There is no way around it. An 11 mile mountain time trial comes at you fast. The alarm went off at 530 am and I made my way to my coffee machine that I pre loaded the night before. Gotta have lots of coffee on race day, especially when that race is the 28th Annual Mt. Diablo Challenge.
After the short drive from Oakland, I arrived at the Monte Vista High school where all racers park. This is a little over a mile from the starting line at Athenian High in Danville because the organizers want to keep cars away from the start line and residential area for obvious reasons.
It was an hour and a half before the 830 starting gun and already the place was mobed with crazy bike people. People were heading to the starting line. This is the third time I have done this event and unlike most races you CAN be too early to this race. I pulled out my trainer and had a nice warm up in the parking lot for about 45 minutes and rode to check in.
The staging area is in the parking lot at Athenian High and all I can say is I have never seen more carbon-fiber in one spot my life. People were lined up for the start a little more than a half hour away. It was about 45 degrees and those peple lined up were about to realize the real "challenge" to the Challenge is staying warm while you wait for the gun to go. Like I said earlier, this is one race you can be too early for.
The race is divided into 5 waves. Wave one is the wave for the freaks. These are the people who will ride in under an hour and compete for the win. I am in wave 2 the the slightly over 1 hour crowd. Waiting on the line for my gun I was calm but very cold. I was glad I had not been standing there for 45 minutes in the cold waiting to peg my heart rate.
The gun went and the mad dash was on. The pavement is very bad on the approach to the climb and there was a lot jockeying for position and elbows flying. I heard a crash behind me but I did not look back. Never look back in a race.
The first half of the ride up the hill went very fast. before I realized it, I was at the steep section before the saddle. Half way into the race I felt like I was finally warming up and starting to feel good. It is SO hard to go all out from a dead stop. I notice this more the older I get.
Charlie flies the colors for the OYJ at the Mt. Diablo Challenge
Anyway I reached the half way point made the right turn and got passed by the first female rider. She started 5 minutes behind me and was looking like a winner. Out of the saddle rolling a 39 in front and a 16 or an 18 in the back.
The last half of the climb is the steep part. I was feeling great and started passing riders. My plan was to make it to the gate after camp Juniper and drill it to Devil's elbow. I did this race 2 years ago with a friend who is a very strong rider who did not finish. He went out too fast in the beginning and blew to bits. 11 miles up hill will come at you fast and if you go past your limit there is no place to rest and get it together.
After I made it to Devils elbow I still felt great as the road leveled out a bit for the last mile before the "wall" to the summit. I started to have a sinking feeling that I had a bit too much left in the tank.I started to climb the finishing wall and realized there was a Jamba Juice guy right next to me. Some kids on the side of the road were yelling at us. "Go Jamba Juice GO !" Being the perpetual villain that I am by nature, I did a full on sprint and crushed the Jamba Juice guy to the dismay of his young fans.
During the sprint I had the same out of body experience as when I ran track in high school. I crossed the line and one of the volunteers said something to me and took the timing chip off of my ankle. Honestly she could have taken my wallet and I would not have noticed.
When your race is done they send you over to a very large parking lot off of the summit. They have music, free food and other goodies. I hung out chatted some other racers up and waited over an hour at the top to go back down.
The ride back down is a lot of fun. The CHP has a motorcycle officer escort the racers down for "safety" I know from experience to be at the front for the ride down because the CHP motorcycle cops actually drill it on the way down. Nothing like drafting off of a motorcycle and crossing the double yellow all the way down Mt. Diablo.
I finally arrived home and as I pulled in the driveway my two boys ran out of the house. My five year old ran up to me yelling Did you win ? Did you win? I laughed and said "No Sam, but I had a great time."