Diablo Junction 16 miles
Warm and breezy this afternoon. I missed my ride last Saturday so I wasn’t sure if I could maintain my streak of good showings. A good group from work was coming so I waited at the Gate for them. No one was there yet though when the Diablo Cyclist peloton rolled by so I started up.
Cadex guy was there, and the Giant guy, a rider named Jack, and an MTB rider with a Trek Y-Foil going curiously fast, and one regular guy I hadn’t seen in a while but who does the Death Ride and Climb to Kaiser. Cadex guy had some borrowed HED carbon wheels on and he started to have shifting problems so he fell back and Climb to Kaiser guy dropped back to help him. That left Jack, Giant guy, Y-foil guy and me. Unlike the previous couple of Wednesdays, things splintered up pretty quickly tonight. We were all pretty close to each other but gaps of 50 to 100 meters opened up and started to grow by the Upper Washout; we were all single and there were no little gruppettos but we were all riding pretty much the same pace. Kaiser guy soon caught back up and came by all of us, taking his position in first place. Nineteen minutes flat at three miles to go… excellent: sub 40 for sure.
The last three miles didn’t see any shakeup in the order. The gaps got a little bigger, I got well clear of the Y-foil guy, finally. We passed a couple guys who started while I was waiting at the Gate. I had some encouraging split times and rolled across the line at 38m05s. That’s an excellent time but I’ve got this hunch I could knock a couple minutes off if I work at it. A sub 35 would be a real diamond in my palmares.
Here’s a list of my best Junction rides of all time:
1 37m05s May 2004
2 38m05s June 2004
3 38m30s June 2004
4 38m32s August 2001
5 38m52s April 2003
Six hundred times up North Gate Road in the last thirteen years and my best three rides ever have been in the last two months. Exciting!
The rest of the Diablo Cyclists rolled in gradually including Brian on his new single-speed Quickbeam. Then the rest of my group from work including JB on the Atlantis, Jeff, Robin on some borrowed ‘70’s vintage 10-speed; “it’s way faster than my mountain bike!”, Nicole (who’s trying to stay out of her granny gear), and finally Amanda on her MTB who timed herself with the clock on her cell phone – 69 minutes, probably a PB.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Diablo Juniper 22 miles
It looked like it was going to be windy today but it wasn’t bad at all on the Mountain. I have sunburned shoulders and back from spending Father’s Day at the beach and my bib straps were stinging my skin – not pleasant at all.
JB and I, Tiffany, Nicole, Amanda, Peter, and Lois all started together just a little bit early while a big group of Diablo Cyclists were mustering up at the church. Jeff was coming too but he was a little late and missed the early social part of the ride.
About a mile up the road Mark and another guy flew by us like a couple of Lear Jets taking off – I can’t even imagine what it must be to ride like that. Then a few minutes later the lead group of Diablo Cyclists caught up with us so JB, Peter, and I joined up with them and we left the women to ride together at their own pace. By the time we got to the top of the Bump we were down to a gruppetto of seven and then Peter rode away from all of us, proving that he is on another level when it comes to climbing. That left me and the Cadex guy (three weeks in a row now!), a guy named Dave on a classic Paramount with downtube shifters, a Rivendell guy in a Euskaltel jersey, JB, and one other dude. The Cadex guy was riding hard and we soon shed JB and the Euskaltel jersey, then Dave fell back, then I lost contact with Cadex guy and the other dude but kept them in sight. I sensed that Cadex guy was overextending himself just a hair.
With about two miles to go Dave caught up to me and said that if we worked together we could probably catch the Cadex guy - we seemed to be at about the same level of suffering at this point so it sounded like a good idea. With about a mile to go we had Cadex guy and other dude within reach, and they had caught up to a woman rider that both of them seemed to know. Dave looked at me and asked, “You ready?” and I said, “You bet” so we punched it up and caught them with about 1,000 meters to the line. Suddenly another rider with Oakland Yellowjackets shorts came out of nowhere and judging from his speed he could easily have shown us his heels but he apparently knew the other three riders so he joined them and we were a group of six with 800 meters to go. We were all watching each other and then as if this wasn’t exciting enough JB wheels up and passes us all 300 meters from the line, saying something silly like “woo-hoo”.
For a moment I thought about letting him go and I didn’t immediately respond. I could have grabbed his wheel and hung on and out sprinted him at the line. But something deep inside me… some hitherto untapped source of raw power came fomenting to the surface and I rocketed out of the bunch well clear of everyone. It was not a conscious choice, it was instinctive and reactive and it worked… except Yellow Jacket launched his counter attack immediately and opened up a decisive gap in front of me. I didn’t care though, my goal was to beat JB in a long sprint and also to finish ahead of Cadex guy for the first time and I was doing it. Fifty meters from the line I knew I had them. Twenty meters from the line, the Yellow Jacket inexplicably sat up; he must have thought I was no threat but my momentum carried me up even to him just in time for a perfectly executed bike throw and I nipped him with panache.
