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 ....

Here are some maps & directions

- 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...

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

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.

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?

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

- Jo "yeah I sure am pokey"