First and foremost I must apologize for the fact that I will pretty much be without pics for at least a month. I had to send my camera in for warranty. It was a tough season on the body, even tougher on the ole digi cam! I just 'borrowed' these pics off the net, it they are yours, thanks!
So, winter is definitely on it's way here on the WEsT Coast. The rainy days out number the sunny days by about nine to one, and tonight alone I hear they are forecasting 90mm of the wet stuff!
Tonight was the first, of hopefully many, Wednesday night rides here in Squamish. At 6:30pm we meet at a local bike shop and head out, with bike lights of course, for a few hours of muddy, wet, slick, slippery, treacherous, challenging riding...AWESOME!
It was like a torrential downpour at times tonight, as a large storm front is moving in, but that did not deter eight seasoned riders from showing up for the ride. There is nothing quite like riding you bike at night. It just makes you feel like a complete kid again! The climbs don't seem quite as long, the descents feel faster, and the entire ride just flies past in what feels like minutes! I absolutely love it!
On top of all this, there is no better way to help perfect your technical biking skills, a must for being competitive at any West Coast bike event. As the ride started I was a bit sketchy and came off the pedals a few times. We ended up dropping down Ed's Bypass, which is nothing crazy, but even a few years ago I struggled on this trail in daylight. I realized that if I was going to make it through this trail clean I had better forget about my brakes and let my bike start rolling again. I'm sure my smile out shone my light when I made it through this short section of trail without issue. From here we linked up a few other Squamish classic single track trails before bombing down Jack's Trail. At this point the rains were coming down hard, the trails were a sloppy mess and very few of us had bike fenders or glasses on. This lead to what we like to call 'Biking By Braille'. My right eye was useless within minutes and I struggled to keep my left eye clear and focused. When the mud smacked you in the pupil you did not blink for fear of crashing! Everyone made it out unscathed and grinning from ear to ear.
A solid ninety minute ride, with eight friends, in absolute sh!t conditions...what a perfect night!!
Oh yeah, check out this hot new bike light from Princeton Tec,
GR