Then I unclipped at the edge of the parking lot and tried to get some blood back into my head and some air back into my lungs – took more than a minute to regain my senses. That was the most glorious sprint I have ever done. Elapsed time to Junction: 38m52s.
Over the next few minutes the rest of the riders rolled in and there were at least twenty at the Ranger Station. I went back down to sweep up Nicole and Tiffany. Later Jeff, Nicole, Tiffany, and I went up Summit Road to Juniper where Nicole and I turned around. Tiffany wanted to Summit so Jeff went with her.
It looked like it was going to be windy today but it wasn’t bad at all on the Mountain. I have sunburned shoulders and back from spending Father’s Day at the beach and my bib straps were stinging my skin – not pleasant at all.
JB and I, Tiffany, Nicole, Amanda, Peter, and Lois all started together just a little bit early while a big group of Diablo Cyclists were mustering up at the church. Jeff was coming too but he was a little late and missed the early social part of the ride.
About a mile up the road Mark and another guy flew by us like a couple of Lear Jets taking off – I can’t even imagine what it must be to ride like that. Then a few minutes later the lead group of Diablo Cyclists caught up with us so JB, Peter, and I joined up with them and we left the women to ride together at their own pace. By the time we got to the top of the Bump we were down to a gruppetto of seven and then Peter rode away from all of us, proving that he is on another level when it comes to climbing. That left me and the Cadex guy (three weeks in a row now!), a guy named Dave on a classic Paramount with downtube shifters, a Rivendell guy in a Euskaltel jersey, JB, and one other dude. The Cadex guy was riding hard and we soon shed JB and the Euskaltel jersey, then Dave fell back, then I lost contact with Cadex guy and the other dude but kept them in sight. I sensed that Cadex guy was overextending himself just a hair.
With about two miles to go Dave caught up to me and said that if we worked together we could probably catch the Cadex guy - we seemed to be at about the same level of suffering at this point so it sounded like a good idea. With about a mile to go we had Cadex guy and other dude within reach, and they had caught up to a woman rider that both of them seemed to know. Dave looked at me and asked, “You ready?” and I said, “You bet” so we punched it up and caught them with about 1,000 meters to the line. Suddenly another rider with Oakland Yellowjackets shorts came out of nowhere and judging from his speed he could easily have shown us his heels but he apparently knew the other three riders so he joined them and we were a group of six with 800 meters to go. We were all watching each other and then as if this wasn’t exciting enough JB wheels up and passes us all 300 meters from the line, saying something silly like “woo-hoo”.
For a moment I thought about letting him go and I didn’t immediately respond. I could have grabbed his wheel and hung on and out sprinted him at the line. But something deep inside me… some hitherto untapped source of raw power came fomenting to the surface and I rocketed out of the bunch well clear of everyone. It was not a conscious choice, it was instinctive and reactive and it worked… except Yellow Jacket launched his counter attack immediately and opened up a decisive gap in front of me. I didn’t care though, my goal was to beat JB in a long sprint and also to finish ahead of Cadex guy for the first time and I was doing it. Fifty meters from the line I knew I had them. Twenty meters from the line, the Yellow Jacket inexplicably sat up; he must have thought I was no threat but my momentum carried me up even to him just in time for a perfectly executed bike throw and I nipped him with panache.
Then I unclipped at the edge of the parking lot and tried to get some blood back into my head and some air back into my lungs – took more than a minute to regain my senses. That was the most glorious sprint I have ever done. Elapsed time to Junction: 38m52s.
Over the next few minutes the rest of the riders rolled in and there were at least twenty at the Ranger Station. I went back down to sweep up Nicole and Tiffany. Later Jeff, Nicole, Tiffany, and I went up Summit Road to Juniper where Nicole and I turned around. Tiffany wanted to Summit so Jeff went with her.
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Diablo Summit 34 miles
When I got to the Gate at 8, I saw a rock on the post – the signal that JB had already started up. I figured he was just getting some extra warm-up climbing in and Rick and Nicole weren’t there yet so I went up also. I turned around after 5 minutes though when I hadn’t seen him and when I got back, there he was – turned out he hadn’t taken the rock down from last week (we have to get a new system). And he had his new, fully functional Atlantis bike so we talked about that for a while until the Explorer made its appearance at 8:15.
And we all finally started up about 8:30. We started slowly to keep Nicole involved, and we talked about JB’s new bike and about Adam’s wedding last night. And then things ramped up a notch. At the Bump they ramped up another notch. Quite a few riders on the Mountain today – lots of folks who looked like Death Riders, Team in Training groups, clubs, weekend warriors, has-beens, wanna-bes, and triathletes.
