night biking!

It's fall and it's offically mountain biking season. For me, anyway.

I love mountain biking enough to do it year round but somehow in the summer I gravitate to the sand and sea instead of the woods.

Now that it gets dark at 7pm [6:30 in the woods with the canopy] lights are crucial. At dusk they are merely a helping hand but by the time the sun disappears entirely they are all you've got.

When you realize your lights are not fully charged [last night] and watch them fade out to nothing you stick to the other riders like glue. I've been in there when the lights went out and it's not easy to find your way out in the pitch blackness of it all.

I know those trails inside and out so getting lost is not an issue and having been there so often, each trail's terrain sticks out in my mind like a map. Roller rock to the left, cliff drop off to the right--big stump dead ahead.

At night, it's a totally different game. With only a 4 foot circle of light, you have no time to make a decision. Either you go over it, around it, land on it....it all happens within in a moment and then you move on. [or not].

I find that I get over twice as many obstacles this way, without any time to talk myself out of it. Maybe that should be a life metaphor.

Last night was great. About 20 riders--only visible by the lights on their helmets and handlebars. I only flipped over the front of the bike twice [soft landings/like a cat].

Only 6 days until I can do it again...