On November 24th, in the early morning, three of Alhambra’s Varsity Cross Country athletes: Paolo Morales, Ian Knutson, and Mickey Flood rode their non-electric bikes from Martinez all the way to the top of the Mt. Diablo Summit. As the tallest mountain in Contra Costa County at an elevation of 3,849ft, compared to Martinez’s Mt. Wanda, which stands at about 640ft, may seem as a daunting adventure for many, but these three students, they decided to take on the challenge. I interviewed Paolo Morales to get an understanding of what it was like to travel up the well known mountain and what motivated him and his friends to take the trip.
Question: What motivated you and your friends to go up Mt Diablo?
Aanswer: The end of our XC season made us want to do somethings cool/ballsy.
Question: What did you do in order to prepare for the trip and how long was the trip in total?
Answer: We showed up to Ian’s house and his dad filled up our tires for the trip. We brought a bunch of water and snacks, then later got chocolate milk. The total trip was 9 hours, and about 53 miles long. We later stopped at Habit and Mickey got a hairy burger.
Question: Can you elaborate on what a hairy burger is?
Answer: The burger that Mickey ordered had a hairball in it. He got a new one.
Question:What made you and your friends choose Mt. Diablo?
Answer: Quickly brainstorming led to Mt. Diablo.
Question:What is your favorite part of the trip?
Answer: My favorite part was going down the mountain. It took us about 2-3 hours to get to the top and only about 30 mins to go down.
Question:Did you have any prior experience that prepared you to go up Mt. Diablo?
Answer: Cross Country gave us good endurance.
Question: Would you do a similar biking trip in the future?
Answer: We’re planning on doing something like this again before Track starts.