Around 2 miles to go, Rick and I gradually rode away from JB (whose legs still aren’t back to pre-snakecrash form). Rick pulled for quite a while and I stayed on his wheel but it was a lot of work. Then I led for a while and just a little bit faster to see if Rick had been holding back but he held on too. Then around Big Shady Oak there was this Clydesdale taking the middle of the lane around a right-hand switchback. Rick went around him inside to the right and I went outside to the left and shifted up at the same time. I thought it was too early to make a move and Rick hadn’t shown any weakness but suddenly I had a gap and he wasn’t trying to close it. I kept expecting him to catch up and I didn’t really max out until about a half mile to go when I knew I could stay ahead to the line. Junction time: 42m15s, Rick’s was about 20 seconds slower and JB came in about 2 minutes after that. Rick shook my hand and accepted defeat like a good sportsman.
I insisted that all new bikes must make their maiden voyage a Summit run and JB agreed and Rick was up for it so we started up Summit Road. It was a bit cooler at the higher elevations but still very nice riding weather. At the bottom of the Blue Oak Speedway JB dropped his chain on a downshift to the 24?tooth (yes, his low gear is a 24x28). We must have had a tailwind because we sailed though here and past Juniper, but around Muir picnic area I started to run out of gas and lost contact with my gruppetto. No troubles but my speed dropped a little and I got to the top of the Summit Wall at 82 minutes.
The wind dictated a cautious descent and handling was a bit tricky around some of the turns but it was another great day on Mt. Diablo.
When I got to the Gate at 8, I saw a rock on the post – the signal that JB had already started up. I figured he was just getting some extra warm-up climbing in and Rick and Nicole weren’t there yet so I went up also. I turned around after 5 minutes though when I hadn’t seen him and when I got back, there he was – turned out he hadn’t taken the rock down from last week (we have to get a new system). And he had his new, fully functional Atlantis bike so we talked about that for a while until the Explorer made its appearance at 8:15.
And we all finally started up about 8:30. We started slowly to keep Nicole involved, and we talked about JB’s new bike and about Adam’s wedding last night. And then things ramped up a notch. At the Bump they ramped up another notch. Quite a few riders on the Mountain today – lots of folks who looked like Death Riders, Team in Training groups, clubs, weekend warriors, has-beens, wanna-bes, and triathletes.
Around 2 miles to go, Rick and I gradually rode away from JB (whose legs still aren’t back to pre-snakecrash form). Rick pulled for quite a while and I stayed on his wheel but it was a lot of work. Then I led for a while and just a little bit faster to see if Rick had been holding back but he held on too. Then around Big Shady Oak there was this Clydesdale taking the middle of the lane around a right-hand switchback. Rick went around him inside to the right and I went outside to the left and shifted up at the same time. I thought it was too early to make a move and Rick hadn’t shown any weakness but suddenly I had a gap and he wasn’t trying to close it. I kept expecting him to catch up and I didn’t really max out until about a half mile to go when I knew I could stay ahead to the line. Junction time: 42m15s, Rick’s was about 20 seconds slower and JB came in about 2 minutes after that. Rick shook my hand and accepted defeat like a good sportsman.
I insisted that all new bikes must make their maiden voyage a Summit run and JB agreed and Rick was up for it so we started up Summit Road. It was a bit cooler at the higher elevations but still very nice riding weather. At the bottom of the Blue Oak Speedway JB dropped his chain on a downshift to the 24?tooth (yes, his low gear is a 24x28). We must have had a tailwind because we sailed though here and past Juniper, but around Muir picnic area I started to run out of gas and lost contact with my gruppetto. No troubles but my speed dropped a little and I got to the top of the Summit Wall at 82 minutes.
The wind dictated a cautious descent and handling was a bit tricky around some of the turns but it was another great day on Mt. Diablo.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Diablo Junction 16 miles
I was expecting it to be really hot this afternoon, maybe even near 100°. It’s been in the 90’s for the last couple days and it was hot all last night so I brought my insulated Polar water bottle with Cytomax and ice, wore my 15 year old sleeveless baggy Nike jersey, and drank lots of water before the ride. It was warm, but not nearly as hot as I thought it was going to be.
Moss (of Moss Landing fame) Nicole, Amanda, Robin, Tiffany, and I all met up at the bottom but when the Diablo Cyclist pack (with JB too) rode by I decided to ride with them. I had to sprint for a couple minutes to catch them but I joined up near the Double Dips and prepared myself for a fast ride. The group started to splinter well before the Bump and I stayed near the front. At this point, one of the regular riders, Ron, drove by in his new convertible and everyone got excited. Ron’s been unemployed for a long time so he must have gotten a new job.
