Ride up Mt. Diablo the day after Thanksgiving

[jobob]

Ride up Mt. Diablo via the South Gate entrance

Friday Nov. 26

Time: TBD
- I'd rather it wasn't too early though, does 10 am sound reasonable? I could be talked into 9am, but much earlier than that I might get whiney.

Meeting location: TBD
- V or Kim, any suggestions on a good place to meet up near the South Gate entrance?

.... OK, it's a start .... :rolleyes:

Here are some maps & directions (http://www.mdia.org/parkmap.htm)

- Jo "organizational genius, not" bob

[Veronica]

Probably the train museum. They have parking and if open restrooms.

[jobob]

That sounds good. OK, here's the proposed parking/meeting location:

Museum of the San Ramon Valley (aka The Train Museum)
Corner of Railroad Ave. & W. Prospect Ave., Danville, CA 94526

directions here:
http://www.museumsrv.org/directions.html

Looks like they open at 1 pm on Friday, so it won't be open when we start out. I've never been there before - are there fast food joints or other places w. restrooms nearby?

[Trek420]

sounds good, I just might be there, will call you if not going. I do have some trepidations, haven't been doing much hill riding, is this doable by mortals? Sounds hard.

[Adventure Girl]

How many miles and how much climbing is involved? How long does it take for (as Trek420 says) "mortals"? How many pieces of pumpkin pie do you think the ride will burn off? The stupid T-day calculator says I need to ride about 58 miles at 15mph, but I doubt Mt. Diablo is a 15mph ride...:eek:

I have an offer to go mountain biking on Friday. Hmmmm Decisions, decisions...

[jobob]

Well, it isn't easy ... but we'll take it slow. No worries if you decide to only do part of it.

Make sure to bring water and snax. There are many places along the way to re-fill your water bottle.

We'll meet up at the parking lot at the corner of Railroad and West Prospect in Danville, and hope to roll out by 10 am (no-one has suggested an altrenative time, so I'm assuming that's OK) . I have a red Subaru outback wagon.

But, if there is a good chance of rain that morning, I won't do it. Check here Friday am.

[jobob]

15 mph !! LOL ! There were sections I was doing 4 mph, wondering how much slower I could go before tipping over :D

Now the downhill, thatsanothermatter. I would be little miss polite and wave cars by to pass me, but then when the downhill would get twisty-curvy I would be breathing down their necks. Wheeee!

[Veronica]

AG I hope you come! It's nice ride and my HRM says I burn well over 1,000 calories doing it. :p

V.

[Trek420]

well, I have a green Olds Alero and it'll have Lavendar Menace the Mondonico on top...that's pretty unmistakeable. If there's no rain that is. You said plenty of places to fill up the bottles...how about bathrooms ;-)

[jobob]

There are a few picnic areas along the route, with bathrooms

[aka_kim]

Mt. Diablo is my favorite ride, and I'm hoping I can do the Friday ride... but I've been off the bike for 6 weeks, and now seem to be catching a cold. So I'll take my zinc and think healthy thoughts and, hopefully, be there on Friday. If I am, I'll only be going to the Junction, though.

AG, since you race, I think you must be a super mortal. Super mortals can make it to the summit in under an hour. When I'm fit I can make it in 1:20. The downhill depends on how daring you are -- figure 20-40 mph for 12 miles.

[Veronica]

Man Kim - you're a goddess! An hour and twenty - that's terrific!

V.

[aka_kim]

That was "when fit" -- like last year. This year I was barely able to break 1:30. Now that I've had almost no aerobic activity for 6 weeks, I basically have all the fitness of a 2-pack a day smoker.

These times are during the Mountain Challenge, w/o stopping. I *have* discovered how nice it can be to stop and, hmm no roses to smell, enjoy the sights.

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by aka_kim
AG, since you race, I think you must be a super mortal.I only race mountain bikes. I am very, very mortal on my road bike!

And speaking of "mortal", we are talking about "of or relating to humankind," not "of or relating to, or accompanying death", right?:p

I haven't even decided to do this ride yet, but I've started my list of excuses for my poor performance....

Haven't been riding much lately.
Been riding too much, legs are burned out.
My back was hurting.
Leg cramps.
Bike wasn't shifting right.
Didn't get enough sleep last night.
Bonked.
Didn't eat enough.
Ate too much.
Didn't eat the right things.
Too much pumpkin pie.
I've got a cough due to cold.

