This year felt faster than past years. My "chip time" was 127 minutes, 41st out of 43 people in my age group. (That's the time recorded by the start and finish gates, which read the chip on each rider's helmet) I was 762nd out of 823 finishers. Yep, that's a lot faster than last year, when my chip time was 175 minutes. Not my fastest, which was my first Mount Diablo Challenge in 2018, at 106 minutes. But I'll take it. Especially because I was able to ride the last, steepest pitch, rather than walk. First time since 2018. That was my primary goal. I can credit the 30-gram carb chews Maryann gave me, or Maryann's good advice as I rode a lot in Santa Cruz over the past two weeks, or the conditioning of those rides. Maryann and I discussed nutrition a lot. Today, I ate oatmeal for breakfast, as usual. Then one GU gel a few minutes before the start. Then I ate half of one of Maryann's carb chews every 30 to 60 minutes, including one about a mile before the steep pitch at the end. That's all. The chews sure are easier to eat in the saddle than the nutty bars. And on just that much nutrition, I felt much stronger throughout the ride than on the practice ride a couple of weeks ago, especially the second half. I stopped to stretch a couple of times, which helped a lot with leg pain. As usual, there was a very diverse group of riders this year. All genders, all ages, at least two unicycles, lots of road bikes, a fair number of hard tails, and lots of e-bikes. I love my rare visits to Mount Diablo, and I donate to the organizers of the Challenge: https://valleyspokesmen.org/ https://savemountdiablo.org/ Check them out!