7bmwm3gtr

But I live all the way in Daly City, but I have this idea.

One Weekend this summer, I'm going to plan to take BART at around 6-7am to the Walnut Creek Station. Bikes are OK at almost anytime on the Weekends, for both the South San Francisco Bart Station and the Walnut Creek Station.

The BART trip to Walnut Creek from SSF will take an est. 1 hour and 44 minutes.

From Walnut Creek BART, how far is Mt. Diablo?

I want to try the Mt. Diablo Time Trial route, and I'm thinking I can climb it in under 40 minutes with not too much effort. Then I'll head back to Walnut Creek BART and go home.

If I leave around 7AM-7:30AM I will get there 8:45AM-9:15AM. Hopefully, going to, climbing, descending Mt. Diablo and then biking back to Walnut Creek Bart won't take longer than 3-4 hours. And hopefully I can get back on BART before at around 1:30-2:30 or even 3:00.

Do you think if I arrive at Walnut Creek BART by 9, I can finish Mt. Diablo and hop back on bart around 1-3pm?

My training partner might come along too. And we'll probably be getting something to eat on the go when we board for both trips. It sounds pretty exciting to me, I don't know why I'm nervous though.

Beaker

Pleasant Hill BART looks closer - you want to make for Walnut avenue on the attached map (Pleasant Hill BART is "D" on the map). Your plan sounds doable - although the journey time seems long. I take BART from Glen Park to Orinda frequently during the week and that journey is 35min.



Of course your best option is to make a BF ride out of it, and capture the locals. You do need to get to the summit after you've done your TT effort.

RoboCheme

It'll take you about 30 minutes to ride to the Athenian School where the Mt Diablo Challenge starts. The hill record is about 42 minutes, so your estimate of 40 minutes might be considered ambitious. It's 11.2 mile and 3200 ft of climbing.

Good luck. It's a wonderful climb and a challenging descent . Be careful.

budmol3

Seems like a lot to go through for not even going to the top.

Beaker

No, he means the time trial race that goes up North Gate and stops close to the ranger station at the Junction

DiabloScott

+1

Pleasant Hill BART to NGR is the way to go. The Treat overpass will be done in another month too.

cccorlew

Time trial to the ranger house. Then catch your breath, and ride a couple hundred yards to the junction. Get water, oggle teh bikes, laugh at people in less shape than you. then:
Go to the top. You must. It is not an option. Really.
Feel free to time trial it, then report back on the last hundred yards.

Diegomayra

Good luck! Take plenty of pics and post when you reach the top.

prathmann

You might want to check the BART schedules. Weekends they start running around 8am, but the trip only takes an hour so you can still be on your planned schedule for riding.

If you're making a special trip out here I'd recommend going all the way to the summit rather than just the TT course. You could also go up the north side and come down the south (or vice versa). The Pleasant Hill station would be closest to the north side and either the Walnut Creek or Lafayette stations from the south side.

7bmwm3gtr

Alright thanks for the info everyone, and thanks for that map Beaker.

I didn't know that the TT course didn't go up to the summit. But I definitely will go to the summit. Maybe to the summit it will take me around an hour, doing the TT route I was expecting 40 mintues, but at race effort some Juniors have done it in the Mid-20's so I'm not going race effort since it's my first time (and the race has already passed) I'm doing it for the experience and like every climb, the first time around I always go pretty slow so that next time I can remember hard parts and easy parts.

But thanks for the help, I'm planning to do this either this Saturday or next Saturday. This Saturday seems a lot more likely, since this week I'm focusing on climbing workouts.

Thanks again, Dom

JoelS

It'll probably take you more than an hour to get to the summit. My best time is an hour 12. My wife did an hour 30.

Have fun and make sure to have full water bottles!

goodtimes5

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/41977

That's what I do because I like seeing both sides of Mt Diablo on one ride.

uspspro

good plan.

Diegomayra

I enjoyed climbing up the South Gate side, greener and more shade. However descending down the North Gate side was very fun and allowed for very fast corning on the switch backs. Next time I do Mt. Diablo I will go up North Gate, unless I hear that South Gate is better.

Specialized2k10

once you stop cause you cant go anymore is it hard getting started? or have you guys not stopped? I want to try this but i sometimes have trouble getting started if its a bit steep, my main problem is quickly snapping in both feet to the pedals.

shiz702

Ride perpendicular to the road, click in, keep going.

Specialized2k10

yeah i just googlemapped different parts of the route. I thought the road was going to be wider with more car traffic. I was expecting something else until i saw the pics. I definitely want to do this now. Only problem is that none of my friends want to get near it. Im using the route goodtimes posted as reference. which side do you guys think its easier? north or south gate?

DiabloScott

Lots of good photos of the Mountain from a cyclist's perspective HERE

You do have to be careful where you pull out. Most of the road doesn't have a shoulder but there are enough pull out places that you can probably make it to the next one before you take a breather... that'll help with getting clicked back in your pedals and you'll be out of the way of traffic up and down, two and four wheels. Also make sure that any time you stop, you're visable for a good distance in both directions - don't stop near a switchback or around a blind corner.

South Gate Road is the Easy Side.

Specialized2k10

wow...some of those pics look more intimidating than anything i saw on googlemaps. ill still be excited to try this until im stuck on steep slope, out of breath or just plain exhausted. but im still willing to try it. none of my friends want to be near this trail for now so i guess im going solo. thanks for the advice DiabloScott

RoboCheme

I think that the northside ascent is more difficult, simply because you're starting at a lower elevation. The southside averages about 5.5% with some 10% inclines thrown in. The last 150 yards is where it's difficult (+15%). Save yourself for that.

DiabloScott

SGR averages 5%, NGR averages 6%, and Summit Road is 7%
The "last 150 yards" (the Summit Wall) is 280 meters starting at the road closure barrier.

x136 

I've never found Diablo (North or South) to be steep enough for that to be a problem. I've definitely ridden in places where a steep start would very nearly wheelie me onto my ass, but Diablo isn't one of them.

North is definitely the more difficult of the two. I'd done the North a dozen or so times (it was closer to me at the time) before I ever ascended the South side. "Hey, this is easy!"

Also, isn't The Wall more like 20%?

7bmwm3gtr

Wow this is great, I've planned my depart for Mt. Diablo on July 10, taking BART at the hour of 7-8.

I still need to need to study the area via Google Earth, but from Richard's map, it seems fairly simple. But I can't wait to climb it and I'll be sure to take some pictures. Hopefully, the weather is not too cold or not too hot!

cthenn

The GPS track I've gathered from the summit ride shows around 16% for 0.12 miles for "the wall". It feels closer to 20% after an hour plus of climbing!

cthenn

If you go up on a weekend...please be careful, especially going down. Cars will routinely cross the centerline to cut corners, and Diablo has plenty of blind curves, and picnic area driveways. And if you get hit...even if you die the driver will only be fined $100 apparently. So they will not care if you are hit (sorry...just read that other post about the killed cyclist...)

But really, there will be lots of cars and people on the mountain. Temps this weekend are supposed to be low to mid 90's. That means at least one stop to fill up 2 bottles. Diablo is hot hot hot in summer!