# 10-20-09 West Thompson Lake Night Ride



## drjeff (Oct 21, 2009)

AWESOME RIDE tonight!!!  Hit the trails just before 6 with my usual riding friend, a patient of mine and his buddy (both these guys were relative Monsters who were killing it tonight and really forced me to take my riding up a notch and took me on some new trails!)  Did the usual orange out past the bridge, got to maybe within a 1/4 mile of the cornfield before we headed back.  At the red bridge, we were all feeling good, and it was such a nice night, that the new guys we were riding with wanted to go across the bridge to the east side of the lake,  and I wasn't complaining.  Did some of the yellow (the Monsters also took us down some unmarked stuff - which was really cool in the dark!) and then up the blue to the campground and back down to the yellow(really cool descent 1st decent for me down a leaf covered rocky stream bed in the dark!   ) then back across the red bridge, down the yellow to the orange and back to the parking lot.  Total ride time was an hour and 50 minutes (included in that was the time to fix a broken chain and 2 blown tubes).  Total distance was 8.6 miles with 1855 feet of climbing.

Had a stupid over the bars moment tonight .  I was just about to exit the woods on the yellow and head out onto the dirt road by the Lake.  I'm making the last part of the climb before the descent that takes you out into the field.  Almost at the top of the hill, and barely moving,  I go to upshift so I can pull some more gear on the descent and botch the shift and drop the chain off my #2 front ring :dunce: A kind of slow motion "oh sh$t!" as I start tipping over and couldn't find solid ground to plant my foot, so next thing I know I'm checking out the structural integrity of a smallish sugar maple and giving the other 3 guys in the group a good laugh!

Probably 80-85% of the ride was in the dark with just the lights, and it was defiantely a top 2 or 3 ride for me interms of fun this year!


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## WoodCore (Oct 21, 2009)

Sounds like a nice rip Doc. Good to hear someone else is digging the riding at night.


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## drjeff (Oct 21, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> Sounds like a nice rip Doc. Good to hear someone else is digging the riding at night.



It's a totally new and very cool thing riding in the dark for me and I'm hooked!  What is/was really a blast is per the GPS I hit a max speed of 15.1 mph (on a section I usually ride) and under just the illumination of my helmet and handlebar lights it seemed more like I was going about 50mph!  Cool stuff!  Plus, it really forced me to go for it a bunch more aggressively than I normally would when I was the 4th rider on some trails that I hadn't been on before(especially the unmarked ones) as I didn't want to loose site of the guy riding 3rd!

Glad you're having as much fun with the night rides as I am woodcore!


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## WoodCore (Oct 21, 2009)

What kind of lights are you rocking?


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## drjeff (Oct 22, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> What kind of lights are you rocking?



I'm sporting one of these attached to my handlebar

http://www.rei.com/product/777127

And one of these on my helmet

http://www.rei.com/product/775558

I'm liking the dual light set up, where the handlebar light does a good job for me of letting me see what's ahead and the helmet light(which I have angled down towards the ground a bit) does a good job of showing me what I'm immediately about to ride over


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## WoodCore (Oct 22, 2009)

drjeff said:


> I'm sporting one of these attached to my handlebar
> 
> http://www.rei.com/product/777127
> 
> ...



I agree about having the dual light setup, makes a huge difference as compared to just a single light!  None the less looking at the specs of the lights your currently riding with it looks like you could use a few more lumens to further brighten the night time riding experience.

I'm rolling with two of these..... http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=138&zenid=8i9674ag4v3la0k83bkviub6q6 

They are wicked bright and illuminate the trails extremely well, almost like riding during the day. 

Regardless, even though you are way over in the quite corner of CT it would be great to hook up for a ride sometime at a central location before ski season sets in. :beer:


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## drjeff (Oct 22, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> I agree about having the dual light setup, makes a huge difference as compared to just a single light!  None the less looking at the specs of the lights your currently riding with it looks like you could use a few more lumens to further brighten the night time riding experience.
> 
> I'm rolling with two of these..... http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=138&zenid=8i9674ag4v3la0k83bkviub6q6
> 
> ...



Yup, I know my lumens are a bit low,  but I figured that i'd start small and then if I like it (which I do) then I'll start dropping some not so subtle hints to my wife about possible birthday/gift ideas 

Have to see about the central night ride thing,  I'm about to start about a 2 week cycle where my evenings are stupid busy with work related meetings,  "daddy duties" and various halloween events - part of me is actually thinking that my ride last Tuesday night could have been my last one of the year


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## WoodCore (Oct 23, 2009)

drjeff said:


> I'm about to start about a 2 week cycle where my evenings are stupid busy with work related meetings,  "daddy duties" and various halloween events - part of me is actually thinking that my ride last Tuesday night could have been my last one of the year



That sucks! :x


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## Marc (Oct 26, 2009)

drjeff said:


> Have to see about the central night ride thing,  I'm about to start about a 2 week cycle where my evenings are stupid busy with work related meetings,  "daddy duties" and various halloween events - part of me is actually thinking that my ride last Tuesday night could have been my last one of the year



Ah balls, I wanted to ride with you.  My knee is just about ready, but I got a motherfrackin head cold last Thursday.  I'm hoping I'll get out this Friday after work.

Are your weekends booked too?


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## drjeff (Oct 27, 2009)

Marc said:


> Ah balls, I wanted to ride with you.  My knee is just about ready, but I got a motherfrackin head cold last Thursday.  I'm hoping I'll get out this Friday after work.
> 
> Are your weekends booked too?



I'm out Friday - Have to meet with the accountant and do some serious year end planning stuff to minimize our corporate/personal tax exposure as much as possible  and usually after that meeting it's straight to the bar for my business partner and I for some "recovery beers"

I'll let you know about this weekend.  Going to try and make a Saturday AM ride happen if my halloween day parental duties allow.  Sunday AM could be iffy likely due to an adult beverage ladened Halloween Night party I'm going to :beer:


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## Marc (Oct 28, 2009)

Ok, that's a good excuse for Sunday morning.  My g/f is coming to visit Saturday night, so... um I hope not to be up very early Sunday either.


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