Last night Woj and I met up with some other area riders for a beginner night ride at Gloucester County College over in Jersey. Having never ridden in the dark (unless you count my early morning rides in the dead of winter), I was a bit nervous, I mean, will I have enough light to see a major obstacle or drop off in time? I have a Maginshine light (which can be seen from outer space it's so bright) and
was loaned a helmet mounted light for the ride. Once I turned them on my fears were gone, there was plenty of light emitting from my area. We started off and proceeded to enjoy myself for the next 1.5 hours. The trails at GCC are very twisty with lots of ups and down, not terribly technical and good for cornering practice. Pretty rooty in lots of spots, which can get a bit sore on the rigid SS I have, but oh well. I don't know why I was worried, it was super fun! I could see just fine and since there were 16 riders, all of the lights lit up the trails pretty well until we got strung out. The helmet mounted light is clutch - I have to get one of those setups. I think having less light forced me to be a bit more aggressive in sections I would previously be apprehensive about or chicken out. It's not like things were suddenly upon you, but you couldn't look too far ahead and think, "OMG look what's coming up!" (not that there was anything crazy or dangerous on these trails, but still).I even managed to get in some dismounting/remounting using some logs to which I was told I had good technique. HOLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
No comments:
Post a Comment