Hey Northern CA people,
I haven't posted on Bikeforums in a while, but I wanted to swing by and say that the cyclists on Mt. Diablo are some of the nicest and most encouraging that I have ever had the pleasure of riding with/around/behind/whatever. Yesterday was my very first time tackling Mt. Diablo. I was the fat Asian guy wearing a black helmet, glasses, a red T-shirt, black shorts, and riding a tan color Surly Long Haul Trucker with a fat tan color saddle bag, if anybody here was riding up there at the time
Anyway, it was so nice to have other cyclists cheering me on. I kept hearing words of encouragement from all sorts of bike riders, like "Good Job!" "You're almost there!" etc. One guy (whom I was keeping up with) was even encouraging me throughout the entire climb, even on the "no-talking" 15% grade to the summit!
Yes, I went all the way up to the summit on my very first Mt. Diablo ride. I've ridden Twin Peaks in San Francisco over 20 times already. It's my after-work ride that I do Monday thru Friday, and I lost count around the 13th time up Twin Peaks. I've also ridden Hawk Hill in Marin several times. I wasn't going to stop until I reached the summit on Mt. Diablo, even after several people told me I could just turn around at the Ranger Station Junction. I took BART to Walnut Creek from San Francisco, then I rode to North Gate Road and went up from there. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be after hearing about how South Gate Road would be the easier option.
So you're all awesome! Hopefully it'll be the same the next time I head up the mountain again!