There was a lot of male bravado coming out of the East Bay during the past week. The guys from Pegasus were Emailing back and forth about a ride, and it started sounding interesting to me, so I jumped in and said that I’d join the ride. As the weekend approached, and the commitment to ride became imminent, the Emails slowed to a snail's pace, and then finally ceased. So much for all of the male bravado! I’m going to give these guys a little grief over their vacillation. ;-) Maybe one day they’ll all show up for the rides that they organize. Ouch!
My friend Melvis and I smelled the disintegration of the originally planned ride, so we decided to make our own plans to ride in the East Bay, but on road bikes instead of mountain bikes. When I ride over there he usually decides the route that we'll take, so today I had no idea that he was planning an assault on Mount Diablo. We had done a similar ride on December 2nd. In looking back at my notes, I’ve only ridden my road bike twice since then, and only once during the past month! No wonder my mileage is down for the past two months.
I was a bit worried about heading up such a relentless grade given how little I've been riding my road bike. One might think that you use the same muscles for any bike that you ride, but that’s really not true. There’s a slightly different riding position on a road bike, and that means that you end up using slightly different portions of your muscles. Well today was proof of that concept. It was a 20 mile ride for us to reach the South Side gate to Mount Diablo State Park, and from there it’s nearly entirely uphill, and there's very little relief from that ascent.
We stopped at the bottom for a photo session at the gate, and a Clifbar Shot for Melvis that he said tasted horrible. I’ll remember that. From there we just started pedaling. It was odd for me since my legs, that I've been pounding away on with my mountain bikes for the past two months, felt awkwardly weak as we ascended. I had weird little gremlins in my muscles and knees; my hands even hurt on the descent from braking (More on the descent later).
I had pulled away from Melvis on the climb that includes long and sweeping switchbacks, where one can look way back down and see the people that are riding off the back. So I looked back to see where he was on the climb. I could have taunted him, as we’re accustomed to doing to each other (He's my de-facto brother, so we play around a lot, as brothers do), but I respectfully refrained today since I'm riding so much more than he. Instead I looked down at Melvis, just in time to see him, and then to hear him yell at obscenities at me! He had decided to call me unmentionable things from below. I won’t repeat what he called me in this clean and sophisticated forum. ;-) Melvis, I’ll bring my tow rope next time…
I limped up to the Junction today with my lack-luster road bike legs. It was interesting that my lungs were fine on the ride, but I just didn’t have my legs. I guess that I’m lucky to have had my lungs, because it would have been a rather major suffering for me otherwise.
We met back up at the Junction where we rested and took in some of the local characters that are on their bikes. There was one guy that looked like he had just crawled out of a cave and right onto a bicycle. He was even exposing areas of his nether regions that would make even a strong person feel nauseous. He of course decided to sit next to Melvis on the bench. ;-) What Neanderthal wouldn’t want to cuddle up to him?
The ride down the north side of Mount Diablo was really long and cold. It was a really fast descent, but the cold kept us throttled-back in order to stay warm. My teeth started chattering at one point, but fortunately for me it wasn't for too long. Once at the bottom we "meandered" back to Concord via the local bikes paths. Does anyone know where the word “meander” comes from? I use the word a lot in this forum because it compliments cycling's inherent travels. So, I've learned it's origin! It's origin is the Meander River in Turkey. My friend “C” clued me into this on yesterday’s ride. I never would have known that, but it makes total sense to me after seeing a photo of the river. It’s so nice to be 45 years old and still learning a thing or two, and especially from friends.Melvis, thank you for the fun ride today, and also the post-ride hospitality. Thanks to “J” too, and hugs for the “V,” who is getting smarter and smarter due to your daily vigilance!
Distance: 39.93 miles
Calories burned: 2,645
Time: 2:37:08 hours
Elevation gain: 2,327 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/21643840
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