jonathanb715
05-25-08, 07:43 PM
So I decided to join Pete's Marvelous Magical Mystery Tour for the day, and met Pete, Ramon and Tim (aka Bottlerocket) at the Pleasant Hill BART station. I knew I really couldn't keep up with Pete and Ramon, even on a good day, so I talked some of my friends into coming along as well.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0561.jpg
That's Kaya and Josh off to the right, Jeannie in her Team in Training kit, Pete and Ramon (looking for his ponytail, I think). Missing from the picture is Gordon and his recumbent and Bottlerocket (oh, and me as well, I guess). Since I never remember to pull my camera out of my pocket when riding, the only other pic I have is of Josh and Kaya at the summit:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0563.jpg
OK, now that we got that out of the way, how was the ride? Well I woke up feeling like I was fighting a cold - and I didn't feel right all day. I was consistently dropped by everyone all day long, and my heart rate was at least 10bpm higher than normal even though I wasn't riding as fast as usual. So there - my excuses are also out of the way.
Otherwise it was great. The weather cooperated, the temperatures were comfortable, and the company was great - whenever I actually saw anyone else.
Morgan Territory continues to be an interesting ride. It goes up quite a bit (2,000 feet?), but not all in one climb. You get breaks as you go, so in some ways it's not as challenging as other Bay Area climbs. It's still a good climb, though, and some of it is pretty steep. The road still sucks - starting in Clayton and riding towards Livermore is definitely preferable to descending on the beat-up parts. Pete claimed to be hurting at this point, and rode with me for a while. Then he got bored with my excrutiatingly slow pace and rolled away.
Then the real treat - we were some of the first cyclists to climb the new East Gate road.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/2008-04-01-2.jpg
Unfortunately, it did not live up to it's billing in some ways (see Diablo Scott's blog (http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/) for more information - check the April posts). Paving is putting it nicely - if I didn't know better, I'd swear it was just a dirt fire road. It was also supposed to be recumbent-friendly. Nope - Gordon was cursing the entire way up. Plus, the vending machines were supposed to have Hammer products and Peet's Coffee - nope, just Pepsi and Gatorade.
Some of the local residents were happy to see us. Not sure if they get much traffic in their neck of the woods.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/2008-04-01-3.jpg
Anyway, it was a relief to get back on Morgan Territory, and attack the plunge. I hit 54 mph on the steepest bit. On the way back to Danville, the wind was just starting to pick up a bit so we pacelined - at least until Pete, Tim and Ramon got bored with our pace and tracked down some faster cyclists ahead of us. Then Kaya got a flat, putting us further behind. So, we did the logical thing and stopped for lunch at the new Draeger's supermarket in the Blackhawk plaza. After that we worked our way up Mt. Diablo from the south gate. I was still struggling, so promptly got dropped by everyone. I caught up near the junction to Kaya and Jeannie, but not for long - I got dropped again. I was feeling like a yo-yo by this point. Somewhere around Devil's Elbow, Jeannie and Gordon turned around - they had to be somewhere (anywhere?) else soon. We soldiered on, and saw Pete, Tim and Ramon descending while we were still climbing. I did summit (surprising myself), and actually starting wondering if I should go for a 2nd (oops, 3rd) one from the North Gate. However, I realized that I had done enough - we went down through the North Gate and back to the BART station.
Good ride, just sorry I didn't have it today.
JB
PS - in case you haven't figured it out, that bit about the East Gate is imaginary - based on Diablo Scott's April Fool's post on his blog. I only went up Diablo once and Morgan Territory today.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0561.jpg
That's Kaya and Josh off to the right, Jeannie in her Team in Training kit, Pete and Ramon (looking for his ponytail, I think). Missing from the picture is Gordon and his recumbent and Bottlerocket (oh, and me as well, I guess). Since I never remember to pull my camera out of my pocket when riding, the only other pic I have is of Josh and Kaya at the summit:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0563.jpg
OK, now that we got that out of the way, how was the ride? Well I woke up feeling like I was fighting a cold - and I didn't feel right all day. I was consistently dropped by everyone all day long, and my heart rate was at least 10bpm higher than normal even though I wasn't riding as fast as usual. So there - my excuses are also out of the way.
Otherwise it was great. The weather cooperated, the temperatures were comfortable, and the company was great - whenever I actually saw anyone else.
Morgan Territory continues to be an interesting ride. It goes up quite a bit (2,000 feet?), but not all in one climb. You get breaks as you go, so in some ways it's not as challenging as other Bay Area climbs. It's still a good climb, though, and some of it is pretty steep. The road still sucks - starting in Clayton and riding towards Livermore is definitely preferable to descending on the beat-up parts. Pete claimed to be hurting at this point, and rode with me for a while. Then he got bored with my excrutiatingly slow pace and rolled away.
Then the real treat - we were some of the first cyclists to climb the new East Gate road.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/2008-04-01-2.jpg
Unfortunately, it did not live up to it's billing in some ways (see Diablo Scott's blog (http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/) for more information - check the April posts). Paving is putting it nicely - if I didn't know better, I'd swear it was just a dirt fire road. It was also supposed to be recumbent-friendly. Nope - Gordon was cursing the entire way up. Plus, the vending machines were supposed to have Hammer products and Peet's Coffee - nope, just Pepsi and Gatorade.
Some of the local residents were happy to see us. Not sure if they get much traffic in their neck of the woods.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/2008-04-01-3.jpg
Anyway, it was a relief to get back on Morgan Territory, and attack the plunge. I hit 54 mph on the steepest bit. On the way back to Danville, the wind was just starting to pick up a bit so we pacelined - at least until Pete, Tim and Ramon got bored with our pace and tracked down some faster cyclists ahead of us. Then Kaya got a flat, putting us further behind. So, we did the logical thing and stopped for lunch at the new Draeger's supermarket in the Blackhawk plaza. After that we worked our way up Mt. Diablo from the south gate. I was still struggling, so promptly got dropped by everyone. I caught up near the junction to Kaya and Jeannie, but not for long - I got dropped again. I was feeling like a yo-yo by this point. Somewhere around Devil's Elbow, Jeannie and Gordon turned around - they had to be somewhere (anywhere?) else soon. We soldiered on, and saw Pete, Tim and Ramon descending while we were still climbing. I did summit (surprising myself), and actually starting wondering if I should go for a 2nd (oops, 3rd) one from the North Gate. However, I realized that I had done enough - we went down through the North Gate and back to the BART station.
Good ride, just sorry I didn't have it today.
JB
PS - in case you haven't figured it out, that bit about the East Gate is imaginary - based on Diablo Scott's April Fool's post on his blog. I only went up Diablo once and Morgan Territory today.