2023 Diablo Day 15 - Wednesday Junction

Charlie's out of town. JB's injured. I went for a solo SGR ride to Junction. Looks like this will be my regular ride for a few weeks.

My knee was really cooperative today - felt fine out of the saddle and I even sprinted for a couple yellow lights on the way home. Maybe I can still get stronger and stabler.

I needed to feel like I accomplished something though, so I decided I would try to get a PB on the last mile segment to Junction. So I took it kind of easy, at first - getting more familiar with the road on the south. Then at the appropriate time I blasted off and managed to not blow up... but didn't manage a PB either.

I saw at least three electric bikes, at least two of the riders were younger than me. I'm thinking once you go electric it's harder to choose the human powered bike from the stable... so I'm not going there anytime soon. At Junction some women got out of their car looking for the bathroom and one of them said something like "I can't believe you guys ride bikes up here, it looks so hard". I replied "It helps if you really love it."  

Well, better than sitting on a couch I guess.

OOOH, Purple!

I've named this rock "Son of Half Dome"

Dead tree cleanup is a major activity on Diablo - there were about a dozen workers and three heavy equipments.

2023 Diablo Day 14 - Saturday Junction

Started off a little chilly and windy, but I was prepared. Then it warmed up and calmed down just enough to unzip my jacket.

I'm not sure why everybody chose today, but The Mountain was crowded with cyclists and poppy photographers enjoying themselves. Lots of the riders were unfamiliar with the park and I must have looked authoritative because they all asked me about where water was and what The Summit elevation was and such.

I figured this guy had to be an Iowa Hawkeye. JB is having his old Tom Teasdale repaired and repainted in a Hawkeye theme too. 

 

2023 Diablo Day 13 - Wednesday Junction

1. We're having some good weather.
2. Paris Roubaix is in the books.
3. Time to bring out the fair weather bike.

Yesterday I was getting the Klein (Mike) ready for today's ride; checking the brakes and tires and chain... that kind of stuff. I wasn't sure how I'd do since the foul-weather bike (Eddy) that I've been riding since October has lower gears and different pedals. But it was nice to polish him up and I enjoyed feeling how much lighter Mike is than Eddy.

The call was made, the ride would be at 1:30. It was the first day of the year with NO tights or knee warmers, NO jacket or arm warmers, and short sleeves... glorious... still had the knee brace on though.

We all got to The Gate at about the same time. JB made a joke about how he wasn't feeling super yet after a week of illness and injury, so it would be up to me to give Charlie a "ride for his money". I joked back that now he'd blown my secret attack it would be a good idea to hold back for a while. But suddenly, before The Bump, I started feeling good and Charlie started to fade, and I had a good gap. I didn't really think I could hold the lead the whole way but I gave it a shot anyway and wound up having the fastest time since last July. I was thinking my knee didn't hurt very much, although it was still causing some stability problems out of the saddle. And my cardio fitness has been improving over the last couple weeks. I had nothing left in the tank when I got done; heaving and quivering but it felt good to be able to push myself hard. Not saying I'll be able to continue this trend... but not saying not either.

Special note today - the Brontosaurus Tree fell down some time over the winter. It will be missed.

At Junction we talked about gun control, disk brakes, and road construction.

Then after a safe but exhilarating descent, I finished her off with a perfect bunny hop over the Bott's Dots at The Gate. Harbinger for a good year.

This guy told us he broke his rear derailleur and had already called for a ride home. Tough break.

The poppies yet bloom.

2023 Diablo Day 12 - Saturday Junction

I was all set for a regular Saturday Morning Ride, but JB texted me that he was too sick, so I decided to go up South Gate Road.

This'll probably be my last ride of the season on my Eddy Merckx - I usually say that happens after Paris-Roubaix and it worked out perfectly this year... assuming I don't find a big problem with my Klein that hasn't seen service since last autumn.

Still a LITTLE too chilly to go without knee warmers and a wind breaker though.

There was some kind of hiking event going on with lots of volunteers around Curry Point.

At Junction I talked to a guy who said he usually rides an electric bike but he was preparing for a hiking/camping trip and was trying to build up his endurance and strength.

2023 Diablo Day 11 - Wednesday Junction

A beautiful day! Just a windbreaker vest was almost too warm on the way up.

I got some new bottle cages at Sports Basement - they didn't have any red ones though so I may have to get black bar tape to match and go with a whole new fashion statement.  Paris-Roubaix is usually the event that triggers switching over to my fair-weather bike anyway so I've got some lay-up maintenance to do.

At Junction we met a guy who talked about steel bikes and criterium crashes. He said there were no poppies on SGR, and I told him they were all over NGR like the Wizard of Oz.

Charlie's going to be gone for a few weeks - this calls for flexibility in ride coordination. 

Lots of smoke from this vineyard - visible from far away.
Not sure what they were doing, but I was happy it wasn't a grass fire.

Looks like Jack and Amy.

Good spot for poppy photography.

Even JB stopped for a poppy photo.

This is my new screensaver.