Photos Capture Bikers' Quest Up The Big Mountain

Biking enthusiasts sent Patch some dramatic photos from the Mount Diablo Challenge, an 11.2-mile race up the Devil mountain Sunday.

The photos from Scott Hein capture the effort and pageantry — and a chance to remember that as recently as Sunday we had beautiful sunny weather.

The female winner was Jenny Slawta, 47, of Talent, Ore., and the male winner was Nathaniel English, 27, of Berkeley. Full results are on the website of Save Mount Diablo, the sponsoring organization.

Many San Ramon residents participated in the race. Female finishers included: Tracy Lillig, Carrie Chavez, Susan Szymanski, and Kirsten Stearns.

Male finishers included: Maury Blackman, Russell McCrary, John Gallagher, Mark Dowd, John Behring, Damian Muzzio, Francis Ilao, Robert Vanderlip, Jeff Botelho, Meljun Cabarles, Ryan Lenhardt, Robert Strain, Jake Dietrich, George Wineinger, Michael Chen, Fred Arbogast, John Hazelwood, Robin Griffin, Greg Meier, Steven Chavez, Kevin Lee, Doug Heigel, Neal Rollins, Jeff Gerbracht, Nelson Abal, Tom Lewis, Thomas Yorkey, Scott Dudley, Andrew Stearns, Robert Lee, Conor Healy, Jeff Rosellini, and Karthik Nathan Gopalasundaram.

The grind started in the lowlands, Athenian School in Danville, and climbed Southgate Road to the summit of Mount Diablo.