Night ride!!!

The weather was not ideal this morning for the commute to work, a bit of rain and wet streets, which made for soggy bottom commute on the Tractor (EX8)...It was not all bad though, at least it was not poring. The weather is supposed to be like this morning for the rest of the day, scattered showers and mild. That's the key word here "MILD." For my commute home last night I did not even wear my jacket and I swear I can smell the spring in the air. Daylight savings time is this Sunday as well so it won't be long until the night rides will actually be in daylight. Compare that to the weather right now where I come from:
So remember to be thankful for the privilege of being able to live here. There are a lot of bad things you can say about Victoria, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. In 25 min we're out of the city and on the trails, and that's including a stop at the beer store. Try that in any other major city in Canada...Speaking of trails, night riding is tonight and it's looking like it's going to clear up by the evening. I'm going to ride and so is Justin, and perhaps Chevy as well. My wrist is still sore but I'll tape that up and see how I do. I'm sure I'll be a bit apprehensive of some stunts tonight though, as my last RSCT put the FEAR in me.

Reigning RSCT trophy winner Halldor hangs onto the cup for yet another ride....

So Mitch, Baker, Halldor and i all went for an impromptu night ride last night....a night ride that was full of people definitely NOT at a level one could call "fit" (that's NOT fit Claire! Myaha!So come out and play!) so the night was crisp and beeeeautiful, and i was able to take it all in, slowly, as my lungs attempted to cut my body off from that pesky gas called oxygen. We did a bit of a different route from usual, meandering up the fireroad to the top of jelly roll(where i achieved a bird-shaped bruise due to leg/frame interactions), then ran down to northridge, sidewinder, who's yer daddy, night shift, short cut(where upon Halldor had a mighty viking crash down the left side of the first rock roll and injured his wing...VIKING DOOOOWN!!!!) , shock treatment into the TTA....i have to say i'm becoming quite the fan of night riding. i don't know what i'm going to do when i can see more than a 3' circle of fuzzy light in front of me. Something about night riding makes you do stupider things that you'd usually bypass, makes you look up at the stars and breifly forget that irriatating burning-lung syndrome you picked up somewhere between the last vestiges of summer and the first chilly winds of winter (too wordy for you Jamie?...too bad!). in short...suck it up, buy a light and come join the silent masses....oh did i mention you rarely run into other riders on the mountain...oh yes...if your local hill is crowded during the day, then go by night and find a whole new mountain to play on!
that is all

Night Ride!!!

Cleat issues...clack clack, clonk clonk

It was a slushy ride last night, five of us came out, Laurence, Shayne, Ryan, Justin and myself. The problems started early, as Ryan went down somewhere around the TTA on the way to Skull. After creeping up Skull trail inventive, little face, and Crazy horse. The cleat problems were getting bad and Laurence opted to head back to the parking lot as her spd's were getting filled with frozen snow and no amount of banging her shoes against the pedals was getting the snow out from there. The conditions were bad for cleats, and Justin was the only one riding flats, so we would all get a taste of the same problems that Laurence had. Last night would have been primo Crank bros. Egg beater territory but since we're all riding Shimanos we were having major issues. The snow made for really technical riding and some parts of the trail that would usually be pretty tame, were rather sketchy and technical in the snow. We rode up Twister and finished off with Who's your daddy, Night shift, and the short cut into the TTA. Shayne took the Rock star crash trophy (RSCT) with a nice toboggan slide on his right ass cheek down a rockface on the last trail we hit. He got a good speed going on the shortcut, gapped the road and came in way to hot over the snow covered slimy rocks and roots...yeah Yardsale!!!

Night Ride!

Chevy (resident shop ninja) wore 300 layers and the required ninja-mask to evade recognition by the Hartland Ronins and aide with breathing. 'Cause ninjas don't like cold air you know.

Rick was running his vintage Kona with style and had lots of fun. Hopefully he'll become a frequent night rider with us.

Rick and a very winded Halldor at the bottom of Switchbacks

Laurence striking a pose, very posh.

Night ride was great last night like always. The park was dusted with a couple of inches of snow but it was not too cold. Laurence joined us for the first time out after her "bar fight" in Cumberland, and Rick Thiessen joined us for the first time. Like usually it was colder in the parking lot than in the woods, which made for an interesting combination of crunchy and slushy snow. We missed Ryan's and Tyler's "entertaining discussions" on the ride, and Nomad Nic Hardcore Nicholson could not make it this time (a very rare occurrence) which made us all feel kind of empty inside and we started to question our own existence for awhile there.

Cowboy logic of the day: Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.

Hartland night ride report

The conditions were great last night at Hartland. The park is dry and clear of snow, and the trail maintenance crews did a great job last Sunday. We came across a few of their repairs on the ride; they had cleared fallen logs of Centerfold as well as widening the trail where it had been eroded by the stream that sometimes runs down that trail. They had also done some work on Switchbacks and most noticeably on Twister where whole sections have been built up, sanded and the water redirected off the trail. The new rolldown into a berm on Who's yer daddy is fun too, and should add speed to that section of the trail. Other parts we rode had been cleaned up as well, and it's obvious that the trail maintenance crew got a lot done. This, in conjunction with the dry condition and nice weather resulted in a great ride last night. 6 of us showed up, and it was nice to see Ryan and Tyler back out on the night rides, and their "domestic bickering" made for excellent entertainment on the climbs. The rock features were bone dry, which is a rare treat in the winter, and it even looks like this dry weather will keep up all week so Sunday should be a good ride if anyone is up for it.

Cowboy logic of the day: A good bike is never a bad color.

Night Ride!!!

And neither is winter night riding for that matter.

Night ride tonight at the Dump. Show up at 6:45pm in the Hartland parking lot, on the trails around 7pm. Good lights mandatory, post ride beverage, a good idea.

The snow is mostly gone in the lower parts of the Dump, so whoever was using that as an excuse just lost one reason not to show up for our weekly night ride. I went for a good ride on Sunday and even though there was still snow in the higher elevations of the park, the trails below the snow line were starting to clear up. I guess the word got out because I haven't seen the parking lot this busy since the summer. The trails are still pretty slick and there are "refreshing" streams that cross the trails here and there just to cool down your tired little feet that have all but forgotten about this kind of work after the indulgences of the holiday season. Anyway, lots of mud, lots of greasy roots, it will be cold and miserable - just the way we like it. It's winter riding after all, no room for sissies.