2012 SMR 22

Started about a half hour later than usual since it was just me.  Pretty cool temps this morning.

 Followed these two guys out to the Mountain - they weren't going as fast as I wanted to, but I wasn't gonna pass a guy with a Triple Crown Gold jersey.

Staked out a place for a Diablo Spy Cam

Hey, it's Triple Crown Gold guy!

2012 WNR 09

First day of summer!

Wildlife Encounter:  gobs of squirrels, mostly young ones the size of rats.

Roadkill Report:  squirrels (you knew that was coming)

Nobody else from the office came today so I rode my own ride.  Felt pretty good despite the heat.  At one point I thought my Cytomax had gone sour, but then I remembered I had just bought a new can and switched from Orange to Lemon-Lime flavor; weird how your expectation of what you're tasting affects what you actually taste.  It was really a good flavor once I stopped thinking it was supposed to be orange.

Kinda faded a little bit at the last mile, so that means I wasn't sandbagging.

At the Junction, blogreader Dan was there in the MDSP jersey he got for Father's Day.

Also at the Junction was one of the guys who was in the rattlesnake observation team on Saturday and we told our story to the other folks at Junction.  Turns out one of them was some kind of naturalist hired by the Park to look for endangered snakes - the Alameda Whipsnake especially, so he was interested in where we saw the rattler.

AKA "Striped Racer"

Sunday is the Livestrong Davis ride - if you're doing it, look for me at PowerStop #2 (mile 24).  I'll mix you up a special recipe of power water or something.

2012 SMR 21

Warm today, even early this morning.  Met JB at the Gate.

Wildlife Encounter:  Tarantula  (in June?!?!)

Heat and wind really sapped my energy - I was hoping to do the Summit today but not feeling like this.

At the Junction chatted with some acquaintances and convinced myself I didn't feel THAT bad... so up it was.

They're doing some kind of landscaping project at Juniper.

Wind got a lot stiffer on Summit Road... but the heat was about the same.

A friend asked me to buy a couple of the new Mount Diablo State Park jerseys for her at the museum store... but they didn't have the sizes she wanted.  The guy let me put some on reserve for their next order.  They were mostly out of everything except mediums.  So here's my advice for anyone who wants to buy a jersey... call first and see if they have your size and then wait for them to come in before you go up expecting one.

Wildlife Encounter:  Rattlesnake at Muir Picnic Area.

On the way down there was a snake stretched across the road.  Took me a while to stop but I wanted a photo so I got turned around but then some MTB guys were coming down and one of them ran right over the snake despite my shout out.  After that the snake coiled up.  He attracted a little crowd and we cautioned people about him but we couldn't coax the guy off the road.  I piled up some rocks and sticks around him so people would take a wide line even if they didn't know he was a snake, and then I finished descending.

2012 WNR 08

Me, Charlie, Rhys, and Derrick tonight.

Started out hot, got hotter.

Wildlife Encounter:  deer at the NG Kiosk.

Adam started out with us and I figured Derrick would try to stay with him a while so I sat back but then Derrick wasn't trying very hard so I bridged up to him.

Wildlife Encounter:  Jackrabbit at Moss Landing.

Derrick made a bunch of excuses so I shelled him.  Rode the rest of the way up alone.  Did I say it was hot?  Not like killer hot, but sap all your energy hot.  Had a hard time keeping the pedals moving on the last mile.

Lots of people at Junction including Jay and Ward... topic was Lance... they weren't shedding any tears.  Jay has a bike boom box that's pretty cool too.

2012 SMR 20

Felt really slow today so I didn't wait for JB - he caught me at the Upper Washout and then kept on going.

I was hoping to do a Summit ride today but on top of feeling slow, I felt tired and it was really windy so I just went home and took a nap.

Blog Reader Tricia shares my zeal for road kill reporting; she submitted this photo for fun:

2012 SMR 19

Great ride today.  JB's been sick so we went easy to Junction but he felt good today so we went to Juniper.

A little breezy at the bottom.  Blustery on Summit Road.

Some kind of "Ultra Marathon" was in progress that involved running on Burma Trail, but we didn't see too many people.  There were some aid stations visible though.

Wildlife Encounter:  Snakes... lots of them.

Roadkill Report:  Snakes... lots of them.

