Monday, August 23, 2010

Ride Into The Dark Side

Typo /grammar declaimer - this was written after a very long day and I'm sooooo tired I can't really think straight.
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My crazy but highly respectable boss is riding another 600k this up coming weekend. She got a new light that will be generated off her front hub and needed to test it out before the big ride day. Of course the only way to test out this light was a 3am bike ride up and OVER the west hills to Voodoo Doughnuts and back. I opted to join her for one of two reasons. I'm scared of the dark and scared of descending (although I have gotten much better over the last few months) on their own. Combining the two is a bit of an (excuse my language) mind f***. The second reason was company. She's great at riding long distances on her own but a ride is always a little more fun with company IMO. Plus I wanted a good reason to eat a Voodoo doughnut.

2:30 am - Beep! Beep! Beep! Ugh, is it really time to get up? I feel like I just laid down for bed.

3:15am - It's wasn't as dark as I thought it would be. We're very close to a full moon. The beaming glow helped light the way.
There is nothing like a 700ish ft climb up Cornell within the first 30mins of getting out of bed to wake a girl up. Susan let me borrow her Stella light (Light & Motion) to mount on my helmet for the descent. As she's mounting the light to my helmet she points out that it is not the "sexiest" accessory. Lol! I love her random observations. Really though, who does she think I'm trying to pick up at 4am on my bicycle? The lightmade a world of difference. Woah Nelly it was dark! Dark and chilly! Descending at 20mph when I could only see a couple of feet ahead was scary. Susan was great though. She led the way and slowed down to make sure I was doing ok. I can be such a girl!

4:15am - Voodoo Time! They were fresh out of the famous Memphis Mafia and Bacon Maple Bar so we had to settle for an Old Dirty Bastard and a Raspberry filled glaze.


The Magic's In The Hole!
After proper fueling we mounted back on to our steady steeds and hit the West Hills up and over the Zoo. Going up into the Zoo was much darker than the main road we took in. I found climbing is much less difficult mentally when
1. You can't see the watts
2. You can't see the road increase in grade in front of you.
Instead I grinded away, pedal stroke after pedal stroke. The descent over the Zoo was much less scary then the ride into town. Susan showed me the bike path that parallel HWY 26. It was well lit and we straight coasted back.

5:30ish- Arrive home - bright eyed and bushy tailed. Ready to attack a full day of work!

Ride stats - 23 miles 1800ft+ elevation gain fueled by a raspberry filled glazed doughnut, part of an old dirty bastard (chocolate cake doughnut covered with PB and oreo cookie). Hydrated with coffee. This was a workout for the champs!

Have a mentioned how badass my boss/mentor is?

4 comments:

cherelli said...

OMG your boss may be friggin' crazier than you!!! How cool to go out on a night bike ride (which I would never consider doing on my own...but invited under such crazy conditions with a partner...well, what an adventure!) Way too cool. I do love the sound of your workplace - very physically motivating!

Unknown said...

What an adventure. No one should wake up at 2:30 AM. I've got a baby at home, so I know. However, you look so happy.

n8 soul said...

awesome ride, inspired so decided to try a night swim, kinda eerie with only moonlight but it's been really hot in cali so a great way to cool off in the summer heat

SquirrelHead said...

The night ride sounds very cool. I had never heard of Voodoo Doughnuts before. I innocently followed your fun little link and found myself surrounded by what I can only describe as sweet sugary doughnut porn of a hardcore nature. Now I find myself sitting here wanting more. I am going to have to plan a trip to Portland just for the doughnuts. Of course I will have bring a bike so I can do it up right with a night ride to the dirty house of fried dough.