Seven riders became five riders, then just three including me. One of the other two guys was the beefy guy from a few weeks ago; I think his name is Tom, he had a Cadex bike and shaved legs. I think I heard the other guy’s name was Don, he had a double century jersey, shaved legs, and an XT rear derailleur on his GIANT TCR1 with about a 34t cog in his cassette (Death Ride special). They didn’t say anything to me but didn’t seem to mind that I was there either.
I stayed with these two guys past the top of the Bump, which we took a little slower than I usually do, but before the Upper Washout I pulled to the front expecting them to stay with me while I made the pace for a while. They didn’t come though so I rode a bit faster and did my own ride at my own pace. I had some good split times and passed a few other riders (one guy in an older but very nice Klein Quantum II that I’ve seen a lot recently). With one mile to go though, Tom and Don caught back up to me so I tried to stay with them but they slowly pulled away. The double century guy finished about 10 seconds before the beefy guy, and I finished another 10 seconds later with a very good time of 38m30s. Somewhere along the way, my max heart rate reached 182. I’m starting to think my idea of sprinting at the start isn’t so smart because my fastest times recently have been from moderate starts with harder pushes at the end. It was by no means a real competition today, but I definitely earned quite a few Diablo Rating Points with that ride (I just made that up, but I like it).
Most of the rest of the riders rolled in over the next ten minutes or so. JB hung on for a low 40’s time (his Atlantis MIGHT be ready for Saturday), Tiffany did a high 40’s, and Moss just broke 50. When Moss came across the line I said “All right, you got that out of the way for another year!” The Diablo Cyclists went down South Gate Road and JB turned around to go home before Robin, Nicole, and Amanda finished.
Wildlife Encounter A raccoon hoping for a handout at the Junction, and a coyote on the shoulder on the way down.
I was expecting it to be really hot this afternoon, maybe even near 100°. It’s been in the 90’s for the last couple days and it was hot all last night so I brought my insulated Polar water bottle with Cytomax and ice, wore my 15 year old sleeveless baggy Nike jersey, and drank lots of water before the ride. It was warm, but not nearly as hot as I thought it was going to be.
Moss (of Moss Landing fame) Nicole, Amanda, Robin, Tiffany, and I all met up at the bottom but when the Diablo Cyclist pack (with JB too) rode by I decided to ride with them. I had to sprint for a couple minutes to catch them but I joined up near the Double Dips and prepared myself for a fast ride. The group started to splinter well before the Bump and I stayed near the front. At this point, one of the regular riders, Ron, drove by in his new convertible and everyone got excited. Ron’s been unemployed for a long time so he must have gotten a new job.
Seven riders became five riders, then just three including me. One of the other two guys was the beefy guy from a few weeks ago; I think his name is Tom, he had a Cadex bike and shaved legs. I think I heard the other guy’s name was Don, he had a double century jersey, shaved legs, and an XT rear derailleur on his GIANT TCR1 with about a 34t cog in his cassette (Death Ride special). They didn’t say anything to me but didn’t seem to mind that I was there either.
I stayed with these two guys past the top of the Bump, which we took a little slower than I usually do, but before the Upper Washout I pulled to the front expecting them to stay with me while I made the pace for a while. They didn’t come though so I rode a bit faster and did my own ride at my own pace. I had some good split times and passed a few other riders (one guy in an older but very nice Klein Quantum II that I’ve seen a lot recently). With one mile to go though, Tom and Don caught back up to me so I tried to stay with them but they slowly pulled away. The double century guy finished about 10 seconds before the beefy guy, and I finished another 10 seconds later with a very good time of 38m30s. Somewhere along the way, my max heart rate reached 182. I’m starting to think my idea of sprinting at the start isn’t so smart because my fastest times recently have been from moderate starts with harder pushes at the end. It was by no means a real competition today, but I definitely earned quite a few Diablo Rating Points with that ride (I just made that up, but I like it).
Most of the rest of the riders rolled in over the next ten minutes or so. JB hung on for a low 40’s time (his Atlantis MIGHT be ready for Saturday), Tiffany did a high 40’s, and Moss just broke 50. When Moss came across the line I said “All right, you got that out of the way for another year!” The Diablo Cyclists went down South Gate Road and JB turned around to go home before Robin, Nicole, and Amanda finished.
Wildlife Encounter A raccoon hoping for a handout at the Junction, and a coyote on the shoulder on the way down.
Saturday, June 12, 2004
North Gate Road, Summit Road, South Gate Road, Danville Blvd
JB, Rick, and me this morning. We started right on time, JB is still on his Trek touring bike with panniers but is feeling much better. As we approached Moss Landing I pulled away from the other two by slowly pedaling a big gear as if just for fun to see how far I could get in my 15-tooth. When I looked back, I had a pretty good gap so I opened it up a little farther to see how much I could get away with before the chase started. By the top of the Bump, I had probably three minutes on them and then I really let it loose, pushing hard all the way to the Junction. I could see Rick gaining time on me for the last couple of miles but as I rounded Chainbuster I was pretty sure I had him and I did finish about one and a half minutes before he did.
