Road Riding at Night

I had a delivery up the NW corner of the State, which gave me the opportunity to ride w/ James and the Cycleworx crew. This evening that would be Josh; shop owner, and Rt 66 30-39 expert champ, and Alex; confirmed hill junkie. Alex has entered a 12 step program though (thou shall not covet another man's titanium...).

As I pulled up to the shop, I got a sinking feeling I forgot something.
Helmet, check.
Shoes, check.
Jacket, check.
Bike, check.
Lights, check.
Batteries for said lights,DOH!



These would be better served connected to lights






Fortunately James had a spare helmet light, so after the usually pre-ride jawing, we were rolling.

I've done plenty of mtb night riding, but the extent of my night road riding is limited to getting to the trail head, which is on well lit suburban streets.
Out in Litchfield the have a different view on street lights, or maybe they are avoiding the light pollution for star gazing, anyways, a new experience.

Strikingly quiet.

I kept on thinking there was a car back, but it usually was just the light of who ever was behind me. It was hard yo differentiate pavement from snow from ice.

At about the half way point I didn't have to worry about any one's light behind me, because Alex, you know the hill junkie, had planned a fairly sadistic return which left me dangling off the back.
We'd turn a corner and be confronted by a wall of pavement. Icy snow encrusted broken pavement.
When things tilted back down, I'd be able to catch back on...until my light began to dim. It went from dim to off in a matter of a minute or two.

Now I was getting dropped going downhill! I don't know if this was a blessing or a curse, but a truck was following me and wouldn't pass. Having a truck ride right behind you is quite unnerving, but on the other hand it was all the light I had!

About a mile from town James realized I was OTB, and soft pedaled til I caught back on (Thanks J!).
Until we got to 202, I gad absolutely no clue as to where we were. I'm not real familiar with the roads out there, but at night it's a different world.

That was a lot of fun, but I'm happy to be riding in daylight and above freezing today.

Josh and James