the last dry night ride

the last dry night ride, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

The temperature reached 13 degrees in the sunshine today but of course I was at work, so I arranged a straight from work in the last of the daylight ride. Also in my mind was the weather forecast for the rest of the week which was rain and more rain. The beautifully dry and fast riding trails were about to return to the damp gloopy mess of about 3 weeks ago. Ian, Matt and I headed off into the gathering darkness to lay down some rubber and hopefully kick up some dust. First off I showed them the new trail, always going to be difficult for then riding it for the first time in the dark and I think my warnings of what to watch out for probably didn’t help their confidence any but i think they got the gist of it and when they return in daylight it’ll seem tame by comparison. On then to much more familiar territory and down “Bono” which was running absolutely sweetly, dry enough for speed and the corners tacky enough for some grip, “The Edge” does seem a lot closer to the road in the dark though and the drop looks a lot further than the ten or so feet it actually is. On then to the bridleway and the bus stop trail before looping back into the woods before heading back into the heart of the Alps and home. Matt did really well on his first night ride for what seems like aeons and I hope he recovers well, he just needs to get out more, gain back a little fitness and I think he’ll be back to top form in no time
So dry trails ridden for the last time for a while if the weather people are right, they’ve been wrong before though and I hope they are completely wrong this time, but in a good way. Dry trails are too sweet to miss!
ride 19
10 miles
total 362