JB wanted to go to some Danville bike shops to look for a small part he needed to complete his Atlantis build, but the California Pedaler didn’t open until 10 o’clock so we decided to go part way up the Summit Road before going down South Gate Road. On the way up, we ran into Peter coming down and he turned around to climb with us. At the bottom of the Speed Trap we stopped to turn around but I talked with Peter for a while so JB and Rick were out of sight when I finally started down. So I’m descending alone, thinking they’ll meet me near the bottom of South Gate Road and my mind starts wandering and I suddenly realize I missed the turn and I’m on North Gate Road (!) down by Son of Chainbuster. I quickly turned around and hammered back up to the Junction and straight on through to SGR.
Near Stagecoach this guy descended past me pretty quickly and I decided he was someone I didn’t want to ride near so I let him get pretty far ahead before I increased my speed. By Rock City though he had already slowed down so I had to go around him and he got on my wheel. I slowed down purposefully to let him know I didn’t like that and he came around me again, saying something unintelligible as he did (I don’t know if it was something rude, or just a comment on the weather). Anyway we both came up on a car descending in front of us and the other rider didn’t even pause before he tried to pass the car around some blind switchbacks and the car didn’t slow down either – both the rider and the driver were clueless and dangerous so I put some extra space between us. Finally the rider got around the car and sped further down the road where I saw he was going to pass a white pickup that I thought might be a ranger truck. I thought, “I hope he tries a move like that on a ranger” and sure enough it WAS a ranger and he did get pulled over and got at least a lecture if not a ticket.
So then Rick calls my cell and asks where I am and I give him the story about the wrong turn and tell him I’ll meet him at Danville Bikes. As I got to Diablo Road though, near the country club, there was a traffic stop and an ambulance. I slowly passed the stopped cars, did a little safety check, saw a car cockeyed on a side road, and the paramedics loading someone into the ambulance. I cautiously proceeded through the gap to the spot where another police officer had stopped traffic from the other direction and he motioned me over and gave me a lecture about how bikes are required to stop at police traffic scenes like that when another rider came through the same way I just had so we both got the same harangue. He told us that the accident was a car vs. a bike and warned us to be careful and then let us go. The other rider told me that he didn’t see the bike but did see a water bottle wedged in the car’s bumper so it must have been a pretty hard hit. I didn’t think the officer really understood effective and safe cycling but as the other rider and I were proceeding toward town a couple of police cars came up right toward us in OUR LANE! They were passing all the stopped cars and didn’t have their sirens on and weren’t making that blast warning sound and if they had been going any faster we could have had a head-on with one of them because it’s wooded and curvy in that area and you can’t see too far ahead. Fortunately it wasn’t even a close call, but it could have been. I haven’t yet seen any report of the accident in the paper or the web, but I’ll keep checking. It appeared as though the car was making a left-hand turn into the country club and hit the cyclist coming down Diablo Road (just as I was doing).
I finally got hooked up with JB and Rick again and we went to three bike shops and none of them had the little rear derailleur pulley bolt that JB needed (although Rick bought some new Carnac shoes on sale at the California Pedaler) so we did some speed work on Danville Blvd back to Walnut Creek where JB turned off to go to Lafayette and Rick and I turned off to Jamba Juice.
JB, Rick, and me this morning. We started right on time, JB is still on his Trek touring bike with panniers but is feeling much better. As we approached Moss Landing I pulled away from the other two by slowly pedaling a big gear as if just for fun to see how far I could get in my 15-tooth. When I looked back, I had a pretty good gap so I opened it up a little farther to see how much I could get away with before the chase started. By the top of the Bump, I had probably three minutes on them and then I really let it loose, pushing hard all the way to the Junction. I could see Rick gaining time on me for the last couple of miles but as I rounded Chainbuster I was pretty sure I had him and I did finish about one and a half minutes before he did.
JB wanted to go to some Danville bike shops to look for a small part he needed to complete his Atlantis build, but the California Pedaler didn’t open until 10 o’clock so we decided to go part way up the Summit Road before going down South Gate Road. On the way up, we ran into Peter coming down and he turned around to climb with us. At the bottom of the Speed Trap we stopped to turn around but I talked with Peter for a while so JB and Rick were out of sight when I finally started down. So I’m descending alone, thinking they’ll meet me near the bottom of South Gate Road and my mind starts wandering and I suddenly realize I missed the turn and I’m on North Gate Road (!) down by Son of Chainbuster. I quickly turned around and hammered back up to the Junction and straight on through to SGR.
