First Night Ride of the season!

Last night, I dusted off the helmet-light and met my friend Ron for our first night-ride of the season. We started at Cheyenne Mountain high school and headed up the Stratton trails to Gold Camp road. At the first tunnel we headed towards Columbine trail (which is closed-doh). I passed a deer on the single-track and he waited until the last minute to skeedaddle out of there!

I forgot how sketchy it is to ride those decomposed granite trails at night. It makes you feel like a novice all over again. I think it's actually harder to go slow in the dark because your balance is so weirded out.

Forgot my camera so had to use the cell phone for pics! This is at the overlook before descending to High drive.

After Columbine and Buckhorn, we headed down Captain Jacks back toward Gold Camp. I didn't know it but Ron had flatted right before the top of the last climb. When I got to the parking lot by the first tunnel, there was no-one behind me! I sat there for a while, shining my light all over the place, wondering where ol' Ron had gone. All the while there was a young couple in a car sitting by the tunnel and they were wondering what the heck that light was. The girl finally yelled out at me: "You are freaking us out! Can you come here and tell us about the area?". Still wondering where Ron was, I rolled over to converse. She started asking me all these crazy questions about the tunnels being haunted and the bloody hand-prints on the walls of the first tunnel and how a family was killed in the third tunnel collapse many years back. I told her that was all BS! She asked me if being out there at night freaked me out. I said no (but sometimes it does!). She asked me if I was a thrill-seeker. I said no (but maybe I am a little). About then Ron showed up and told me about the flat and we headed down the way we came. That descent down through Stratton is a blast at night!