Night Ride – August 14 (and 15)

[Dirt]

It’s 9:11pm. I just got home from a 135 mile gravel ride. There is no way that I have time to clean up, kit up and get my butt out of the house in 49 minutes. I may have to miss this ride. I’m a wimp!

[kwarkentien]

I’m getting kitted up now. If anyone wants to ride over from Shirlington let me know. I’ll be rolling around 9:45-10ish

[Steve O]

@Tania 122101 wrote:

Are blinky be-seen lights enough? I forgot to charge up my headlight and now that I’ve plugged it in, I’m not even getting a charging indicator. D’oh. (Driving into city)

There will be some dark spots along the trail, but since you’ll be with the group, you should be fine. Stay in the middle.

[dbb]

Say what? It’s going to be dark during the ride? Why wasn’t I briefed?

[kwarkentien]

Where is the rally point? I’m on the 15th Street side by the bathrooms.

[Dirt]

Monument Mug Shot

[Dirt]

@Steve O 122106 wrote:

There will be some dark spots along the trail, but since you’ll be with the group, you should be fine. Stay in the middle.

Whatever you do, don’t go off chasing Karen around Haynes Point.

[consularrider]

Sorry, slept in, no virtual sunrise from Kyiv to light the way (it was raining anyway).

[Tania]

@Dirt 122113 wrote:

Whatever you do, don’t go off chasing Karen around Haynes Point.

Three quarters of the way around I regretted this decision.

Tania: “OMG are we almost done?”

Karen: “Nope.”

Tania: “Ok, now are we almost done?”

Karen: (Shake head and pedals harder)

Tania: “Now?!?”

Karen: “See that stop sign? That’s it”

Tania: (silently cries tears of joy at the thought of being able to breathe again)

[Steve O]

@consularrider 122115 wrote:

Sorry, slept in, no virtual sunrise from Kyiv to light the way (it was raining anyway).

I was wondering why I couldn’t get you on Skype.

[bobco85]

The inaugural Midnight Saddles ride was a lot of fun! Of course, I’m saying this after having gotten back to my apartment sometime around 5 a.m. and missing the Port City Pedals ‘n’ Pints ride because my body said, “You’re going to lay in bed for another hour and a half, and you’re going to like it!”

Thank you, Steve O, for planning this ride!

I will let everyone else who took photos fill in the gaps in the first part of our ride (we started with 8 at the Washington Monument and had done a Hains Point lap before I actually took a picture), but here’s what I got:

having completed our Hains Point lap, we headed to the Lincoln Memorial and along the Mall towards the Capitol
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9323&stc=1[/IMG]

next up was some riding along the Pennsylvania Ave cycletrack
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9324&stc=1[/IMG]

there were no U-turners, but one driver did make a left turn (a sign forbade it) after asking us if the cross street led to a tunnel; we all knew he was going to turn in front of us, so we waited for him to do so
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9325&stc=1[/IMG]

after making it through the gauntlet that is Dupont Circle, we were hungry and thirsty, so we got some food and alcohol at Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe before riding back into VA (we had to escape while we still could!)
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9326&stc=1[/IMG]

[KLizotte]

Ehhh, I waited for you guys from 12:30-1:15 at Kramerbooks then gave up. (I’m still not riding due to ankle break recovery – sigh) Oh well, next time!

[kwarkentien]

Agreed! Much fun was had. Got home by 4 but didn’t get to bed until after 5 and up at 8. I can tell that I’m not 20 anymore today.

Here are some pics:

[kwarkentien]

[kwarkentien]

@Tania 122123 wrote:

Three quarters of the way around I regretted this decision.

Tania: “OMG are we almost done?”

Karen: “Nope.”

Tania: “Ok, now are we almost done?”

Karen: (Shake head and pedals harder)

Tania: “Now?!?”

Karen: “See that stop sign? That’s it”

Tania: (silently cries tears of joy at the thought of being able to breathe again)

We only did 19.2 mph on the gate to gate segment, decent but not a new PR. Next time, I’ll bring out the Shiv TT bike. [emoji41]

[Author]

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