Wildlife Encounter:  Deer... awwwwww... these babies must only be about a month old.

2012 WNR 07

Did you see that awesome solar eclipse?

Rode up with Charlie, did a few intervals... it was hot.

Wildlife Encounter:  deer.

Got a little ham-fisted with the zoom button and missed the fauna.

Another Wildlife Encounter:  Another deer

Redwood Road with Team Club Sport

Started in Dublin, went out the Canyon where there was a sad roadside memorial for someone next to the freeway, lots of roses and other flowers in a big display.  Couple hundred meters later and I got a FLAT from a ROSE THORN.  So, I hope none of my blog readers ever has occasion to lay flowers on such a site, but if you do... make 'em daisies or something.  It's been a bad week for flats - two flats on Wednesday without riding a single stroke, then none of the fixes didn't hold, then this one today.  My "needs a patch" pile 'o tubes is getting big.

So by the time I got to the first meet-up spot in Union City or someplace, the first riders were just leaving so I didn't stop and went with them.  One by one they fell back but I stayed with the fastest guy all the way through Redwood and Pinehurst and then to the park in Moraga.


Then we did the Blvd all the way back to Dublin.  44 miles, pretty fun, nice change of pace for a holiday weekend.


CoCo Times wrote an article about the Diablo stage of the AToC.  Here's the LINK, but I'm pasting the whole text because they don't archive their stuff sometimes.

Amgen Tour's Mount Diablo visit organizers hope for repeat



By Denis Cuff


Contra Costa Times


Posted: 05/21/2012 09:51:24 AM PDT


Updated: 05/21/2012 09:51:54 AM PDT


The first visit to Mount Diablo by American's most prestigious bike race attracted thousands of fans and favorable reviews -- so much so, that it looks like the Amgen Tour of California could return to this iconic slope.


The May 15 crowds were so big, enthusiastic and well managed that there is a "good chance" the race could come back to Mount Diablo State Park, the Amgen race director said.


"The community was very supportive. If they want us back, we would consider it," said Jim Birrell, director of the Amgen Tour of California. "It was great to have such a dramatic climb early in the race."


On day three of the eight-day race, bikers made up a race route that climbed nearly 2,200 feet up the 3,848-foot mountain challenged the pro racers athletically and state park operators logistically.


The only two roads into the park near Danville and Walnut Creek are steep, narrow and winding -- the type of difficult rural course familiar to Tour de France fans but not most American cycling fans.


Still, Roland Gaebert, the Mt. Diablo park superintendent, said the race went well.


"We would like to have the race come back," Gaebert said. "Mount Diablo is such an iconic place for cycling. "


Gaebert said perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 fans watched the race inside or just outside the state park, although no one has a precise count. Perhaps as many as 1,000 cyclists watched from the race high point -- the Junction ranger station -- where cyclists began their descent, race fans estimated.


Park officials estimate that 7,000 people entered park entrance road gates and hundreds or perhaps thousands of others watched the race from outside the gates or entered the park on foot or with mountain bikes on dirt trails, Gaebert said.


"People were well behaved," he said. "They even took out their own trash."


Gaebert and some cycling fans agreed more could have been done to slow down cars and bicyclists speeding downhill after the race.


"A few announcements and maybe warning signs would have helped," said Geoff Landon, a Danville cyclist and amateur racer. "There was a bit too many cars passing bikes and way too many bikes passing cars on the way out for my taste."


Gaebert said park rangers and volunteers made efforts to slow down the descending cars and cyclists, but he added that more might be done if the race returns.


Installing speed bumps at entry kiosks might help, he added.


"It's a learning experience doing this the first time," Gaebert said. "We're conducting a review to see if there are things we can do better."


Two people skinned their knees in spills from bicycles, but no race fans were seriously injured, he added.


Long after the race was over Tuesday, two park visitors were injured when their vehicle skidded off a park road and rolled down a hill. The passenger was airlifted to a hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, park officials said.


Race fans grumbled that bathrooms at the Junction ranger station were closed to the hundreds of people there.


The restroom capacity was overwhelmed by the crowds, Gaebert said, and chemical toilets likely would be trucked in if Amgen returns.


Contact Denis Cuff at 925-943-8267. Follow him at Twitter.com/deniscuff.