2013 WNR 17

Me and Ed and Ted tonight.  Not a lot of riders on The Mountain... should be more people training for The Challenge.  Fire danger is high due to weather and recent heat lightning, but not high enough to close the Park.  I'm thinking there's about six more Wednesday Night Rides this year before Daylight Wasting Time begins.

Tarantula Tally:  One crawler

Wildlife Encounter:  Flock of turkeys  -  I looked it up, it's only a "rafter" of turkeys if they're the domesticated kind of turkeys... "flock" is the proper collective noun for the vicious Jurassic beasts on Diablo. 

Johnson County Jason says "hi" on his way by.

Dirt d'Huez is d'eeply embedded on d'Ablo 

These two guys get the "most fluorescent" trophy.

2013 SMR 25

Didn't feel great this morning, but got better as the elevation got higher.

JB had been on jury duty through last night so we discussed issues with the legal system.

At the Junction, these two guys showed up with some cool looking custom bikes.  We'd never heard of them before so I Googled the brand - here you go:  Zanconato.  One of them had a power meter crank too.

Not sure if he knew he was posing right in front of my bike cam.

Here's that same photog from last week, scoping out the
perfect angle and equipment for the Challenge.
He remembered me but didn't say if he was posting
on-line somewhere.

This guy had a nice Trek with Di2 and all internal wiring.

Some kind of construction going on in the Lower Parking Lot -
more than just re-paving it seems.

 I almost always stop at the Lower Parking Lot before I go up the Summit Wall.  This gives me an opportunity to get some recovery, slam down a HammerGel, and watch for cars coming up from below.  From here you can see down to Devil's Elbow and plan your start so that no cars will come up behind you on the Wall...  see video below.

 
Dancing up The Wall from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

This is the sign on the left side of the stairs going up
to the (currently closed) observation deck.  It makes
reference to the Miwok creation myth that says
Mount Diablo was the beginning of it all.

This is the sign on the right side of the stairway
going up to the observation deck.  Mount Diablo has been a
State Park since 1921, but it's a lot bigger now
than it was back then.  Before they put this sign up in 1982,
there was just an elevation sign, like the one at the top of the wall.
The actual peak of the Mountain is inside the museum.

It almost looks like the very same sign, but not quite.

~1975  Single post attachment, capital T in FT

Today  Dual post attachment, small T in Ft

2013 WNR 16 Dirt d'Huez!

Charlie brought his bag of dirt from Alpe d'Huez so we could have a little ceremony today and we can ALL say we've ridden our bikes on the second most famous mountain in the bicycle world.

Wildlife Encounter: Turkeys. Also, there was a really big swarm of buzzards over the loading dock area.

Tarantula Tally: One (healthy and on the move)


Charlie forgot his cycling shoes,
hazzah to him for riding in his work shoes!



Note Alpe d'Huez souvenir jersey.  It says "21 VIRAGES"
and has a map of all the switchbacks.

There's what it looks like, cycling fans.

Hmmmm, where should we sprinkle it?

Dirt d'Huez from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

Video d'Huez: Clicuez ici s'il vous plait

2013 SMR 24

On the way to the Gate as usual, running a little bit late, I got about a half mile from home and saw my reflection in a car window and noticed that I didn't have my helmet on.  So after returning to fetch it, I was now running quite a bit late.  Got to the Gate at about 8:05 and no rock and no JB so I waited around for about five minutes and then put my own rock on the post.  I was surprised to catch up to JB somewhere and he said he just forgot but he's been pretty sick with a respiratory thing so he wasn't moving too fast.  Also he's replacing some BB parts on his Della Santa so he was riding his Atlantis - not that he'd ever use that as an excuse for being slow, but of course it is.

He was done and then I went up to Summit.

Had some troubles with my Contour video camera... interesting that they went out of business this week:

 Came up to this guy near Surface of Mars:  he said he was the official photographer for the Diablo Challenge and was getting his setup worked out.  Watch for him (and practice your pose) about 1.25 miles above Junction.  BTW, I'll be volunteering again, so come say hi at the start or finish.

Dumbassery on the Mountain is of course, not limited to drivers of motor vehicles - refer to below video:

Dumbass from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2013 WNR 15

Kevin and Evan, Charlie and Seppi, and yours truly tonight.

