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11-25-07, 08:45 PM
My birthday was the 21st but with all the Tday activities we have been able to get in no more than some 40 milers. Today Red Rider and I were introduced to Mt Diablo for our first Tandem ride up the mountain. I have been driving up this mountain for several years as it is our local hang gliding site but have never pedaled up. Thanks to Smoooth and Sassy we finally tried it out. I have always had a lot of respect for those that do this and today I finally found out just exactly what it is all about.
We started out from Sassy's house and went up the south side. We took a break at the junction and then on to Juniper. We took another little break then up the last 1.5 miles. Smoooth and Sassy are very strong climbers and they dialed it back to stay with us. Our goal was just to make it to the top. To be honest we made it all the way to half way up "the wall" and our legs just gave out so we walked up the last 100 ft of road and 50 ft of elevation.:o Here is the profile
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Rideprofile.jpg
The wall calculated out to right at 18% grade. Now that we know what to expect, next time we will make it all the way. Tandem climbing is very different than singles and I am in awe of how well S & S made it look so easy. The descent was awesome. We took it easy enough but my hands and feet were fairly numb with cold at the end. It was great to pedal again.
All this was topped off by a great lunch at the Pyramid Brewing Company where S & S treated us to lunch for my Birthday.
Thanks G & M. You guys are the greatest. We want to do it again and hope we can do it a bit faster and not slow you guys down so much. Enjoy Maui.:)
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/SmooothandSassy.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Stillgoingdown.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Goingdown.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/DeborahMichelleGordonChrisatthetop.jpg
We started out from Sassy's house and went up the south side. We took a break at the junction and then on to Juniper. We took another little break then up the last 1.5 miles. Smoooth and Sassy are very strong climbers and they dialed it back to stay with us. Our goal was just to make it to the top. To be honest we made it all the way to half way up "the wall" and our legs just gave out so we walked up the last 100 ft of road and 50 ft of elevation.:o Here is the profile
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Rideprofile.jpg
The wall calculated out to right at 18% grade. Now that we know what to expect, next time we will make it all the way. Tandem climbing is very different than singles and I am in awe of how well S & S made it look so easy. The descent was awesome. We took it easy enough but my hands and feet were fairly numb with cold at the end. It was great to pedal again.
All this was topped off by a great lunch at the Pyramid Brewing Company where S & S treated us to lunch for my Birthday.
Thanks G & M. You guys are the greatest. We want to do it again and hope we can do it a bit faster and not slow you guys down so much. Enjoy Maui.:)
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/SmooothandSassy.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Stillgoingdown.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Goingdown.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/DeborahMichelleGordonChrisatthetop.jpg