Midnight Century

[Veronica]

I found this information on the Sacramento Bike Hiker site. Thom and I are going to do it. It's a full moon that night. Should be fun.

V.


SAT 31 MIDNIGHT CENTURY
7:00 PM............................................. Grade: F 100
Meet at Carl’s Jr. parking lot at the corner of Poleline and Covell in
Davis for a flat century night ride on good roads through the farmlands
between Colusa and Davis. Bring $5.00 fee for a food stop
at the turnaround and bring extra money for an optional stop at
Denny’s in Woodland on the way back. Several regroup points
will assure no one is left behind. Limited sag support will also be
provided. This is NOT a beginner’s ride. Must pre-register with
ride leader for planning purposes and more specific information.
Front and rear lights mandatory (allow for five or more hours of
darkness).
Leaders: Bill Chadwell 725-0571 or Gumbibites@aol.com and
Steve Cimini 483-5222 or Cyclstev@aol.com

[Adventure Girl]

I've never done any sort of road bike night riding. I've done lots of mountain biking at night (including some racing). It just sounds so much scarier on a road ride. Mostly because of the speeds involved and because of any cars. Night mountain biking is really fun. Even trails that you are really familiar with seem so different in the dark! In the winter I sometimes ride with a weekly group night ride. We've had as many as 20 or 25 people riding. It's cool to see a long line of lights snaking up a trail! Good lights are pretty expensive, but they are worth it for those of us (me) who have very poor night vision.

[Veronica]

The ride leaders really did an excellent job supporting this ride. They had three sag vehicles for about 25 riders. On the way out, while it was still light, we saw them numerous times. On the way back, the group was more spread out, but we still saw each vehicle at least once, and one of them three times. The moon, when it came up, was gorgeous, reflecting back some of the red from the sunset. We heard frogs and saw what we thought were owls, but not quite sure. I took some photos from the bike. I haven't looked at them yet, but suspect that they will be pretty blurry. At least they should have some cool colors.

The route was very flat and had a tail wind on the way out. Yahoo weather says it was blowing 10 - 20. We averaged about 22.5 mph until the turnaround. This was a Visa ride. We paid for that tailwind all the way back! The first six miles of the return we followed another tandem who were just hauling. They were happy to pull us to the rest stop- since there was no way we could sustain their pace in the front. But that six miles of speed took it's toll. The remaining 45 miles were not quite brutal, but were certainly both a mental and physical challenge. It was hard to tell how far away things were in the dark, so for me on the back of the tandem, it seemed like we were pedaling and getting nowhere.

I thought Thom was going to suggest we bag it at the last rest stop with 18 to go since we were both cold and tired. I told him he could get in the car and I'd ride the tandem back by myself. He gave me this look and told me to get back on the bike. Ha! I thought I was serious about riding the tandem solo, but now I think I was just bluffing. Anyway I'm glad I didn't have to. At mile 94, they had an optional stop at Denny's. We decided we'd rather finish the ride, then stop for food. Denny's really isn't very good. But what else is open at 2 AM! The ride was about an hour and a half away. The drive home seemed to take forever. If we ever do another night time ride, I think I'll suggest staying in a motel.

Veronica

Total ride time: 6 hours, 27 minutes with about an hour off the bike.

Total miles: 102