cycling tip #12

Bring a light. The above photo mistakenly taken as I was fingering for buttons to turn my phone off and on to see where the solid ground was. If you plan to ride in the woods near dusk, it never hurts to have a light. You never know what may happen to slow you down, but having a lite will make getting back much easier. Like all the cycling tips, this comes at my expense. Met Matt B up at french to check out the trail conditions for the race last night. We were talking and realized that niether of us had a gps or a odometer, or a watch . "Oh well we can get a good estimate" . I was talking discussing the all the organizing and stuff that has been tying my up, literally, when a fellow rider Tom Burrows came over. I was trying to outline the course explaining that the location was changed due to the other area being reserved. We mentioned we were without gps. He let us know that He publicizes M.A.S.S. race courses online, so after a breif encouraging to map the new course we were off. To get to the Group Camp #2 you have to follow along Hopewell lake. I choose a trail that was swamped, my bad. So we got to the camp and started the loop. I think both Matt and Tom were suprized by the start of the new course. It is an area very rarely frequented by mtb riders', never the less it is rock'n. So up the first big climb and down the shaker, we bumped into, Mark from Path. I was happy to see these guys doing work, which they do often and always, so although they may not be race fanatics they do help greatly with local state parks. More riding and rocks we realize that the woods are getting dark quickly. At the 8-9 mile mark all light was gone. I was hoping that no one tripped and even more likely complain about the bad situation. We were near the end and I suggested that we might as well tough it out and walk the course , so that Tom could make the map public. needless to say, it was slow going. I was leading taking a step off trails only to have to back up and try again, still not one complaint, some good humor, but no bitching about what was a very hard going. We finally made our way back to the cars past 9:30pm. 2.5 hours, Tom reported it was about 11 miles.