"Easy" ride up Diablo

[Veronica]

JoBob and I are going to ride up the South Side of Diablo on Friday July 30. We're meeting at the train museum in Danville at 9 AM. We'll have lunch in Danville after the ride. The plan is to go to the Junction and return to Danville. I estimate maybe 20 miles round trip with 2300 feet of climb. Don't let that scare you. :p The south side grade is fairly gentle. If you haven't tried the mountain (or have ridden it a zillion times!) and you have or can get the day off, come join us. It'll be fun!


V.

[jobob]

And rest assured, you won't be bringing up the rear.
That'll be my job :D

[aka_kim]

Sounds like fun, I should be able to make it.

(JoBob, thanks for the heads up.)

Kim

[snapdragen]

Waaaaaah! I gotta work and take the dog to the vets! Have fun guys, maybe next time!

[Veronica]

Hey Kim,

Maybe we can talk jo into doing the whole mountain. It's really easy....



V.

[Trek420]

&^% I have to work Friday...and Saturday.

[aka_kim]

The whole mountain? I haven't found any climbing easy recently. But... if we take it slow... who knows. And it is so beautiful and serene up there...

Work? Who needs it? Everyone should "bunk off" now and then.

[jobob]

Originally posted by Veronica
Hey Kim,
Maybe we can talk jo into doing the whole mountain. It's really easy....

You guys are evil. :p

Hey, if you're willing to go at a snail's pace, I'm game. Unless it's really hot - I don't handle heat very well. I turn an amazing shade of lobster red.

- Jo("yes I'm nutz")bob

[Veronica]

We'll see how it goes. There's a Baskin Robbins in Danville. Maybe we'll just hang out there. :)

V.

[jobob]

Well, if I make it up the mtn, I'll reward myself with 2 scoops instead of one!

Have you noticed that everything tastes better after a ride?

[Adventure Girl]

Have a good time tomorrow! How many are going? If you get 5 you can reenact stage 17 with Lance, Kloden, Ullrich, Basso and Landis. I would be Landis (who put in a strong effort, but finished 13 seconds behind). Or maybe I'd be Jimmy Casper who finished dead last on the stage over 40 minutes back!:eek:

[aka_kim]

I think it's just 3 of us ... but I can't immediately think of a mountain stage with 3 finishers for us to reenact....

We could make up something! Veronica could be Lance, because she's got the competitive drive; JoBob could be Voeckler, with the indomitable spirit; I could be some whining slacker -- but do they have any of those in the pro peloton? Ah, what a battle!

[Veronica]

Aww.... why do I gotta be Lance? That means working hard. I'd like to be Decker. But could I have Hincappie's legs?

V.

[snapdragen]

You can have his legs.........I get the rest of him. Bada boom!

Have a great time tomorrw - take pictures!!

[jobob]

what have I gotten myself into ? :rolleyes:

[jobob]

Originally posted by Veronica
Aww.... why do I gotta be Lance? That means working hard. I'd like to be Decker.
But could I have Hincappie's legs? Whoa, V., careful what you ask for...

http://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs.nsf/updateframesetcall?openform&04tourSt18

... & scroll down to the 10th photo.

[Adventure Girl]

Ok... Forget the veins, but dang, those legs are lonnnnnnnnnnng! It's like his femur alone is as long as my whole leg!! <whistle sound>

[Veronica]

I'm really sorry I had to bail on you since the day is so nice.

I just got back from the vet. The good news is Tilda hasn't vomited since 2 AM, her heartbeat is fast but strong and regular. She doesn't have a fever. It wasn't a stroke and she's not having seizures.

The bad news is they don't know what is wrong. At first it seemed it might be a kidney problem because her left one is enlarged. But x rays show that she only has one kidney! Since the shape of it is smooth, the vet thinks it's probably not cancerous. So, they took a blood sample. I'll get the results tomorrow. They gave her some subcutaneous fluids and some medicine to help her feel less nauseous. She has a lot of gas in her intestinal tract - consistent with not having eaten for a day and a half. But they couldn't really give me an answer on why her hips seem to be bothering her. Right now the verdict seems to be a spider bite.

I'm hoping that since it is cooler than normal Thom and I will ride this afternoon. He gets home early on Fridays.

And hopefully we can reschedule today's ride.

V.

[aka_kim]

My fingers are crossed for Tilda, since after all, she is the sweetest girl in the world.

I'll be doing my regularly scheduled Diablo ride tomorrow anyway. From the other side, though.

Now back to George's legs. What is with the incredibly high socks Lance and George and others wear?? They make for even more ridiculous tan lines!?


Kim

[jobob]

My fingers are crossed for your kitty too!

I had a really nice day. After lolling around most of the morning with my coffee surfing the web, I went out through Coyote Hills park and went over the Dumbarton bridge. Then I thought I'd do a little exploring - I knew there was a bike trail on the other side of the Bay that lead out to the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, and I had a vague idea on where I might be able to find it, so I set off up University Avenue and turned left onto Bay Road. That put me into kind of a seedy section of East Palo Alto (*not* the place I'd be wanting a rear flat!) but then I soon found the start of the trail more-or-less where I thought it might be. Sweet.

Crossing over a wooden bridge it was easy to tell I was now entering the considerably more affluent Palo Alto (behind me was litter-strewn dead brown weeds, in front of me a manicured golf course :p) It took me a lot less time than I thought it would to reach the Shoreline Amiptheater and the nice park nearby. I had to slow down considerably by then, since there were a lot of people wandering about, but that's OK, it gave me a chance to take in the scenery - and I think it's really obnoxious when cyclists bomb past pedestrians on multi-use trails, it can really freak people out, particularly old folks. So hopefully I was being a good cycling ambassador ;)

Once out of the park I continued along for a ways and reached Moffet Field and its enormous blimp hangars. According to my cyclomter I had gone about 25 miles by then so I decided it was time to to turn back - I hadn't done anything near a 50 mile ride since before June, and I knew the headwinds were going to come up soon. On my way back I meandered around the park and past the pretty little lake near the Ampitheater, then retraced my route back home. All in all, a very fine day out !


I'll be doing my regularly scheduled Diablo ride tomorrow anyway. From the other side, though. Hmm, isn't that supposed to be the difficult side? Oy.

We'll manage a get-together one of these days!

Take care (& best of luck with Tilda)

- Jo.

[Veronica]

Well I'm glad you got to do something fun! I find the North side of Diablo harder. It seems to be a bit steeper and you don't get any downhill sections on it at all. Coming from the south side once you go through the gate at about 2.5 miles you get a pretty easy section with some downhill. It's always nice to look forward to. :p

V.

[Veronica]

She seems to be getting back to her normal loud, rumbling, purring self. Yesterday she couldn't jump at all - tried and couldn't get her back legs up off the floor. This morning as I was washing my face she jumped up on the counter to inspect the water!

She's 15 years old and 5.5 pounds of love. Here she is doing her Houdini impression. If the wind is blowing right, she's been able to get the door open.

V.

http://www.tandemhearts.com/pets/let-me-out