2019 SMR 25

I knew it'd be a solo ride today because JB is out of town.  I had visions of doing an epic, memorable ride.  But I was feeling just a bit out of sorts, got a late start, forgot my helmet and didn't realize it until I was a mile and a half out and had to turn around.  I figured it wasn't an epic calendar day after all.  But I knew sometimes those epic desires and feelings develop while you're riding and I gave it a chance.

My plan was to go up NGR, down SGR, and then Summit from the South Side.  I never felt great, but good enough to carry out the plan. By Juniper, my legs were getting pretty rubbery, and my split times were nothing to brag about, but I'm checking off the "epic" box.

Started the day off right by passing two old guys.

I just like this guy's jersey pattern.

Tucking your jersey inside shorts isn't QUITE as odd as under bib straps.

The opposite of tucking your jersey inside your bibs, is to not wear a jersey and roll your bib straps down. 
This guy was doing repeats up The Wall.

This guy puked up those cookies he had for breakfast... all over his pretty bike.

2019 WNR 22

We've been having a heat wave!  I have been in enough safety seminars and training sessions and heard enough stories to take heat injury very seriously, and I've been riding enough years to know how to manage my efforts in the heat... but not everybody gets it.

This happened last week, on August 3rd.  If you're looking for a helicopter ride, best to book a ticket with a tourist company instead of an emergency rescue.

Today I packed two frozen water bottles for the first trip up, and a 2.5-liter Camelbak full of ice for the second trip.  I didn't make it to The Church in time to do a full Junction for the first trip, so I turned around after Segment 3.  I wasn't sure if anyone else was coming but I didn't want someone to show up at 5:30 and be disappointed that I wasn't there to ride with them.  Yeah, it was hot, and I didn't see many other riders, but a few.  Back at The Church and no one else came so I donned Camelbak and departed.  

I determined to take a hit off the Camelbak about every 3 minutes - that way the fluid in the tube didn't get too hot and I would be sure to drink enough.  The Strawberry Lemonade MIO mix was a good choice.

Even when you're careful about not overdoing it, the heat kind of saps your strength so your muscles get more tired than you're used to.  Pumpkin Jay reported that it got cooler on Summit Road, but I was good and spent at Junction.  Saw JB coming up on his foldable as I started down, he must've been just a few minutes late to The Church.

Not sure how many WNRs are left this season, but I'm going to relish them.

This guy gave me the "you're crazy like me" salute.

Shady spot to turn around.

Yeah... no one else is coming.

I'm calling this 42C.

2019 SMR 24

Weird weather this morning - warm, but foggy and humid.  Even looked like a possibility of RAIN?!?!?!  It made things different, and I like different. 

Lots of people on bikes and otherwise on The Mountain this morning.  We thought maybe the fog would keep the traffic down since the views would be minimal... but stupid me!  The view of fog over the Diablo Valley from the top of Mount Diablo is divine... I knew that... apparently so did all those other people.

Wildlife Encounter:  Coyote near Diablo Ranch and pretty big black tail buck on The Approach.

At Junction, blog reader Brian recognized me and introduced himself and we did a selfie.  He's been riding Diablo since 2011 but hung up his road bike and now rides a vintage hybrid with low gears.  He said he also crashed at the same roundabout that I broke my pelvis on in 2014, but he didn't break any bones.

The fog got pretty thick between Juniper and Summit, but thinned out right at the top.  I took a hike up to the top of the center to look east.

Then I got stuck behind a car that was stuck behind a slower cyclist, and there was too much upcoming traffic to pass so I had kind of a slow descent down to Junction.  Diablo Regular Samer rode next to me for a while so that was fun - when the car finally pulled over, Samer went into his descent mode which was too fast for me, so I did my normal speed back down North Gate Road.  Saw the deer at NGR and Castle Rock... we watched each other for a while before he darted off into the woods.

JB's bike has been at the frame-builder for: 1 week.

Extra nice ride today - extra long photo spread.

Is that a RAIN cloud?

Blog Reader Brian

DOUBLE Cal Jersey Autoblog.

2019 WNR 21

I didn't get to The Church in time for a double junction today. Charlie, Shawn, JB, Kathryn, and Donna came so it was a diverse group.

Good riding weather, not too hot.

Wildlife Encounter: big buck at Junction. We heard him snorting loudly behind some bushes so I knew he was big even before I saw him.

I rode with Charlie and Shawn until 1 mile to go, and then I went for a Split 6 Personal Record - not knowing what my previous record was, and not knowing how I did until I uploaded the Strava.  I beat my previous best (last September) by almost 30 seconds.  Kevin and I used to pick one segment to really attack on every Junction, but Kevin hasn't been coming recently so it's all up to me.  Now I have to pick another one to attack on next week's ride.  For every segment though, my PR is from year 2019, so I'm having a good season!

I expect pretty soon, people will start training for The Challenge, which this year is October 13... only two months away!

MIKE!

Passed me 1

This guy passed me during my PR attempt - slightly demoralizing.  Looks like he was a full minute faster over Split 6.

Charlie checks his time at the line with his stopwatch function.

Shawn lets his Garmin determine his time.

JB doesn't use GPS on the bike.

When the sun is right about there on the descent, the Perseid meteor showers are coming;
and that means there are about six Wednesday Night Rides left in the season.

Photo Credit: Shawn

Charlie and I frequently have coordinating color jerseys... just a cool unplanned coincidence.

77 Bike Turnouts Project

UPDATE! It's on the MountDiabloCyclists Facebook page, copied in a new post because I'm the star.



Here's the link to the relevant politico:



https://sd07.senate.ca.gov/contact/email

2019 SMR 23

Wow, everybody was on The Mountain today.

DiabloShouts go out to: Parry, Linda K, Colonel Al, Joe Shami(!), Deadhead Mike, Bernie and Doug, Lance and Midland, Kasters, Tuck, and Dudley.

Started off just a little on the cool side but then got warm quickly.  We had heard of some early morning fires over on the Marsh Creek Road side of The Mountain, but everything was in good order on our trip up.

Photo Credit:  CalFire

JB finally got his Della Santa over to Ed Litton's shop in Richmond.  JB said that Ed had some good stories and JB left with confidence that Ed would do a good job.  JB stripped his own frame of parts except for the headset.  Ed had a color chart of Della Santa paint jobs and pointed out the exact one, so JB's going to keep it the same.  Lots of painted frames there to admire too.

That stuck chain link that caused me problems on Wednesday night seemed to be completely healed... no issues this morning.

Wildlife Encounter:  lots of deer again, and one really cute coyote.

At The Summit, Al was there with Joe Shami promoting the 77 Turnouts Project .  Al made a video of me requesting that all my fellow cyclists contact State Senator Glazer and ask for funding.  I'll be sure to post that if it ever goes up.

UPDATE!  It's on the MountDiabloCyclists Facebook page, copied in a new post because I'm the star.

Here's the link to the relevant politico:

https://sd07.senate.ca.gov/contact/email

Me and Famous Joe
He's at 550 consecutive weeks or so of Summit rides.

You don't want to hit one of these guys at descending speed - slow down and keep your eyes open. 

Sorry Steve - your photo was blurry.

Hey - An Eddy Merckx 7-Eleven!
Looks to be one of the reproduction versions.