Big ride on Saturday! We climbed Mt. Diablo from the North Gate entrance. The weather was clear and cool. While we were waiting to depart, a pedestrian stopped to tell us about some gruesome bicycle accident. Do bicyclist stop pedestrians to describe pedestrians hit by a car and dragged a hundred yards through a cactus patch? Pepi, Steve and Cristina joined us for the ride. We hope to lure Cristina into riding a leg of the coast to coast ride.

The climb to the top of the mountain, about 3300 vertical feet over

eleven miles, took me about two hours and twenty minutes.

Steve and Cristina would have been there long before but for waiting for us. Huge views from the top.

We started packing our panniers last night. We're uncertain what cold weather gear we need. A friend in Arizona warns that the temperature will drop 30 degrees as soon as the sun goes down. While we mostly need warm weather clothing, we need something for cold. The cold weather clothing takes up lots more room in our very limited panniers. We started by stuffing clothes into ziplock freezer bags, then squeezing the air out and sealing the bags. How much underwear and socks to take? Depends on how often we get a chance to do laundry, an unknown at the moment.