2nd night ride of the year

Nov 5th-

Unbelievable I know but I went back for more! It took quite some effort to get me off the couch and shut down my PC. A flat tyre almost gave me a get out excuse but I disciplined myself and fixed it.

The guys were also amazed thatI had come back for more but it was said with an element of respect, I think. Simon introduced himself and I felt like I was less of an outsider this week.

Still the pace was furious as we set off and I quickly got dropped as we headed towards Redlands and up a huge off-road climb that killed me at that pace. Being on a hardtail took a bit of getting used to I was bouncing on my seat a lot and felt very inefficient. The Fenix headtorch works great but once we got on the singletrack this week I had my supercharged up Lumicycle HID and that made a big difference to the speed I could go.

The ride was very boggy and again I wondered what on earth was I doing chasing these guys around from the back. They stopped and waited for me and set off as soon as I arrived so I really went non-stop for over 2.5hrs until we got to the top of Leith tower where we set off a couple of fireworks. One never made it off teh ground so we all scarpered for cover of the tower itself as it exploded on its stick. The other did not have a stick so we duck taped one on and set it alight eventually and it shot in the sky and exploded several times whilst we all still cowered behind the tower! Very funny moments!

We stopped at th Plough and I felt accepoted more as jokes at my expense and teasing started. After a couple of drinks we shot down summer lightening and Rookery at a fair pace and back in our cars.

Both my Fenix torch adn my Lumicycle HID with Lithium Ion battery lasted the whole ride. Pretty good going! It shows that reading reviews online really helps you choose the best products.

30km and 3.5 hrs- exahusted again but feeling good about myself for doing it!