I can’t remember a time when I was as equally terrified and excited as I was driving up to the East Bay from Sacramento. It was probably back to my wedding or a job interview. But who cares?…. I was about to climb my first mountain! The only thing between me and the top of Mount Diablo was 11 miles, over 3,400 feet of climbing, and this giant pit in my stomach…

This blog has turned from a pro cycling blog to a “look at all the cool shit I’ve done” blog, but I’m willing to let it evolve as it will. Because I really want to tell the story of one of the most cathartic experiences I’ve ever had in my life.

I don’t know why I did it, but I attached a lot of my self-worth and self-confidence to my ability to climb up Mount Diablo. It started at the beginning of my cycling life. Mount Diablo was always on the horizon of my local farm road rides. My first road ride ever was in the view of The Devil Mountain. It saw me on every ride I felt great as well as every time I was suffering and doubting my own strength to pedal another revolution. This giant mountain saw every ride I’ve done in my hometown.

My friend John told me about when he and our friend Bryan climbed up to the summit,and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. I idolize(d) Sepp Kuss, the unrelenting mountain lieutenant for Visma-LAB. So hearing that my friend climbed a mountain like Sepp, just blew my mind!

Living in the valley between the Sierras, I don’t have much opportunity for climbing training. So 3 months ago I started to make the drive up to the foothills and climb around Folsom Lake, Rattlesnake Bar, Johnny Cash Trail, and repeats over the Folsom Dam. That’s actually where I learned that I loved to climb and the Avocado Toast at Chocolate Fish Coffee. But climbing was difficult and got me out of my comfort zone. But once I got the hang of it, I realized that I have a knack for certain types of climbs. Until then my biggest climb was under 2,000 feet… The Mountain is 3400.

I was putting this ride on the backburner for the better part of a year… I wasn’t fit enough, the weather wasn’t right, I don’t wanna drive to East Bay… but the Avocado Toast is better in Folsom… I made every excuse. So I finally set a date to go and I told everybody I knew that I was doing it, to hold myself accountable. I created my own peer pressure… probably not a healthy exercise but alas, that was my strategy.

The Day Arrived…

I pull up to the Athenian school and park my car just outside their property line. I look in front of me and see a legit mountain towering above me. Cut in half by dark clouds that seemed to have started to gather around Livermore as I was driving west. The breeze was picking up and so was my anxiety… I shoved the immense amount of food and gels I had brought, in my jersey pockets, took my bike off the car rack, and gave the mountain one last look from the base. I pedal… I remember what I was thinking too, “Get to the ranger station, and you can split this climb into two! It would be just like doing Rattlesnake Bar twice… nothing to it.

That was the psychological bump that I needed to get to the first bit of incline. Everybody talks about the last 300M of the climb that is intense and a complete nightmare scenario… but nobody talks about the 12-15% bumps at the beginning… not long by any means, but a hell of a warmup. And it was there that the doubt came back. The only thing that I kept thinking was my friends telling me the climb is fine, it’s hard but sustainable. Just find your groove… so I found my groove… and it was time for the first small flat into Rock City (~1,000FT)! I was greeted by a phallic wind cave almost immediately, so…. I had to take a photo.

The Ranger Station (1676FT)

I got to the ranger station, the first real landmark of the ride, and I felt good. I kind of thought of it as the halfway mark… it isn’t… but it’s close enough for me. And my confidence started to go up… and so did the gradient. But then… I ran into some clouds.

CLOUDS??? I’M DOING IT! I’M FUCKING DOING IT! I’M CLIMBING UP A MOUNTAIN! That’s exactly what went through my head at this moment. I’ll never forget it… it was an 8-9% gradient section, around 2200FT elevation, and I was feeling strong. But I had to stop for a video. I had to capture this moment because it was the moment I came here to experience. Seeing those clouds was the very moment that I knew I was going to do it. My mind shifted and I knew nothing could stop me. I started to feel silly for doubting myself and for the anxiety that I had built up to the ride. But I was above Cloud Nine now… not even on it. I threw my targetted power out the window and rode on passion and what my body and the mountain were telling me. It was a feeling of renewal, instead of Me vs the Mountain, I started to feel like Mount Diablo was on my side. A new friend rather than an old adversary. When I knew the mountain was with me the power just went up and up, with my confidence.

It was something… it really was. I stopped taking photos and started to take in the experience. Seeing the radio tower and the visitor center to the left gave me home. Everybody told me, “At that point, it’s further than it looks.” But that’s ok… it’s the top of the mountain. I just came from the bottom. This is the first proof that I have that it even exists!

That’s when it hit me… The Wall. Well I didn’t ride into some mountain wall they had installed in the middle of the street just to confuse drivers… It’s the Segment at the summit with a max gradient of 18%. This whole boost of confidence and diamonds in my legs went away… the fun hasn’t even started yet.

It was just as nightmarish as everyone told me it would be. It gradually goes from 8% to 11-13% but then once you make that left turn and see the summit sign it jumps up QUICK… I sat down in my saddle and tried to power my way up the climb. It became quickly obvious to me that wasn’t going to work. So I stood up on the pedals and shift up a couple of gears and went HARD… I was throwing my bike around but I saw the summit sign… I saw the parking lot… I SAW THE SUMMIT! Right when my front wheel went passed the Summit Sign my legs stopped working. I nearly fell as I crossed into the parking lot… I did it… I climbed a Mountain!

I COULD NOT BELIEVE THE VIEWS

At this point my bike felt like more than a tool or a vehicle. It’s always been pretty special to me, but this ride sealed it. I took it everywhere around the summit, taking in the views and just gassed over what I had just accomplished. It hit me though… I’M ONLY HALF DONE!

The Descent

Everybody told me the descent was one of the best descents in California. I didn’t want to ruin it by letting it fly by, I wanted to take it all in. It was still really early in the morning and there wasn’t a single car on the road. I took this opportunity to be able to lax my attention to the road a bit and take in all of the views. What a blessing… Every time I went around the mountain I would see the same wind turbines, that I’d see in between me and Mount Diablo on my home rides. I started to keep an eye out for familiar shaped farms to see if I could identify my usual routes.

Once you get passed the Ranger Station, the descent gets a bit quicker and easier, and the views are still there. It was an absolutely stunning picture no matter where I looked. I assumed the lower I got in elevation the quality of picturesque horizons would decline, but they really didn’t. Every section of Diablo is beautiful for its own reasons.

Once I saw my car appearing down the road, I knew I had done it.. I threw my arms in the air like I just won a stage of the Tour. I nearly felt like crying and I had a bizarre feeling of both not believing what I had just accomplished and an air of confidence that I’ve been missing and looking for.

I had just climbed Mount Diablo. The Mountain that has been in my life since the beginning of my cycling journey and one that I had put on a pedestal for years. I had just climbed Mount Diablo and it was amazing.

That night after washing my kit and putting my bike away I was thinking of all the mountains I could climb in California. Why stop there? I started to look into cycling trips to France to attack some of Europes greatest climbs.

Scaring the shit out of myself was one of the best things I could have done and I’m forever grateful to myself for being badass enough to do it!