Night time is the right time (for West Mag)...

Charged up the lights and met up with John "The Punisher" Perry for some night ride action up at West Mag last night. While I've been quite active as of late, I haven't been spending that much time on the bike. While hiking (especially with a 35lb pack) is good excercise, it isn't a substitute for the lung busting nature of mountain biking.

So first ride back after a while and starting elevation around 8700ft, makes perfect sense to bring the rigid SS right? Well no one ever told me I had good sense. Truth be told Betty the Yeti was in pieces in the basement and wasn't trail ready, so I didn't have too many options but I probably would have brought the Niner anyway.

The terrain at Ned is actually pretty well suited for SSing, but there are a couple of places where the climbing is sustained and steep. The Punisher was on his 2nd ride on his newly converted SS hardtail, so I wasn't the only crazy person ignoring the joys of gears and suspension.

So our group was 4 strong, a full suspension geared bike, a geared hardtail, a SS hardtail and then me on my rigid SS. Strangely enough, as we started up the trail it was the two SSers off the front. I actually had pretty good legs, but the lungs weren't used to the cool, 50 degree air and they let me know about it.

On the rolling terrain, I held my own and rode pretty well. After 2 or 3 miles, the climbs started becoming more sustained and I faded off the back a bit as I just tried to settle into a rhythym and ride my own pace. We headed up the School Bus trail to the old mine, and the climbing was tuff. I had a couple sections I had to walk due to the steep, loose nature but I was pretty happy with how I was riding for the most part.

The descent was under the lights and was a lot of fun. Trails change identify and take on a whole new feel under the lights, and the Nederland trails may be the best night riding trails I've ever been on. We took the Hobbit trails back to the car, then loaded up and headed to Main St. Nederland to grab some grub.

We got home much later than I anticipated (as always!), but it felt good to be out under the lights again. Daylight is fading fast and colors are turning, better keep the lights charged up.