[jobob]

heh heh .... I didn't keep track of how long Lee and I took last weekend to make it up to the summit, but it had to have been at least 2 hours, perhaps closer to 2 1/2. That's riding time, mind you - not counting the stops to take photos, the stops to chat w. the folks at the Junction (it's so much fun to oooh and ahh over other people's bikes - and our Rivs get a lot of attention), the restroom stops, and, uh, the stops because we had to...

But we made it to the top :D

- Jo "yeah I sure am pokey"

[aka_kim]

You'll be feeling your mortality (of or relating to death) on the final 17% grade :).

Add another excuse: brakes rubbing (and, boy, does that suck when climbing).

[jobob]

Those are all perfectly acceptable excuses ... mind if I co-opt a few? :D

Seriously, one thing Lee and I learned was that you have to do it at your own pace, and if it's slow as mo-lasses, so be it. If you struggle to keep to someone else's pace you might burn out.

I wouldn't mind re-grouping at various spots along the way, there are a lot of logical places: the South Gate, Rock City (those of you who have never seen it before will want to poke around there a little anyhow), the Junction, and, if we get past that, there are a lot of scenic spots on the way up to the Summit.

Those of you who want to scoot on ahead, that's perfectly fine, just give me a wave as you whiz by on the way back down. :D

[jobob]

You'll be feeling your mortality (of or relating to death) on the final 17% grade . hah, I walked that sucker ! I figured I made it up 99% of the way, so I felt no shame.

[Veronica]

Well Jo, this time you'll have to ride that 17%. :D If Thom and I can do it on the tandem, you can do it.

I usually stop in the lower parking lot, get a drink, blow my nose, make sure I'm in my lowest gear and that no vehicles are coming. AND if one does come up behind you, stay in the middle, some idiots will try to squeeze by you if you are on the side and there really isn't room.

V.

[jobob]

I usually stop in the lower parking lot, get a drink, blow my nose, make sure I'm in my lowest gear and that no vehicles are coming. Ah, there's the rub, the Vehicle Intimidation Factor. Nothing like creeping up a near vertical incline with a big ol' SUV a bit too close to your posterior for comfort, oy. That's what happened with us, except the lady driving said SUV was quite nice and she probably wouldn't have minded creeping up behind us. But I needed an excuse to bail and that one was handy :D

[jobob]

We're not scaring anyone off, are we? :eek:

[Adventure Girl]

Originally posted by jobob We're not scaring anyone off, are we? :eek: I'm scared, but I'll be there. I'm in a yellow beetle with a bike rack on top. I hope I can find you all. See you in the morning. Mapquest says it takes 1 hour and 36 minutes. I should leave my house around 8:00ish. That gives me a little time to get a little lost or to chicken out!:eek:

[jobob]

No fear, AG! Lee and I are slooow climbers. We'll probably drive Veronica & Thom nutz :D

Even if we go only part of the way up, maybe to the Junction, it's still a lovely ride. And it'll be great to finally meet you & Dita (you'll be there, right, Trek???). And it would be great if you could make it, Kim.

I forgot to mention, be prepared for it to be warm on the climb and chilly (or downright cold) on the descent. Long-fingered gloves are very nice to have.

See ya, - Jo.

[Veronica]

Yseterday the temp at the top was in the low to mid 40s, so plan your clothing accordingly.

V.

[aka_kim]

I'm planning to come too. Are we meeting at 10, or riding at 10?

[jobob]

Hopefully we can head off at 10-ish, but we'll wait for you.

Just spoke to Dita, she's coming too. This'll be great :D

[Trek420]

wheee, that was fun, let's do that again sometime! Perfect conditions for the ride, great views (yeah, that's why I'm stopping, pant pant, just for the view, pant wheeze) great company, the puhrty steel lugged bikes got to talk to each other, good to meet the west coast Team Estrogen (and TE mens auxilliary too!), gotta do this again sometime soon. :D :p :cool:

[aka_kim]

It was fun! Thanks to Jo for organizing it.

[Trek420]

yes, thanks Jo! Also thanks for the tip Kim, it helped a lot to brake from the drops, who knew? You and everyone else it seems. ;) :p

[jobob]

It was wonderful, ladies!

Congratulations to Trek for making it very nearly all the way up - when we met up with you coming back, I think you were less than a mile away from the summit. That is a major accomplishment! Now you know you'll be able to do the whole thing next time.

