A great ride, great folks, great weather, great route... just all around great. Thanks all for coming.
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I'm sorry I only got to meet Lanceoldstrong, and then only for a moment.
After mistiming my BART trip from Berkeley, I arrived at Walnut Creek station at 11:15 am. Okay, I can ride 10 miles to South Gate in well under 45 minutes, right? I'll simply fire up Apple Maps and get a route. Except that, despite being informed I'm a pedestrian, Apple Maps kept trying to send me on the 680 freeway. Wasted time with that mess, then gave up and manually navigated to the park, with various mistakes along the way, and got there well after noon. Disappointed about missing the group, I set off alone. Mt Diablo certainly is a beautiful climb, also a long one, a lot longer than the hill rides I take in Portland. Around Juniper, I was grateful that I'd missed the group, because I 'd have hated BF'ers seeing me grovel. "Groveling", my term, is when you are out of the saddle, leg-pressing an absurdly slow cadence, contorting your body with each stroke, like a man in Wellington boots trying to jog in calf-deep, sucking mud. By the final mile my quads were cramping up and a third of the way up the last ramp, they seized up and I had to walk it up. A rest at the summit, pumped up my tires, put on the jacket, and I started down. Somewhere after Juniper I whistled down past a green jersey - wait, was that - I turned around, headed uphill, labored to catch up to the green jersey, and had the pleasure of meeting Lanceoldstrong. For a second I thought about riding up with him and meeting the rest of you, but my legs said no thank you, so I continued down. It was a great descent. My bike, which is a bit too small for me, came into its own - braking into turns, diving around apexes, and accelerating into the straight runs. Late apex is not just safer, it is faster. On the road to Northgate I had a fun dice with another rider. We passed some cars and generally hauled butt. My extra ballast came in handy. When we were coasting he graciously showed me how to get to Pleasant Hill BART. So I blew the chance to meet a bunch of Bay Area BF'ers but I had a really fun day, not the easiest day but now I can say I've ridden Mt Diablo once. |
Hey thanks everybody, that was a great ride! I'll try to post my photos (I've got most of them on facebook - check out "Luis Bernhardt" - Vancouver, BC) - otherwise, I'll put them up on picasa or something. Carole was fine, she was back at the motel when I got back at 5. I couldn't believe how spread out Concord & Walnut Creek are. I looked on Strava and saw that I put in an additional 10 to 20 km extra unknowingly circumnavigating Concord to get back to the motel! This will help with the Strava Festive 500 Challenge, though!
BTW, I have decided that Diablo is the toughest of the three Bay Area climbs. Hamilton from the San Jose side is definitely the easiest; 24 miles, but not steep at all! And I didn't think South Gate Diablo was "easy," at least on the fixie. It was easy between the actual gate and about one km before the junction, but the rest was pretty steep. And the North Gate descent was one of the most fun technical descents I've done! Perfect for throwing a fixie around the nicely banked corners! Luis |
Originally Posted by lhbernhardt
(Post 16367180)
Hey thanks everybody, that was a great ride! I'll try to post my photos (I've got most of them on facebook - check out "Luis Bernhardt" - Vancouver, BC) - otherwise, I'll put them up on picasa or something. Carole was fine, she was back at the motel when I got back at 5. I couldn't believe how spread out Concord & Walnut Creek are. I looked on Strava and saw that I put in an additional 10 to 20 km extra unknowingly circumnavigating Concord to get back to the motel! This will help with the Strava Festive 500 Challenge, though!
BTW, I have decided that Diablo is the toughest of the three Bay Area climbs. Hamilton from the San Jose side is definitely the easiest; 24 miles, but not steep at all! And I didn't think South Gate Diablo was "easy," at least on the fixie. It was easy between the actual gate and about one km before the junction, but the rest was pretty steep. And the North Gate descent was one of the most fun technical descents I've done! Perfect for throwing a fixie around the nicely banked corners! Luis |
Sorry I forgot about this :( Looks like you had a lot of fun.
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Originally Posted by jyl
(Post 16367178)
I'm sorry I only got to meet Lanceoldstrong, and then only for a moment.
