2015 WNR 10

Closest Wednesday to the Solstice, so a bunch of us decided we should do the Summit.  Kevin and Evan had never been much past Junction before so they were stoked.  I kept telling them to do a slower pace on NGR so they'd have plenty left in the tank for Summit Road.  Everybody made it fine.

A few folks who couldn't get an early start showed up later to do the Junction but we didn't see each other until it was all over.

It was hot, but not killer hot - very enjoyable.

Wildlife Encounter:  two deer

Holy cow, Scott was right about this last bit.

Made it!

Elmar said if this were Switzerland there'd be a restaurant
at the top and all the cyclists would be having a beer.

2015 SMR 21

Sposed to be 80F by 11 so not too warm.  We've been having a pretty mild summer so far.

JB at the Gate - normal ride to Junction but then he had to turn around and I did Summit by myself.

Diablo Shoutouts to:  Sergeant Slow, Smooth Joey, Tuck, Dudley, Kasters, and Rivendell Mark.

2015 SMR 20

Started without JB - found out later he had forgotten his water bottle and had to turn around back home.

Sgt Slow got a new bike - custom Steve Rex,
 I had plenty of time to read the logo.

 Wildlife Encounter:  deer.  Lots of lizards today too, and big black biting bugs.

Deer

Custom Waterford guy with the
Davis Double jersey leap frogged
with us all the way to Summit

About a third as many bikes as last week, and about twice as many cars.  Everyone was being DiabloSafe and DiabloCourteous.

2015 WNR 09

We had a heat wave the last few days, then it cooled off, then today it RAINED!  It was supposed to stop in the morning so I figured the ride would go on and packed my bike in my truck.  But it rained until 3pm and everyone else who planned on coming cancelled except me and Elmar.

They were concerned about improper clothing and wet roads but it was really no problem at all - by 5:30 the Mountain was mostly dried up and the only damp spots were under trees that were still dripping... and it was warm and still.

My new desktop wallpaper

Didn't see any other riders on the whole Mountain until about the Ranches when one woman was coming down... then two guys passed us above Chainbuster, and that was all.  There were a few more riders coming up as we were coming down around the Loading Dock.

Passed 'em-Passed me Ratio:  zero to two

Wildlife Encounter:  a deer and a bunny

Don't get up to Juniper very often on a WNR... it was nice.

2015 SMR 19

Beautiful weather today... warm and clear and still.  Hundreds of riders enjoying The Mountain.

I could feel the legs from the hard effort Wednesday night.

Green Eggs and Ham Jersey - HA!

Diablo Shoutout to Kasters

There was a guy at Juniper that appeared to be having a medical problem.  Had a riding companion with him and a ranger talking to both of them.  Didn't appear to be a crash and he appeared to be uninjured, but he was lying down on a picnic bench.  Just after we went by, an ambulance came up from below and then a helicopter landed somewhere near there... I stopped for video but they were out of view from up higher.

Yes indeed, my blurry black triangle thing appears to be a permanent problem with my Contour camera.  Fortunately it's near the edge of the field and doesn't ruin too many photos.

Blurry black triangle thing on the right.

OK, checkout this bad driver.  I'm taking the right lane so cars behind me can turn right - then I keep taking the lane until I get past the street on the other side of BART so those cars can turn right.  The right lane ends just ahead at Bentley where I'm going to turn right.  Now virtually all drivers understand what I'm doing and see it as a safe and courteous maneuver.  It works up to a dumbass driver level of 9, but this guy is a 10.  He squeezes past me while he honks, then cuts me off with a right hook.  I think he wants to go to the garage sale on the left but he thinks I'm following him to have a confrontation so he doesn't park, goes slow and then brake-checks me.  

Multi-Modal Commute

A couple years ago  when I was going to San Francisco frequently... I bought one of those BikeLink cards so I could use the secure lockers at the BART station.   I put $20 on the card but they only had about 6 lockers there and I never ONCE got to use one.  So I've been carrying this $20 BikeLink card in my wallet for years, unused.

Today I had another opportunity to go to The City and I figured I'd check out the lockers again; I couldn't trust that a locker would be available so I packed FOUR bike locks in my trunk bag in case I had to park in the Riffraff lot.  There are now 24 secure BikeLink lockers (in addition to the BART rental lockers) and LO there was one available for me to use (maybe more than one, I stopped looking after I found one).  So I scanned my card and it worked and a door opened and I got everything in there and then I shut the door and put 10 hours on the meter.  I'm not exactly sure why they make you put in a stay time, but if you go over that amount the rate goes up from 3¢/hour to something higher... so it appears there's no downside to guessing high because you are only charged for how much time you actually use (not the whole 10 hours for my example).

Anyway, these lockers are really cool, but I suggest not using them so there will be one for me when I want it.

A photo posted by Diablo Scott (@diabloscott) on Jun 4, 2015 at 1:12pm PDT

A photo posted by Diablo Scott (@diabloscott) on Jun 4, 2015 at 1:15pm PDT

Tight fit, but I got everything in there.

Abbey would've been 11 today.
We just got a condolence card in the mail
from the pet crematory folks.

2015 WNR 08

Dang, it was windy again tonight.  Evan is preparing for a loaded tour so he put a bunch of heavy junk in his panniers.  Elmar took off and I followed him and he was pulling hard into a headwind and I knew he was working harder than me because he was huffing and puffing... but he still outlasted me - I sat up at the Bump and let him go.  Later I joked that I "gifted him the stage"... HA!