Near Stagecoach this guy descended past me pretty quickly and I decided he was someone I didn’t want to ride near so I let him get pretty far ahead before I increased my speed. By Rock City though he had already slowed down so I had to go around him and he got on my wheel. I slowed down purposefully to let him know I didn’t like that and he came around me again, saying something unintelligible as he did (I don’t know if it was something rude, or just a comment on the weather). Anyway we both came up on a car descending in front of us and the other rider didn’t even pause before he tried to pass the car around some blind switchbacks and the car didn’t slow down either – both the rider and the driver were clueless and dangerous so I put some extra space between us. Finally the rider got around the car and sped further down the road where I saw he was going to pass a white pickup that I thought might be a ranger truck. I thought, “I hope he tries a move like that on a ranger” and sure enough it WAS a ranger and he did get pulled over and got at least a lecture if not a ticket.
So then Rick calls my cell and asks where I am and I give him the story about the wrong turn and tell him I’ll meet him at Danville Bikes. As I got to Diablo Road though, near the country club, there was a traffic stop and an ambulance. I slowly passed the stopped cars, did a little safety check, saw a car cockeyed on a side road, and the paramedics loading someone into the ambulance. I cautiously proceeded through the gap to the spot where another police officer had stopped traffic from the other direction and he motioned me over and gave me a lecture about how bikes are required to stop at police traffic scenes like that when another rider came through the same way I just had so we both got the same harangue. He told us that the accident was a car vs. a bike and warned us to be careful and then let us go. The other rider told me that he didn’t see the bike but did see a water bottle wedged in the car’s bumper so it must have been a pretty hard hit. I didn’t think the officer really understood effective and safe cycling but as the other rider and I were proceeding toward town a couple of police cars came up right toward us in OUR LANE! They were passing all the stopped cars and didn’t have their sirens on and weren’t making that blast warning sound and if they had been going any faster we could have had a head-on with one of them because it’s wooded and curvy in that area and you can’t see too far ahead. Fortunately it wasn’t even a close call, but it could have been. I haven’t yet seen any report of the accident in the paper or the web, but I’ll keep checking. It appeared as though the car was making a left-hand turn into the country club and hit the cyclist coming down Diablo Road (just as I was doing).
I finally got hooked up with JB and Rick again and we went to three bike shops and none of them had the little rear derailleur pulley bolt that JB needed (although Rick bought some new Carnac shoes on sale at the California Pedaler) so we did some speed work on Danville Blvd back to Walnut Creek where JB turned off to go to Lafayette and Rick and I turned off to Jamba Juice.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Diablo Junction, 20 miles
Interesting group this afternoon. Three of Adam’s racing buddies decided to join us, and so did one of our new interns at work, plus the usual gang minus a few folks, and a big contingent of Diablo Cyclists.
The Diablo Cyclists left just before JB and I did, so we didn’t see much of them until the finish. JB said he can breathe as hard as he wants to now, but still gets some painful ribcage spasms when he pulls on the handlebars or puts too much weight on his hands. He also doesn’t have his #1 bike repaired yet and he’s lost a lot of aerobic capacity since the accident 6 weeks ago, so he rides his Trek 520 touring bike in low gear and stays in the saddle. I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with him but didn’t really feel like a super hard effort so I mashed my big gears at low rpm most of the way. I have no idea if there’s any training benefit to that but it was more interesting than just twiddling along in a low gear, especially since we weren’t going that fast. We did pass a few other riders on the way up, but none of the Diablo Cyclists.
Adam and his friends (Justin, Leif, and Tom) got a late start, passed JB and me around the ranches and kept going. They were starting to break up a bit with Justin really ascending well, Adam trying to hold things together, then Leif (also recovering from an injury, and Tom trying to hang on. Leif got a new Specialized bike with a sloping top tube – a Roubaix I think, but not the carbon fiber one. As JB and I got near the Junction he started to pick up his speed – still no trouble for me to keep up. We even started to catch Tom and then Adam, Leif, and Justin circled back to ride us in. Adam challenged me to outsprint Tom so I did and crossed the line first, but no one else was sprinting! Adam and his subgroup continued on up to the Summit.
At the Junction the Diablo Cyclists folks were all joking that Brian was famous now because he got his picture in the Rivendell Reader with his new Quickbeam.
An interesting bike but I wouldn’t have guessed there’d be much of a market niche for it. Find out more by clicking here: Quickbeam by Rivendell Bicycle Works.
Amanda, our intern, is a senior at Cal and she has a typical Berkeley commute bike – unsprung MTB with slick tires and stickers all over the frame. She’d never done any riding like this and she’d never been on Diablo at all before today. Nicole rode with her and pointed out all the locations that had names our historical significance. JB and I circled back to bring them in but they were quite a ways down. They wound up finishing in 78 minutes, which is pretty slow, but Amanda hung in and seemed to enjoy herself. She’ll certainly do it again, but probably won’t become a regular.