After mistiming my BART trip from Berkeley, I arrived at Walnut Creek station at 11:15 am. |
We could have been at the summit around the same time - me for fifteen minutes around 2:00 pm, yellow KAS/Mavic jersey and then yellow hiz-viz Castelli jacket, dark blue Cannondale road bike.
I can't actually imagine riding the climb with a single speed. Are you geared at, what, 42 x 16 (70 GI)? Ouch. On the descent, I saw another single speed rider, who might have been lhbernhardt. My theory, entirely unscientific, is that gearing for climbs should be chosen such that one's legs give out at the same time as one's cardio (lungs and heart). If the legs go limp while the cardio still feels good, then you've left cardio "on the table" as it were, and should spin a lower gear. Conversely, if the heart hits redline while the legs still feel good, then you've left some legs still un-used, and should push a bigger gear. |
Originally Posted by lhbernhardt
(Post 16367180)
BTW, I have decided that Diablo is the toughest of the three Bay Area climbs. Hamilton from the San Jose side is definitely the easiest; 24 miles, but not steep at all! And I didn't think South Gate Diablo was "easy," at least on the fixie. It was easy between the actual gate and about one km before the junction, but the rest was pretty steep. And the North Gate descent was one of the most fun technical descents I've done! Perfect for throwing a fixie around the nicely banked corners!
Luis https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k...lo+Profile.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...on+Palomar.JPG |
I had a great time! It was nice to finally meet Lanceoldstrong and other riders I haven't talked with on here yet. My riding partner Matthew and I were impressed with lhbernhardt's singlespeed climbing. He was riding a 44x17 fixed gear, and he passed me on Morgan Territory and Mt. Diablo. Matthew and I do weekly SS/FG rides on local short steep climbs, as it is great strength training and tons of fun! We rode geared bikes on this ride though. The steeper sections of Diablo are hard enough on a geared bike. On a SS they would be ridiculous, especially the Summit Wall. There's not much room to traverse on that road.
I got PRs on Morgan Territory and Mt. Diablo, as well as some smaller hills. Yesterday was the first time I have ever done a Diablo climb without stopping at the ranger station. I took a lot of pictures before the ride, at the top of Morgan Territory, at a regroup point on the flats between MT and Diablo, and at the summit of Mt. Diablo. Here are some of them. The group before the ride http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3764/1...dcb4872f_b.jpg NorCal BikeForums group 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr lhbernhardt with his 44x17 fixed gear before the ride http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7367/1...58c53fb4_b.jpg 44x17 fixed gear rider before big climbing ride by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr My riding partner Matthew arriving at the summit of Morgan Territory Road http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2882/1...5a3177a4_b.jpg Matthew arriving at Morgan Territory summit 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Lanceoldstrong arriving at the summit of Morgan Territory Road http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5498/1...206c0137_b.jpg Rider arriving at Morgan Territory summit 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Part of the group at the top of Morgan Territory Road http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3791/1...0af64fc1_b.jpg NorCal BikeForums riders at top of Morgan Territory 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Lanceoldstrong arriving at the summit of Mt. Diablo http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3680/1...a65934b8_b.jpg Rider arriving at Mt. Diablo summit 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Part of the group at the summit of Mt. Diablo. Matthew is on the right. JoelS and lhbernhardt are on the left. I don't know who the middle rider is. Help me out ;-) http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5526/1...24a947a7_b.jpg NorCal BikeForums riders at top of Mt. Diablo 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr JoelS (left) and gw_12 (right) at the summit of Mt. Diablo. The Hammerin' Wheels jacket you see part of on the left belongs to Matthew. The jackets came off for the climbs, but were put back on for the descents. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3770/1...0a8d15df_b.jpg NorCal BikeForums riders at top of Mt. Diablo 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/1...095fd9b6_b.jpg Mt. Diablo summit 12-29-13 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr |
I had fun meeting and riding with y'all. Morgan Territory then Mt. Diablo always kicks my ass, and yesterday didn't dissapoint. Then a Peete sighting! That was like the cherry on top of the sunday. And I think I was the only rider to see the coyote 10 feet off the road right after we got going from the top of Morgan, he was a little scruffy.
