Tonight I did my first night ride with a few members of the team. I'm no stranger to night riding, but I have generally been alone and just riding to get somewhere (commuting).
The night rides meet at the Eastside Trailhead of the Woodland Trail. I left my house and rode the trail to the trailhead. There were five of us tonight--3 guys, 2 gals. I knew Ron and Jean and met Chris and Brad (add two more to my roster of names I'm learning).
We headed back the way I had come up the Woodland Trail to the Chehalis Western Trail. When I was making my way to the start, there were some places where I really slowed down because I couldn't see the trail amongst all the leaves (it's really dicey when the trail curves slightly--then I really wasn't sure if I was in the middle of the trail or coming close to the edge). Going back up was not as hard because all I had to do was follow the blinking light in front of me! Plus the lead guys are great at calling out obstacles and stuff.
We rode as far south as the trail junction with the Yelm/Tenino Trail. There we turned around and headed back. I headed home from the bridge over Yelm Hwy.
By the time I got home, I had ridden 38.8 miles with an average of 16.1 mph. Due to the slower nature of riding in the dark, I was able to keep up easily. It was fun and I'll definitely do it again!
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