up my bottle at the water fountain because it was getting really warm. I rode past several dozen riders coming up as I descended. The view from South Gate Road is quite a bit different from the North - there aren't the cow pastures and ranches, there is more greenery and several camping/picnic areas, but the expensive housing developments are a lot closer to the park so that's a big detractor. At the Boundary Gate I turned around and started the ride back up. I passed a few of the riders I saw on the way down, and some of the riders that were coming up before were now descending so that was kind of interesting. Then I rode right threw the Junction again to descend down the North and there were dozens more riders coming up there too. A good day on the mountain, but then I got a flat about 2 miles from home - small shard of glass went all the way through the rubber and tire casing. I hope the cut doesn't get any bigger, I just put these tires on! Also, that nagging knee pain started to reappear during the flat part after the last descent... disturbing that.



Product Review: My wife got me this Polar insulated water bottle for my birthday - the big one in the middle of the picture. I'd been curious about these but not enough to actually buy one. I like it, the tall one holds the same amount of liquid as a regular (small) water bottle, the valve is nicely designed for easy cleaning, and it does do an excellent job of insulating. I usually put lots of ice in my bottles in a vain attempt to keep the Cytomax cold on hot days. With this bottle I had ice remaining when I refilled at the water fountain - well over an hour after starting. There's a little dimple on two sides and you have to make sure your cage grabs the bottle at that point for the best hold. And it's a little heavier than a regular bottle - just enough to make you think there's more another two gulps of water in there when there isn't. Retail price is $10, any color you want so long as it's white (translucent so you can see the shiny foil insulating layer).

No ride today… it's my birthday!

And the wife and daughter are taking me out for gnocchi and chianti. And there will be lots of other riders up there, BUT last night JB went part way up the mountain and on the way back down he ran over a snake and crashed hard! He said it was about two turns above Moss Landing, right about the point where you can really carry some speed into the straight section for a high max speed. Anyway, he said the snake was crossing from left to right as the road bends to the left. JB tried to anticipate the snake's trajectory and go left of his tail but the snake stopped. JB ran over the snake's tail and skidded to the right while leaning to the left. When he regained traction he high-sided over to the right, still clipped in to his pedals until he landed on his right side and his Della Santa got thrown down the road about 10 meters. His description sounded a lot like what happened to Joseba Beloki in last year's Tour. Another rider behind him stopped and made sure he was stable before leaving. JB had to do some emergency on-road maintenance to get home.

Physical damage: road rash and bruises, no fractures or head injury.
Bike damage: both wheels pretzeled, dent in the down tube - may be serioius, too early to tell.
Snake damage: the other rider said he saw it lying belly up but when they went back to look it was gone.

Help us think of an identifying name for this location now -
Viper's Vengeance?
Culebra Corner

Diablo Junction 26 miles

I was first to the Gate this morning, JB showed up a few minutes later. The Devil Mountain Double was today too so there were lots of double century riders coming down from the Summit in groups of three and four at mile 30 of their epic and grueling journey. We expected Rick and Nicole to show up a little late so JB and I did a warm up ride to the Double Dips and back. At 8:10 I called Rick and he said they weren’t coming.

It was a pretty warm morning and JB was in his vest and arm warmers so he stopped at the Gate to doff them and I joked that I was going to attack. I set off by myself, not too fast, fully expecting him to catch me within a minute or so but he didn’t. I figured if he was a little tired when he caught up to me I might be able to stay with him since I also noticed he had forgotten his water bottle (again) and he might have some performance deterioration so I picked up the pace a bit just for fun. Near the bottom of the Bump (still alone) I noticed a group of four fast riders approaching me, one of whom I reasoned was JB. Turns out it was a gruppetto of leg shavers with club kits (one was Galaxy Granola, I didn’t recognize the others) so I didn’t know how far back JB was and I started to think he’d had a mechanical or something. Anyway, I stayed with these guys up the Bump and felt pretty proud of myself and one of them even started to fade before the Ranches. Another one of them opened up about a 1 minute gap in front of us and I rode behind the two guys in the middle. The strong gusty winds above the Ranches were a serious challenge and I used these two guys as wind blockers whenever I could but didn’t glue myself to their wheels. I did the last three miles in under 20 minutes and finished in 40m39s, which was excellent given the wind conditions and slow start. JB showed up a few minutes later, saying that he couldn’t get his cyclo-computer to reset at the start and his time was 40m41s (2 sec slower than me!). The guy in the group of four that flared out finished a few minutes behind JB so he must have really bonked.