JB should have his Rivendell Atlantis ready by Saturday. He says it looks kind of funny with his lightweight wheels in the frame with clearance for big fat touring tires and fenders. He also got some new rims for his Della Santa so that should be ready before long also.
Interesting group this afternoon. Three of Adam’s racing buddies decided to join us, and so did one of our new interns at work, plus the usual gang minus a few folks, and a big contingent of Diablo Cyclists.
The Diablo Cyclists left just before JB and I did, so we didn’t see much of them until the finish. JB said he can breathe as hard as he wants to now, but still gets some painful ribcage spasms when he pulls on the handlebars or puts too much weight on his hands. He also doesn’t have his #1 bike repaired yet and he’s lost a lot of aerobic capacity since the accident 6 weeks ago, so he rides his Trek 520 touring bike in low gear and stays in the saddle. I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with him but didn’t really feel like a super hard effort so I mashed my big gears at low rpm most of the way. I have no idea if there’s any training benefit to that but it was more interesting than just twiddling along in a low gear, especially since we weren’t going that fast. We did pass a few other riders on the way up, but none of the Diablo Cyclists.
Adam and his friends (Justin, Leif, and Tom) got a late start, passed JB and me around the ranches and kept going. They were starting to break up a bit with Justin really ascending well, Adam trying to hold things together, then Leif (also recovering from an injury, and Tom trying to hang on. Leif got a new Specialized bike with a sloping top tube – a Roubaix I think, but not the carbon fiber one. As JB and I got near the Junction he started to pick up his speed – still no trouble for me to keep up. We even started to catch Tom and then Adam, Leif, and Justin circled back to ride us in. Adam challenged me to outsprint Tom so I did and crossed the line first, but no one else was sprinting! Adam and his subgroup continued on up to the Summit.
At the Junction the Diablo Cyclists folks were all joking that Brian was famous now because he got his picture in the Rivendell Reader with his new Quickbeam.
An interesting bike but I wouldn’t have guessed there’d be much of a market niche for it. Find out more by clicking here: Quickbeam by Rivendell Bicycle Works.
Amanda, our intern, is a senior at Cal and she has a typical Berkeley commute bike – unsprung MTB with slick tires and stickers all over the frame. She’d never done any riding like this and she’d never been on Diablo at all before today. Nicole rode with her and pointed out all the locations that had names our historical significance. JB and I circled back to bring them in but they were quite a ways down. They wound up finishing in 78 minutes, which is pretty slow, but Amanda hung in and seemed to enjoy herself. She’ll certainly do it again, but probably won’t become a regular.
JB should have his Rivendell Atlantis ready by Saturday. He says it looks kind of funny with his lightweight wheels in the frame with clearance for big fat touring tires and fenders. He also got some new rims for his Della Santa so that should be ready before long also.
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Diablo Summit 32 miles
I was running late and didn’t get to the Gate until 10 minutes after eight o’clock this morning. JB had tickets to the afternoon A’s game, and he’s not yet fully recovered from his rib rattler so he got an early start. Rick was right on time but chased after JB rather than wait for me. So I rode the whole of North Gate Road solo. Lots of other riders on their way up this morning – regulars and newbies.
Wildlife Encounter #1: A small baby rattlesnake soaking up the sun below the Lower Ranch. Looked like it would get run over if it didn’t move because it was right in the tire zone. I didn’t stop to rescue him.
Quite breezy at the higher elevations… not enough to worry about bike handling but enough to slow me down. I crossed the line at the Junction in 43m30s with enough extra capacity to do whatever Rick decided he wanted to do.
JB went down shortly after I arrived. Rick and I watched a big group of total newbs talk about how difficult but fun the ride so far had been and they were anxious about the rest of the way up Summit Road. One guy said that he hadn’t been out of first gear since the first mile (he had a hybrid with a triple) and that people like “THOSE GUYS” (motioning to me and Rick) had passed him in “fifth gear”. It wasn’t Rick or I who passed him since he came up South Gate, he was lumping all road bike riders with climbing experience into a single group. I said “Hey, I try to be nice when I pass people. You guys are supposed to strive to be like us.” He got a chuckle out of that and then his whole group started up Summit Road.
Then Rick said “What’s next?” and I said that it was his call since last time I got my choice and we did Blackhawk. “Up” was his terse command, so we filled our bottles and pointed our bikes toward the Summit. A little ways up the road we came upon the first-gear-of-his-hybrid guy and as we passed I said (loudly) to Rick, “OK, make sure you’re in at least fifth gear when we pass this guy so he’ll be really impressed.” I don’t even know what fifth gear is on my bike but I figured the guy wouldn’t know a 17-tooth cog from a pie pan and he did seem to appreciate the humor.