Charlie talked about riding Alpe d'Huez (it's hard), the Tour (it's exciting and crowded), and buying Alpe d'Huez jerseys on top of the mountain (they have real bike shops up there in a ski village).  He bought the first one he saw, but then liked the second one better (all the hairpins on a map) so he bought that one as well; he says he'll wear one of them next week.  He also brought a bag of Alpe d'Huez dirt to sprinkle on Diablo somewhere so it'll be kind of like we're all riding the Alpe too.

 



 Diablo shoutout to Pumpkin Jay descending on the orange bike, who just returned from a Flandrian Pilgrimmage to all the places I'd go if I could too.  No word on any Flemish dirt to sprinkle.

2013 SMR 23

JB was sick and I hadn't signed up for the Marin Century, so I did a late and lazy ride to Muir Picnic Area.  

Metromint guy with the deepest rims I've ever seen on
the Mountain forces me to the inside around Chainbuster.

Then he got to the Junction and about hurled.

Getting passed was a regular thing this morning.

Getting passed was a regular thing this morning.

Getting passed was a regular thing this morning.

Getting passed was a regular thing this morning.

For safety reasons, I always assume there's a moron in the
wrong lane around every blind corner... my assumption is correct
often enough to continue assuming that.

2013 WNR 14

First ride in two weeks! 

Roadkill Report:  tarantula.



This guy and his buddy said it was only their second time up The Mountain.  I invited them to become Wednesday Night Regulars.



We all pretended not to be breathing hard as we passed this attractive rider.

Are the sunsets getting earlier already?

Kevin has about the same build as the polka dot jersey Columbian guy.  He rode to a Junction PB tonight.











Hi Scott!

Just back from a vacation where I had a wonderful time in SoCal even without my bike.

Diablo regular Tall Charlie from work went to France with a cycle touring company to ride up Alpe d'Huez and sent me his greeting from the summit!

This is totally click-worthy.

Hi Scott! from Scott Parr on Vimeo.

Team ClubSport Three Country Clubs Ride

Team ClubSport Three Country Clubs Ride from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

Rolling hills with the health club team, I think there were twelve of us.

Roadkill Report:  a deer :-( on the side of Danville Blvd... a big hole in his side was being eaten by bugs and stuff.  Also a cat in the foothills.

One guy crashed near Diablo country club, and another guy hopped a curb to miss him, but he didn't quite make the whole curb and he exploded his tire - very impressive and nobody hurt.

We rode through some gated zillionaire neighborhoods and everyone made complete stops and rode single-file so as not to piss off the elitist seculsionaries.  I figure the best outcome that'll ever come out of Stop Sign Gate is that riders will be respectful and owners will be tolerant and we'll have a semi-stable detente.

2013 WNR 13

Ted and his 13th birthday present.

Tall Charlie will be trying to catch the cameraman's
eye on Alpe d'Huez with this sign next Thursday...
keep your eyes open!

2013 SMR 22

Garage flat this morning.  Pulled a big rose thorn out of my front tire and fixed it while I watched Le Tour... first stage in the mountains and exactly what a mountain stage is supposed to be.

Anyway, got to The Gate late and started about 8:15.  Almost caught JB at Clavicle Cracker but then he flamed up the afterburners and beat me to Junction.

Then I went up to Juniper solo.

This guy shouted out "DIABLO SCOTT" as he came down.

Nice ride up to Juniper.

2013 WNR 12

HOT - remember to ride within yourself.

Two frozen water bottles.  Melted faster than I could drink them.

Johnson County Jason joined us on The Bump

Kevin's first Diablo ride since the Ataxia crash - says his wrist still hurts some.

Tall Charlie is going to France to ride l'Alpe and other iconic TdF mountains.  One of his friends asked him for an Alpe d'Huez jersey and I said "Maybe they sell one that says 'MY FRIEND RODE UP ALPE D'HUEZ AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID JERSEY!"

2013 SMR 21

Hottest place in the solar system was the Diablo Weather Station this morning.

Wildlife Encounter:  Deer and turkeys

Up to Junction, down to Kiosk, and back up.

On the descent, at 40mph, a juicy bug splatted into my arm, providing a bit of spot cooling as his guts evaporated.

2013 WNR 11

Two new college interns at work came with us today.  Evan is a roadie, Ted is mostly an urban mountain bike guy but he did pretty well.

Tall Charlie is going to France in a couple weeks to ride the Alpe and other iconic mountains.

Heat wave's coming soon.




Never seen a car up there before.

 

Bump Runner

 

Tiene Duros





New Guy Evan and JB finish in a dead heat.