What if...
If it takes me 2 hours, do I get 2 t-shirts?
Every time I've ridden up (only to the junction so far), I start from home (near Pleasant Hill Road and Olympic Blvd in Walnut Creek - just over 10 miles to the Athenian School). It's a 3 + hour round trip (for me), but my time is dropping. I'll just be glad to make it to the top - even if it is starting from the Athenian School.
When I was a kid, we used to ride up from Northgate, but could never even make it to the Junction on our heavy 3 speed bikes! Never thought I'd be one of the nutcases that I used to see on the Mountain every weekend...