Years ago when I used to actually ride single track, I would join up with a group of people who rode at a local park at night. In some ways paved vs unpaved in the dark is pretty similar -- you need to be prepared for bumps in the terrain that you don't see. I always followed others when mountain biking in the dark so I don't know how hard it was to know when and which way to turn.
I have always been a night owl, never a morning person even during times when I had to get up early every day for many days in row; getting up early never gets easier with habit. When I was in college I would stay up until 4 and sleep until noon during holiday breaks. I could go to bed at 10 pm but wouldn't sleep for hours.
Yesterday I did a 46-mile club ride. Every year one of my friends leads a 60ish mile ride to Gettysburg that spends a fair amount of time meandering through the battlefield. This year I'm not in shape for that many miles, especially since it's a pretty hilly ride. So I and another friend started at a park in a town north of where the longer ride started and met up with that group at mile 8 on their route. It was another unusually warm and humid day, mid-60s to start and 88 when we finished. As we arrived at the battlefield we passed an observation tower where we climbed to the top to see the view. As I started to climb the steps I remembered that when I had gone up to the top of the same tower a few years ago I had cramps in my calves for the rest of the ride. Fortunately I didn't have cramps yesterday but my calves are sore today. So lesson learned: don't climb lots of steps in road shoes with cleats. I did come close to hamstring cramps after the ride and had to stretch a few times before starting the drive home, probably due to a combination of not being acclimated to the heat and not being in shape for riding steep hills. In spite of the discomforts, it was a fun ride. As I mentioned last month, Gettysburg and the surrounding area is a great place for cycling.
- Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
- Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
- Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle
Gone but not forgotten:
- Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
- Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles