geno's blog

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Mt. Diablo

Scale model of Mt. Diablo

On Thursday, nine of us tackle Mt. Diablo, a 45 mile ride with 4,621' of climbing. We do a big loop starting in Black Hawk, ascending the South Gate to the top, descending on North Gate to Walnut Creek, then south thru Danville and Alamo to Black Hawk.

L-R - Frank, Herb, Barbara, Mike, Kristina, David, Peter, Bob

Starting the ride at Draeger's Market, a gourmet supermarket in Black Hawk Ranch, a great place to end the ride.

Climbing from the South Gate into Mt. Diablo State Park

Black Hawk Ranch, one of the most luxurious residential communities in the country, lies at the base of Mt. Diablo

Kristina and Herb floating above the chapparal

Bob, Barbara and Frank

The South Gate Road climbs about 14 miles to the summit

Bob

Barbara

Above Dublin

Barb and Bob sweeping around a curve

Mike, Herb and David

About half-way up, the top of Mt. Diablo comes into view

Mike and Bob grinding their way toward the top . . . almost there

Barb and Peter at the summit

Me and my feather light R5 with Peter

View from the summit looking south

The final 100 yards tilts up at 15% - 20% . . . a devilish finish to "Devil Mountain"

Satan . . . ?!

Frank in pain but enjoying it!

Big Bob giving it 110%

He makes it!
BA (Bad Ass) is riding good today.

David grins and bears it

Oh Noooo! Kristina poops out and walks up

Almost there Kristina!

You'll make it next time when you get your new carbon :-)

Barb standing on top of the mountain

Inside the Visitor Center is the exposed top of Mt. Diablo at 3,849'

Checking out the Visitor Center with some nifty exhibits

Group foto on the steps of the Visitor Center

Peter streaking down North Gate Road to Walnut Creek

A ped/bike bridge over Ignacio Valley Road

Walnut Creek streets are not very bike friendly but the Iron Horse Trail, a rails to trails path, is a fine facility

We regroup, shed our jackets and begin looking for some hot java

Starbucks in Downtown Walnut Creek is bustling so we grab a seat anywhere we can

End of three terrific days and completing two major mountain goat climbs!
Great job lads and lassies!

Mission Accomplished

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Team Cervelo Inaugural Ride

My R5 - She's the BOMB! - feather light and lightening fast

Pretty slick hubs heh!

Mavic Ksyrium SL Wheels (above and Below)

Mike, Herb and I have finally gone carbon and purchased the highly rated Cervelo road bikes from Davis Wheelworks. Today, we took our spanking new bikes out for its inaugural ride in the beautiful country-side between Winters and Vacaville.

The performance of the Cervelos are awesome. Cat-quick acceleration up the hills, great dampening quality to take the sting out of rough roads, responsive handling on steep, curvy descents and very comfortable ride over long distances.

A group of cycling friends joined us on our inaugural ride. On a bright and beautiful spring day, we did a 43 mile loop ride through the verdant hills and valleys of west Yolo County.