Two Wheel Blogs

I am not really talking about the *brand name* surly. There seems to be a trend lately.

I spend a fair amount of time on the online forums and blogs and have noticed a trend in recent weeks. People are becoming surly and short tempered. It may be a sign of dropping temps, shorter daylight hours, and greater difficulty in getting in a ride that normally would burn off your angst.

It seems that people are starting to use forums and blogs to funnel their rage. I have seen some crazy stuff lately and people are wasting a lot of time (self included).

I met up with a nice group for a night ride last night.

We held a nice pace as we completed a lap at Binder. Not too fast, and not too slow, just fast enough to stay warn on a cool night. Yes, I do mean "cool", not cold, not warm, just perfectly cool for an October evening. No one was breathing hard, or pushing it, we all just enjoyed the quiet woods for a nice ride. It was a cloudless night and when out of the woods, you could see every star in the sky.

I guess, I am not used to riding at night yet (especially with sunglasses on for protection). Did I mention that the ride started before dark, and I was wearing shades for eye protection?

Last night a big group of locals (some not so local) met up to do some CX practice, and then strap on the lights for some trail riding. I was not really all that into the CX riding (my current set up is not geared anywhere near what I might try for CX).

I was surprised by the number of inquiries I got last night regarding this blog! I guess that figures since the traffic has been THROUGH THE ROOF lately. Hopefully, more of you will post here with regularity...variety is wonderful.

Just catching up on some of my blog reading this morning... Dave's got a nice post up today about his lighting up the night experiments. The guy's got more smarts than most, I tell you. He's about to blow the lid off the lighting industry with his DIY lights that'll throw all the light you need for more time than you can probably ride at a fraction of the weight and cost of the brand name kits. Too good to be true or just good science and common sense? You decide.

I love my DiNotte's. They do a great job. The really odd thing about riding at night, however, is I always want to ride longer and longer. When I bought these lights I thought 2-4 hours was plenty of burn time. If I run my DiNotte's at full power I get the dreaded "power save" flash just about the time I'm getting warmed up.

Lights as bright as my DiNotte's that burn several times longer at a fraction of the cost? Sign me up, Dave. Build me up a set.

Winter solstice. At exactly 8:22pm tonight the season changed from fall to winter. At that moment of time I was right exactly where I wanted to be: trail riding, in the woods, on my 29er singlespeed. I can hardly think of a better way to start out winter.

Earlier today I had thought that riding tonight might not happen. We've had a lot of rain here in the past couple of days. When I pulled in to park I asked the ranger if the trails were OK to ride because I think it's bad karma to tear up someone's hard work carving out a nice trail. She replied that for the most part the trails were in decent shape.

For the most part? I decided to take it easy and see for myself. Sure enough, only small portions of trail were bad enough they shouldn't be ridden. Where the trails were wet at all it was usually only a tiny bit of watery mud. Beneath that it was solid and firm.

Ah, but the rocks and roots... watch out. Slippery doesn't come close to describing what it's like negotiating an off-camber rooted and rocky corner.

The best part, however, was the fog.

How often do you see those words together in a sentence spoken in Missouri? Well perhaps once in a while, but hey, I had to take advantage of the nice weather.

I met up with a few of the locals that are not afraid to don lights and go as fast as possible. We did the usual trails (Binder), which are in great condition under the leaves.

Not too much to report other than a nice little stress reliever before the holidays. Not that they will be all that stressful this year (no one is coming to visit).

We did encounter a pinch flat (not me...I am tubeless), but it was a fast fix.

Hope, you all have a happy holiday, and hope you all can get some riding done. Try getting outside...may be with some lights. You would be surprised how different the world looks at night...from a Bike.