Devil Mountain Double spectator

[cindysue]

looks like Kim and I will be waiting for you along Ygnacio (I'm thinking it will be near the top at Clayton Road where you begin to enter Marsh Creek). will have to call kim in morning. see ya there - not sure you will get this before you leave....

[Veronica]

I'll look for you guys - not stopping though.


I'm scarfing my pre ride yogurt. It's going to be a nice day I think.

V.

[Jones]

Go Veronica! Have a great ride.

Jones

[SadieKate]

The Sacramento area has a lovely cloudy overcast that looks like it will hang around most of the day. What about the Bay? That would be a miracle after the hot weather we've suddenly had this week.

[Bike Goddess]

I just checked temps for Pleasanton- in the 70's with light winds. Looks like the stronger winds won't kick in until later this afternoon- Hopefully V will be on the way to Hamilton by then which is a bit more sheltered than the valley area.

Looking forward to updates during the day. I'll be calling Tom around 7:00 this evening to see where best I should go to cheer her on.

[cindysue]

it's cruddy here in Walnut Creek - but Veronica looked great when I saw her at 8:45. I basically drove around until I found her on Pine Hollow Road. She had apparently left her water bottles at home (see 3rd photo of the evian bottle). Unfortunately, I hadn't thought to bring water (gee that's twice now [remember that Dita?]) but I had some clif bloks to get her up Mt. Ham. Thom will be bringing her some waterbottles - probably at Mt. Tam

Here's some pics:

[cindysue]

stopping for a minute

[cindysue]

taking off

[cindysue]

bye bye! (not exactly a creative set of photos but thought I'd share)

[SadieKate]

Thanks, Cindy. Nice to see the smile!

[aka_kim]

Cindy, sorry about the mix-up this morning.

It's windy here right now! Did V say anything about the winds on Diablo? And how is she doing per her schedule? You saw her heading into Clayton at 8:45... that probably puts her at Morgan Territory at about 10? It looks like she was riding alone ... did you see any other riders she might hook up with?

[cindysue]

ahhh, no worries. there were riders before and after but no one that was really that close - and they all looked really strong on the bike - which says a lot about how strong V is as well. And as expected, mostly men but a few women. I also saw a few tandems.

I agree it certainly helps if you have someone to ride with or at least hang behind to help set your pace. It wasn't very windy at the time and I didn't ask about Mt. Diablo. (I'm actually surprised she stopped). But she was in good spirits and in good shape for the upcoming challenges

side note: seeing all those riders out there got me very excited about wine country (even though I'm not ready with it only being 1 week away!). I'm *thinking* about doing the 200K for Marin (??) - should be ready by then....

[Bike Goddess]

Thanks Cindy Sue! She looks great! I'm looking forward to cheering her on later! Thank goodness for cell phones and Thom! At least she didn't forget her shoes! (a friend of mine forgot his last year on the Death Ride and ended up riding the whole ride in sandals! )

[SadieKate]

There are two primary cutoffs.

#1: You must leave the Mines road rest stop by 1:00pm. Anyone later than this will have the option of either being Sagged forward on the course, or back to the start.

#2: All riders must depart the lunch stop (Mile 112) by 4:30pm or they will be sagged to the top of Mt. Hamilton. We will allow you to continue on the course at that point.

Anyone know if V made cutoff #1? I'm assuming she started at 5 am, so she had 8 hrs to get to cutoff #1 but I don't know the mileage.

[Bike Goddess]

Mines Rd to the Junction is about 25 miles. From there to Mt Hamiltion summit is about 14 miles if I recall correctly.

I tried calling Thom- no luck. Also tried calling Sarah- no luck there either.