Swan Song Farewell California Mt. Diablo Ride

Interesting.

You may notice that the start and finish of this ride are 20 miles apart. What's up with that? Well, my ride merely ended before I got home.

It has been over 35 years since I rode to the top of Mt. Diablo from Lafayette where I lived at the time. Riding from Berkeley adds about 20 miles and a thousand vertical feet of climbing or so. I actually thought that it was a good idea to attempt this 75+ mile ride that I have never done even though this has not been a particularly good season of riding for me.

Yeah, I know: some get wiser; I just get older.

Anyway, Mt. Diablo is the biggest thing in the area at 3,849 feet.

It very rarely gets any snow but it sure looks pretty when it does. The hills in the foreground are the Berkeley Hills that I ride all the time and what started Thursday's ride.

Here is another cool picture from 1935:

If I got to the summit Thursday and it looked like this, then I will have died along the way.

I neither summited nor died. I did not feel very good starting out, but at about 20 miles I did start to feel pretty good. Note: when riding unfamiliar roads from memory from 35 years ago through the city of Walnut Creek, one should pay particular attention to Avenue, Drive, Boulevard, Way, Whatever associated with the street name "Walnut." I did not. I knew that I needed to turn right on Walnut and did so. The wrong Walnut.

I cannot strongly enough recommend a Wise Web-savy Wing-Woman cheerfully listening for a cell phone call. Dale found me on a map and directed me back on course. Getting off route is one thing. Wandering around making more wrong turns not really knowing what to look for is quite another.

Back on track, I started the serious climbing on North Gate Rd. toward the summit. The day started foggy and 55 degrees in Berkeley and was now 95 degrees and clear. My pace slowed to 4 m.p.h. and before long I waved off the idea of summiting. Right around the 1,000 feet elevation marker is a section of road about half a mile long or so that is quite steep and hurt quite bad. Just after the 2,000 feet elevation marker, North Gate Rd., South Gate Rd., and Summit Rd. meet at a ranger station: my high point for the ride. I was cooked. Stick me with a fork I'm done. I stuck my head under a water faucet for a while and filled my bottles, then sat in the shade for a bit.

The descent down South Gate Rd. was great and uneventful until right about the end where the local road pavers are apparently afraid, unauthorized, whatever, to repair the road. It was so chopped up and pot-holed that I was worried I would fall. Adding to the mix was filtered sunlight through thick trees making it difficult to distinguish the road/cuisinart bike processor. After surviving that, the spin along San Ramon Valley Blvd. to Walnut Creek was icing on the descent cake. I ate, drank, and prepared for the Berkeley Hills yet to come between me and home.

Or not.

Rolling through Lafayette, I was really tired and going slow. I was psyching myself for the 3 mile climb up Wildcat Canyon Rd. the last major climb of the planned route, when my old and chronic knee injury threw-in the towel. Game over. Ride ended. Hello Starbuck's! I called Dale again, walked into Starbucks, ordered a frosty mocha frappuccino and eased onto a shady bench outside. Soon Dale arrived with Macy riding shotgun. We racked the bike on the car and got more frappuccinos.

All in all, a great Swan Song Farewell California Ride of 55 miles and over 4,200 vertical feet of climbing.