2015 SMR 13

T'was a beautiful spring day on The Mountain this morn.

The poppy population is down, and there's a little more brown.

Arm warmers felt nice most of the ride.  Plus Belgian Hardmen wear them and Roubaix is tomorrow.

Lots and lots of riders of all kinds enjoying Mount Diablo State Park.

One guy at the Summit said it was his first time.  He thought it was a big accomplishment but didn't plan on doing it again soon.

Not sure what happened here,
but it didn't look like they needed
any more help.

Roadkill Report:  A BADGER!!!  Yes, a BADGER!

We'd seen it on the way up but it was upside down and looked more like a raccoon.  JB and I both said it looked like a badger, but it couldn't be because there aren't any badgers around here... are there?

On the way down I was looking for it, thinking I'd scoot it off the road and get a photo... somebody had already done that and there were two guys looking at the badger at the Loading Dock... they offered to help me with my Instagram post:

#SelfieWithRoadKill

Turns out badgers are not quite rare enough to be on the threatened species list:

Badgers in California

My size 44 Sidi for some perspective.

I propped his head up on this rock...
I'm sure he didn't mind.

There was a tick crawling on his nose... eww.

2015 SMR 12

Arm warmer weather this morning, cool, a little windy in some sections.

Got a head start on JB and he didn't catch me until Junction.

Happened upon Team ClubSport rider Vitas on the way up and rode with him for a while.

Saturday Morning Regulars:  Sergeant Slow Descender, Dudley

Then a nice ride up Summit Road and a nice descent... really NICE day.

Mustard's in full bloom.

Sock-racha

Fast rider passing me action shot #1

Vitas

California State Parks recommends Chevrolet pick-ups.

This guy looked really really happy.
 Is he riding in tennis shoes?

Fast rider passing me action shot #2

Sure lady,that's plenty of room for me to squeeze by.

2015 WNR 01

Six of us from work for the first Wednesday Night Ride of the year.  We kept it social until The Bump and then the elastic snapped and we were all over the place.  One of our new guys is training for the AIDS ride and has been doing 120 mile weekends, way too fast for me.  Another one is planning a lot of centuries this year and I almost kept up with him.

Diablo Shoutouts to Punkin Jay and JB, who must've gotten an early start.

Nice weather, a little cool, a little breezy.

Somebody placed this memorial on the bench at The Junction; I recognized the name from previous posts of friends on Facebook.  A sad, sad, story.  She loved riding Diablo, but she died at home, not on a bike.

Going down, the sun was right in my eyes for significant portions of the trip – good thing I know the road so well… still had to descend conservatively though, I’m getting used to that.

April 1st 2015 Bonus Post

Man, I was flying today... check it out.

It's Like Everybody Else Was Pedaling Backwards from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2015 SMR11

JB wasn't at the Gate again... so another solo ride to Junction.

No time to do Summit today

But I thought about doing SGR for a Bump de Bump.

Got really windy at elevation though -the kind of wind that's not just not fun, but kind of scary

Stopped for a few photos of this tree that fell down recently.

Passed em -Passed me ratio:  1:1

Passed him

Passed me

JB showed up at Junction and had some kind of good excuse about why he was late, but then it was time for me to go down.  The wind was bad enough that I just didn't want to do any more.

Wildlife Encounter:  snake.  On the descent I saw this guy stretched out across the road.  I turned around and rode back up to him.  He wasn't moving so I was concerned that someone would run over him (car or bike).  Then another guy coming down stopped and we talked about what to do. The snake was certainly not a rattle snake, but he had a poisonous-looking head so we were careful.  He had a skinny, pointy tail and I kind of bumped him with my front tire and then he decided to get off the road.  Checking later, I think he was a gopher snake.

Web photo, not mine.

2015 SMR 10

Solo ride today, not sure where JB is.

Roadkill Report:  a rat... being eaten by a crow.  I'm not sure which would be worse; being a rat or being something that eats rats.

Saturday Morning Regulars:  Sergeant Slow and Dudley.

Wildlife Encounter:  young deer at the Bump.  Looks like the moms have kicked the kids out to fend for themselves.

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys at Diablo Ranch... big noisy struttin' ones.

Isaac always greets me with enthusiasm.

2015 SMR 09

The Mountain was an explosion of colorful orange poppies and green grasses.

We called this guy "White Tights"

This guy was doing some kind of cross chain drills,
and his chain was dry and dirty.  Sounded like he was
taking a flat file to his frame.

More riders on The Mountain than I've seen since last fall.  Ready for spring.

There was another guy we've been seeing every Saturday too - he's always coming down when we get near The Ranches.. a very slow descender.  We called him Sergeant Slow.

2015 SMR 08

The one-year anniversary of my pelvis fracture!  (Actually tomorrow, but it was a Saturday so I'm saying today.)

Quit at the Junction again today... Diablo Daughter stretched out her birthday celebration over two weekends... plus, I just didn't have it.  Slowed down JB all the way up.

Way overdressed too - tights and a jacket when shorts and jersey would've been comfortable.

Blog reader Keith and I exchanged
broken bone stories at the Junction.

2015 SMR 07

Short ride today so I can get home to celebrate Diablo Daughter's birthday.

JB was drilling it and dropped me before The Bump

Wildlife Encounter:  turkeys near the vineyards before The Gate.

Poppies are popping up all over The Mountain.

Thank you Leonard Nimoy for creating 
such a fascinating character.