And kudos to AG, who made it all the way to the top including, I might add, all the way up that nasty 17% incline to the upper lot. Lee made it all the way up to the parking lot too. And me, wellll, notsomuch .... I made it about 1/3 of the way and decided, nope, this ain't fun anymore, and I got off and walked :p And yet, I shall feel no shame :D

I was a little worried about the ride down, since so many cars passed us going up to the Summit, I thought it would be a steady stream on the way down too. But we encountered surprisingly few cars on the way down, so we basically had the road to ourselves :cool: The ride down is such a blast - AG confided that she was really worried about it, but you wouldn't know it riding with her - I suspect she was having fun, at least as we approached the bottom :D

Lordy, it was cold though - it was chilly to begin with, then when you factor in the wind chill generated by a 30 mph descent .... brrrr. But nothing a Latte at Starbucks couldn't cure!

I posted some photos here
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jophotos@pacbell.net/album?.dir=/d2df&.src=ph&.tok=phUk2HCBJKjVYtCt

The photos don't capure how beautiful it is up there. It was a bit cloudy so visibily wasn't too great - someday I'll make it up there on a clear day!

[Adventure Girl]

Woohooooo! I had a GREAT time yesterday. The ride was fun and the company was fantastic! What a great group!

My goal was to just make it up and down safely, and it all worked out well. That last 17% grade section was pretty tough, but thankfully it is a short stretch. Veronica told me to watch my odometer and watch the 2/10ths tick over, but I forgot to switch my computer from grade to miles. So as I looked at it, I saw the grade go from 10% to 15%... :eek: I looked away before it showed 17%.

Jobob's husband, Lee was riding ahead of me and I was just staring at his back tire and trying to ignore my heart rate monitor, my screaming lungs and the car coming up behind me. I imagined Phil Liggett saying something like, "Every fibre of her body is telling her to stop, but she soldiers on with all her might!!" And as I got past half-way, I was determined and I just turned the pedals over.... Whew!!! When I got to the top, I felt like doing some pushups!!:p (inside joke).

I was pretty intimidated about doing this ride, but I'm really glad I went! Thanks to all! Let's do it again!:cool: :D :p :)

[Veronica]

Yeah!!!!! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it. It is a really nice ride. That's funny about your odometer. :p I think I would freak if I had one that showed grade as I was riding. My HRM will show it after.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get our group pic posted. We went to Cyclocross races today at Sears Point, got a lot of great photos there. You need a lot of coordination to do cyclocross. :D Not for me in this lifetime I think.

V.

[jobob]

oops, I forgot to post this ...

http://tinypic.com/omn7k

SF Bay Area Chapter of the TE Forum
(AG, aka_kim, Trek420, V., and jobob)

[CorsairMac]

Thanks for posting pixs jo - as I don't live in your state or anywhere near Mt Diablo I was following along as a specatator and was hoping ya'll would do an "after-ride" post - which you did. The pixs were just the icing on the cake. Looks like a gorgeous, tough, awesome, wonderful ride! Hats off to all! AG- what cyclometer do you use? I would like one that shows incline as I'm always either climbing those darn things or descending them! (PS - snow today and I mean SNOW! in New Mexico - what ARE they thinking?)

[Trek420]

as we stopped at the formation known as Rock City we discussed if the formation was Glacial. I think jobob thought it looked glacial, my theory was either sedimentary or volcanic. For the tie breaking vote I went to a friend of mine, Scott Hassler, a Phd in Geology. Scott writes

Hi Dita,

No worries wrt rock question. No glaciers in this part of California, at least in the past 900 million years. Rock City is composed of sedimentary rocks, specifically layers of sandstone and shale (originally muds) that formed in deep marine environments. Anyway, at this part of Mt. Diablo, the originially horizontal layers have been folded and faulted to near vertical orientations. What you all saw is
1) differential weathering, i.e., the sandstone beds are more resistant that are the shales, so the former erode slower, giving you "fins" of sandstone and valleys of shale,
2) the cavity like in your picture is a
reflection of the same process - it's where, at the bottom or top of a sandstone bed, there's some mud mixed in, and it erodes easier. Then wind/rain/frost/people gradually make it bigger. Technically these are called "cavolli" tho I forget why.

Hope this helps, see you soon I hope.
Cheers, Scott


so folks...now you know...the things you see and learn cycling!!:rolleyes:

[Veronica]

We have more pictures of Diablo taken over a couple of days last year if you're interested.

V.

Diablo Pics (http://tandemhearts.com/Mount-Diablo/index.html)