Zelda's Night Ride

We were fortunate enough to be able to get on our bikes again last evening and get a good ride in.  I dusted off the singlespeed and was anxious to see how it would feel to get back on SS.  It really reminded me how much I enjoy the singlespeed experience!  There is something so simple, so beautiful...and of course painful.

We went up along Hwy 2....our band of bouncing lights heading down the 2 lane Hwy until we hit the second Thompson Park entrance where we took the trail up to the railroad bed.  I figured this would be the test of how strong the legs felt because that first push up Thompson has some steep punchy sections where I was out of the saddle and doing the singlespeed side to side dance.  I cleared all the switchties with the exception of the last one which was just too steep and too sharp to clean.

Once we got to the railroad bed, we headed through the tunnel, over the truss and up to Pipestone Pass where we connected onto the CDT and took the CDT over to Beaver Ponds.  Once we got to the Beaver Ponds, we took Zelda's trail back down to our starting point.  It was a good ride....around 14 miles and 1,800 ft of vertical gain:

The light system held up well and I continue to be impressed with their overall performance and quality.  They are made in China so it is all good as long as I don't lick or try to eat the lights (made a point of making a mental note after seeing all the issues with the 'made in China' drywall, toys, and just about everything else).  I suspect you are going to say something like 'well, why in the world would you lick your lights?'....good question and I don't have an answer - then again, who was the first person to think it was a good idea to pull a carrot out of the ground and eat it?  I will however leave the lamp licking to someone else...