Night Rider

When you meet up at 6:15 pm at the Oak Creek entrance of the Mac-Dunn Forest on a clear, mild, late October evening... you know you are in for something special.  The vivid reds and yellows of the turning leaves fade into the dusk as the sun falls behind the hills.  Sounds of town are muffled.  And the only things you are aware of are your breathing, the crunch of leaves and gravel under rubber, and the stillness around you.

I rode out to meet Pam, Brent, and Christine for a little night riding last Thursday.  This was the second test of my new MiNewt X2 LED bike light, and the first time I would be riding in deep darkness (the first was just a twilight test).  I was a tiny bit nervous, but the butterflies in my stomach could easily be explained away by the 5 mini-Toblerones that I had as a pre-ride snack.

Pam and Christine were on mountain bikes and were meant to finish up at the cars, whereas Brent and I were on cross bikes and planning on riding to our respective front doors.  Brent and I took off first (Christine tried to ride in her clogs... doh!), heading up the Oak Creek fire road (becoming Patterson Rd.) for a little climbing and loopage on the forest maintenance roads.  Darkness didn't fall immediately, but almost getting nailed by riders coming down the trail made us realize we were kind of invisible.  At the top we turned on our lights and looped around to the Saddle (a point at which four forest service roads converge at a small parking lot and the peak of the Lewisburg Rd.), deciding to ride back and descend Dan's trail (single track) in the dark to get home and extend the awesomeness.

There were so many riders out enjoying the warmth of the forest, including boys from Full Cycles and several groups of two with dogs in tow (thankfully wearing blinky lights).

We stopped at the top of Dan's on Dimple Hill for Brent to change his tire (slow leak) and I was able to drink in the "city" lights of Corvallis.  And then here is where the fun begins...  descending down Dan's is a blast.  Descending down Dan's in the dark with lights (but not a head lamp) is slightly sketch but also a blast.  Descending down Dan's at full tilt when that light goes out... not so much.  About 2/3rds of the way down, on a section that I was admittedly taking faster than the conditions merited, my LED light went dark, leaving me to test the mettle of my cross breaks.  I yelled out "Brent" to which he responded... "What!?.... Oh!"  By the time he got back to shed light on me, I was already four feet off the path and in a fern.  So much for being able to feel your way in the darkness.

After that, I stayed close on his wheel, riding the rest of the way slowly back in to town.  It wasn't so bad.  But from now on I am going to charge my light every night and bring a spare. Jeez!  That could have been bad.  Bad-ass and awesome!