the devil made me do it

In all the years I've been riding, I've only ridden Mt. Diablo once -- Thanksgiving Day 2005. That was the year I was recovering and returning to health and fitness. It was a very challenging ride for me.








Today I rode Mt. Diablo again, this time with one of my clients who is training for the Death Ride.









We had a fabulous ride!




The weather was perfect -- hot and sunny (but not too hot). The sky was very clear -- we could see San Francisco, the pacific ocean, my little condo in San Mateo (just kidding about that). We saw squirrels and bunnies and turkey vultures and a garter snake (the last photo's for you, Panda). You could hear the buzzing of the bees in the air (it reminded me of a really bad 70s movie I recall watching as a child). And we were swarmed by gnats for a few miles of our descent (they were crawling in my shimmel -- yuck).


As we neared the summit, I was really excited to climb the last digger. I had to walk the 19% grade last time. Today, I was out of the saddle, pumping, pushing, and not looking to the top. And I made it!






At the top, we met a bunch of tourists -- all who had driven up the mountain and were amazed that we could ride our bikes. We also met Karl, the Park Aide. He rides a motorcycle (he says it's like yoga) and gave me a snickers bar to celebrate my accomplishment (note to self: don't put half-eaten snickers bar in jersey pocket).




More photos here -- Lorri's Mt. D. Photos


Tomorrow I'm climbing Mt. Hamilton with a group of friends.

Life is good.