acaurora

Went on my second visit to Diablo with JoelS and a few friends. The ride seemed to be a lot SHORTER and faster than last time I remember. However last time I had ridden from the Amtrak station, whereas this time around we had parked a lot closer - by the school. This time I rode from the South Gate, whereas last time it was the North Gate. I found that the South Gate to be a little bit more tricky in terms of the beginning miles, as the road has some dangerously large potholes leading up to the gate. Once we got to the Ranger Station where the paths converge to the summit, it all seemed very familiar. The nice thing about this visit was that it was warm, and not cold. Last time I had gone I was literally FREEZING at the summit. Once we hit the "wall" (at the time I actually thought we were approaching, instead of ON, despite Joel's "okay guys, get in your gears!"), we all did our thing to get up past the summit. Was a great experience.

My Garmin data (On my way down, I blew past the Ranger Station and went straight, then turned around, as if I had kept on going I would've ended up at the North Gate, hah)
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/35133078

Pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/acaurora...eat=directlink

JoelS

That was a lot of fun. Apparently my fitness has returned considering our time to summit was 1:14. Bess did great too, summiting in about 1:30. No stops or anything. The Hammer gel flask she used worked great.

alainp

Decided to go last minute and thought I might catch you guys as you went through the hole in the wall. Waited about fifteen minutes at the bottom but figured I was too late. Turns out you guys (in a group of 3) passed me at Rock City. If I had known it was you I'd have said hi. I decided to go up and over the junction into Walnut Creek then return on the same path.

JoelS

Guess I should have worn my NorCal jersey, huh? Hope you had a great ride!

gpelpel

Was it windy today? Yesterday I had a headwind while climbing especially between the ranger station and the junction, and just before Juniper. The views were great though, the Sierra snowcap was impressive.

shiz702

No wind today and a little warm at times when the air wasn't moving. Great ride today though, I'm pretty happy with 1:14 knowing that I still had some gas in the tank and can improve on that time. MUCH better experience than last year's ride.

c0lnago

I was fine on the North side but roasting on South side by 2PM.

acaurora

The weather was perfect. Only downside was the swarms of bugs that were around the summit.

alainp

Guess I should have worn mine too . Today's ride was great in letting me know how out of shape I am

c0lnago

That was unbelievable...I was covered. Inhaled about 4000 of them.

acaurora

Yeah. It was REALLY freaky going downhill through it all. Felt like rain... STICKY rain... lol. Tried to keep my mouth shut until we cleared the swarm.

c0lnago

Yeah...I had on a cycling cap and kept my head down which helped a little but I was still covered by the summit. I've only been riding Diablo for a year+ so definitely haven't seen much but that was a first. I usually get bugs/flies/gnats around there but that was like they all hatched this AM or something. I was there on Friday and they weren't...