First ride of the 2009 season

First night ride of the season and testing out my 900 lumens flashlight on the trail.

February 13th, 2009 was another Indian Summer. 50 degrees temperature and sunny, days like this are rare in winter. I jump at every chance to ride.

By the time I got home from work, get ready and park on the bike trail I had only 15 minutes left of sun light left. But, that doesn't stop someone that is prepared for a night ride.



The temperature dropped 10 degrees by the time I ended my ride. I was prepared in clothing as well. Lycra long riding pants, cycling short sleeve shirt, cycling long sleeve shirt and a light hooded sweater kept me warm threw out the ride. I didn't wear the hood over my head though, the helmet would get in the way.

This would be only a short 1 hour ride round trip. Being the first ride in two months I took it easy, keeping it between 13-15 mph. Parts of the trail had several trees blocking the way, casualties of a huge wind storm that came a few days earlier, leaving me with only 10% space to ride threw.

I started in Newtown, Ohio and turned around in Camp Dennison, a 14.8 miles round trip. 1 hour and 3 minutes was the time duration that read on my cycling computer.

The leaves were still off the trees and it was interesting seeing the landscape off the trail that would be hidden by the foliage. The trail also had allot of rabbits. I must of counted around 12 that I saw and 2 white tailed deer. Dust is when these creatures would usually become active. I made sure to make allot of noise to get the deer off the trail.

On the way back I noticed a yellow headlight behind me. I decided to slow down and let the cyclist catch up to me. On the way up there were about 5 cyclist, a few walkers and runners. On the way down I seemed to be the only one on the trail. It was already pitch dark, but my 900 lumens flashlight lit the trail in front of me.

The cyclist with the yellow tinted headlight caught up with me and we struck up a conversation. He just started his ride from Camp Dennison and would turn around at Newtown. He was riding a normal mountain bike and wearing nylon athletic pants and jacket. After a short side-by-side ride together he said he had to get along before his light went dead on him. He pushed his bike up to 20 miles an hour until he got to Newtown. I stayed close behind him and was amazed that he could keep it up that fast. It was about 3 miles of this speed until he reached his turning point.

It's always fun chasing someone and made the ride more interesting. We both said goodbye to each other, I reached my truck and drove home. It was a good quick ride for the new season. On my next blog I'll talk about what to bring for a night ride and hopefully have some photos of my flashlight illuminating the trail.