bike geek shit:

Climbing Mt. Diablo kicked my ass, but it was a perfect day for a ride in the East Bay. Two people on the summit asked me if I rode all the way up and how long did it take? An hour and 45 minutes from Walnut Creek BART. One lady took my video, "here's a guy who rode up all the way". My hands were shaking as I was downing Gatorade.

On the summit looking around at the surrounding landscape was like being on top of the world. But it was like that on Mt. Tamalpais, only 1000' lower. The climb was over 3000', summitting at 3549'. I passed 8 or 9 people on the way up. I wouldn't pass as many people climbing Mt. Tam. Marin County has more serious riders.

From Walnut Creek BART going up the north side, it was 16 miles and took an hour and 45 minutes. From the summit going down the south side and swinging back around on flat roads up to Walnut Creek BART, it was 22 miles and took 47 minutes. It was as perfect a ride as I've gone on this season. The only downer was getting back to San Francisco and finding it frigid.

So yes, with Daylight Savings ending, I think today was the end of my riding season. I've improved my downhills quite a lot this, my first, season. I was pretty timid about downhills when I started these long rides. I still ride my brakes more than I should, but I've gotten better about being more horizontal on sharper turns. It's still scary for me to be leaning way over into turns to maintain speed, but I think it's something that experience takes care of.

Self-Evident:
Prior to the ride, I stopped by the anti-war rally at Justin Herman Plaza, and someone handed me some minor newspaper. I was reading it on the BART and it contained the entirety of a poem by Ani DiFranco called Self-Evident. I wanted to keep it, but then decided to leave it on the BART, hoping that someone else would pick it up and read it.