2019 WNR 28

Hot today, but I felt GREAT.  On my first ride up I tried for a PB to Junction.  I was on a 39-minute pace until the last couple miles where I faded bad.  Didn't even make a top 3.

This is what failure looks like.

Tarantula Tally:  One crawler near Diablo Ranch

Back to my vehicle where I had a ClifBar and a couple of water bottles on ice for the second time up.  No one else came so it was another solo run.  I took it quite a bit easier but then I got a hamstring cramp at Diablo Ranch.  I stopped for a few minutes and then willed myself to continue despite the pain - then I started to get another cramp in my other leg, but I denied it to myself and kept on going.

Wildlife Encounter:  Deer, turkeys, wolves.

Are these the ranchers' dogs?  Are they really letting dogs loose on the road?  Fortunately they're not aggressive, but don't seem to have any traffic safety sense either.

Roadkill Report:  Bambi

The sun is setting on the 2019 Wednesday Night Riding Season.

Bonus Post - Signed Up For Foxy's !

DiabloScott and Rick are doing Foxy's again this year - it was Rick's idea but it didn't take much arm twisting.  20191019; sunrise will be 07:19 - weather is sometimes dicey for this event.

We both registered this week before the price goes up.

Here's Rick in the 2008 version we did together.  He's wearing his Climb to Kaeser jersey he had just earned.

Rick took this photo of me with a big bite of muffin in my mouth at the lunch stop (also the 2008 version).  I still wear that jersey, and I still have that helmet available for a loaner.  Still riding my Klein. I should probably get some new stuff.  I think the prescription for my sunglasses has changed since then though.

In 2008, Rick was riding his yellow Trek 5200(?) - later nicknamed "Colonel Mustard".  He's had about 3 new bikes since then.

Of course, Foxy's 2019 will be the 5-year anniversary of Foxy's 2014, in which your humble blogger crashed and broke 7 ribs and was off the bike for six weeks.  Rick was with me on that ride too and watched me eat pavement.  I'm not at all nervous about doing this ride again, but there is an element of confronting my demons that will be good to get out of the way.

Mostly though it'll be a real nice opportunity to catch up with Rick since we don't see each other so much anymore.  We used to do lots of centuries together (STP, Mojave by Moonlight, Death Valley, Canyon, Wine Country, Napa, Primavera, Tierra Bella); a lot of those were before I was blogging. There will be some reminiscing for sure.

2019 SMR 30

Cold morning turned warm pretty fast for some beautiful riding on a beautiful mountain.
Creek beds and such are all dried up though. Tarantulas are out. Gusty winds were observed.  Autumn equinox is Monday - summer is surrendering.

JB will be absent for the Wednesday Night Ride and also next Saturday.  He called about his frame repair and Ed Litton told him the repair is done and now he needs a couple weeks for painting.  That sounded like a long time until he described the kind of 20-step painting detail scheme that guys who commission custom bikes insist on... multiple primers, multiple color coats, multiple clear coats, wet sanding, decals... it should be beautiful.

At Junction I was happy to see Linda K who isn't a Saturday regular but was getting in some extra elevation because she's not satisfied until she has four times the vertical as everybody else.  I also met her friend James and we hit it off with lots of small talk topics.

Cal Jersey Autoblog

I think this Cal Jersey has made the blog before... might be some kind of professional photo-bomber.

Me and Sal

Sal had this cool Garmin rear blinkie thing that also acted like a rear-view mirror on his computer head somehow.

Me and James

I gotta get better at checking the sun position before I do these rolling selfies.

The almost famous Robert.

Nancy said I was her Diablo Inspiration.. that's about the best compliment I could get.

Ranger Jordan gave me the "thumbs up" on my completely safe almost complete stop at Juniper.

Wildlife Encounter:  two snakes... might've been rattlers... might've been dead.  Also a deer that surprised us in the ditch.

Home in time to take the family to San Francisco for a late-summer day on the beach.

2019 WNR 27

Today's objective:  PRs in BOTH Split 2 and Split 5.  This will give me first place for all 6 Splits in the BC Diablo Climbers club.

Success, of course.  Split 2 on Junction 1, and Split 5 on Junction 2.

Now I just need to get the Gate to Junction PR faster than Colin's and I'll have the whole deck.

Tarantella Tally:  one crawler below The Bump... my first one of the season!

Wildlife Encounter:  Lots of deer - I stopped to watch some younger ones frollicking at Coyote Flats - they were clearly just enjoying life and playing with each other.  Also lots of turkeys.

So just me on Junction 1, and then on Junction 2 Donna and Shawn joined me.  Shawn and I pulled ahead of Donna pretty quickly, and I told Shawn of my goal to PR on Split 5 and then I took off.

There were two loose dogs near the Lower Ranch - probably belonged to the ranchers.

Split 2 is a 1-mile segment that begins at the Park Boundary sign.

Wildlife Encounter:  WOLF!

Split 5 is a 1-mile segment that begins at this culvert marker.

Hey - there's ED!  

Photo Credit: Shawn

When your tires on your fair-weather bike are worn out just as you are thinking about transitioning to your foul-weather bike, you know the season has gone well and things will just keep falling into place.

2019 SMR 29

This will probably be the last weekend that's really warm.  Word is to expect RAIN on Monday. I'm thinking through the process of switching to my winter bike, and I'm looking forward to it.

Wildlife Encounter:  one deer at the approach; and the biggest flock of turkeys I've ever seen, at the Lower Ranch.

DiabloShoutouts to:  Linda K (twice!), Samer, Kasters, and Nancy.

JB had a couple mechanical issues with his folding bike - got them figured out but he's really missing his road bike.

Lots of activity on The Mountain today - maybe folks training for The Diablo Challenge... only FOUR weeks away.

Taking a photo of your bike in front of this sign is an indication you're an out of towner - WELCOME!

Out of towner passed us like a boss a few minutes later.

There were Spare The Air alerts earlier this week, but the air was good today.

Linda K FlyBy#1

This guy also passed me like a boss ... on The Wall.

Linda K FlyBy#2

Cal Jersey Autoblog

Nancy always has a smile and wave for me.

2019 WNR 26

Didn't have time to do a double today.  I drove to The Church and saw Shawn and Kathryn getting off the trail on to Bancroft and gave them a friendly honk.  Kathryn has been trying out different saddles, so far none is right but she's getting closer.  I rode with her for a while and chatted as everyone else rode ahead.  She encouraged me to drop her so I said I would do a Segment PR attempt at Split 3 - The Bump.  This was totally unplanned but I figured "what the hell?"  I think I remembered that I was pretty close to Kevin's 1st place in the BC Climbers group the last time I tried, so I stood a decent chance of doing it - weather was good, got a new chain on, wearing my favorite Tom Boonen jersey.

So I released my inner Kraken and burned through the segment, passing Charlie and Shawn and JB.  Seemed like a good effort, and JB and Shawn passed me back during my recovery.

Didn't find out for sure until I uploaded Strava but YES!  Almost a minute better than Colin too - he's going to get annoyed with me.

Shawn knew some of the other folks at Junction and we all swapped stories about equipment and weather and bugs and other riders we know.

Everybody saw tarantulas except me.

Charlie and I agreed maybe we can reschedule the Wednesday rides for early afternoon once Daylight Wasting Time begins - probably be just me and him and that'd be fine.  He was already thinking about fenders on his bike.