Salsa Cycles Fargo Page

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Trundling In The Moonlight

They only come out at night...
I was a bit conflicted- Gravel grinder, or single track night ride? It was a full moon night, the weather was beautiful, and I had put in a long day at work. I needed a ride.

I figured a night ride would be fun, since it was the full moon, and it would be nice outside with little wind. I paused down in the Lab as I considered my choices. Hmm......The Snow Dog got the call.

I switched over the Lezyne Super Drive mount to the carbon Carnegie's Bar, and slapped my "el-cheapo" flashlight on my helmet. I was ready to roll out the door. The route was the same training route I was doing in December for the Triple D event. It was weird with all the vegetation covering the single track. In some places, it was downright hard to see where the single track was.

I don't think I was going any slower though. I certainly was flowing along at my "trundle pace" on the fat bike, bouncing along quietly. That was something I really noticed. The fat bike was like having giant "cat paws" on the trail surface. Very quiet. I couldn't hear the bike rolling many times, but I have to admit that the rousing chorus of frogs were somewhat to blame for that.

Moonshine
And yeah.......the moon was out. That was pretty fun as well. So I think that makes two full moons in a row that I have been out riding. Not a planned thing, mind you, but now that a streak has been started, who am I to let it stop? Next full moon I'll try again.

Up at the Reveal The Path after party dealio, Kid Reimer of Salsa Cycles gave me his 10 minute quick course called "Running a Camera For Big Dummies Named Guitar Ted". Well, I still have a long way to go, but I learned something and was able to at least get a half decent shot of the moon over the little lake I ride around. I still need a tripod though. Gotta work on that one.

After fiddling with the camera for a few minutes, I bugged outta there and headed home. Good thing too, because my flashlight was kicking the can so my "looking around corners" light was pretty much useless now. It was good to be on the bike path at this point where the Lezyne light could take over and rule the night.

It was pretty ho-hum going home until about two blocks away. I saw a car headed towards me. It slowed, and about ten feet in front of me, the car makes a left and cuts me off as it heads into an alleyway. I slammed on the brakes, missing her, and shined that bright LED right at her head. (It was a woman driver in a Cadillac) She started waving her arms about like she was warding off a swarm of angry bees. I made my way around her and headed the rest of the way home.

I mean- It wasn't like she didn't see me. Weird.


1 comment:

  1. I love my little Joby Gorillapod. Wrap it around a tree at eye level and your tripod is set. Wraps around your handlebar or backpack for easy access/stowing. Kind of expensive though :)

    http://www.amazon.com/Joby-GP1-A1EN-Gorillapod-Flexible-Tripod/dp/B000EVSLRO

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