Berkeley to Mt. Diablo and back. What a great day (until the very end) for a long distance climbing ride. Left Berkeley at 8:30 under slightly cloudy skies and almost immediately hit a 1/2 mile climb that edged into 15% grades, not the best way to warm up, but definitely put the day into focus.

After the climb up The Uplands, we climbed Tunnel and turned onto Skyline to begin the trek to Mt. Diablo. Nice spirited pace to the base of the focus of the day.

Jo Ann and I took off on a nice pace, my focus today was to try to keep my cadence in the 90s while not breaking into VO2 except on the extreme pitches. So we pulled away from the group but at about mile 7 Jo Ann decides that my focus on the cadence was boring so she shifts down and jumps out of the saddle to accelerates ahead. Alas it is such a mistake to attach so early so I left her go knowing that the turtle would catch and pass the rabbit and of course I did at about mile 9. I pulled ahead of her and started to open a small gap when we passed another rider who asked me who was going to win, of course I said Jo Ann and I guess I motivated her as when we it the 10.5 mile mark, she passed me and got into the strategic lead just as we came to the tight entrance up to the summit. She held her lead and blocked every time I tried to pass her on that final climb (which is also the steepest pitch of the ride), so we came to the summit wheel to wheel, but with Jo Ann leading, so she got the Queen of the Mountain for that day.

We were above the cloud layer so it was beautiful up on the summit, but the descent was bitterly cold and we had to stop twice just to warm up. We then had another spirited pace line back to the foot of Pinehurst where we commenced the final climb of the day. So not to have the day be a complete wash out I pushed it up the final pitch of this climb and left everyone behind, I had clearly left more than enough in the tank for the final climb.

However here is where the day went to hell. While we were descending down Tunnel Jo Ann hit a rock that was in the road on one of the switchbacks and laid her bike down and really hurt her shoulder. We could not tell if she had broken anything at that time but she was in a lot of pain. We all agreed that I should continue down to get the car and come back asap (we were about five miles from the post ride coffee), so I take off. As I am riding through Berkeley I puncture my read tire and had to ride the last half mile or so on a flat as I thought it would take more time to change the tire than to ride on the flat.

Post ride update is that Jo Ann seems to have a serious bruise and muscle trauma in the shoulder area, but it looks like no fractures or broken bones. We are going to the ER this morning to have it X-Rayed as last night when we stopped it was a 2+ hour wait to have it done and Jo Ann was feeling better. Hoping for a quick recovery for the Queen of the Mountain so I can try to regain my limited amounts of glory.

Thanks so much to Dan for organizing the ride and for Amy and Beacher for joining us on such a great Spring ride.