FLCC> Ride Report - Mount Diablo, California

[John Dennis]

Charles, 

Thanks for sharing such an inspiring ride account!  Love your turns of
phrase and perspective!

Now for a 30-40-miler here in cloud-bound Ithaca...at least the cloud
ceiling is higher today.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: flcc-bounces at icycle.org [mailto:flcc-bounces at icycle.org] On Behalf Of
Charles Hamilton
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 5:04 PM
To: FLCC at icycle.org; Communication among Cookies
Subject: FLCC> Ride Report - Mount Diablo, California

Hello everyone.  See below for a _long_ ride report from a trip last
week to California.

Hope everyone is doing well out there.

Cheers,

-Charles

------------------------------------------

Setting up the wake-up call the night before I didn't really think I
would be able to get out of bed at 5:45am.  Being on east coast time
and the rented Fuji downstairs at the hotel sure helped.  Between
business meetings the day before, an overnight flight at 6:30pm, and
five more draining days on the road yet to come, I had a single
glorious day free in Sunny California - a day that turned into one of
my best days ever on two wheels.

I had found the Grizzly Peak Cyclists online and bounced emails back
and forth with club members finding out how to get from downtown San
Francisco to the North Berkeley BART station by 8am.  Their Saturday
ride called for 7,500 odd feet of climbing and about 100 miles.
Fortified by my rigid off season regimen of eating frozen pizza, I had
no illusions about making it the whole way, I wasn't even sure I'd
make it the first hour without watching riders peel away up the road.

At least I had good gear for the 40 degree morning 52 degree high day.
 Full Ithaca autumn kit and a rented Fuji carbon from Blazing Saddles
Bike Shop.  The 58 dollar rental sure beat the hassle of moving a bike
across the country, as good or better than my bike back home and with
fewer scratches.  The shiny bike and I found the BART station for the
commute to Berkeley and I made it across the Bay just before the ride.

Karen from the club met me when I came out of the station and a small
group of about 10 soon showed up.  Some in the fast touring category
and what looked like a core few with legs that clearly had a thousand
or so kilometers in them just since Christmas.  They weren't the huge
sprinting legs that taunt me at town line sprints, but more the iron
clad legs that clearly will not be phased by a mere century.  A core
group of masters riders were training for what they called double
centuries - competitive 200 mile rides later in the year.  Great, I've
flown across the country to get dropped by old guys.  If I had wanted
to do that, I could have stayed in Ithaca.

We rolled across neighborhoods and up a good sized residential ridge
with about the altitude gain of Ringwood Road back home, chatting all
the while.  I'm warming up ok and feeling like maybe I'll be able to
hang for a few miles or so.  Gathering at the top we split into two
groups and go rolling down the other side of the ridge through what
quickly becomes very twisty roads through a wooded park.  Green moss
covered trees stretch up and cross over the road leaving us shaded in
between openings  to the rolling hills across the valley on our left.
White mist is rising off the road and filling the distance as the pace
picks up.

I quickly realize that my fear of fast corners combined with local
guys who know the apex of each turn means that I'll fall back on the
down hills.  A rider named Ernesto leads the pace down the twisty bits
leaning hard into the corners as the group bombs down to the valley
floor.

An intersection at the bottom splits the group, but the stragglers
manage to catch back on without too much effort.  The road gets more
open and more uphill as the residential parts fade away.  Riding
briskly up a series of hills the guys called the three bears, no one
seems to know which is papa, mama, and baby bear.  The sun comes up as
we pass by a reservoir of clear water near the summit.  The club is
very welcoming and marvels that I'm the first to take off arm warmers
as the hill gets steeper - thinking I'm a weather hardened New Yorker
rather than just working hard to keep up.

Past some ranches, through a town and up a popper of a hill that I
contest with a passing rider out of sheer folly, the ride gets a
little more residential as we're heading to the park road up Mount
Diablo, elevation 3,800 feet.  On the way to the park road there are
some rollers and pacelines to go through and my legs are starting to
telegraph muscle cramps.  Oddly, my lungs are fine, it's just my legs
that seem to be missing.  I down every gel I have, a banana and most
of my sports drink and hope for the best.

Coming out of the residential hills I see the impressive Diablo ridge
jumping up from the small town.  Wasn't I just in downtown San
Francisco?  Where did this mountain come from?  I figure we must be at
about 1,000 feet here at the base, so maybe I can make it without
embarrassing myself.  Ten minutes of hard climbing, the group is gone
save one who hangs back being polite as I seem to go slower with each
pedal stroke.  Ok, this is going to be harder than I thought.  Damn
there's the sign for 1,000 feet and I've already been climbing for
what feels like 15 minutes.

Trying to push, I see the group a couple of turns higher on the ridge,
but my legs are having nothing to do with a faster pace.  Fitness
glory again passes me by, but the view as we rise up the mountain just
keeps getting better.  The ridge and hills we climbed before are in
the distance and beyond a bank of clouds fills San Francisco Bay
before spilling out to the ocean beyond.

It feels like an hour getting to 2,500 feet or so where the rest of
the group is finishing a water stop at the ranger station.  It's a
balmy 50 degrees now and the sun is strong, the sky clear.  Thanking
the group for the ride and for waiting, I beg off the rest of the
route.  Inviting me back anytime and looking strong, they all ride off
down the ridge.

>From the ranger station I've got another 4.5 miles up to the top of
the mountain.  I don't know if I've ever ridden a slower 4.5 mile
stretch in my whole life.  At one point I think Juan Valdez and his
burro could gap me.  After a hundred twists in the road and the last
short 20 degree wall, I finally made it to the top.  I was just glad I
didn't break down and have to walk the bike.  The view is a full 360
degrees and certainly worth the effort as I look down at a small plane
flying through the valley.

A twisty ride down the mountain, a close encounter with a family of
deer, the BART ride back, a short urban ride and I make the airport
just in time.  Total ride 65 miles and 6.5 hours.

Why did this rank as one of my best rides ever?  Well, besides the
views, sunrise, and the mountains. It was one my very best days for
the sheer joy of stepping out of the dark of winter into something so
out of the ordinary, and for the surprise that after months off the
bike I was still able to hang - even a little bit - with a group of
great athletes.  I ride to escape, to challenge, and just sometimes to
surprise myself.  Saturday in California I managed all three.

--------------------

Thanks for reading and thanks to the Grizzly Peak Cyclists for the
hospitality.

_______________________________________________
FLCC mailing list
FLCC at icycle.org
http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.10/1241 - Release Date: 1/24/2008
9:58 AM
 

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11/1244 - Release Date: 1/25/2008
7:44 PM