We watched another dozen riders or so come in to the Junction from the north and the south, and then Peter came down from the Summit. Peter and I reminisced about Primavera last week and then we all went our own ways.


I’m riding the Tour de Cure charity ride for the American Diabetes Association. Please visit my sponsorship page and donate $5 – I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Scott

Diablo Junction, 17 miles

Regular Wednesday after work ride today. The Diablo Cyclist club must be starting at 5 because we didn’t see any of them at 5:30 like we do later in the season. Just me, JB, and Nicole tonight so we noodled along for the first couple miles and socialized. My left knee was telling me that the tendonitis I felt in the century on Sunday was just under the surface and ready to come screaming back so I was happy to take it a little easy.

At the bottom of the Bump though, it was time for business. I pounded up in my 21t out of the saddle in my normal manner and felt strong but JB was right behind me; usually he lets me go here and catches me while I’m recovering… somewhere around the Upper Washout. He was staying with me but he was breathing really hard and I thought he was going to burn out but he never did and he still had enough left to pull in front of me after the crest. I didn’t think I could stay with him the rest of the way to the Junction but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to make him hurt so I got right on his wheel until the Upper Washout and then motored past him keeping some good speed going as I approached the Ranches. But JB’s strongest feature is that he recovers quickly and can hold a higher effort for longer than me so he came around me for the last time with a couple miles to go and finished a little more than a minute ahead of me. One of the statistics I track is my time over the last three miles and I was less than 20 minutes today so that was good. My perfect ride would be: 18m at Upper Washout (3mtg), 24m at the speed limit sign (2mtg), 31m at Big Shady Oak (1mtg) and sub-38m at the Junction. Should be able to nail one later this spring… stay tuned!

Product Review: Shower’s Pass Jersey


I got this jersey for Christmas last December. My mom had my brother help her pick it out for me and he did a great job (he said he considered keeping it for himself when he saw how good it looked up close). Shower’s Pass is a small company specializing in rain gear for outdoorsy people and they’re located in Ukiah, about 100 miles north of Mt. Diablo. They make a lot of their own stuff but they contracted this jersey from Aussie Apparel. Aussie mostly does custom club clothing and they’re located in (of all places) Petaluma, CA, not too far from Ukiah. This jersey has interesting graphics, bold colors, good stitching, and a nice long zipper. The material feels good, I’m sure it’s some high tech sweat wicking aero stuff but what you notice is that it feels just right. It’s cut kind of loose so it’s really comfortable too, with plenty of room for your undershirt, bib straps, and heart rate transmitter belt without that “visible panty line” look you can get from those pro-fit jerseys. Shower’s Pass also advertises on the free e-newsletter I get from the dudes at RoadBikeRider.com so that’s a good thing too. You can buy one on the Shower's Pass website for $50. I give this jersey my highest rating : 10.

Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes on May 23.

Just a Photo
Here’s one of the photos Lois took of me on the Wednesday night ride last week. Quite a shot I thought.



Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes.

Primavera Century, 104 miles

First century of the year. Woke up at 4:30 and ate a huge bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar while I stretched, packed, rubbed in the Icy Hot and got dressed. The forecast was for a cool overcast day with possible showers so I decided to wear my tights over my bibs, a mesh T-shirt under my jersey, and arm warmers. I Picked up Peter just 2 miles away at 5:30, and then Rick in Dublin at 6:00. Got to the start in Fremont at about 6:30 and we met Joe who had decided to drive himself. Check-in was very well organized and we all rolled at 7:05.

For the first few miles we meandered through McNeighborhoods full of McMansions to get out of town while staying off of the busier narrow streets like Mission Blvd. I was feeling great and riding just a little bit faster than the other three and before I knew it I was way ahead of them. I even stopped to take a phone call from my wife, expecting that everyone would catch me but none of them did. There seemed to be quite a few flats and mechanicals the first fifteen miles or so. Then we started a steep but short climb up Calaveras and people were dropping like flies. One guy threw his chain of the granny gear and barely got unclipped before he fell over. Another woman took like two strokes and then totally stalled out. I burned by everyone on the climb but then stopped at a little park where there were some outhouses and I saw Peter riding by just then. If I had looked at my map I would have realized that the first rest stop was only another half mile up the road! It was at mile 20 in Ed Levin Park and they had banana bread, muffins, fruit, and bagels. There was much anxious talk about the upcoming "Calaveras Wall" but I actually looked forward to it. All four of us left this rest stop together.

