TNR

Last Thursday, Dave M, Greg, Paul and I met up at Tranquility to get some riding in before the storm. The weather wasn't too bad and the riding was nice. No crazy animals jumping out at us, I cleared Chris' climb, and it was nice to get out in the middle of the week. As of today, that's five days of riding over the past week for me, including three days of lifting at the gym!

I had brought out the GoPro on the chesty mount because I wanted to try to clear the dirt pile. By the time I got out there and looked for the other riders, it was starting to get dark. So I tried to ride it on my own, but I had thought that the hill was bulldozed. Turns out that I didn't go far enough down on the trail. By the time they reminded me, it was pitch black. And as I'm finding out, the GoPro does terrible in dim lights. even with a 150 lumen Stella pointing the way.

Most of the night shots look like a Monet painting. I'm pretty sure the GoPro has a fixed aperture that doesn't help at night

MNR from two weeks ago

MNRs over the past couple of weeks, wow, what a difference! Temps in the 60s, then temps in the 20s. Shorts, then having to ride with layers upon layers of clothing. These posts are out of order, sorry. Two MNRs ago, Chris unveiled his latest addition to Tranquility. They dump dirt on the trail? Might as well use the dirt to our advantage. That first night of trying to ride the hill was difficult. There was a soft layer of silt about 2 or more inches deep everywhere. You put your foot down, you sink. You try to get traction, you spin. Add to the fact that it was dark, tight turns and steep climbs, sounds like a good combination for fun! It's like that menu item at the chinese restaurants...I'll take a A19, combination delight.

Clearing the humps at night on a beautiful 60 degree night in January. It had hit 70 that day

Funny how it says "Fair". It should say SPECTACULAR!

Heading towards the ice rink. One of these nights I'll have to sacrifice the ride and bring out the big camera and tripod

Taking in the city lights

 

Not quite what I expected. The lights are from riders while I had my Stella pointing down on the ground. I was hoping to get streaks of riders going through, but I don't think the little Canon can handle the night shots

I ended up clearing it that next Thursday, and I guess some other fatbiker did also. Turns out that Chris had cleaned up the hill a little bit, which gave it much more traction. Still fun nonetheless. I'm interested to see what the thing would be like with snow on it.

 Chris' new contraption of a hill. Lots of people can't wait to retry it!

 Convoy along the creek

Hanging out. Actually waiting for me the photographer after the south inner loop descent

Can't remember who, but somebody started an email that the MNR should be a celebration of warm temps and good riding weather. So we had a mini potluck over at Paul's afterwards. Hot dogs, desserts, beer, chips and salsa, it was all good times.

 

 It's a celebration b*tches! As Dave Chapelle would say

CHOMP! Hungry Jena. (OH man, she's gonna kill me for posting this picture). Actually I ate four, yes count it four hot doggies that night. I guess I'm the piggy

The lights...they're back!!!

There's no doubt that summer is ending and the daylight is getting shorter. What does that mean for us bikers who can't just sit at home? Night rides! Dust off those Stellas, MiniNewts, and MagicShines, it's time to ride! Where the city lights are in the distance, bugs fly in your mouth, and the bats just might swoop down and go for you.

After tonight's fun/walk run hosted by THOR, a few of us had our bikes ready and the lights charged up (except Brian who just grabbed his light and crossed his fingers). Dave P, Paul, Steve, Brian, Dale, and myself spun a quick lap just to get out and enjoy the night. The weather was cool, possums were stopping us cold, and the trees were not only grabbing handlebars (at least once for me in the trees), but they were also jumping out in front of riders. Paul had a close call with one tree, I seriously didn't think he was going to stop in time! Good times. Thanks for the drinks and for the bike ride fellas!

Remnants of tonight's THOR sponsored activity 

MNR - that perfect sound

There is a sweet spot on a tennis racquet. You hit the tennis ball just right and you can hear that perfect tone. Well tonight while descending the south hill at Tranquility, I realized that there is a distinct tone that the rubber makes while rotating on the trail. It's like a whirring sound that doesn't stop. It's been awhile since I've noticed that sound. The trail was just tacky enough to give you the right amount of bite, not only in the corners but also on the straightaways. I talked to both Eric and Brian during and after the ride, and they said they noticed the same awesome bite in the corners. You could lean the bike in those corners, feel the side knobbys gripping the edge of the trail, and just keep pedaling harder! Pure bliss on a Monday Night Ride!

