Like Brian said…it was good times. Five and a half hours of which about four was spent going uphill. Will told me that Brian though up the name, Dirty Avocados while riding home from my 2004 birthday ride. I’m clearly going to have to make the birthday ride an annual adventure.

I left my house at 6:30am with a light frost on my truck. My goal was to get to Clayton by 7:45 and leave my truck there as a shuttle vehicle. As I was nearing Clayton I saw the first sunlight hitting the summit of Mout Diablo and East Peak. Adam Doti met me in Clayton and we loaded my bike into his car. We arrived at Round Valley just before 8:30 to find the Ogre(Dennis) and Fiona waiting in the Jetta. I think everyone was there by 8:45. We were nine strong plus Fiona (Char): Donato Polignone, Adam Doti, Adam Armijo, Brian Schmitz, Will Gilmore, Mike Chastaine, Dennis Baker, and Chris Mason. I was happy to have Chris Mason meet us there, he’s an old friend and was my “best man” at my wedding. Although a back problem kept him from riding long with us, it was great to have him along.

Dennis and his wife Char headed out early, we’d meet them on the trail and Char would head back. Living out here in the flatlands is killing me, which was evident as I spent the day following everyone up the hills. Dennis stopmped on us all. We all walked some hills but dennis easily did the most uphill on the bike. In hindsight I should have taken the tow off of my bike and put it on the Ogre’s and let him pull me. The uphill on this route was insanely steep. On the climb into Morgan Territiory Will had to stop and rid his body of some toxic concoctions he’d imbibed the night before. Once that episode was over he was good to go and rode strong all day…good times indeed.

The weather was cool and crisp for the whole ride. We had views of the Central Valley and San Ramon Valley. The ridgetops were windy and especially cool. As we rode through Morgan Territiory and along Highland Ridge we were able to follow signs for the Diablo Regional Trail. As we got closer to Mt. Diablo we noticed the Diablo Regional Trail signs stopped appearing. We continued on my pre-planned route and soon found ourselves face to face with a private property sign. In the Bay Area there are several trail easments through private property. We forged ahead and discovered that this wasn’t one of them. We spoke to a reasonably friendly rancher who was unable to tell us how the Diablo Regional Trail connects between Mt. Diablo and Morgan Territory Regional Land Bank. I guess I have more research to do.

It was about 1:20 atthis point and we were clearly not going to get up to the summit by our pre-detemined 2pm deadline so we all took the road directly back to Round Valley, Except Dennis who rode to Clayton and met Char. We drove the cars to Clayton, waved to Dennis and he zoomed by the other way in the Jetta, and met up with Chis Mason again. We’d hoped for a bit of Pizza but Skipolini’s wasn’t open until 4pm. We settled on Ed’s Mudville Grill and shared some appetizers and beverages before hitting the road for SF.

The Dirty Avocado component of the ride met later at Cha Cha Cha in the Mission. We enjoyed good food and drink. The Ceviche had a Jamaican influence and was fantastic. We shared a few rounds of appetizers, Sangria, and a few brews too. Award’s were passed around. Adam Doti was recognized as the Heart and Soul of the team for all the work he does on the website, team apparel design, and facilitating communication. I was recognized for getting my team lost while with a cameraman, and thus being lost on national television at PQ 2004. Jen and Galen Joined us later, it was good to have them out with us. I left at 10pm because I had to get home to relieve the babysitter. The drive was tough towards the end and I stopped in Tracy for caffiene and to walk in the cold air. I got home safely just minuted before midnight. Great times with great people.

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