James Preston and I rode out from MacArthur BART station to Shelby's in Orinda for lunch. I know I have already written that being able to talk to someone while climbing makes going up so much easier. We cycled easily up Tunnel Road, Grizzly Peak, Papa Bear (first big hill on Bear Creek Road from San Pablo Dam Road, Happy Valley Road, and Hidden Valley all before lunch.
Carlos Rangel, one of three Shelby partners and my tent mate, met us and we became silly, silly, silly. That is all I can say about so much of fun nothing said. Towards the end of lunch, my body decided it did not want anymore climbing.
We then took a scenic route from Orinda to El Cerritos via San Pablo Dam Road so that I could introduce the Bay Trail to James. That trail was a lovely flat ride and the scene for my only two pictures of the day. The small hill with poppies were hidden by weeds.
We appreciate your $500 donation to AIDS/LifeCycle 2015. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) uses your donation immediately to help the community through education, advocacy, and free local services for prevention and care. SFAF confronts HIV in neighborhoods most impacted by the disease and gives a powerful voice to all people living with the disease nationwide.
Thank you volunteer AIDS/LifeCycle Training Ride Leaders Mary Vencill, Dawn Tso, Guru Swamy and Sam Kimbrel with special appreciation to Diana F-W, Shawn Pritchard and Pam and Tom Cordano for being wonderful SAG supporters AND Matt Baillie for the surprise SAG for Lady Christine et. al..
Why 4:00 a.m.? Well I wanted to confirm that it was not raining. Secretly, just like Christine, I was hoping it was raining cats and dogs, because California has a severe drought and we desperately need the rain. Our secret wishes for rain had nothing to do with the 6:30 a.m. meet time to pedal our way to Mt. Diablo's summit. Wait, didn't we do this two weeks ago?! Yes, we did, so please continue with the post. Folks want to see if there is a funny caption to go along with the photos.
4:00 a.m. - no rain. Crap! Since I'm up, I guess I should get ready for the positively, wonderful ride up to Mt. Diablo.
See my April 5th post for my morning ritual followed by steps 1 through 36 that I was able to do almost leisurely in 30 minutes this day versus the 15 minutes on April 5th. By the way, April 5th was a glorious, sunny day. This day was cold and overcast with a forecast of sunny skies by noon. I had dressed for the forecast of 20% for showers from 6 am to 7am. Long-sleeved, undershirt, long-legged thermal bib, jersey, rain jacket, and wind vest. As soon as I stepped outside, I was so happy I was warm. Hopped on my bike and off to BART. Boy was it cold. I traveled with Ally and David on BART (a mini love bubble) and Orinda welcomed us with much colder weather. BRRRR! Yes, I know the Midwest and the East Coast scoffs at us Californians at what we perceive as cold. But we arrived and the love bubble started to grow.
No! He wasn't at the Mt. Diablo summit waiting for us.
I just needed It to be the lead photo.
Dawn says, "Yes, please. Take a picture of the two of us now,
because this is the only time I'll see Christine."
Now, Mary, is this the best pose the Queen of East Bay Wildcats can give us?
Who cares! That smile just warms us up.
Ally - Art, too early, just let me eat my Pop Tart.
Don't take a picture of me like this. Wait until I'm all dressed in red.
Maybe I heard wrong, because later that morning - no red nuthin.
But what an endearing smile.
So, Lady Christine did I ever show you ...
this move? If Christine spoke Japanese, she would have answered,
"honto desu yo." I really just needed to get my last name into the caption.
Which smile
do you
like best? Julie, I love 'em all!
But, wait! We have a contender for best smile from Diana.
Diana provides us with Hula support. Our Hula Girl dances to give us
strength, happiness and fun for our Mt. Diablo climb.
And, a smile from Michael.
And, yet another from Ramona.
AND, closed eyes from Eli.
Amy and Lori smile, we want in for best smile, too.
I begged just a little for a smile from Ron.
Dan and Sam admire Joe ...
taking in the moment of the love bubble.
And, who do we have here? The lovable Aaron.
WHAT?! No dance sequence before we go over the route.
I think we kept our energy for the climb.