The second leg consisted of about 15 miles around the Calaveras Reservoir. This was some really neat terrain on rolling, twisty roads with almost no traffic. Rick and I were in the lead and testing each other with little accelerations (I won them all) but he knew the road pretty well so he was faster on the descending sections. Then there was the Photo Crazy guy who took this shot of me:



Next came a nice long descent to rest stop #2 at mile 36 in Sunol Glen School. More of the same breads and fruits here, very friendly volunteers and a mechanic just in case.

The third leg started with about 15 miles of mostly flat Pleasanton and Livermore roads which I mostly rode with Peter; Rick and Joe were back a ways and together. Peter and I happened to join up with a man and two women who were clearly ultra-marathon cyclists (one of the women had a California Triple Crown jersey on). These three made really smooth position changes in the pace line and wasted no energy in unnecessary movement yet they were pleasant and conversational at the same time - I guess that's just something you learn when you do double centuries - I'll never find out for myself! Still they were slowing me down (really!) and Peter and I rode away from them a few miles out of Livermore. There was an optional water and outhouse stop just before the next big climbs so we stopped for a few minutes then left. Peter and I hit the bottom of Altamont Pass together and he warned me that it was a long one so I let him go and sat up to spin my low gear. Then I felt the first few drops of rain on my face - mile 55, I was also starting to get a little left knee pain at this point (tendonitis I think) so I didn't want to push it too hard. I'd never been on this road before; it crosses over I-580 at the top of the pass, then winds around all the windmill farms (pretty cool to get that close to some of them) and then drops down again. After a couple of rolling farm type roads we climbed back up over Patterson Pass Road where the wind started to get stronger too. So my knee was aching and the rain was falling and the wind was blowing but I was still feeling good mentally and physically as we turned in to rest stop #3 for Lunch at Rios-Lovell Winery, mile 68. They had make-it yourself sandwiches, Cup 'o Noodles, bread and fruit but the lines were pretty long so we wound up spending too much time here. Rick arrived about 5 minutes after Peter and I did, and Joe showed up just before we left. Rick said Joe was a tough guy and he'd make it at his own pace so we needn't feel like we had to wait around for him. I popped a couple Advil for my knee, Rick took three for his back, and Peter just tolerated whatever pain he was in without benefit of medication - the three of us started the fourth leg together.

This was the ugliest, rottenest section of the ride. The wind got a lot stronger and the terrain got a lot less interesting as we worked our way from Livermore through the Dublin Canyon including a stretch of the freeway frontage road that was obscenely noisy with traffic. Rest stop #4 came suddenly at mile 89 at a little farm house complete with goats and crowing roosters. I got here first and I joked that I was taking too much HammerGel and that's why I was going too fast - actually it may not have been far from the truth…the HammerGel was flowing and I was flying.

So why did they put a rest stop at mile 89? Because the last leg included another 5-mile, 900-foot climb up Palomares Road. What a grunt, it just went on forever and I did start to feel a LITTLE fatigued in here but the same scenario played out as over the last 3 or 4 climbs: Peter pulled ahead on the climb and Rick fell back with me in the middle, then I caught Peter on the downhill and Rick caught us both on the flats afterwards. We picked up quite a few single riders in the last five miles: it was still raining and windy and they appreciated the group effort. We got back to my car at 3:40pm (after my final solo escape to beat Peter and Rick), quickly loaded the bikes on the roof and headed over to the cafeteria for the post ride meal of lasagne, garlic bread, salad, and brownies. On the way home Rick called Joe to make sure everything was OK and Joe said he was too tired to eat the meal so he just threw his bike in his truck and left.

Ride Statistics:
104 miles
6,000 feet climbing
6h 30m ride time
8h 30 m total time (too much time at those rest stops!)
16.0 mph average speed

Ride Ratings (1 to 10):
Course/scenery 8
Support 9
Difficulty 8

Calaveras Reservoir alone would have been worth the fee; Altamont, Patterson and Palomares were nice bonuses. The SAG wagons were efficient and numerous, the volunteers were great, and the food was reasonable. There were a FEW miles on flat roads with no wind or rain… but not many.




Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes.

Diablo Junction - 17 miles

Lois asked all us Tour de Cure riders to show up in our team jerseys so she could take photos. There were forecasts of thundershowers and it turned out most people couldn't come anyway, just Nicole and I at 5:30 so Lois had lots of time to get us in several different poses (race face, smiley face, sprint, etc). JB was coming but got held up at work (and he wasn't wearing his team jersey anyway) so I noodled along with Nicole until the bottom of the Bump.

Wildlife Encounter: A beautiful red-tailed hawk flew right over my head, only about 10 feet off the ground. I'm not much of a bird watcher but that was pretty cool.

Passed up a couple of other women riders who knew Lois from somewhere else and Lois drove up in her truck taking photos of all of us at different points along the way. The sun was pretty low and there were some dark clouds to make for dramatic pictures, watch my Tour de Cure page for them - I'll try to rotate one per day after Lois gets them to me, and post one or two here also.

I did the last three miles in 20 minutes so I got some good training in there. I put on my arm warmers at the Junction and turned around to ride back up with Nicole (and maybe get my picture taken some more too!). JB had caught up to Nicole and was riding his fully fendered touring bike with panniers and everything (because of the weather forecast). He had a built in excuse for when he lost the sprint but he made a good go of it anyway; I stayed right behind him until there was only enough room to win by a wheel so it was very easy and looked cool with me throwing my bike at the line… too bad Lois didn't get that one on film.

Next ride: Primavera Century on Sunday!


Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes.

Diablo Summit - 33 miles

Saw Rick at the corner of Ygnacio and Bancroft where we both arrived at the same time (him in his Explorer, me on my bike). He parked on Doncaster and we rode to the Gate from there. JB showed up a few minutes later and we got rolling. Lots of bugs on the road today - for some reason they cluster in the parts of the road when you're likely to have your mouth wide open so you suck in a good dozen before you can react and maybe spit out half that many. We rode casually until the bottom of the Bump where I started my intervals. I stayed ahead for a lot longer than I would have thought but did get caught around the Upper Wash Out. Rick's back has been hurting from too much manual labor so he started to fade and JB and I played a little cat and mouse the rest of the way up. I pretended I didn't care about beating him and he pretended he was riding his own ride but he opened up a big gap well before we got to the point where I can usually out sprint him. My time was 41minutes and change so it was a good second half after a relaxed start.

Ride up to the summit was leisurely and we didn't stop at Juniper, we all got to the bottom of the Wall at the same time but I let them go up first so I'd have a clear shot - and anyway I like to ride a few laps around the Lower Parking Lot to make sure I've got maximum lung reserve before I start up. No problem though - it's always a great ego feeder to make it up the Wall without hitting the wall.

Dozens of riders were coming up as we were descending. Even saw a guy with a Klein wearing a Klein jersey at the Junction - I gave him a ring of the old Incredibell as I went by.

Please sponsor me in the Tour de Cure charity ride for diabetes.

Diablo Junction - 18 miles

THE HANDICAPPED HURL RIDE

Today was the big day. First Wednesday of DST and first Wednesday after work ride. There were quite a few people from our Team BC Tour de Cure group that I hadn't met before and most of us had our new Team BC jerseys on.

I got out to North Gate Road a little early because I was hauling Rick's bike and also my Rockhopper that Dave (from our Denver office) was borrowing for today. When I unloaded I found Rick's front tire was totally flat and wouldn't hold air. I called him and offered to fix it before he got there and he said to go ahead and use the spare tube in his seat bag, so I did. Then I warmed up a little bit in the residential neighborhood around there and played with my derailleur adjustments. I took off my seat bag to reduce the bike weight a little and just had a tube, levers, and CO2 inflator stuffed into my jersey pocket. JB, Rick, and Adam showed up soon and JB borrowed my floor pump to top off his pressure and pulled the valve right off of his tube so he had to change a flat too - this was getting to be portentous! Then Jeff showed up with Dave, then Edgardo and then Raymond so there was quite a crowd hanging around and a few of the slower riders had already started up.

