Night Bison Recap

This past Saturday night was the Night Bison Gravel Nocturne. It was a 53mi gravel ride at night, starting at North Central Cyclery. I was pretty excited about riding at night with a large group of people (about 60) because it would be an interesting change of pace from the small-group night-time gravel rides we've been doing regularly. I was also excited to get the opportunity to once again ride with our good pal Hellmutt, who was visiting from Florida. However, I nearly bailed on the ride after spending all of Saturday feeling sick with some sort of virus. I figured I would regret not riding though, and so I showed up at the last minute.

All was well until about 40 miles in. I completely lost all energy, my fever had escalated, the sore throat had worsened and I wished for nothing more than to be in bed with a pizza. I was out of water and food and so I stopped at a gas station only a few miles from the finish, in fear that I would completely bonk and awaken to a llama gobbling on my infected innards. The crappy egg salad sandwich and soda that I obtained carried me back to the shop where I took a shower, changed into dry clothes and went to bed. I have not left that bed for 3 days now. Would I be feeling better today if I had not rode that night? Maybe... I don't know, but I'm still glad that I did it. It was a fun ride. Riding out in the country at night is always fun, with or without a big group.

P.S. Thanks to T.J. for the whiskey. That may or may not have helped me.

Now for some shitty pictures from my cell phone (I really need to get a compact digital camera to take on rides):


About 60 rides preparing to roll out at NCC.


Cruisin' with the group before hitting the gravel.


I had the opportunity to test out this light by GEMINI. Damn! I'm sold on these things. They're very well designed and extremely bright.


Good ol' Hellmutt in the All-City kit atop his Gunnar Crosshairs, enjoying the terrain he's been longing for while living in the least cycling-friendly state in the US.


Attempting to demonstrate the brightness of the Gemini light on my All-City Nature Boy. The brightest setting was almost TOO BRIGHT for me.