alainp

I just figured it out. I'll set it up so that a cue sheet can be generated.

DiabloScott

South Gate Road is the easy way up. And it's not my place to suggest route changes but as far as public transit is concerned, North Gate Road from Pleasant Hill BART is 4 miles of MUP and roads with big safe shoulders.

alainp

Cue sheet is available. I'll have some printed up as well.

Beaker

Well the answer is obvious -- start at the South Gate, go up to the Junction and coast down the North Gate, then climb back up to the summit. It's a good way to add an extra 2000ft of climbing to your ride

uspspro

I'll have to ask my stoker

taxi777

Marco after that last 200 ft you'll you won't have to worry about being shorted some difficult climbing!!
That will be plenty...believe me ; )

alainp

Actually, you can do repeats on that section just for the fun of it!

silentben

I'll be leaving my house bright and early at around 6:40am and riding across the Dumbarton bridge to Union City BART and I'll get to Pleasanton at 8:31am or 8:51 depending on which train I catch.

Since I still have lingering cold symptoms and will be riding 17 extra miles just to get there I may bail at the Pleasant Hill or Walnut Creek stations instead of doing the full loop

BenRidin

For those of driving to the BART Station, which parking lot to meet in...North Lot or South Lot?

BR

mellum76

A little motivation for this morning's ride. If this doesn't get you pumped then I don't know what will...

https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MNGG142CIB.DTL

spingineer

South ... I learned my lesson from before.

BenRidin

Thanks Ron. See you there

BR

silentben

What an excellent ride! My day started at about 6:40am in foggy, damp, cold menlo park. As I rode moisture droplets were slowly accumulating on my arms and gloved fingers giving them a weird white tint. At the top of the dumbarton bridge I could barely see the water below me because of the fog. Also I learned there is a fog horn near the bridge. I had never heard that before!

Somewhere on the bart ride to pleasonton the clouds broke up and bright sunny skies prevailed. It was a most welcomed change and I quickly recovered the body heat I'd lost earlier in the morning.

Evidently pete was on the same bart train as me and I didn't realize it until he started stalking me in the station with his camera.

This was my first time up Diablo under my own power and it was a very pleasant climb with a pretty mild gradient and staggering views. Once I got to the top though I nearly got knocked to the ground my monstrous winds!

I called the "mt. Diablo wind talker" phone number and it said AVERAGE wind speed for the past 20 minutes was 42mph and peak gust speed was 53! The number is 925-838-9225 if anyone cares.

redspoke

Hey! Who published my home phone number???

cccorlew

As I came down from the summit I thought I saw Overthere headed up, so we waited at the junction to ride down with her. Didn't see her, so we went down Southgate. We got to where we parked and her car car was gone. Whoops....

I was going to get my car and meet the pizza eaters, but on the way down the wind, which almost knocked me down, did manage to blow the name of the pizza place out of my head. I tried to call Taxi, but he had wisely turned off his cell.

Hope you had good pizza. I had a fine slog up the mountain with ya'all

Lanceoldstrong

Here is what I learned about descending Mt Diablo with 42-53 MPH winds.

1) The winds can nearly blow you off the road when you are leaning into a turn and the winds come in hard from the from the opposing direction of your lean. They can instantly dramatically change your line through a turn. They tossed me like a leaf and I weigh 185.

2) The same winds can hold you up like an invisible hand when you lean into a turn and they are coming from the direction you are leaning. I flew around some turns like I was on rails because I could brake later, and lean harder knowing the wind was giving me an assist.

Crazy good fun!

Thanks everyone for coming out and cheering cccorlew and me up the wall as we sprinted for the finish.

spingineer

She did say she had to be back in Concord by 1 PM.

overthere

Ha! And when you weight about 75 pounds less than that it DOES toss you around like a leaf...

This little caboose flatlander made it fine, thanks guys! I was headed up, a few miles past the junction, when one of those gusts knocked me over on an unshielded stretch ...I called it a day! White knuckled it back down, and made it back to Concord by 1:17.

It was fun meeting other Norcal folk, although most of my view was from behind...

Beaker

Sorry to hear that Diana -- are you/your bike OK? I found it easier on the way down, but it was insane at the summit

x136 

Yikes. Hope you're okay.

Diablo is a mean one, for sure. Luckily the worst weather I've encountered up there is sweltering heat. 50+ MPH winds, though... wow. I hate wind, I probably would have chickened out. You guys get several hardcore points, I think.

overthere

Thanks for asking Beaker and X - yep, me and the Ruby are fine, just a bit of a yellow stripe down my back for not going all the way, but that wind was getting insane!! It definitely eased up the further you got from the summit, but it sure gave me a fright when it knocked me around!

Next time, I'll have to ride with an anchor...or just eat more turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving

x136 

I've ridden in 50+ MPH crosswinds on flat ground before, and even carrying an extra hundred pounds, that was scary enough (not only being blown out into the street and into the gutter, but dodging projectiles thrown from roofs and trees) without the threat of being thrown down a mountain. I don't blame you at all for turning around. And if you were a few miles past the junction, you were almost to the top anyway.

Beaker

It might have been even worses than that - checking out the department of water resources link for Mt Diablo (they have a station close to the summit) shows the following for today:

11am Windspeed 47mph; Peak windspeed 62mph
12pm Windspeed 43mph; Peak windspeed 62mph

x136 

I don't know that I buy the 100 MPH gust at 7 PM, but even so, not a pleasant day.