Doh!

That bottle's not supposed to be in the cup holder. It was supposed to be in my bottle cage.
Through out the day I watched clouds roll through, occasionally letting loose a little precipitation. Nothing that was going to stop me, but enough to determine what kind of ride I was going on.

As the work day neared it's end, it was starting to look pretty good; the sky was clearing, and what little rain had fallen was drying nicely. Still, I hadn't finished work as early as I wanted so the evenings ride would have to be kept to a shorter one.

Driving to the res. the sky was split; fair to the East , gloom to the West. The res would be the center of this. But things were looking pretty dry, so all was still good.

In the rush to get out on the trail, I left my water in the truck. No problem I thought, I'd drank plenty during work, and on the ride here, and if I keep it to the Old Skool Loop, I'll be back to the truck in about an hour.

I was keeping a sub-hour pace, yet I didn't feel I was really pushing it. Relaxed and smooth. I think that's really the key to speed; keep it smooth. Violent efforts are only good for a final sprint. Or maybe the pace was due to my bike being 20 oz's lighter.

Every time I stopped to clear some dead-fall though, my hand would instinctively reach for my bottle. Doh!
After the levee, things started getting dark. I thought It still a little early for night fall, but the gloom to the West had over taken the geography. I thought I heard the wind pick up. Nope, raining.

I only had the "Antler Trail", and the final Eastern Fence-line to descend, so any discomfort would be short lived, and was still ahead of schedule for a sub-hour lap.

I'm trying a new front tire up front, a WTB Prowler. On Sunday it performed flawlessly, but conditions were ideal. Last night it was challenged. Fresh rain on fallen leaves. In the dark. Lets just say my descent wasn't as smooth, graceful, or flowing as I would have liked it to be. I'm going to reserve judgement on the tire for now, but my tried and true Ignitors are still looking pretty good.

Back at the truck, my sub-hour time had been lost, all on one dark and slippy descent.