My cycling buddy Pat texted me on Thanksgiving, suggesting
we work off the food comas and do a couple days of climbing rides back to back.
The first, he thought, could be the climb of Mount Diablo on Black Friday, and
the second, Slug Gulch and Omo Ranch in Fair Play, Ca., in southern El Dorado
County.
Mt. Diablo would be a 3,800-foot climb and descent, about 30
miles. Slug Gulch, which is the Sierra Nevada foothills of rural woods and
vineyards, would be a 4,000-foot climb, part of a 40-mile loop.
I’m in, I told him, having been doing mostly flat roller
riding, and hungry for some good ol’ mountain climbing.
Mt. Diablo is a great ride, as all cyclists living near to
it and those from afar that have ridden it will attest. The lower section on
the north approach from Concord has rugged asphalt, but as you ride upward, the
views soon become huge, and the pavement gets newer and smoother. Cars are
relatively rare on the winding two-lane road, and the air is usually crisp. It’s
a good workout. At the top, there’s an extended steep pitch that will really test
your fitness. I started it out of the saddle, but sat down about a quarter of
the way up, and just did deep breath suffering the rest of the way. Once you’re
up to the top parking lot, great views abound on sunny days, which this
definitely was.
On Black Friday there were plenty of cars coming into and
leaving the parking lot, full of view seeking peeps. I figured the descent
might be slowed down by a lot of cars on the road, but there were two or three
we caught up to for a short while, that politely let us pass, and allowing us
to ride at our own speeds. The descent off the top of Mt. Diablo is a really a
blast, a fun, semi-technical ride on the edge, one of my favorites. Each successive
descent on it gets better because you learn the spots where you can safely let
the bike go as fast as it wants to.
Back at the truck we agreed that ride had been an A+ outing.
The weather was unseasonably warm, the air cool and comfortable, the pavement
good to great and the traffic manageable. We all had high energy and no
mechanicals. Good stuff.
Early the next day we drove to Fair Play and started the
Slug Gulch ride. This ride has some very steep climbing from Pioneer Park at
the beginning, especially at Slug Gulch Road, about five miles into the ride.
The rest of the climb to Highway 88 isn’t as steep, but constant enough to keep
you working hard to keep a good pace.
The air was chilly when we started around 10 a.m., but the
immediately steep climbing made it easy to work up a lather and stay warm,
while refreshed breathing it in. I’ve ridden the same ride in warm weather, and
that makes the climbing a harder sweat-fest, and nearly impossible to get any
cooling from the air. My inner quads had cramped up overnight from the Diablo
climb the day before, so I took three electrolyte capsules with a big drink of
water before starting the ride.
My energy was high again, and was able to hammer the
toughest climbing on the first half of the ascent to the turnaround point at
Highway 88. The pavement was newly coated with gravel for the first 10 miles,
to give locals better traction in the winter. But it sucked to ride on, since
occasionally, pebbles clanged into the bike and crank, and the loose stuff made
us wary of slipping leaning into turns.
After a meetup resting point halfway up the climb, buddy
Brian said he had to get back to help his Dad string some Christmas lights, so
he decided to turn back there. Pat was entertaining the idea of not continuing
on, since we had gotten a lot of good climbing in at Diablo and the first part
of this ride at Slug Gulch. But hey, it was great weather, really freakishly
warm for the last day of November, and we didn’t have to do anything more than
go at a comfortable pace and enjoy the scenery. Besides, who knows when the
real winter wet weather is going to kick in? Gotta ride when the riding’s good!
Onward we went.
With about 10 more miles of less demanding climbing ahead, I
decided to ratchet it down and just keep a decent spin. Pat was ahead, and I
just opened my sensors to taking in the beauty of the woods I was riding
through. Much of this section is in the shade of large pine and cedar trees,
and the air is refrigerated and invigorating. I followed my breathing and felt
the rhythm of the climb, cooling off a bit from my earlier lather. When we got
to Highway 88, we decided to go to a small café about a mile up the road to
have some snacks and warm up a bit. The place was buzzing with customers and
nice and warm. I had a coffee and ate some of my pouch food, some jerky and a
mandarin orange. Back on the road for our descent we were ready for the cool
air sure to blast us for the first 10 miles of fast riding.
But I knew it would warm up nicely during the last half, so
it was immediately fun just to bomb down the ridge. The road has lots of
lurking chuckholes and ridges to keep a lookout for, so this section isn’t
unlike a mountain bike ride. It’s a blast until you hit a chuckhole that you
never saw. I hit one, but it didn’t do any damage, so that was appreciated! I
was cold at first but not nearly as cold as a year and a half earlier when my
buddy Marc and I were descending when we hit a rain cell which turned into some
nasty hail! We just kept riding through it all, with numb fingers and feet,
luckily able to keep from slipping through the hail cell. Once through that
stretch of wet, the skies were clear, but the air was freezing until the lower
part of the ride where the sun was out and it was relatively balmy. I
remembered how cold I was on that ride and realized, I was far from that this
time. Made it pretty easy to get through. I rode through the fragrant air of
woodsmoke from nearby fireplaces in shady deep woods homes, bringing a blissful
sensory highlight in the rushing cool air. The lower part of ride suddenly
brought back a sunny and warm day, a different microclimate from the elevations
above.
When we got back to the truck Pat and I were glad we
finished out the ride. Over two days we’d climbed 7,800 feet and ridden about
70 miles. No better way to work off a T-day feast.
Now it’s December and hopefully there’s a wet winter ahead.
That would mean less riding, but it could also avert a big time drought that is
staring California in the face.
But normal colder and wet weather is coming sooner or later,
and that means dressing efficiently to stay warm and relatively dry on rides.
Check out these tips on good cold weather clothing choices…
Good info to avoid numb hands and feet!
Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet before every
ride. Then do all you can to keep the rubber side down.
Have fun, and be safe.
-- Mark Eric Larson
Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit:
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelfHis blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/
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