Tuesday Night Ride

I went on my first Tuesday night ride, hosted by Cyclotopia.

Only two other guys rode, Mike (one of the owners) and a free-spirit named Chris. I'd ridden with Mike before, he and Chris seemed to know each other pretty well. Lucky for me, neither of them were speed demons, so we cruised around Mac forest without killing ourselves.

Total ride time, 2h30min, 22.5 miles. A nice distance, and a nice pace.

Now, the ride itself was most excellent. We rode two trails I'd never heard of, the first was Funnel Cake, which dropped in off one of the dirt roads that passes Extendo. Funnel Cake was nice and windy, with a pretty steep section (about the second steepest dirt trail I've ridden). The trail conditions were perfect tonight - no longer muddy, but not so dry that things turned dusty. The trail ended with a pretty long bomb down a narrow trail - reaching over 20 miles per hour (the end of this reminded me of Newton Road in Forest Park). Very cool.

We then leisurely climbed up some roads, ending near the top of the road we'd originally came in on. Mike pointed out the start of Innuendo, a trail to take down to Extendo - but that was not for tonight. We continued on down the road and hit "Rock Slide". Evidentially, "Rock Slide" is a good winter trail because the rocky trail stays rideable in the winter. It was fast tonight, and I made all the log crossings. This one wound a bit more through small trees, making me very glad I had my sunglasses on to protect my eyes. Another great trail.

We then rode up the path to Upwards and down Extendo - my favorite, readily accessible trail in Mac forest.

Riding with these two guys was good because I definitely got pushed faster than I would have normally ridden. I definitely rode Extendo faster than I have before.

Now I just need to charge my light so that next time I'm prepared for when we stay out past sunset.

All that riding, and I wasn't even completely pooped at the end.