So my goal was 38 minutes - I didn't think I'd really be able to do that but I wanted an ambitious goal to shoot for rather than playing it safe by sandbagging my estimate; 38 minutes would be 50 seconds faster than last year's hurl ride and 30 seconds better than my all time personal best (PB). The plan was for everybody to get to the Junction at 6:30 so that meant my start time was 5:52. I tried a few explosive accelerations out of the Gate to pick the right gear and helped count down some of the other riders.

I started off as fast as I could but quickly realized I'd have to think about managing my effort because my legs started to complain. Rick started 30 seconds before me and I thought I might pass him in the first few miles but that he would pass me back later on; I only got to within about 15 seconds of him before he started increasing his lead. I did hold an excellent pace all the way through the Double Dips and up to Moss Landing though and then started to gauge my level of effort for the rest of the climbing. I figured I could do the last three miles in 7 minutes apiece (at maximum effort) so to meet my goal I'd have to be 17 minutes at 3mtg, 24 minutes at 2mtg, and 31 minutes at 1mtg; breaking it down like that made it clear how hard this was going to be.

Three miles to go (Upper Washout) - I was at 18m45s and I thought I still might make it in under 39 minutes.

Two miles to go (25 MPH sign below Diablo Ranch) - 24m53s - less than a minute off my goal pace at this point!

One mile to go (Big Shady Oak) - 32m37s and I still might break 39 minutes if I can dig deep enough.

Junction - 39m20s, an excellent result but quite a bit slower than I was hoping for. Still the season is just beginning and I have less than a thousand miles in my legs so I'm satisfied for now - and that 38 minute goal will just roll over to my next PB attempt in a month or so.

Adam came in at a hair over 30 minutes so he'll be doing the "eat crow" ride next week in cutoffs and sandals… heh heh heh.

Jeff (46 min), Nicole (48 min), and Rick (37m30s) all PB'ed so everybody was happy for them. It was Raymond's first time up so I guess that's a PB too - 55 minutes I think… he sure looked knackered but seemed glad to have done it, he might become a regular.

Back down at the bottom we found out that Edgardo had broken two spokes on his rear wheel and couldn't finish the climb! They were probably broken before he even started but he didn't notice until his bike handling got a little too squirmy.

Diablo Junction 23 miles

Saturday I went to the Family Education Day for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis; my 4year old daughter has this affliction and she’s doing quite nicely but we are always aware that it may reappear at any time so we keep informed by staying involved.

Anyway, since the Handicapped Hurl Ride is Wednesday I wanted to have a good ride in me before then so I went Sunday morning by myself. Before I got going I logged on to CyclingNews.com to read the live coverage of the Ronde van Vlanderen – definitely my favorite spring classic – Hincapie, Boonen, van Bon, and Musseuw were all there near the end so I couldn’t tear myself away. I also noticed the “Low Battery” indicator on my Flight Deck so I changed that while I was following the race.

The time had just changed to DST so it was barely past dawn when I started up at 8am. I was hoping for a warm sunny morning but I got cold and windy instead. The headwinds the first couple miles really slowed me down but I steeled my resolve and pushed hard. At the 3-mile to go point I thought I had a chance of breaking 40 but it would take everything I had. With two miles to go I didn’t think I would make it but I kept my head down and my cadence up. With one mile to go I knew it would be a good time but not sub-40 and I continued to hammer and finished at 41m18s.

When I got home I put on my new tires (purple Pro Race again), polished up my frame with Bike Lust, and fine-tuned the brakes and gears.

My goal for the Hurl Ride is 38 minutes flat: that’ll be 30 seconds faster than my current PB and 50 seconds faster than last year’s Hurl Ride. Last year my goal was 40 minutes and I beat that by over a minute so this year I figure I’ll toss caution to the wind and go for the glory. If I don’t make it at least I’ll have the satisfaction of stirring things up a bit – since it’s a handicapped race we’re doing a staggered start and JB will be forced to set a faster goal than me or else I’ll be starting first… he won’t agree to that.

One more bit of news – Adam won the Cat 3 race of the Santa Rosa criterium Saturday – a well deserved trophy.

I’m riding the Tour de Cure charity ride for the American Diabetes Association. Please visit my sponsorship page and donate $5 – I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Scott
http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1678&px=1722708

zoot katz blows goats
Just for RBM pranksters.

Diablo Junction + South Gate Road, 36 miles.

The weather reports said today was going to be clear and warm. A quick check out the window at 6:30 showed dry roads and blue sky so I figured it would be my first ride of the year without a jacket or tights. By the time I got out the door though, it was raining! I went back in, put on my jacket and tights, and changed bikes.

