Ok, maybe it was a bit too cloudy to see any stars, but it was a pretty nice night anyway.
I ended up getting a late start today, which seems to happen often.. I pulled up to Scoville (for the first time in months) at around 5 and got rolling by 5:10. I wasn't quite prepared for the lowish temperature, but it ended up being okay. I was potentially going to meet Woodcore around 5:30 so I went for a quick warm up through Jug/Jug a lug. On the second A-frame I missed the other side and ended up going OTB, not the best way to start the ride. When I got to the skinny bridge just after it I chickened out, I've been riding it well most of the season, but getting banged up on the little a-frame and having not ridden in a couple of weeks took its toll on my confidence. Rode the rest of Jug out to Scoville and it was only 5:20, so I turned around and went about half way back in to do some TM. After that I went back to the car to see if Woodcore was going to make it. I waited for a little bit before deciding that he wasn't going to make it. It had started to rain lightly, so I decided to press on before it started to rain more.
I went over the BSB to E Chippens, up the road to the trail across from the logging crap (where the Scoville twisties used to end). Did the truck trail to Brian's trail/B-street, then back to the BSB via the newly armored stone wall crossing. About half way through this loop I had to turn the lights on. At some point I picked up a decent sized stick in my rear derailleur that looked like it caused some damage, upon closer inspection all looked okay (or so I thought...) so I pressed on. Not too long after turning my helmet light on I had my second OTB of the night, and a pretty good charlie horse. :roll: I also was starting to feel really out of shape when I realized that I was spending most of the time in 2-1 and still struggling a bit. I did almost make it up Brian's rock, but slipped on a pile of leaves just near the top. It was a little wild charging at the thing in the dark though.
Once back to Scoville, again, I decided to head back into Jug and head to Hinman. I felt pretty good rolling through there, despite the continuing problem of not being able to make out the trail half the time because of the dark and the abundance of leaves. I still seemed to be rolling in 2-1 most of the time though. Just after crossing the metal bridge on Hinman I was pretty disappointed when I only made it half way up the short hill climb immediately following. I was starting to think that my time away from the bike the last couple of weeks was really affecting me. It was then, as I was pushing my bike up the hill, that I saw the cause of my problems; even though my shifter was indicating first gear in the rear in reality I was in 4th or 5th. After fiddling with it for a bit I figured out that the cable had slipped when I picked up that stick earlier. That's why I was feeling so low on power, I was actually in a relatively high gear that whole time. After a few minutes of adjustments I had my full range back again. :beer: I continued on from there and came across the only other person I would see all night. The next order of business was the JC climb to the orchard DH. I took most of it pretty conservatively being alone at night, but still had a good run.
The plan was to cross the road and hit the sandy pelican to Scoville twisties and back to Scoville to the car. My plans would be foiled however when just after crossing the road my light blinked a few times to indicate that the battery was getting low. Just as that happened I caught the reflection of 3 or 4 pairs of eyes staring at my from the other side of the trail through the field. I assume they were deer. I stood there for several minutes watching the eyes, which were mostly just staring back at me when they caught the reflection of my light. Every once and a while one of the pairs would lower, presumably getting a snack. It was a pretty cool experience, but I decided to turn back to the road. Even though my light had only been on for an hour or so, the charge indicator was indeed showing red. Between not wanting to get stuck in the middle of the woods with limited or no light (my handle bar light was still working, but it has no indication of the charge, it just slowly dies) and not wanting to get charged by one of the deer, or whatever was at the end of the path through the field I felt going back on the road was the best course of action.
So there ya go, about 6.8 miles in about 2 hours or so, with a lot of stopping to fix stuff and pick myself back up, and about 15 minutes of waiting to see if Woodcore was going to make it.
Holy crap, sorry for the novel, guess I just got on a roll...
I ended up getting a late start today, which seems to happen often.. I pulled up to Scoville (for the first time in months) at around 5 and got rolling by 5:10. I wasn't quite prepared for the lowish temperature, but it ended up being okay. I was potentially going to meet Woodcore around 5:30 so I went for a quick warm up through Jug/Jug a lug. On the second A-frame I missed the other side and ended up going OTB, not the best way to start the ride. When I got to the skinny bridge just after it I chickened out, I've been riding it well most of the season, but getting banged up on the little a-frame and having not ridden in a couple of weeks took its toll on my confidence. Rode the rest of Jug out to Scoville and it was only 5:20, so I turned around and went about half way back in to do some TM. After that I went back to the car to see if Woodcore was going to make it. I waited for a little bit before deciding that he wasn't going to make it. It had started to rain lightly, so I decided to press on before it started to rain more.
I went over the BSB to E Chippens, up the road to the trail across from the logging crap (where the Scoville twisties used to end). Did the truck trail to Brian's trail/B-street, then back to the BSB via the newly armored stone wall crossing. About half way through this loop I had to turn the lights on. At some point I picked up a decent sized stick in my rear derailleur that looked like it caused some damage, upon closer inspection all looked okay (or so I thought...) so I pressed on. Not too long after turning my helmet light on I had my second OTB of the night, and a pretty good charlie horse. :roll: I also was starting to feel really out of shape when I realized that I was spending most of the time in 2-1 and still struggling a bit. I did almost make it up Brian's rock, but slipped on a pile of leaves just near the top. It was a little wild charging at the thing in the dark though.
Once back to Scoville, again, I decided to head back into Jug and head to Hinman. I felt pretty good rolling through there, despite the continuing problem of not being able to make out the trail half the time because of the dark and the abundance of leaves. I still seemed to be rolling in 2-1 most of the time though. Just after crossing the metal bridge on Hinman I was pretty disappointed when I only made it half way up the short hill climb immediately following. I was starting to think that my time away from the bike the last couple of weeks was really affecting me. It was then, as I was pushing my bike up the hill, that I saw the cause of my problems; even though my shifter was indicating first gear in the rear in reality I was in 4th or 5th. After fiddling with it for a bit I figured out that the cable had slipped when I picked up that stick earlier. That's why I was feeling so low on power, I was actually in a relatively high gear that whole time. After a few minutes of adjustments I had my full range back again. :beer: I continued on from there and came across the only other person I would see all night. The next order of business was the JC climb to the orchard DH. I took most of it pretty conservatively being alone at night, but still had a good run.
The plan was to cross the road and hit the sandy pelican to Scoville twisties and back to Scoville to the car. My plans would be foiled however when just after crossing the road my light blinked a few times to indicate that the battery was getting low. Just as that happened I caught the reflection of 3 or 4 pairs of eyes staring at my from the other side of the trail through the field. I assume they were deer. I stood there for several minutes watching the eyes, which were mostly just staring back at me when they caught the reflection of my light. Every once and a while one of the pairs would lower, presumably getting a snack. It was a pretty cool experience, but I decided to turn back to the road. Even though my light had only been on for an hour or so, the charge indicator was indeed showing red. Between not wanting to get stuck in the middle of the woods with limited or no light (my handle bar light was still working, but it has no indication of the charge, it just slowly dies) and not wanting to get charged by one of the deer, or whatever was at the end of the path through the field I felt going back on the road was the best course of action.
So there ya go, about 6.8 miles in about 2 hours or so, with a lot of stopping to fix stuff and pick myself back up, and about 15 minutes of waiting to see if Woodcore was going to make it.
Holy crap, sorry for the novel, guess I just got on a roll...
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