A Two-Wheel Reunion with Lafayette's Devil Mountain Man

Lafayette resident and Benicia Bicycle Club member Joe Shami rides up to the summit of Mount Diablo once a week. Every week. Come hell or high water, ice, snow, fog or heat. It doesn’t matter.  What matters is getting the ride done.

He usually goes early on Sunday, before the tourists who'll drive up the mountain are awake. Sunday is the first day of the week, so it gets the ride out of the way. If things go wrong and he doesn’t make it to the top, he still has six more days to accomplish the feat.

Rider Steve Bahr asked Joe to alter his schedule so a few of us to join him for trip No. 144. Tuesday, four of us who have ridden the mountain together many times joined Joe in what turned out to be something of a reunion ride. In addition to Joe, Steve, and myself, Mick Weninger and Bob Klosterman came along. We have ridden up Mount Diablo many times together.

Tuesday turned out to be the best day in a long time for our trip up the mountain. The unsettled weather held off and we had pleasant temperatures; cool enough that we didn’t get overheated on the way up, and the temperature at the summit was a moderate 56 degrees. 

We like to ride up on Northgate Road from Walnut Creek. This is a little more difficult than coming up Southgate Road, but we like the challenge and it has great views. 

It’s a 10-mile climb from the park entrance, and there are steep pitches of up to 12 percent in places, although the average is about 8 percent. With all the rain we’ve had, the grass on the mountain is lushly green, and wild flowers abundant. We also see lots of wildlife taking advantage of the open space.

Coyotes, ground squirrels, many kinds of birds, even bats and tarantulas are around. What you don’t see much of up there is cars. The $10 cost to drive in deters most drivers from using Mount Diablo as a scenic alternative to their daily commute.

Just before the summit is the hard part, 300 yards at 17 percent. If you weren’t gasping for breath already, you will be by the time you get to the upper parking lot. The elevation is 3,849 feet.

Our group got spread out going up, but I made a point of staying near Joe, since we were doing the ride to acknowledge his perseverance. I asked him what motivated him, and he answered, “It isn’t competition, I’m not competitive with other people. But if I make a goal for myself, I’ll kill myself to accomplish the goal.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that! We’re talking iron will here. That’s what it takes to make 144 straight weeks (I did the math for you: 2.76 years) of a difficult mountain climb. One time, it was 27 degrees with ice on the road. He had to walk on some stretches, but he made it.

As you can imagine, Joe is something of a legend to local bike riders. For starters, he’s 76 years old. For another, riding up Mount Diablo on a bike is not exactly child’s play. It’s hard even for experienced cyclists who are in shape. I find Joe Shami’s story inspirational. Next time I think about wimping out and not going out on the bike, I’ll think to myself: “What would Joe do?”