It got even windier above 3,000 feet but some of it was a nice tailwind – including most of the Blue Oak Speedway. There was also some kind of footrace on and we saw lots of runners on the Summit Trail. I let Rick go up the Wall first, then I passed three people that I figured would be done when I started. It’s 180 pedal strokes (90 full crank revolutions, starting at the swinging gate) up the Wall in my 39x27 and I always count them so I don’t have to look… I just put my head down and count until I get to 180 and then I’m done. Summit time today was 83 minutes but that was a pretty relaxed tempo. I could have knocked off 10 minutes at a sustainable race pace, and South Gate is a few minutes faster too… the Diablo Challenge may be in my future if I think I can break 70 minutes. That $40 entry fee bugs me though.
Wildlife Encounter #2: A coyote darted across the road into the bushes just in front of Rick on the descent.
Coming down on Summit Road there was some kind of antique or kit car parade of about a dozen of these things coming up:
They were kind of interesting cars but I can't imagine wanting to spend a bunch of money and time building or restoring something like that. The drivers were all older men who probably had a lot of time on their hands and needed a hobby. It struck me later that they looked like Archie Andrews's old jalopy from the comic books.
Lots and lots of small squirrels running all over the road on the way down too. It must be the time of year that they get kicked out of the nest because these guys had NO sense of street safety. I’m sure the turkey vultures will be eating well for the next few weeks.
I was running late and didn’t get to the Gate until 10 minutes after eight o’clock this morning. JB had tickets to the afternoon A’s game, and he’s not yet fully recovered from his rib rattler so he got an early start. Rick was right on time but chased after JB rather than wait for me. So I rode the whole of North Gate Road solo. Lots of other riders on their way up this morning – regulars and newbies.
Wildlife Encounter #1: A small baby rattlesnake soaking up the sun below the Lower Ranch. Looked like it would get run over if it didn’t move because it was right in the tire zone. I didn’t stop to rescue him.
Quite breezy at the higher elevations… not enough to worry about bike handling but enough to slow me down. I crossed the line at the Junction in 43m30s with enough extra capacity to do whatever Rick decided he wanted to do.
JB went down shortly after I arrived. Rick and I watched a big group of total newbs talk about how difficult but fun the ride so far had been and they were anxious about the rest of the way up Summit Road. One guy said that he hadn’t been out of first gear since the first mile (he had a hybrid with a triple) and that people like “THOSE GUYS” (motioning to me and Rick) had passed him in “fifth gear”. It wasn’t Rick or I who passed him since he came up South Gate, he was lumping all road bike riders with climbing experience into a single group. I said “Hey, I try to be nice when I pass people. You guys are supposed to strive to be like us.” He got a chuckle out of that and then his whole group started up Summit Road.
Then Rick said “What’s next?” and I said that it was his call since last time I got my choice and we did Blackhawk. “Up” was his terse command, so we filled our bottles and pointed our bikes toward the Summit. A little ways up the road we came upon the first-gear-of-his-hybrid guy and as we passed I said (loudly) to Rick, “OK, make sure you’re in at least fifth gear when we pass this guy so he’ll be really impressed.” I don’t even know what fifth gear is on my bike but I figured the guy wouldn’t know a 17-tooth cog from a pie pan and he did seem to appreciate the humor.
It got even windier above 3,000 feet but some of it was a nice tailwind – including most of the Blue Oak Speedway. There was also some kind of footrace on and we saw lots of runners on the Summit Trail. I let Rick go up the Wall first, then I passed three people that I figured would be done when I started. It’s 180 pedal strokes (90 full crank revolutions, starting at the swinging gate) up the Wall in my 39x27 and I always count them so I don’t have to look… I just put my head down and count until I get to 180 and then I’m done. Summit time today was 83 minutes but that was a pretty relaxed tempo. I could have knocked off 10 minutes at a sustainable race pace, and South Gate is a few minutes faster too… the Diablo Challenge may be in my future if I think I can break 70 minutes. That $40 entry fee bugs me though.
Wildlife Encounter #2: A coyote darted across the road into the bushes just in front of Rick on the descent.
Coming down on Summit Road there was some kind of antique or kit car parade of about a dozen of these things coming up:
They were kind of interesting cars but I can't imagine wanting to spend a bunch of money and time building or restoring something like that. The drivers were all older men who probably had a lot of time on their hands and needed a hobby. It struck me later that they looked like Archie Andrews's old jalopy from the comic books.
Lots and lots of small squirrels running all over the road on the way down too. It must be the time of year that they get kicked out of the nest because these guys had NO sense of street safety. I’m sure the turkey vultures will be eating well for the next few weeks.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
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!)
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!)
Thursday, May 20, 2004
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!
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!
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
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!
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!
Saturday, May 15, 2004
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
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.
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.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
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.
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.
Sunday, May 02, 2004
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).
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).
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
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
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
Saturday, April 24, 2004
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
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
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
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.
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.
Monday, April 19, 2004
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.
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.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
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.
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.
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