First Solo Night Ride

I didn’t intend on riding alone in the dark, it just kind of happened… I originally planned on going for a ride much, much earlier, but then work got in the way. I made the mistake of checking my email before leaving the house and you know how that goes…

At 4:30pm I finally headed out and decided to ride Moe’s Misery. Moe’s is a nice easy trail close to the Trent River in Royston. It starts at sea level so I knew it would be snow free and it doesn’t get nearly as wet and soggy as some of the trails in Cumberland can get. It’s also a trail I know well. One of the things I really like about the trail is listening to the water flow along the river below. It’s also gorgeous in the Fall when the leaves start to change colour. I find it’s a great ride at the end of the day or when you don’t have much time as it’s a quick out and back, 45 minutes total at a moderate pace and almost no fire road.

I was really enjoying the ride this evening, it was just me and Katie the wonder dog. No one else was on the trail, the rain had let up, and someone had done a bit of trail maintenance and cleared the trees that had blown down over the winter so it was a nice mellow ride. Half way up the trail I noticed that I was losing daylight and was glad that I had packed my headlamp just in case… I couldn’t quite make it to the top of the trail, several large trees bordering the clearcut to the south had blown over and were blocking the way. I could’ve scrambled over them but it was near the end of the trail and I was losing daylight fast so I attached my headlamp to my helmet and started to make my way back to the car.

Normally riding in the dark doesn’t bother me, especially on this trail as it’s one of the ones I night ride a lot. Except for one minor detail… I had just watched the Blair Witch Project a few nights before. Oh yeah, the imagination was working overtime! A little further down the trail and the fog started rolling in and in the distance I could hear squeaking. In the air. Then I heard the fluttering of wings as 5 or 6 bats decided to dive bomb me to figure out what I was. Great… So not only was I imagining some weirdo was stalking me, I really was being stalked by bats!

Finally the fog started to let up as I got a bit closer to the car and I started to notice the lichen. I never really gave it much notice on a ride before, tonight was the first time I realized how it really did appear to glow in the dark. It was pretty cool to see. I don’t think I would’ve noticed it had I not needed a distraction… I would’ve stopped to take photos but by that time I just wanted to get home.

It turned out to be a great ride once I got a grip on my overactive imagination, but I somehow don’t see myself doing a solo night ride again any time soon…

Tags: cumberland, moe's misery, mtn biking, My Mountain Bike Rides, royston, trent river, Women in Mountain Biking