I noticed this black triangle thing on the right side of my video files - very distracting... not sure if it's something on the lens or something wrong with the sensor in my camera... I'm posting this as a reminder to check it out on my next ride because I cleaned the lens off real good.

Ride Ataxia NorCal

Friedreich's Ataxia is a degenerative nerve disease - my friend Kyle has it.  Kyle is now the coordinator for the Ride Ataxia series of charity events around the country.  I think they raised over $100k for research on the NorCal event.  Kyle used to work for my company so lots of us do this ride every year to honor him.  Check out this trailer for the upcoming documentary and you'll see why.

The Ataxian EPK from Redwood Creek Entertainment on Vimeo.


Kevin had the idea of riding with his son in the trailer... son has a chromosome disorder and he's just about too big for the trailer so Kevin thought this might be the last chance to do a special ride with him.  Charlie and I decided we'd ride with him, and to equalize things a bit Charlie would ride his single-speed classic old touring bike, and I'd ride my fixed gear urban hipster bike... it was a fun time.

11,500 crank revolutions... that's what it takes to ride 40 miles in a 70-inch gear... with no coasting.

Ride Ataxia NorCal from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2015 WNR 07

Product Review:  DIABLO flavored hot sauce from Taco Bell.  Of course I had to try it... it's kind of a black pepper hotness instead of a hot pepper hotness... I like FIRE sauce and VERDE better, but this is cool.

Isaac, my retired greyhound,
frolicking at the Paw Patch
with Diablo in the distance.

Meeting at work ran late so I got a really late start - and since I was giving Elmar a ride, he was late too.

Last week I went sort of easy until two miles to go and then went hard.  Elmar finished about two minutes ahead of me.

This week I went hard for the first two miles and opened up a big gap on Elmar but he caught and passed me on The Bump.  I did hear him breathing pretty hard though so he was hurting.

Then I kept him within about a minute up until Chainbuster and then I started to get closer.  I thought if he was within site at the "GATE AHEAD" sign, I'd unleash my sprint with great vengeance and furious anger... and he hadn't seen me so yet so he thought he had a bigger gap than he did.  But then a car passed us and he looked back and saw me and upped his cruising speed and when I got within striking distance I didn't have much kick left.  Anyway, it's been fun having him along because he's just a smidge faster than me and that makes me want to get better.

A couple friends are doing the AIDS ride starting this weekend so they didn't come today... I've known several people who did this and they all said it was a wonderful experience.  There's a high bar on sponsorship for that ride - I suggest finding someone who's doing it and sending them a few tax-deductible bucks.

Saturday's the Ataxia Ride... some of the same roads as Foxy's, but not Wooden Valley Road in Napa County that cracked my ribs seven months ago.  I should be fine.  Riding the fixed gear!

2015 SMR 18

Thickest fog I've ever ridden in maybe.

Saturday morning regulars:  Kasters, Sergeant Slow... and NOT Dudley.

Wildlife Encounter:  see video

Vimeo's been cracking down on users like me who like to include commercial music soudtracks... so even though I own the music file and don't make any money from it I get denied - enjoy this video with generic music.

Ode to Fog from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

Next week:  Ride Ataxia !  Sponser Me

2015 WNR 06

Small group tonight - assorted excuses.

I told Kevin a good training ride would be to go easy for the first 4-1/2 miles and then hit it hard for the last 2 miles.  He said OK, but his effort level 11 is not noticeably different from his 6.

So I'm discussing how to psyche yourself up for a hard effort like that, and preparing to enter the pain cave and right at 2mtg, Punkin Jay passes us.  Now his cruising speed is about the same as my 15-minute max effort speed so it was perfect timing until I faded out after Chainbuster.  Kevin only had about 10 minutes of max effort in him so he ran out of gas a little earlier.

Wildlife Encounter:  Heard an owl at Junction but didn't see him.  Saw a deer on one of the switchbacks on the way down but he stayed off the road.  And a couple turkeys playing chicken.

Jay has 20 pairs of Lion of Flanders socks.

Kevin and Rhys do The Bump

Bugl-ugl-ugl-ugl

This guy called out, passed safely, and then waved.

This guy didn't call out and passed way too close.
 Like he was telling me I should move over to 
the slow part of the road with the other Freds.
Then he barely stayed in front of me and I could easily 
have passed him back.

2015 SMR 17

JB's back from vacation.. but with a sore throat; he bailed at Junction.

Today I introduced myself to Sandal Guy... his name is Kasters and he rides on Saturdays and hikes on Sundays.

Windy down low, foggy in the middle, sunny at the top... that's Diablo for you.

Hit the 10 photo max for today's blog:

Sandal Guy - Kasters

Check out this view of the fog layer from the observation deck:

Fog from Summit from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

2015 WNR 05

New guy Elmar in blue brings game to the Wednesday Night Ride.  He grew up in Switzerland and remembers all the big racing names from the 70's and 80's with a special fondness for Hinault.  Said he's just getting back into riding after a long time off the bike  He attacked from Moss Landing and kept a gap all the way to Junction.  Might show up on a Saturday ride too.

Wildlife Encounter:  jackrabbits - at a couple different places.

Hardly any bugs tonight... sweet.