Red Hot Chili Peppers sang it best, Under the Bridge

Brian riding over the bridge under Fort Street 

Dale chaperoned us through the new section of trail, which basically runs under Fort Street and heads north towards Standing Bear Lake. Once that section gets completed and ridden in, I have the feeling that it will be fast! No climbing, just flat all out speed! As of right now, it is pretty bumpy, grassy, and there is a lot of resistance riding it. Great workout for not moving too fast!

Dale explaining how the new section runs

Got in about 8.5 miles tonight, it was 27 degrees, and I couldn't feel my toes (wearing the wool socks next time). Great ride with Dale, Brian H, Ryan, Eric, Todd (not W), and myself. Safe travels everyone and enjoy that family time together. I know I will!

How cold was it? That's ice inside the bottle. Cold water never tasted so good!

MNR with a side of toppings and whiplash!

I made it out for another episode of Monday Night Ride at Tranquility, which was the first since daylight savings. It was dark on the way home from work, but weather was in the 70's all day. How can I say no? Fewer riders showed up for last night's ride, about 13 as compared to the 20 plus that we had last week. The gang started with a backwards ride through the north side, continued on in the correct direction on the south side, correct direction on the north side, then did the south side creek backwards.

*Click on any photo to enlarge it.*

Since the need for lights this fall, I've been trying to capture the true meaning of the "night ride" on camera. The little point and shoot camera just couldn't hack it. Decided to pull out the DSLR and tripod. It's a lot harder than taking pics of a race, because you have to imagine where the trail curves and none of the photos are staged. Just the MNR progressing as normal. Even harder is the focus. Since I was shooting way off in the distance and trying to frame my scene ahead of time, all I could see was a pitch black hill. I had to manually focus on a far off light as a reference point and then cross my fingers. For shots like these and also for fireworks, it's best to set your camera to bulb mode (meaning the shutter opens and closes depending on when I push and release the button).Waited for the riders then used my remote shutter release to avoid camera shake. Tripod is a must!

 

Dave, remember when you asked if you were screwing up my picture? The result was pretty cool. Check out the lights from the riders on the right side. 

I was pretty happy with what I got and the riders had rejoined where north meets south. Had my camera on tripod in my left hand, steered my handlebars with my right. Took the bypass over and proceeded down the inner loop exit. Saw a bump in the trail and thought it would be terrible if I fell. Like one of those premonitions. Well I went over the bump, lost my balance from the 20 lbs of camera gear in the left hand, and flew to the right. I landed in the grass and all I could think was save the camera. So my head hit the ground and I remember trying to brace the fall of my camera in my left hand to prevent it from hitting the ground. The lens filter was all that got a little dirty in the dirt, whew. Brushed myself off and met up with the guys.

We ordered pizza at Paul's to go along with the recovery drink. Went home and fell asleep for the night. I woke up at 3am, neck sore like crazy! Neck pain in the direction my head hit and the direction that I lifted my head and body to prevent damage to my camera. Whiplash! Also got scraped through the long sleeve and knickers. Crazy thing is that I wasn't going that fast!

Moral of the story? Don't ride your bike at night down the inner loop one handed with 20 lbs of camera gear to throw you of balance! They say that photographers sometimes go out of their way to get the picture. Well there you go!

Check out the city lights in the background!  

 

Someone's taillight in the mix. Notice the inner loop hump at the start of the light path

 Trying to capture the turns in the trail

Riding ytiliuqnarT at Night

Tranquility backwards that is, at night. Todd said let's ride. I said okay, we'll get a hold of the biking crew. A couple of emails and text messages later, we had Todd, Brian H, Dale, Dave N and myself meeting at Bike Masters for a ride. Heck, the night rides are just as fun in my mind as the daytime rides. A little slower yes, but it is like riding a foreign trail. To add to that, we rode it backwards for old times sake (it's been a good 7 months since our last backwards ride at TP).

It's always friendly smiles and good camaraderie when we get together for biking. Todd and Dave N joking around before leaving the parking lot

Pretty cool shot while going through the Fort Street section 

I think that I was the only one that fell. Of course I caught it on video! My humps, my humps...Anyway, the ride was good tonight fellas. I hope to do many more night rides before the weather turns too cold. Thank you Brian for the recovery drinks. I actually brought a cooler full, but it was in my car at Bike Masters. I'll be sure to bring them to MNR next week. Have a great weekend folks!


Riding the humps backwards at night. Fall Down!!! from DJ Chi Wai on Vimeo.

Following Dale through the pine trees. No getting lost this time, probably because I wasn't leading!

Dale and Dave 

More of Tranquility backwards from DJ Chi Wai on Vimeo.

The tight tree section...backwards from DJ Chi Wai on Vimeo.