Time Up Mt.Diablo in Bay Area



jhodder

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Mar 3, 2004
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I've been cycling for a little over 4 months and want some sort of benchmark times to use to work towards. I live in the East Bay and have started climbing Mt. Diablo regularly. I also jaunt around the bears, pine hurst, etc.. I have young kids and work a ton, so my riding is confined to the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday morning (too early for most group rides).

I saw a cool website with benchmark times for riding up Old La Honda and want to see the same for Diablo. My last climb took just under an hour for the South Gate road (from Diablo Rd to summit)

I think that I am getting in good shape, but since I mostly ride alone, am curious as to what others are able to do.

Thanks in advance for spome of your sample times (either North or South Gate) and what signs or landmarks are commonly used for timing.
 
Originally posted by jhodder
I've been cycling for a little over 4 months and want some sort of benchmark times to use to work towards. I live in the East Bay and have started climbing Mt. Diablo regularly. I also jaunt around the bears, pine hurst, etc.. I have young kids and work a ton, so my riding is confined to the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday morning (too early for most group rides).

I saw a cool website with benchmark times for riding up Old La Honda and want to see the same for Diablo. My last climb took just under an hour for the South Gate road (from Diablo Rd to summit)

I think that I am getting in good shape, but since I mostly ride alone, am curious as to what others are able to do.

Thanks in advance for spome of your sample times (either North or South Gate) and what signs or landmarks are commonly used for timing.

There's an annual ride/race up that mountain. Search around for the website -- it has the results. I think it might be called the Mt Diablo Challenge.
 
Your next time up, stop at the 2nd ranger station...the one that intersects the north and south roads. From here you start up the last 4.6 miles to the summit.

Anyway, at this station, posted in the window are the time from the most recent Mt. Diablo Challenge, held in October of each year. The time begins at the Athenian School on the South Road. You'll need to add the time from the school to the gate to your current best time to compare apples to apples.

Or, follow this link...
http://www.mtdiablochallenge.com/

For someone to be cycling for only 4 months and have a sub 1 hour time is mystical. You must have incredible genetics or a pact with the devil.

Wait a minute...knock, knock knock. What's that knocking at your door...the anti-doping test squad :)
 
Thanks for the information. I'll have to time it again next ride and verify that it was actually under an hour using the start and finish from the challenge.

Can't be that mystical when an hour would have put me at around 115th in the race. Just because I've only been riding for a few months doesn't mean that I haven't been doing any cardio training.
 
:eek: :confused:

I knew that you were joking and took no offense in anything you posted. Tone is really hard to portray in posts and I think that mine came off as too much of a rebuttal and less of a continuation. Maybe that's why people include all those smilies :)

My point was that, despite the fact that I have only been riding for 4 months, I've been doing cardio activity my whole life.

In regards to the genetic gift.... who knows? Honestly, that's why I asked my original question... I have no idea where I am at in comparison to others....

However, I'm also 6'2"and have a propensity to burn and develop skin cancer from only the smallest sun exposeure. Both of which aren't too good of genetic features for cycling.

Maybe we'll meet at the junction some day.