2017 SMR 06

 It was warm and sunny yesterday, so I dressed kind of light.

Short fingered gloves, tights, and a windbreaker.

Started to rain below Junction.

We went up to Livermore Overlook and called it quits.

Here's the mudslide from last week... impressive amount of earth moved.

.

They hauled ot of it away, but a lot of it just got piled up
on the downhill side of the road.

2017 SMR 05

Gate Ranger tells me there is a big mud slide and I won't be able to go to Junction.  She thinks they might be working on it all day.  Somewhere around Diablo Ranch.

I tell other folks the story because the Gate is closed, everybody goes up anyway... cuz what else you gonna do?

Supposed to be rain this afternoon but it was nice this morning.

Mudslide was actually just below the Ranger House - only about a half mile from Junction.  JB and I stopped for a while to watch.

Smaller mudslides were evidenced all over.

2017 SMR 04

First sunny weekend in a long time... but it was real windy.  JB went down SGR and I went down with him to the Kiosk and came back up.

Some kind of trail volunteer work this morning.

No wildlife, but there's a lot of running water up there.

Everything is this bright shade of green, too.

2017 SMR 03

Borderline, but I rode... because that's what I do.

Wildlife Encounter:  Two deer near the Lower Ranch

Wildlife Encounter:  Red-Tailed Hawk at The Bump.  Usually I don't note birds, but this guy was parked on the side of the road with his red tail facing me... like he wanted me to mention him... and his red tail.

2017 SMR 02

Sunrise over Diablo - more dramatic in real life.

Got to The Gate and JB was right behind me.

Skipped breakfast this morning... big mistake

Hardly any riders today - weird.

Didn't have a ClifBar at Junction either... need to go shopping.

Sure wasn't the weather keeping everybody away..

Right about here, I sensed impending Bonk.

Snow!  Cool!

I'm out of snow captions.

This photo needs no caption.

This is the down side of The Wall

Hey - Colonel Al grew a beard.

I took a photo just like this last year - so I faced my bike the other way...
for variety.

2017 SMR 01

Wow, the 14th and this is my first Saturday Morning Ride?  Well, NYD was a Sunday, and then the next Saturday was the 7th, but I DNS for rain. So yeah.

Except today I was not feeling well.  Still getting over a rotten cold but not bad enough to stay home so I rode.

Hey - JB finally got a new water bottle!

Felt rotten but figured I could keep going... until I couldn't.  Started to feel shaky and hot and then I told JB to go on without me.

Right here is where I decided to turn around.

Home to warm up and the sickness passed... not the flu, I'll be fine.



Did you know the BAAQMD has a Spare the Air bike jersey?

I don't know if they get any profits from the sale, or if they have a club of employees that wear these or what, but they sell them on Amazon for $58.

Amazon.com

New Year's Summit 2017

I checked.  The last time I didn't do a Summit ride on New Year's Day was 2011.  So that's six years without missing one.

Glued a new tire on the rear last night, so I was ready.

Weather was a little bit better than yesterday, and I brought some shoe covers.  Also applied some Beljum Budder to reduce chafing... should've used a little more.

And I wore my light weight gloves because my hands got too hot yesterday... another mistake... fingers were frozen on the descent.

Didn't see a single soul on a bike until Junction when this guy came down from Summit.  He said he was the first one there and he was rightfully proud of that trophy.

Also at Junction, this Moots guy came up from NGR and we chatted for a while about weather and bikes.

 Hey, looks like some blue sky up there... I think... maybe.

Yeah, no... not where I'm going.

My legs were screaming going up the wall... and I had an SUV behind me.

I was the 13th rider to Summit in 2017.  I counted people coming down and assumed they all made the Upper Lot.

Update:  At the end of the day, the public Strava count for 1/1/2017 is:

Д Mt. Diablo NGR: North Gate to Junction:  88

Д Mt. Diablo SGR: Tire Poppers to Junction:  130

Д Mt. Diablo Summit Road: Junction to Summit:  157