The Foggy Brew

Tonight was a night ride in the rain at The Woodlot with Rob. I was sporting a 50W halogen on the helmet and so was Rob. I also had my HID on the bars of my bike. Our route was far from standard issue ride consisting of Krazy Karpenter, Upper Toadstool, Tsuga, Snakes and Ladders and then finally Shotgun. We both arrived on time and suited up right into our rain gear. It was raining really hard the whole ride.

The climb up to the top was pleasant with no issues at all and when finally at the top we were in the clouds with the mist surrounding us. Once the lights were all fired up we both really noticed that we were in a white out situation from our lights shining too brightly into the fog and blinding us. Therefore the ride down Karpenter was cautious as we could barley see in front of us. After Karpenter it was down to Toadstool there were a couple very tense moments with me on the uber slippery log ride in the pouring rain. The drop near the bottom of the trail was really trippy in the fog as I felt like I was dropping into a grey misty abyss as I went over the edge.

We then headed back up the hill to Tsuga. It is a very short push where we both able to laugh about how blind we were at the top on Karpenter. On Tsuga Rob lead the way entering the trail. About 5 or 6 turns into the trail we both veered completely off the trail as we could hardly see the line in the fog. Further down the trail we finally able to start riding with clear air in front of us and super bright lights gleaming our pathway.

Snakes and Ladders was yet again another hoot. Riding at night is fun, riding your own trail at night is even more fun. Even though I can ride the trail top to bottom in my head and know where to place my tire on every undulation on the trail I will never get tired of riding Snakes and Ladders. Tonight was especially fun popping and railing all the turns. All the rock work and drainage that we had done in the last 10 months was holding up really well and the trail was for the most part running dry. We paused at the rock face to inspect our recent work and then continued on at to the bottom of the trail.

Rob had mentioned that I was running 2 lights and he only had one, so for Shotgun I turned off the HID. I could notice that I had less light, but only running the helmet light made me totally focus on the trail ahead rather than in front of me. It was an absolute hoot. When we got to the cars we noticed that someone had left us some beverages on our cars. Only a true friend leaves you beer on your car as an après ride bevy.


Thanks Timmy.

Good ride in the fog and great beer at the end.