January 1, 2013. Amazing. Last year was a year of ups and (pardon the term) downs, but we started this year on a high, if cold, note with a ride up Mt. Diablo to the summit.
It was a pretty big deal, and not just because of the climbing in the cold. I haven't mentioned this here before, because it's really Dan's story and not mine. But now that he's back on the mountain, I feel like I can share the parts that affected me.
Dan and I had ridden five double centuries (and a lot of other rides) together in 2010. He shepherded me through the Devil Mountain Double this year. We have shared boatloads of miles, bad jokes and made-up songs. Tricia and I have gotten to know him, and his family over the past few years and count them amoung our favorite folks.
This summer when Tricia and I returned from Cuba, land of no cell reception, and landed in Miami, we had a voice mail from Dan's wife telling us he'd crashed coming down Mt. Diablo and was still in intensive care. When we got back and visited him it was easy to see he was in pretty bad shape. The details are his, but his crash also affected everyone who cares for him. I found I couldn't concentrate on riding after visiting him. I had to cut short my next day's ride with Tricia. My mind just kept leaving the moment, and I didn't feel like I belonged on the road.
Dan's had a long road to recovery, and he's still on it. Tricia and I were happy to share his first outing on his bike after his crash, and pleased to see him hammer past us with Steve on the Foxy Fall Century. But today was a big deal: His return to Mt. Diablo.
Dan met Steve, Tricia and myself — all decked out in Diablo jerseys — at the base of the mountain, and with a wave from Julie we took off for an easy ride up the chilly mountain. It was an uneventful ride, just the way we like 'em. We did stop briefly at "the corner," and we got cold enough to have a frozen finger tale to tell, but otherwise it was a happy occasion, celebrating Mt. Diablo, the new year and a another step toward recovery.
Year end report on 2012 mileage
start end total
Road 7659 12860 5001
Comuter/Mtn 12560 13560* 1000*
S/S-fixed 1209 1263 53
Outlaw commuter 0 1953 1953
Grand Total 8006
Why the asterisk? Because that's how we do stats here. It seems my mountain/commuter bike I spent the first half of the year on had it's battery die in the garage, making actual factual miles impossible to report. So I estimated, and tried to be conservative. I gave myself less than half of last years commuter total, and also much much less than half of my commute miles on my new commuter. If you have any complaints you can take it up with the UCI, BikeSnobNY, the BikeForums.net commute forum and Cateye, whose computer let me down.
Every year I go to the Journalism Association of Community Colleges faculty conference in Morro Bay. I'm lucky that Tricia can come with me, and even more lucky when the weather let us sneak out for a short ride. Holy smokes this place is gorgeous. I wish we could stay in the area a week, ride bikes and taste wine at any of the many nearby wineries.
