Sunday Feb. 13 Mount Diablo Road Ride

[jobob]

It was great !

I had my tiny digital with which I'm getting pretty good at taking pictures while I'm riding (just so long as I have it set on wide angle and don't actually try to frame the image while I'm riding, LOL). Trouble is, by the time I got around to taking photos-on-the-fly, V. and Kim were so far ahead they were just eeensy little specs, and Thom, Sarah, Jenny, and Bill were just barely in range. What can I say, Lee and I were being pokey !

wait for meeeeeeee!

Speaking of, since rain was threatening I brought Pokey, with his fatter tires and fenders, rather than Dusty my light & fast 'racing' bike (no I cannot keep a straight face when I say that ) One thing I forgot was that Dusty is geared a bit lower than Pokey and oy, I was wishing for those last couple of gears today. There's a steep switchback shortly before we reach the Junction, and today I was crraaawwwlling around it - right about then I decided, nope, Pokey and I are going to call it a day when we reach the Junction, thank you very much.

Seems like all the others were in various states of indecision about whether to continue on up - the fact that the fog was rolling in wasn't doing much for people's resolve.

Kim, Sarah, Thom, and V. apparently conserving her energy

Jenny & Bubba

Then Jenny let on she really wanted to reach the summit, Thom gallantly offered to take her up there, V decided if they were going she was going too, Bubba said he was game, and basically the mob mentality set in and off everyone went - though Kim and Sarah wisely mentioned they were considering only going as far as Juniper camp and to play it by ear from there. Once they all left Lee and I looked at each other, he said how he'd like to head up for Juniper too, and I was feeling better so off we went, at our own typical blistering pace.

Like I mentioned, the fog was starting to roll in at this point. Luckily we were prepared for the cold & damp (wool jerseys rule!!) and it was really neat riding up the fog-shrouded mountain. Visibility wasn't too bad at this point, and there were hardly any cars on the road. So I was enjoying that odd sensation of being in my own little cocoon-ish world. We eventually reached Juniper, where we saw Kim and Sarah who were preparing to head back down.

The fog was considerably thicker at this point...
this way up

...and it was very cold & damp and the wind was beginning to kick up so it was not a hard decision in the least to head on back down. So Lee & I said our hellos & seeya'laters to Kim & Sarah as they vanished back down into the fog, and we proceeded to put on all of our available layers for what promised to be a damp & chilly descent.

this way down

We've done this ride enough times that we knew what clothing to bring so the descent was great fun rather than death by frostbite. After a bit Lee had a minor equipment issue so we pulled over for a few moments, and Bubba pulled up soon thereafter. He told us that it was even foggier up near the summit and the wind had really picked up (oh joy). So we set off again and eventually met up with Kim & Sarah who were waiting for us at the park gate, and we all proceeded back to where we had parked. Thom and V. and a triumphant Jenny joined us a bit later - they made it all the way up in the fog and wind. Oy.

We then rewarded ourselves with some yummy burritos. I think it's safe to say a grand time was had by all !

- Jo.

[jobob]

... was Thom able to take a movie of the descent?

[Veronica]

Nice pictures Jo. Sadly no movie. Thom thinks there were problems with the battery being cold. You are so right about wool! My cashmere jersey was toasty!

BTW I was not conserving energy. My knees were achy from all the manual labor I did at the Maritime Park yesterday and I was rubbing them to warm them up.

V.

[Veronica]

Here's a link to the pictures Thom got. I'm too tired to try to figure out how to embed them in that fancy way Jo did so you'll just have to go to our website and look at them. They do get bigger when you click on them. Let me know if you want copies. We can e mail you full size jpgs.

http://www.tandemhearts.com/bike/diablo-1/index.html

01 is Jenny at the summit.
02 is Lee's Atlantis with his freshly shellaced cork tape.
03 is Bill (better known as Bubba)
04 is Sarah (our SadieKate)
05 is Jenny
06 is my back with condensation building up on the cashmere
07 is Jenny - still at the summit.

We didn't leave her there did we?

V.

[SadieKate]

Jobob, nice travelogue! V, we heard about the cookies all the way home in the car. We feel gypped (is that how you spell it). Bubba keeps talking about how much fun he's having with everyone but he wants a cookie next time.

All the pictures are great, can you both share? You've got my address and I'll send Jenny's.

We did learn that everyone seems to be motivated by food -- promise chocolate cookies, Paydays, burdos, whatever and we'll be there. Found out that Kim also likes macaroons!

[jobob]

But of course! They're pretty large, the ones I posted I re-sized first.
I can put them on a CD that I could mail to you if you could send me your snailmail.
I have lot more than what I posted, including a few more of you guys as teeny leetle specs riding off in the distance.

[SadieKate]

Cool! I may have to print one off and post it next to the TV cuz the evil Coach Troy is going to start yelling at me this week. I'll look at the photos of the mountain for inspiration.

[Trek420]

jobob wrote: "I forgot was that Dusty is geared a bit lower than Pokey and oy, I was wishing for those last couple of gears today."

Just what I needed, another reason to lust after a back up bike...to add to the winter trainer aspect...different gearing, had not thought of that ;-)

sounds like a wonderful ride. Sorry I had to return a u-haul I'd rented to bring stuff down from Sonoma so decided to strap the mountain bike in the u-haul and ride back. Hardly scenic but any ride's a good ride.

Taking a detour I discovered where the local bmx park is and a funny moment was the warm wave from the bmx'ers as I rode by. I guess bike clothes brand me as "one of the tribe" as opposed to "riding a bike till I can afford a car or the DUI ages off the record".

Want to know "did you wear pearls with the jersey?"