Race Report: 2026 Mens Mt Diablo Challenge
Race: 2026 Mt Diablo Challenge
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2026
AVRT racers: Andrew Ernst, Jeremy Besmer, Adam Beliveau, Kevin Kauffman, Jack Lund
Top Result: Andrew (15/702)
Course: 10.8 miles, 3220’ hill climb. Closed to cars! The first 6 miles is highly draft-able and significant time can be saved if you sit in the group until the junction (Ranger Station). This was one of the warmest race days on record, with comfortable temperatures at the bottom and 80s at the top. The wind was not particularly favorable
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20453318348/segments/3541934050238567486
Nutrition: the usual 1000 kcal cereal and a pot of half-caf coffee. I had experimented with bicarb the day prior and it went alright, so I had that and some caffeine during the drive up to the race. I ate a gel just before the start and took a few swigs of carb mix in a bottle during the race.
Recap: Despite being an uphill TT, this race is as much about strategy as any other mass start race. The first section of road has modest grades and a few downhill sections. This is the most decisive part of the race. If you have the legs to stay with the front group, you can save minutes. However, if you attempt to go with them and you don’t have the legs for it, you will find yourself alone, in an inescapable hell-hole, just as the gradients kick up. My race is a story of the latter.
In 2025, the front group kept a fast but modest pace in the beginning and I got a free ride to the junction (Ranger Station). From there I made the mental decision to ride my own pace to the top and I finished feeling like I had paced the effort well. Frustratingly however, the front group split just after I had dropped back, meaning there was a group riding almost the same pace as me, about 100 meters up the road. If I had just held on a bit longer, I could have finished significantly faster. In 2026, I wouldn’t let that happen again.
So here I was dangling painfully over hell, grasping at the back of the front group, waiting for my pace angels to drop back and ride with me to the top. Unfortunately the front group was faster than 2025 and those within the group all seemed to belong there. My pace group was not forming and I was going deeper into the red. I eventually let them go and they quickly disappeared from sight. I don’t know if it was recent illness, lack of sleep, or just bad legs, but I felt absolutely miserable. Rather than attempting to ride the next 25-30 minutes alone, I sat up and waited for the next group. When they came, I just sat in. Knowing my PR goal was out the window, I was content to just ride with this second group to the finish. I crossed the line about two minutes slower than 2025, feeling about 100 times worse.
Sometimes you need those days to give perspective.
Congrats to all who showed up and didn’t quit! Here’s to next year