Day 2 Old La Honda individual time trial

Today dawned cold and cloudy but that didn't stop Perry from sampling the local breakfast menu first thing then setting out on his catch up ride to the summit of Mt Diablo. He returned 3 hours later with his proof of summit photo of 'Cadel the red Koala' atop the summit. Meanwhile Ferdy and I ended up having three breakfasts as the others in the TDC slowly made it to the breakfast bar. This turned out to be a blessing later as we didn't quite mange to fit in a lunch break due to freeway chaos.

Also Goose needed to wait for his bike to be fixed after he broke his hanger after only 8 km into the ride up Diablo. Luckily Nev had 'loaned' the Domane boys his spare hanger but the bike needed more work. As Goose had to wait for the fix later that day and had no bike we all decided to finish the pre TDC admin with a trip to add the Pman to the driver list for the rental and to drop his bike case in the storage shed back near the airport. So why not time this with one of the areas iconic rides up La Honda in the Portola Valley?

Unfortunately an earlier truck fire on the freeway was still causing delays and we lost 2 hours crawling through San Francisco. Luckily we were on holiday and had nothing better to do! The duke tested the in car plumbing to the fullest extent while conversation wandered as much as the cars changing lanes hopeful of a quicker run.

Now for the TDC.
Ferdy won the Old La Honda climb followed by M2 and the Pman. Rocket then won the sprint to Alice's Restaurant where we had great nachos and coffee. Rocket continued his form winning the La Honda descent even while coming across a Deer standing fully across the road in the middle of the Redwood forest! The Electric Cowboy once again saved the best to last winning the sprint back to the van.












So now its Rocket in yellow due to his combined sprinting and descending ability and idyllic brush with nature!

Yellow jersey => Rocket. 90 points on count back
M2 90 points
Electric Cowboy 80 pts
Grand Duke 30 pts (facing more sanctions for continually being out of uniform)
Pman 30 pts
Goose 15 and new cadel red koala holder.

'Watch out for the grizzlies along the way'




Tomorrow favours the sprinters as we head north west to Lodi on basically river flat irrigation country.

Adios

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Yellow jersey presentation

Results are in for the Mt Diablo climb and today's winner and initial yellow jersey winner is M2. Even though the Grand Duke won the climb his loss of points from an incorrect team uniform punished him severely. No sympathy when he used the Essendon excuse 'I feel as though I am being persecuted and I was only cheating'.

The sprint finish on the descent was won by the Electric Cowboy (saving his energy for when it counts and to please the waiting crowds).

The TDC team awarded its first life membership to our host for today the Mayor of Walnut Creek- Steve.

So here is today's winner, our new life member and the new 'lantern rouge' the red koala which was awarded to Perry ( the black Cav) of the team for his late start.



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Mt Diablo Prologue live

First we did the shopping, water and beer life's essentials



We started the Diablo climb from a chilly Walnut Creek while picking up another Steve as our local guide.



Then it was onward for the 20 km climb up 3,000 feet to the summit of Mt Diablo.



Finally at the top where the Grand Duke returned to his previous hill climbing form claiming the KOM from M2 and then the new Steve.



Just to prove we actually got there



And now for post ride recovery with our host the other Steve.



Yellow jersey presentation to occur after our BBQ lunch


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Made it to San Francisco

We assembled at Auckland airport transit lounge from our various homes and then had a very nice 12 hour flight overnight to SFO.

We then picked up our little van, asked for two seats to be removed leaving a spacious cavity to carry our stuff.

Here we are re-assembling the bikes at our storage facility prior to heading for our San Francisco base at Walnut Creek. No problems with the bikes.



After mixing in with Friday afternoon peak traffic we made it to walnut creek, unpacked then went for the obligatory Mexican dinner and as usual we ordered way too much.



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I have packed my bike

Today I managed to pack my bike, took a while to get that right pedal off, but the rest went in nicely. 21.4 kg all up. Lucky I have another bag for my clothes.

This is the start




Then open the bike case


Now take the wheels, and seat off, cable tie the chain and remove the derailleur


Then in goes the frame


Add my riding clothes including helmet with plenty of foam


Just add wheels



There we have it, ready for shipment



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Location:Melba,Australia

This is the route for the TDC 2013 part 2

For those who are interested this is the plan for the ride.  We land in San Francisco next Friday 2 August and spend a few days settling in and buying the bits we need to support ourselves on the ride.

Sunday 4 August is the Prologue climb to the summit of Mt Diablo that overlooks San Francisco from
1,178 m above the sea that you can see below.  From then its the following from Tuesday 6 August:

Walnut Creek to Lodi  96 km

Lodi to Jackson  57 km

Jackson to South Lake Tahoe  140 km

South Lake Tahoe to Virginia City  69 km

Virginia City to Truckee  87 km

Truckee to Nevada City  158 km

Nevada City to Oroville  92 km

Oroville to Red Bluff  110 km

transit to Garberville then to Fort Bragg  107 km

Fort Bragg to Gualala  94 km

Gualala to Occidental  83 km

Occidental to Napa  74 km

Napa to San Francisco  110 km

that's about 1500 km over 2 and bit weeks finishing in San Francisco itself on 21 August 2013.

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Get ready TDC part 2 starts soon

All is ready for the tour starting with the Mt Diablo prologue on 4 August 2013.
The ride jerseys have arrived. So look out.






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