Off to mile 25.1 for our first rest stop. Yes, you read it correctly and read it first here. Well, at least I think you did. From Orinda to Walnut Creek, we took the easy route. All you have to do is click on the map at the very end and drag your cursor over the graph to see the path we took from mile 9.9 to mile 14 - Pig Farm. No pigs in sight or anywhere in the vicinity, but you could hear a few of us squealing has we climbed a mere 17.5% grade. We were then treated with a long dry-road descent and into Pleasant Hill where this street sign beckoned me to stop and take a picture. For my nephew-in-law to be and my niece who will soon have this last name (OH! and one of the top donors for AIDS/LifeCycle on my behalf).
James cannot be escaped, even in Pleasant Hill.
I don't think James ever was, oh, wait a minute. This is just a couple
of miles from where we had the family reunion - he has been in Pleasant Hill.
New Salesforce Guy joining us. I'll call him Blue Boy for now.
The Three Musketeers still in their spot.
Yes, the Fabulous Dan has arrived. You may leave now.
Art, why didn't you crop this photo and focus on Ramona?
She does NOT sell used-cars.
Ahhh, excuse us (says Alf, Chris and Todd - welcome Todd), we could be
The Three Musketeers, too.
Kathy needs to get this ride done. She has a fundraiser to host.
Is Patrick camera shy?
Kathy claims this is the last time I'll see her today.
Okay. We're off to see the summit, the wonderful summit of Mt. Diablo, but before we can do that we're cycling to mile 35.4 to the Ranger Station. I'm following LC and her Gentlemen and, oops, I forgot to let Matt know that we're on our way to the Ranger Station. I take my phone out, oops, I'm not supposed to use my phone while cycling and I can't tell everyone to stop because Matt is surprising us. So I stop and text which took all of maybe 30 seconds and LC and G aren't anywhere to be found I cycle to the end of the road - do I go left or right? I see now cyclist anywhere or no yellow brick road to follow. The street signs don't correlate with anything on the route sheet. So I back track and follow the route sheet and my Garmin displays that I am on the correct route. At this point,
Lonely
I'm Mr. Lonely
I have nobody
To call my own
The summit is right there. Behind the fog. Oh, not fog, clouds.
And, because I stopped to smell the roses and take the serene picture of the cloud-covered summit. Joe arrives and we ride together and talk to make the climb easier.
Look at the beauty we get to take in while we ride.
Beauty with cones.
Please accept my apologies. After non-stop climbing to get to the Ranger Station with sweat pouring down my face, I was greeted by LC and G with YAY! You now have 5 minutes before the group departs.
Lonely
I'm Mr. Lonely
I have nobody
To call my own
Alf, my savior, decides to ride with me. Talking really makes climbs easier. Since we're talking, we're keeping a pace that allows us to breath deeply and pedal at a pace so that we're not over exerting. Lo and behold, we're almost at mile 39.8 at the summit. I was able to make it more than half way and I happily dismounted with grace and walked my bike the rest of the way. Thanks so much Matt for being Secret SAG. Select this link for Matt's photos.
Matt says, "Alf, followed by Art, very pleased with the climb.
He wanted to do some repeats but we talked him out of it."
Art came from Cal-i-forn-i-A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side,
Said, hey honey, take a walk on the wild side.
He was no where to be found.
He didn't even appear from the clouds.
Not even here.
Not even the Pallav pose would summon the Greek God.
Oh, well. Smile for the camera. Thanks, Eli, for bringing us up into the summit museum.
Pam and Tom really know how to SAG.
So does Matt, but I DIDN'T take any pictures of him.
I was much too distraught to not have the Greek God at the summit.
At this point, on our way back down to mile 59.3 rest stop four at Lunardi's in Danville. Where we meet a few folks from the rest of the ride who opted out of going to the summit. Good call. Long at very good, fast rider had hypothermia and had to stay up at the summit in Matt's car until he warmed up.
Ramona could've said, she road up the summit and back and has been
waiting for us. Oh, shortly before arriving, I was singing Mr. Lonely again. LC & G
took a short cut.
But this woman, she took a faster shortcut. Mary was sitting at Lunardi's when I arrived.
I thought I had left her at the Ranger Station. The Queen can command anything :)
Yes, Sam, you can give us a smile with your mouth full.
Oh, I had better stop taking pictures, because I think I just heard the two-minute warning.
We're leaving soon.
Kathy was happily wrong. We saw each other again.
Onto the last 15 miles to mile 74 to gather round for the LC & G group shot. We're almost home.
And that was our Saturday. Hope yours was as fun-filled as ours. Until next ride. Keep safe, keep well, keep happy. We can end HIV/AIDS - let's do this.
