Two Wheel Blogs

Nothing at all. Pure bliss. A bit over two hours of it. Cycling at its finest. Riding at night is second to no experience on earth. OK, well there's... How about, second to no other experience on earth that you'd do outside in cold weather? Remember, there's beer involved. There you go. Now we're on the same page.

We started somewhere between 8:30 and 9pm, and we finished up right about 11pm. From start time right on through to the finish the sky was black and clear, with a million stars in sharp, pinpoint focus.

The temperature dropped fast after dark and registered 43°. Fleece lined leg warmers below and two thin base layers plus a jersey above proved just about perfect. When we popped out of the woods and picked up speed we could really feel the chill, not a good night to ride the road.

Inside the woods however the lower speeds and quieter air made for a cozy ride. And quiet it would have been, had there not been so many leaves to crunch through. And when the leaves covered the trail we really had to focus. We had to focus first on exactly where the trail was, and second on not getting jolted off our bikes by unseen rocks and roots.

I suppose had the leaves been wet we'd have had a quieter yet more exciting evening. Bouncing off all those hidden obstacles was challenging enough. Wet slippery leaves would have added a whole new level of treachery I didn't need.

All the bouncing about must have taken its toll. We both felt like we had been going faster but the ground we covered in the time spent said otherwise. But then some of that time had been spent camera in hand.

We stopped a few times to try to capture some of the fun we were having. But just like on other nights, many of the shots taken didn't turn out very well. The one pictured here turned out to be a fairly good effort.

We picked out a particular section of serpentine trail descending a hillside though a grove of Cedar trees. With the night this dark - the moon had not risen - a well-positioned camera with a long exposure could capture quite a bit of trail. The Unit settled down below the hill, under the Cedars, and pointed the camera up the hill with his lights out. On the signal, I descended the switchbacks with both helmet and handle bar LEDs ablaze. In what seemed like a minute of digital camera processing time the camera presented us with a whole lot of night and my whole descent captured in a single frame. What a kick.

In fact the whole night was a kick. I could go on and on. Night riding just plain rocks. I can't wait to do it again. I can't wait until it's time for another cold one.

And that second cold one due up next Friday at Castlewood. Hopefully the weather will again be perfect. Even if the weather is just OK for riding, the second cold one is sure to be every bit as good as the first.