2018 SMR 20

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Can you believe it's already SMR 20??  WHERE, does the time go?

JB and I arrived at The Gate at the same time, evaluated the weather, and only one of us kept his jacket on.

Started out kind of foggy, then got F*ing foggy, then trees were dripping condensation on us.  It was glorious.

Things finally cleared and a beautiful blue sky presented itself to us after about The Elbow.

Special treat for today's blog:  reverse seatstay cam!

2018 WNR 06

Just past The Gate, I find somebody's wallet.  I looked inside and it had some stuff in it so I put it in my pocket and figured I'd try to find the owner later.  Didn't see a ranger and there wasn't a phone number inside, so I took it home to investigate.

Me and Colin decided it was too windy to ride too hard so we helped Justin do a good time - and he got PB for the year, not best ever.

Since I wasn't going anaerobic, I decided to work on power - big gears, slow cadence.

The sky was dramatic looking - I think I even saw a little lightening.

   

2018 SMR 19

Last week it was supposed to be 50mph winds, but it was beautiful.

This week it was supposed to be hot, but it was cold and windy.

I can hardly wait to see what they're wrong about next week.

No JB today.  At some point shortly after I got out of my driveway, I decided it would probably be a Junction Day.

Some kind of trail run was going on but it hadn't started yet... just set up people.

This guy didn't need any help.

Saturday Morning Regular Bharat:  we chatted about action cameras and SD cards.

"Scott, do you still do your blog?"

These guys didn't feel it necessary to say I was looking good or anything as they passed..

2018 WNR 05

Me, Colin, and Kevin tonight.

Me and Colin hit it hard from the line and I stayed with him until about the 2,000-foot rocks when he pulled away.  A fast guy passed me and I stayed with him for a while and almost caught back up to Colin, but then Colin got on his wheel and rode away from me again.

My stopwatch didn't start at the line so I wasn't really sure how I was doing for time; when we got to the beginning of Split 4 I knew we were about half way for time and elevation so I started the stopwatch then.  Did Split 4 in just under 7 minutes, but that's kind of an easy one.  At the end of Split 5 we were at 15 minutes, so we were averaging 7m30s per split.  I said to Colin - this feels like a 46, and he agreed.

So I still didn't know what my time was until I got back to my truck and uploaded the Strava:  46m10s...five seconds slower than last week.  Heart rate graph provided for your amusement... how long ago was it that I could hold 165 for an hour?

2018 SMR 18

Weather report said there were 50 mph wind gusts at The Summit, so I left home thinking I wouldn't make it.  Fact was it was only a little windier than usual... no biggie.

At Junction JB and I connected with special guest rider Juan from Davis and we all went to Summit together.  Juan had already been up there once and was doing a 2-Diablo Day in prep for the Death Ride in July.  Looked like lots of other folks had the same idea... probably twice as many riders as usual this morning, and a significant number of them were passing me.

Roadkill Report:  another snake... front end was flat.

Tire wiping is a lost art... and apparently MY video is the only thing on the Web to show how it's done:

2018 WNR 04

Bike to Work Day is tomorrow so a few extra folks from work came for the Wednesday Night Ride up Diablo.  Including special guest rider Brad, who has done some impressive cycling, but is currently not in top condition... and neither is his bike.

Also Donna, who is getting excited about riding and just bought a really nice mid-level road bike with disk brakes and a beautiful but subtle paint job to replace her heavy hybrid.

And Justin with his new really nice road bike with the disk brakes and attention-grabbing paint job.

And Tanner with her AIDS LifeCycle buddies.

Brad pushed the pace right from The Gate and dropped everybody but me; I started to think he was lying about being out of form.  Then suddenly after about 10 minutes he just sat up and said "I'm turning around now."  That kind of shocked me, and here I was with a great time for the first split but now a little too spent - so I slowed down a bit.  After a few minutes though I was recovered so I picked it up again and had my best time of the year to Junction.

Passed-em - Passed-me ratio:  6 to 0.  I think.

Wildlife Encounter:  baby rattlesnake in the shade near Son of Chainbuster... might've been dead.  I didn't see it until I almost ran over it.  There have been a few rattlesnake bites to visitors in The Park this year so lots of people are a little nervous.  Also, a bunch of turkeys... again.

Brad - who pretends to be out of form to make me work harder.

Cal Jersey AutoBlog... except those red shoes gotta go!

Punkin Jay now limits his rides to 300km... because "anything longer than that is just insanty."

 

Damn good riding tonight.

2018 SMR 17

All please stand for colors.

No JB.  Another solo Summit.

Wildlife Encounter:  more turkeys... getting interesting.

2018 WNR 03

Just me and Kevin again, but blog readers Dan and Steve were right behind us.  Dan's doing Davis Double in July so he's been putting in big mileage.

A little windy but still managed a pretty good Junction time.

Wildlife Encounter:  flock of 30 or so turkeys near the ranch.

On the way back to my truck, a deer just about ran in front of me... didn't see him until almost too late... changed his mind about crossing the road at the last minute or we would've collided.