Thanks to LanceOldstrong for organizing a fun ride. |
It was great meeting and riding with everyone. :)
P.S. The chubby rider in the middle with peace sign is me. :lol: |
Great ride. Nice to finally meet some of you too.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ps92f5caa5.jpg |
Originally Posted by UmneyDurak
(Post 16369369)
It was great meeting and riding with everyone. :)
P.S. The chubby rider in the middle with peace sign is me. :lol: Those darn cameras add 15 pounds. This fact is well known. It is why fashion models have to be so painfully thin. |
I noticed a Ride Pic thread on the Singlespeed and Fixed Gear Forum.
I was impressed by our 2 fixie friends so much that I had to cross post some pics there, and subtly brag a little. :thumb: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post16370121 |
2 Attachment(s)
Re: singlespeed/fixie riders, were you actually riding fixed, or singlespeed freewheel? Riding that many miles, and down that many hills on a fixed gear would put me in the hospital, LOL! Also, if one of the bikes was a 44x17, that's a pretty monster gear for Diablo:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357304http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=357305 So did you fly up there at 15+MPH in order to maintain a reasonable cadence, or did you have to mash like no one has mashed before? :lol: I rode up SG to the junction *ONCE* on a singlespeed, 42x16 and it was hilarious. I was weaving all over the road, and I don't think my butt hit the saddle the whole ride (well maybe a bit through Rock City). My legs were shaking when I got the Jx. Major props to the crazies who get enjoyment out of this!!! |
Originally Posted by UmneyDurak
(Post 16369369)
It was great meeting and riding with everyone. :)
P.S. The chubby rider in the middle with peace sign is me. :lol:
Originally Posted by Lanceoldstrong
(Post 16369456)
It was great occasionally holding your wheel for 500 meters or so. You are a strong young man.
Those darn cameras add 15 pounds. This fact is well known. It is why fashion models have to be so painfully thin. |
Originally Posted by cthenn
(Post 16370257)
Also, if one of the bikes was a 44x17, that's a pretty monster gear for Diablo: I rode up SG to the junction *ONCE* on a singlespeed, 42x16 and it was hilarious. |
Originally Posted by DiabloScott
(Post 16370290)
My FG is 42x16 and I can barely make it over the Ironhorse/Treat bridge on the way to work.
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Same regroup as above
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2848/1...91a98e94_b.jpg regroup at base of Mt. Diablo before climb 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Local Hammerin' Wheels rider climbing Mt. Diablo http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3753/1...dc22b944_b.jpg Jay climbing Mt. Diablo by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr UmneyDurak passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7378/1...6a7f5dee_b.jpg NorCal BikeForums member passing Matthew by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr JoelS and local Hammerin' Wheels rider passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7336/1...5d8c9436_b.jpg Jay and Joel passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Local Hammerin' Wheels rider passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3737/1...d3fa0a41_b.jpg Jay passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Another shot of the above two riders passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/1...c3b53e78_b.jpg Jay and Joel passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr One more shot of the two local riders http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3711/1...5b7ef368_b.jpg Jay and Joel on Mt. Diablo by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr UmneyDurak passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/1...b59bb6be_b.jpg NorCal BikeForums member passing Matthew on Mt. Diablo by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Mt. Diablo climb done, heading back to Concord http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2835/1...6065a3f5_b.jpg group going around a corner at last part of ride by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2820/1...84abb8d5_b.jpg group going around a corner at last part of ride 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr |
lhbernhardt entering and exiting the tunnel on the bike path
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3803/1...07108ef8_b.jpg entering the tunnel by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/1...110b31e2_b.jpg in the tunnel by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7434/1...1fc08729_b.jpg coming out of the tunnel by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3702/1...62533dc7_b.jpg coming out of the tunnel 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Me, UmneyDurak, and Lanceoldstrong http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3690/1...21dea07a_b.jpg near the end of the ride by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr Lanceoldstrong and me http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5540/1...6f149042_b.jpg Lanceoldstrong and me near end of ride by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr |
Can't believe I missed this ride! I would have slowed everyone down though... I haven't ridden since Oct 13th and gained 10+ pounds. :(
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Thanks for the nice pictures Phoebe. Or should I call you Freight Train? Like I did that whole day until I memorized your name.
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looked like fun… working my way to that kind of fitness… just don't think I am ready for 60-70miles yet. Been doing MT and Diablo segments on my trainer though.. it's some work.
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