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White Memorial Night Ride - 7/28/09

bvibert

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I didn't get out of the house until after 7 tonight, so I knew it was either going to be a short ride, or the first headlight ride of the season. So I packed my headlights and headed out for my standard start a bit after 7:30. I went down to the pond and decided not to go further past once again, due to wetness. Went back up opting for the longer, less sustained climb. Out to 63, past the car and across back into the woods. It's kind of a strange feeling to ride past where your car is parked while it's getting dark. I went up on some of the side trails and back down to the white to the road (White's Woods Rd or something, maybe?), down the road, cut in by the boat launch and up to the backside of the museum. Just after getting back into the woods past the museum I decided it was time for full on lights. I already had the bar mounted light that I was using last year all set, and had used it a couple of times in the darker sections of trails, but I was itching to try out the new helmet mount light that I got over the winter. From there I looped back around towards the dirt driveway and out to the road, across the street for a bit before crossing it again and heading back past the boat launch and across the street to head down into the marshy area on the way back. I was worried about this area with all the rain, it's the reason I cut my ride short a few days ago. While it was wet, it was much more ride-able that I though. I went back across 63 to do the climb up past the other pond and back to the car.

All in all a good ride, about 12.3 miles in about 1:45 or so. My GPS shut off after about 5 miles, so I had to merge it with an old track to get the mileage. I stuck to the same goal of not using the granny ring again this ride, and it worked out fine. Only a couple of times did I kick down into 1 on the rear when I was really tired, and when I realized I did I made my self shift back into 2 and tough it out. Never did I shift the front der, though I wished I had the big ring for the road sections.

The new light worked out great! Unfortunately, like an idiot, I didn't put the mount on my helmet prior to leaving, opting to slap it on in the woods if needed. Putting it on is simple enough, however the task was made quite a bit harder by the swarms of mosquitoes that instantly found me and were eating me alive as I tried to complete my seemingly simple task. Next time I need to mount it in a different spot since I couldn't get it to point forward enough from where I had it. That did help teach me to keep my head up though. ;)

My track was similar to this one from earlier in the year (in case you couldn't follow my half assed description, or even care)
http://www.crankfire.com/trails/data.php?dataid=545
 

bvibert

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Staff member
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Aug 30, 2004
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30,394
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Location
Torrington, CT
I did use bug spray. It had been long since sweated off by that point....
 
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