Climb Day

Another cool ride with the entire NBC (Newman Bike Club)... Chuck and Bill.  We met in Livermore and then drove out to Antioch to start the ride.  Chuck had been promising a lot of climbing on this ride and within the first several miles we knew what he meant.Against a horrific head wind, we climbed up Kirker Pass and into Concord.  The next climb was Morgan Territory.  With plenty of shade, never a car in sight, some long but gradual climbing and just enough flat spots makes this one of my favorite places to climb.... not to mention the killer descent on the south side!  With a nasty head & cross wind coming at us I was never able to get over 42. We thought we lost Bill on the ascent but later learned that he hadn't tightened his new saddle well enough and it was tilting back quite a bit.  None of us had any tools but thankfully there were some other riders that did.  Chuck empathized... I, on the other hand, told Bill to be a man... take the damn seat off and ride on the post!!! We then headed to Danville and to Mount Diablo.  We rode up very strong... and I shaved 7 minutes off my to-the-junction time.  At this rate... I'll be able to get to the Summit in one hour... in 2008! From the junction we headed down to Walnut Creek and up Yngacio Valley.  Near the end, we faced the other side of Kirker Pass... it was very hot but we got to the top and then FLEW down into Pittsburgh!  This descent was awesome... I got it up to 53... wow, what a rush!! What a great ride... Bill pushed hard on the climbs and kicked my ass on the last 10 miles. Chuck, of course, dominated in the hills! Our ride ended up only being 80 miles... but 80 miles with a lot of climbing!