2025 Diablo Day 30 - Saturday Morning Junction

Last ride in July and it felt like early March. Drizzle, fog, wind, and chilly.

JB's still out with surgical posts in his thumb. The surgeon left little hooks outside of his hand so they can pull the posts out when he's healed without cutting him open again; I've never heard of that before.

Also this is the penultimate day of Le Tour - my favorite stages this year were 1) the 14th stage to Super Bagnere in the Pyrenees that Tadej dominated , and 2) Thursday's 18th stage to La Plagne won by Ben O'Connor.  I really like the exciting stage win competitions more than the GC long game.

Foggy and drizzly for the lower half.

My photo program offered to let AI edit this picture - this was the result.

SGR is ripe for some repair work.

These guys heard the reggaeton music on my Diablo MP3 player and gave me a thumbs-up!

 

2025 Diablo Day 29 - Saturday Morning Junction

 JB's out recovering from thumb surgery, so I got a late start and took it easy.  

Wildlife Encounter:  two young deer near the Tire Poppers - they were crossing the road in front of me and posed perfectly, but they were in the shadows and the photo didn't turn out.

The Death Ride is over, and STP is today, and it was hot... maybe that contributed to the low rider count today.

2025 Diablo Day 28 - Saturday Morning Junction

Nice weather, felt good.

JB broke his thumb a couple weeks ago and has surgery scheduled for next week. He thinks he can ignore the doctor's advice to not ride for a few months.

It's Climbin' Cathy P.

2025 Diablo Day 27 - Saturday Morning Junction

HOT!

Can you believe it is ALMOST the 4th?

Many riders training for Markleeville.

Turkey parade - I stopped traffic behind me and the cars enjoyed the entertainment as well.

 

2025 Diablo Day 26 - Saturday Morning Junction

 Felt good - forgot to blog until a week later!

Hi Rick!

2025 Diablo Day 25 - Saturday Morning Junction

Perfect weather today - just right for arm warmers on the way up.

 

This guy was smoooooth

These two put up a valiant effort, but I managed to pass them before Junction.

2025 Diablo Day 24 - Saturday Morning Junction

After DNFing last week from the heat, I was ready for today.

JB and I decided to go a little earlier just in case we got another heat wave.

Weather was a little chilly at the bottom, then sunny and a little warmer at altitude.

I had a spinal tap for my research program on Wednesday and I was still a little sore.

OK, no more excuses.  RIDE!

Wildlife Encounter:  half a dozen turkeys.  Two of them had their necks wrapped around each other and I couldn't tell if they were fighting or mating. Interesting parallel with my date night movie later in the evening: Fatal Attraction. Unfortunately the Diablo Bike Cam missed the shot.

2025 Diablo Day 23 - Mission Unaccomplished

 First heat wave of the year and I was un-ready. I thought I was doing everything right, but a couple miles in the sun and the steep and I started to feel queasy and dizzy and I didn't feel safe to continue so I turned down.  Hopefully I will acclimate and won't have to abandon every time the temperature goes up.

Roadkill Report:  a California King snake - I had to turn him over for a good photo and he didn't flinch so he was most sincerely dead. 

2025 Diablo Day 22 - Saturday Morning Junction

Memorial Day weekend, and I couldn't find my patriotic socks.

I packed an extra Hammer Gel thinking I might attempt Juniper today but my knee was complaining too much. I'm starting to think I've got nothing but more pain to look forward to - the best I can hope for is a slow decline.

 

This RAT was one of the biggest I've ever seen. He looked like he was about ready to die; must've been internal injuries because I didn't see any external damage.  He could crawl but not scurry and didn't even try to hide.

I was able to hang with these two riders for while despite their punishing pace.

Thanks to this guy - I passed somebody!