That was freaking EPIC!

... Well, for me, it was.

Photo: My DiNotte and head-mounted NiteRider cleave through the tenebrosity.

This was only my second time out on "real" mountain bike trails. The trails are right across from the lake and enshrouded in a thick, misty blanket of darkness. I have to say that's probably some of the most fun I've had on a bike in months. I was out for a little longer than an hour. Temperatures were in the low 40s but I had no need for a jacket. Just a short t-shirt did the trick.

My 15W NiteRider on my head, and the DiNotte 200L on the handlebars cleared my path easily, but the NR started to eat it about 10 minutes before I could find the terminus. I'd done two morning commutes to the bus without charging it, so it only had an hour left when I got to the trails tonight. I had to navigate the last part of my journey with only the DiNotte, but it did a fine job. I just had to choose my line carefully since the beam is pretty narrow and attached to my bars.

I took most of the "easy" trail until I came to the intersection where the hard trail loop joins. From there, I took the more difficult loop. I ran across 4 other souls who were braving the stygian singletrack. I couldn't keep up with any of them, but it was cool to see some others out there.

I'm not afraid of the dark, but I was expecting this ride to be a little bit on the creepy side. I saw dozens upon dozens of beady, iridescent eyes peering back at me through the leafless, wintry boughs. The experience wasn't remotely eerie, however.

After finding the trailhead and finally making a clean egress, I spent a few minutes talking to one of the EarthRiders guys who pulled out of the murky forest right behind me.

My buddy Frogman tipped me off to a Craigslist posting for a Garmin GPS-12 that was being offloaded for next to nothing, so after I got my bike all racked and packed, I blazed a trail down to Olathe to pick up my new intergalactic positioning gadget. It's not quite as small as my old eTrex, a screen that's not quite as clear, and a menu system that's a bit more primitive than what I'm used to, but it works, and works well. I don't think I'll use it as my primary cyclocomputer the way my eTrex was being used, but it's small enough to keep in my backpack or panniers, and it'll come in handy for war-riding.

The homebound commute was a short one. I rode to an office park to meet my wife after one of her appointments. I threw the bike on the back of the Explorer, and we snagged some grindage before I took off to the trails.

Random Tunage:
Fluke - Pulse (Trisco Mix)
Way Out West - Don't forget me