2020 SMR 40

Rained overnight, stopped early this morning, so everything was wet and there was no sun, but not cold and not too windy. It was the perfect winter ride.

Visibility was pretty low though because of fog - I couldn't wear my prescription sunglasses which is kind of a problem.

I found an old blinkie in my big drawer of bike junk, but it was pretty lame so I had it and didn't use it. Then on the ride I remembered my helmet light that I bought for Eroica 2019... I'm going to put that on because SAFETY!  BTW, I hate blinking front lights on other people - they are annoying and make it hard to see anything else. So I won't say this to your face, but if you have one, you're being a jerk even if you don't know it.  Put it on steady and point it down at the road.

I told JB I thought the fog would clear about Blue Oak, and sure enough it did, but only for a couple hundred meters, and then it was back into the soup. Foggy all the way to Summit. JB turned around at Juniper with frozen fingers.

I talked to this guy at Junction and he said he doesn't like riding on weekends for all the car traffic but figured nobody would think of driving up Diablo on a day like this.  

The wind blew down the caution tape at The Wall... thank you Mr. Ranger for fixing this.

2020 WNR 35

 I only had time for a quick one today. Charlie pushed hard all the way to Junction and then he went to Summit after I turned around.

Not an excuse, but my joints have been really stiff in this cold weather, maybe I need to stretch and warm up more before I head out.

COVID precautions maxed out earlier this week, so we kept a bigger than usual distance. Charlie beat me to Junction by almost a minute... too much of a leap for any viruses.

2020 SMR 39

Rolled out at 7:30 from home and it was as cold as it gets, but I knew it would get into the upper not-so-colds in a couple hours so I didn't overdress.  The sun was right in my eyes for a lot of the ride, and the photos don't turn out so well in that condition.

It was very quiet for the first hour or so - we figured everybody was hunkering down in preparation for the required pandemic hunkering on Monday. There were a lot more people by 9am though, so I guess people just were waiting until things warmed up some.

Beautiful blue skies up higher, but we could see a lot of smoky fog at city-level... we remarked about spare the air days and then we came around the corner to Diablo Ranch and they were having a big bon-fire! Didn't seem very sensible.

At Junction we heard the unmistakable sound of a wood chipper and wondered about that because usually The Park just hauls dead trees over the edge of the road and down the ditch. Turns out it was the Ranger House on Hotel Road (across from Sunset Picnic Area). Apparently there's a budget to chip trees at the residences, but not in the public areas.

I told this guy it was a shame that he couldn't wait until JB and I passed him
BEFORE he bonked because now the whole world will see his bonk on my blog... as if he weren't embarrassed enough already.

This guy had some kind of robot skeleton or something strapped to his saddle pack... 

I love the little personal touches people add to their bikes.

Finally, we're coming up on a new year, when all kinds of  people will make ambitious fitness and athletic goals. But we're not there yet. We're at the time when a very few people are pushing themselves hard to actually accomplish their ambitious goals before the current year comes to an end. Chapeau to these two Diablo Celebrities for being in the latter group. Good legs to you both... I'll be watching.

2020 WNR 34

Started off cold and I over-dressed... like a NEWB! Charlie played it smart but I had two layers plus jacket and overheated on NGR, and he kicked my behind all the way to Junction.

At Junction I ditched my jacket and then we rode to Juniper and I felt a lot better. Not hard to remember to retrieve it on the way down.

Also at Junction I see Diablo Legend Cathy P - I've only spoken with her a couple times but we have a lot of the same Strava friends and I see her almost every ride; she's easy to recognize with her light-up helmet and pink trim. Charlie and I remarked how smooth she rides and then I checked her Strava stats and she has 6 times the annual elevation that I do. She might make a half million vertical meters for the year... for perspective, that's about the equivalent of EIGHT Summits per week.  She had a whole posse of friends climbing with her in support. Anyway - Hazzah.

2020 SMR 38

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

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

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

JB and I parted ways at the Tire Poppers.

SGR cracks could swallow your front wheel.