Valentines Day on Diablo

It wasn't epic. Just a 35 mile ride up the South side of Mt. Diablo to the junction and back through Danville. But what a nice day! It's been wet and cloudy lately, and even raining. It's cut down our weekend miles dramatically. This was one of those California clear sky days that makes you happy to be alive. Valentines day with my sweetheart on the mountain — it just doesn't get much better.

As a side note, there is a move by an East County religious crank wing nut to change the name of Mt. Diablo to Mt. Regan. Amazingly it has been getting a little traction, and press coverage as well. The Board of Supervisors said "no" so hopefully that will end it. There is a Facebook group opposed, but has a Facebook group ever carried any weight in any issue?

Diablo ride with Bikeforums

The last 200 yards (correction: DiabloScott, master of all things Diablo, insists it's 300 meters) of Mt. Diablo is an 18% straight-up grunt. It's hard enough without having climbed almost 4000 feet just to get there. So Lanceoldstrong and I sprinted. It was a blast.

The NorCal Bikeforums "Work off the turkey" ride was quite an event. It's always fun to see old friends, but toss in the weather and the wind and it becomes quite an event.

I left home in 45 degree overcast. It was mid 60s at the start. I'd worried I'd overdressed. It was warm climbing, but then the wind kicked in and I was glad to be in by knickers.

The weather station there reported:
11am Windspeed 47mph; Peak windspeed 62mph.

All in all, major fun.

California poppies on Diablo

It's hard to ride on Mt. Diablo in the spring. It's just too gorgeous. It's hard to know whether to keep riding, or stop every few feet to admire the mountain and maybe make photos. Making snapshots seems almost disrespectful. The mountain deserves a photographers full attention and vision. But Tuesday I was a cyclist, so I stopped and made a snapshot. Please forgive me.

UPDATE:
DiabloScott, overlord of all things Diablo, has commanded I provide more info. Click these for larger, readable versions.

Diablo: You are mine

Cycling to the summit of 3849-foot Mt. Diablo was one of my Summer 2007 goals. This Saturday I joined a group from Bikeforums.net to celebrate their new jerseys. Mine hadn't come in yet, but I rode with them anyway. We started at the South Gate and wound our way up. I hadn't been to the top since '87 or so. It's still steep, it still hurts, and the last 200 yards is abut the hardest cycling thing I've ever done. But the roads are a lot smoother than they used to be. It took me 1:35. Considering it seemed like three days and I didn't really have a time goal, just a survival goal, I'm reasonably happy. Check out the cool photos in the bikeforums thread on the ride.