Mount Diablo - Nov 1 or 2

[melissam]

Yesterday dachshund and I completed Stage 1 of the Tour di Stupid. The route was perfect for a Tour prologue -- not too challenging, but with beautiful scenery. According to my Garmin Training Center, we climbed 2197 feet, which when translated to US feet, means that our total elevation gain was ~500 feet. OK, maybe a little more than 500 feet, but probably closer to 500 feet than 2200 feet.

We started at the civilized hour of 9am, and the wind was gusting pretty steadily from the west. Clouds were threatening to open up, but since this was the Tour di Stupid Prologue, dachshund and I decided to head out and see what happened.

The weather cooperated as we made our way up Calaveras past the nursery -- we stopped at Geary to shed some layers. We climbed up to the false summit and continued on the rolling hills until we got to the part before the Wall. There's a dirt driveway with a locked gate that's a great stopping place -- I used it to re-align my cleats the last time we were there. This time, we stopped and began chatting about ... well, lots of stuff. It's really interesting how the stream of consciousness works when you're out on a ride. I mean, one second you're talking about the upcoming election, and the next thing you know, you're trading stories about your misspent 20's.

Eventually, we decided to resume our ride back to the starting point. After about 100 yards of pedaling, the sky starts to open up. I put on my best "glass is half full" mentality and hoped it would just be a temporary drizzle. No such luck. After another mile or so, I decided that it'd be best to put the sleeves back on my jacket. Good thing, because my sleeves were already sopping wet. And this is with a wool jersey too! I took my full fingered gloves off to better work the zippers, and they were literally wringing wet. Oh boy, this is gonna be a fun ride back!

Meanwhile, dachshund decided to ditch her glasses, since she couldn't see thru the beads of water anyway. I tried a different approach -- looking over my glasses to see, but trying to use the glasses as a shield from the raindrops. Uh, my way was stupid, so I ended up ditching my glasses as well. I have to say that riding without corrective lenses is an interesting experience for a nearsighted person. Just ride into the blur! It really wasn't a problem...well, until we encountered the flock of turkeys in the side of the road on Calaveras. I think the leader of the turkey pack was trying to play chicken with the blind cyclist -- almost with devastating results.

I also confirmed the fact that my cycling shoes are not waterproof. Nope, not in the least. Every time I stood up to pedal, I'd squish out a bunch of water.

Actually, it was kind of fun.

We got back to the parking lot, no worse but much wetter for wear. I threw all modesty aside and changed right there in the parking lot. Dachshund, who's much more civilized, waited until we got to Bosco's to change.

It was a truly excellent adventure and a worthy prologue to the Tour di Stupid (Lite).

[dachshund]

Nice writeup, melissam!

The good news was that it only rained during half the ride. The bad news was that it rained during the descent. It's a blessing there weren't any horribly steep sections. Since it didn't feel very dangerous, it was actually pretty darn hilarious. Descending in the rain - not a bad skill to acquire. Brake early and often.

Sorry I couldn't warn you about the turkeys in time. What's the proper call for turkeys up ahead? "Turkeys up"? Hmm. Not sure. Gotta work on that.

[melissam]

Sorry I couldn't warn you about the turkeys in time. What's the proper call for turkeys up ahead? "Turkeys up"? Hmm. Not sure. Gotta work on that.

I think the better question is: how come you saw the turkeys and I didn't? Kind of an enigma...

[dachshund]

I think the better question is: how come you saw the turkeys and I didn't? Kind of an enigma...

Bird watcher... what can I say?

[Veronica]

It sounds like you had fun.

Veronica

[melissam]

It sounds like you had fun.

Veronica

Oh yes, I'm sure that dachshund will agree that we most certainly had fun.

[maillotpois]

Wow - sounds like a great time!! So sorry I was holed up inside with the NY Times and a cup of tea....