Mt Diablo ride with BARC

ccf · Dec 6, 2015

Rode up to the the Mount Diablo Junction Ranger Station with Bay Area Recumbent Cyclists yesterday. Had a lot of fun with ten other recumbent riders. The weather was nice, with thin, high overcast and temperatures about 58 degF (14 degC). Here's are a couple pix of the view a short way below the Junction:

My helmet-cam video of the descent down North Gate Road is here:

-Cliff

LarryOz · Dec 7, 2015

Very nice Cliff.
Awesome decent! Great to see all those bents riding together.
Man, there where some pretty big cracks in the road at times, and some rather unfriendly shoulders too.
It is so weird how the visual of the helmet "never" changes but everything else does!
So, what max speed did you end up hitting?

Alan W Dolbeer · Dec 7, 2015

Nice video Cliff. The road looked rough in spots, which perhaps kept the group's descent speed down lower than with smooth pavement? Looked like great views though. I did notice once you began pedaling near the bottom that you quickly caught a bent with a front fairing (Lightning P38?). The newer Silvios and Vendettas are so aero!

ccf · Dec 7, 2015

LarryOz said:
Very nice Cliff.
Awesome decent! Great to see all those bents riding together.
Man, there where some pretty big cracks in the road at times, and some rather unfriendly shoulders too.
It is so weird how the visual of the helmet "never" changes but everything else does!
So, what max speed did you end up hitting?

Larry, yes there were certainly some hazards. The South Gate Road, which we went up, is in a lot better condition.

The feeling from watching the video is a lot different than how it felt riding. It can get kind of dizzying watching the video, but it never felt like that when riding. Maybe it's because our eyes focus on a small spot in the field of view, whereas the entire image in the camera is in focus.

Max speed according to Strava app on iPhone was 33 mph (53 kph). It was near the bottom, I think during the stretch when I started pedaling. Not blazing fast, but still fun.

ccf · Dec 7, 2015

Alan W Dolbeer said:
Nice video Cliff. The road looked rough in spots, which perhaps kept the group's descent speed down lower than with smooth pavement? Looked like great views though. I did notice once you began pedaling near the bottom that you quickly caught a bent with a front fairing (Lightning P38?). The newer Silvios and Vendettas are so aero!

Alan, the first rider in the group really bombed down the hill fast, and the guy on the trike that passed me was moving pretty fast at times. But most of the riders were making sure they stayed out of trouble.

The views were way better than they appear in the video. At one point during the descent when I caught a good view you can hear me say something like "wow!" because of how impressive it was.

And yes, the bent that I caught up to is a Lighting P38.

ccf · Jan 4, 2016

Did another ride with BARC up Mt Diablo on New Year's Day. This time we rode all the way to the top and down. Here is a photo of the bike traffic at the Junction Ranger Station (halfway up).

This one is from the top looking west. You can see the Golden Gate over the bump in the far ridge. The actual visibility was much better than what you see in the photo.