Last night was a good night for a road ride. I had some questions I needed to answer, such as: how cold could my feet possibly get in an hour at around 30 degrees? And, how dark is it on Moore’s Creek Road at night? As it turns out, the answers are: very freaking cold; and incredibly dark — really too dark for the lights I have. I’m not afraid of the dark, really, but it was kind of creepy being somewhere that remote. I’m pretty sure I passed within three feet of a deer (or something!) but I could only hear it shuffle around in the leaves and snort a little bit. I went right by part of the lake and couldn’t see it at all. I would have stopped to let my eyes adjust but I knew I’d get too cold if I did that.

I really need some booties or warmer shoes and some better lights. I find it interesting though how much more comfortable I feel riding through town at night, even on the busier streets. This ride reinforced the need to devise some good around-town routes. Still, it felt great to ride.

I know this is nothing compared to the weather that a lot of other cyclists are dealing with right now, but I woke up this morning to find it 23 degrees with a windchill of 15. Not insanely cold, but the coldest it’s been so far this year, and cold enough that I needed warmer gloves, and once again my feet were cold. It was a beautiful morning to ride to work, though, and smirked as I rode past vacant cars idling to warm up and wait for the defrost to kick in. I wore a scarf and that worked better than I expected. I arrived at work feeling invigorated.

Mountain Biking at Brown County - last night

My mountain biking buddy Dave and I met at Brown County State Park last night at a little before 7:00 pm. When we arrived, I was surprised to see some other cars in the lot. I shouldn’t have been surprised; while not a lot of people ride at night, we certainly aren’t the only ones who do. It took us a few minutes to get everything ready.

A few words on lighting: I used an LED mini Maglite mounted on my helmet with velcro zip ties as usual (see my past post on how to do this), and my CygoLite Hi-Flux 100 light mounted on my handlebars. Dave used two flashlights attached to his helmet. He used to use duct tape but is now a velcro zip tie convert. The flashlights he uses are not Maglites, and while they are about as bright as mine, they seem to be less durable as they have been becoming less reliable over time. The switches don’t always work well anymore and sometimes they’ll flicker when we go over bumpy sections of trail. I think it was worth a little extra money for the Maglite brand lights, which have given me absolutely no trouble.

Once we got our stuff ready to go, we headed out. Dave wasn’t feeling too well, but he was hoping a ride would help him feel better. He had a headache and was trying to fight off the cold that’s going around in his family. The first mile and change is climbing but it’s pretty gradual. Still, it certainly got our hearts pumping. I felt a bit sluggish since I haven’t ridden much recently, but once I got warmed up, I felt a lot better.

In fact, I rode a lot better than I had last week. I did pretty well climbing but the descents were a lot smoother this time. I’m a little more accustomed to night riding now and I think that’s what made the difference. I was able to anticipate the twists and turns of the trail, flowing over it smoothly and only braking when absolutely necessary. I modulated my brakes better, too, slowing myself just the right amount when necessary, rather than braking too hard and slowing abruptly. I also did better hopping logs, taking more speed into them, shifting my weight and letting my momentum carry me over them. Last time, I approached them too tentatively and while I still made it over them, it was a lot rougher and less graceful.

Once we reached the connector to the Aynes Loop, we decided to ride the connector trail out and back but not the whole Aynes Loop. It was a good way to add an easy mile or so to our ride as that’s the flattest section of the whole trail system. After that, we rode the North Tower Loop in the opposite direction. Dave asked if I wanted to take the lead (he almost always leads) and I took him up on the offer. I was both excited about it and a little nervous. It’s a lot easier to follow someone than to have to try to follow the trail without any help. It’s often very difficult to figure out which way the trail goes at night, especially in the fall when everything is covered with leaves; everything just blends together in the small area of light in front of you.

I soon felt more at ease as I realized that I could mostly see where the trail went and even when I couldn’t, I am familiar enough with these trails to anticipate what’s coming next. I did have a little trouble finding a good pace; I didn’t want to hold Dave back but sometimes ended up riding too fast.

This was the best part of the ride for me as all I could see were the woods in front of me and sometimes the trail. Sometimes I couldn’t see the trail at all but could see where someone had cut out part of some logs to make room for the trail. We climbed for a while and were rewarded with a twisty descent in what we call the “Wapehani” section, as its whoops and turns remind us of the Wapehani mountain bike park in Bloomington.  I kept my speed up, leaning into turns and throwing my weight around more than usual in the turns but also in straight hilly sections, bombing down hills and pulling my bike up under me when going over rocks and mounds, floating over them rather than hitting them like dead weight.

