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Veronica
97 Posts |
 Posted - 06/05/2004 : 3:25:28 PM
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Chris and Donna organized an excellent mountain bike ride up the other side of Mount Diablo this morning. In attendance were Chris, Donna, (surprised you there huh!), Jan, Brian (Donna�s boss), Thom and Veronica. It was a bit a warm, but pretty clear, so some nice scenery. We started off on Pine Canyon Trail at the edge of Castle Rock Park. The first 2.5 miles you roll along through a valley. My map shows 11 water crossings! Only seven or so actually had water in them. Donna led the way through most of these so I could see what line to take. They were my first so that was kind of exciting. After the last one the road �tilts sharply upward� as Paul and Phil would say if this were a Grand Tour. The climb goes on for 2.7 miles. The first section is under the trees so really quite pleasant. The second half you are on an exposed ridge. This part was a bit of a bear. I was hot and a little hungry. I was very happy to get to BBQ Terrace and was wishing for some steak or the banana I had left in the truck. At this point we were up about 2000 feet.
We then rolled along on the asphalt for a little bit to get to our next trail. Knobby tires sound so peculiar on the road. We took a little single track trail over to main trail called Wall Point. I�m very happy we were going down this, not up! This trail has some fairly steep sections with exposed rock and a few off camber turns. Some of those tightened up as you went into them. Chris had warned us about this � so no mishaps. There were a couple of sections where I felt really good and just let go. Naturally I almost missed a turn. But flying down the mountain was certainly worth it.
Once we were down off the steep, fun section the rest of the ride had mostly rollers. Of course the ride couldn�t be totally uneventful. I managed to break my chain about a mile and a half from the end. Thom came back down and I helped him fix it. We took out a link since I had bent it so badly. He thinks I did it on purpose to make a case for getting a new bike.
It was a really scenic, challenging but enjoyable ride. It was my first experience with both single track and water crossings. Definitely a ride I will repeat. Thanks Chris and Donna for organizing it.
Total mileage: approx. 13.9
Total time: 2 hr. 58 min.
Veronica |
Edited by - Veronica on 06/05/2026 3:26:27 PM
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Veronica
97 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2004 : 5:07:30 PM
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I know most of you are pretty familar with the mountain, but the link is to a picture I took near the top of our ride. Thom says the coloring is a little flat. He's so picky  On the way down we got much closer to the big rock, but I was having too much fun descending to take any shots. Maybe next time.
V.
http://www.tandemhearts.com/view.jpg |
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