The rain was just light enough to make seeing though my glasses difficult, and the roads were just wet enough for everything to get grimy. I got to the gate and met Rick and JB. JB was in full winter gear and Rick had on shorts and a light jacket - the weather fooled all of us. We started at a moderate pace and then I did a big interval up the Bump and tried to recover without slowing down too much. Both Rick and JB know I like to do this and didn't interpret my move as an attack (and even if it were an attack it wouldn't have worked). We were together again by the Upper Wash Out and I did a few more intervals before I started to fade and they pulled ahead of me for good with about two miles to go.

At the Junction Rick wanted to go up but JB and I talked him into going down the south side. We did "the hole in the wall" which is an access through a fence into an exclusive country club neighborhood and a shortcut back to Danville that avoids the heavy traffic on Camino Diablo. Then we came back to Walnut Creek in some other neighborhood roads with lots of little sprinter hills and I jumped on every one. Rick tried to match me once and declared himself the winner when he pulled about a half length in front of me, but it was no where near the top of the hill so it was just a little joke. I really like those long epic climbs, but I'm much better at the little ones.

HELLO! Scraped a pedal on the way back to Walnut Creek. Remember I'm on my Eddy Merckx with the new Shimano M515s so there was lots of clearance. It was sort of an uphill left turn and the road was banked. I was pedalling out of the saddle and SCRAPE - a real wake-up call.

I’m riding the Tour de Cure charity ride for the American Diabetes Association. Please visit my sponsorship page and donate $5 – I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Scott
http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1678&px=1722708

No riding last weekend; my daughter got admitted to the hospital Friday morning for what may have been (but wasn't) appendicitis. They kept her for two days, we got discharged at 9:30 Saturday night, and she's fine now.

But I did get to do a fun bike commute to the Contra Costa Superior Court for jury duty in Martinez on Monday and Tuesday. Twelve miles each way on some roads I hadn't ridden before - turned out to be more interesting than I had imagined; a little help from my map making program found a good route for me to take. There's no bike parking facility at the court house but there were plenty of other things to lock up to and there was a big handicapped stall in the restroom to change clothes in. I got there a little early so I could walk around outside and let the sweat dry a little before I put on my jury duty clothes.

Two days of listening to the other potential jurors make feeble excuses about why they shouldn't have to serve. They went through about 75 of the 80 people called for my case but they had the whole jury picked before they drew my name for consideration, and I didn't get to answer a single question! Could have been an interesting case - a guy accused of stealing a car in El Cerrito.

Only ten days until Daylight Wasting Time ends!

Diablo Junction plus South Gate Kiosk 29 miles

I showed up at 8 and waited until ten after but no one else came. Actually there was one guy I thought was Rick at first so I chased him down and then turned around when I realized it wasn’t him. So at 8:10 I put a big rock on the post (our signal for being up the road) and took off by myself.

The weather was great! I had originally put on my Pearl Izumi Barrier Jacket but when I left the house it was already too warm so I switched to just a short sleeve jersey, wind vest, and tights. I took off the vest before the climb and a couple miles up I started to think the tights would have to come off too! It got pretty windy the last few miles though, so the tights were appropriate. I passed up the guy I thought was Rick, and I passed up about a half dozen other riders before the Junction too. At about mile 5 I could see JB on his way up coming fast, but I was in no danger of being caught at that point.

Wildlife Encounter: A Monarch butterfly flew tempo with me for about 50 meters near the Upper Washout. One more harbinger of spring.

At the Junction, JB said that Nicole and he left together and he rode with her until Moss Landing; Rick apparently has been working a lot of late hours and decided to sleep in today. After Nicole got to the Junction I suggested that JB and I ride down to the South Gate Kiosk and he agreed. I was feeling good and led the whole way down. We circled the kiosk and then I took a flyer at the easy part. A couple weeks ago I tried this with Rick and Peter but they reeled me in easily; this time though I was stronger and held off JB all the way back to the Junction. He had some excuse, but I pretty simply out powered him… it was glorious. And then we three went out for coffee before we all went home.

I’m riding the Tour de Cure charity ride for the American Diabetes Association. Please visit my sponsorship page and donate $5 – I’d really appreciate it. Thanks. Scott
http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1678&px=1722708