Saturday, Markopolo and I took a quick spin up Mt Diablo. The weather was interesting - it was cool and windy on the valley floor where I live so we grabbed a set of arm warmers for the eventual descent, figuring it would be even windier and cooler up top.
We took off, and made the 9 mile ride from my house to the base quickly, and then began the ascent. Interestingly, the wind was much calmer as we ascended - I guess we were sheltered by the slopes. Mark is a better climber than me, so I soon lost site of him. No matter, there's only one way up to the top and I would see him soon enough.
11 miles, 2 hours, 3 water bottles, and a few rest-stops later, I joined him at the summit. There was a lot of haze in the air because of the windy conditions so the view wasn't as spectacular as usual, but it was still pretty nice.
After enjoying some time at the top we headed back down, on the way enjoying an 11 mile challenging descent followed by 4-5 miles of gentle -1/-2 degree cruising into town and lunch.
The road up:
Looking down, 2/3 of the way up:
From the top, looking north:
Proof:
