Nothing special about day 30, just a regular run up the mountain.
Day 31 in was done only to keep this streak alive. An all day conference call precluded a lunch time run, so I hiked up the mountain in the dark. It was peaceful except for the two Peterborough All-Stars coming down who took exception to my headlamp. Uh, it's nighttime, just shy of a new moon, and I have a bum ankle, so walking around in the dark is not on my short list of things to do. I wonder about people like this who, in the dark, in the woods, bump into somebody they don't know and proceed to have an attitude problem. Are they actually bad ass killing machines who can be as rude as they please with no fear of repurcussion or are they simply stupid? It's a way of moving through life that completely perplexes me. Anyhow, it was a lovely night, the air was dry, the stars were bright and the view from the tower was dyn-O-mite :-P
Day 33, today, was the most enjoyable day of stupid yet. Todd, Ray, Dale, and I met up for a night ride on the FOMBA trails at Massabesic. It rained a bit just before we got there, but once we started the sky cleared and it was cool (55F) and dry, perfect night riding weather. We started without the lights and headed out to Fox Tail. The rain made the roots quite slippery, so it took all of two minutes for all of us to put our lights on, I mean what were we saving our batteries for exactly?
It always takes a mile or so for me to recalibrate to night riding. You go slower, but it seems faster. In some ways you ride looser, since you don't always see the tricky stuff coming, so you don't stress about it, so sometimes you roll right over stuff that you might pause to think about in the daylight...and sometimes it rolls right over you and you crash for no apparent reason :-) While I have quite a few dabs, I didn't have any real crashes, something I'm always grateful for as I get older and heal slower.
After Fox Tail we hit Lady Slipper, Deer Run, Red Pine (the log roll is fairly frightening while damp and in the dark), Sampler, Moose Track, and Hemlock Loop. We ended the night with a quick run through Woodpecker, far and away the fastest trail at Massabesic. While following 50 yards behind Todd I heard the "whoomp" of a body hitting the dirt. I was a bit worried as I came around the corner, but he was up and unhurt. He completely lost the front in some soft sand coming around a fast corner, but didn't land on any pointy rocks ;-)
After we finished it was off to Shorty's for a cold brew and some Mexican food. A good ending to a good day.