Now we had more climbing to do and we kept a good pace, enjoying this opportunity to drop the intensity for a few minutes but looking forward to the next burst of speed. The wind was really picking up, blustering and swirling around us and blowing leaves back and forth almost looking like schools of fish traveling unpredictably but as one. As the climb intensified so did the wind and we rode steady into it for the rest of the climb.

But soon, we were treated to more great downhill riding as the trail followed the edge of several ravines with near 180-degree switchbacks at the end of each. As we followed the contours of the land the trail alternated between being banked in our favor and off-camber. At times it was very banked and the leaves on the side of the bank made it impossible to see where the trail was. We were riding on faith, trusting that the trail wouldn’t let us down. It was tough to tell where the trail was but having ridden here many times before we just kept on riding and soon enough the trail became more visible again. The banked switchbacks allowed us to keep our momentum through the tight switchbacks and we continued to pick up speed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a large bird fluttering into the air from a tree. I couldn’t tell what kind of bird it was but I’m thinking it must have been an owl. It was beautiful, whatever it was.

The trail flowed down into a valley and across a creek and we started the climb up the other side. This gave us a respite from the intense focus we had to maintain during the fast descent. But coming up was one of our favorite sections of trail, the connector back to the parking lot. I took it faster than I usually would at night this time around. We pretty much know every twist, turn, and hill on the way down, or so I thought. I came flying around a turn and got out of the saddle to climb a small hill and almost went left where the trail goes straight. I corrected my mistake — no harm done — but I nearly went flying off the trail. We had an exhilarating trip back down to the parking lot.

Road Riding - Tuesday Night

I did a night road right Tuesday night. I did a modified version of the Water Works route, which is one of my regular training routes. I headed out Smith Road and things were a little dicey from the start. Smith Road is not a high-traffic road, but it’s not an empty rural road, either. It had just enough traffic to be a little scary at night and to drown out my headlight, but it’s not urban enough to have a lot of street lights, either. Once I got out past Smith Road, things got better as the traffic thinned and my headlight was fairly sufficient at this point. I also had a blinking light that made trippy strobe effects as I rode, mostly on my feet and pedals, freezing them at various times in the pedal cycle.

Handy Road was great, with almost no traffic. It’s a pretty easy road to ride on, although I couldn’t see things like potholes, cracks or sand very well. I was really glad I had put wider tires on my bike, because I went over a lot more rough stuff than I would during the day simply due to a lack of light. But my new tires soaked it up pretty well and gave me fantastic traction nonetheless.

On my way back I decided to take Sare Road instead of Smith Road. This turns into College Mall Road and goes by the mall; normally I try to keep my riding rural as much as possible, but at night everything is different. This worked a lot better; Sare Road doesn’t have a lot of traffic but does have a lot of street lights. College Mall Road is four lanes (total) but not very busy at night, so I had a whole lane to myself. I cut across behind the mall, although I could have safely taken 3rd Street since there was so little traffic. I think I’ll have to ride different routes in the winter staying close to town to take advantage of the street lights and other city-generated light.

Cycling

I have not ridden very much at all in the past couple of weeks. A number of factors have combined to prevent me from riding, including the weather, darkness, illness, and laziness. I did a night mountain biking ride with Dave last week that was a lot of fun, but I got sick after that. I missed out on what would have been a fantastic day for riding on Saturday and fortunately did ride yesterday morning. I tried to ride relatively early as all forecasts I read said there was more of a chance for rain later in the day. Naturally, it started raining as I prepared to ride and stopped shortly after I returned home. It was gorgeous the rest of the day and even sunny for a while. Sarah and I enjoyed the beautiful weather and took some photos around downtown Bloomington.

I am still trying to figure out how to deal with the darkness. It seems weird, but I don’t mind mountain biking in the dark as much as I do road riding. I think I need to spend some more time (and probably money) dealing with the lighting situation. I tend to prepare several lights before I go mountain biking in the dark, and less time preparing for road riding. Maybe that’s part of the problem. Or maybe I just need some brighter lights.

At this point, I have resigned myself to the fact that I won’t be able to do as much riding in the coming months. I hope to ride year-round to some extent, but I know I’ll be fitting in a lot less mileage. Sarah and I have decided to try joining a gym to see if we can stay in shape through the winter.

Photography

Sarah and I spent a little while taking photos in downtown Bloomington yesterday. We had talked about doing some sort of photography and ended up just walking about a block down an alley after we had lunch. I wanted to use the rest of the film in my old (1930s or ’40s) Kodak Retina and once I did so we headed back.  I tried some Ilford XP2 Super film in the Retina. This is one of those B&W films that can be processed in a color lab. I think the shots turned out pretty well. When I scanned the negatives and made a few adjustments, I was getting this lofi retro look that’s just perfect for this old camera. If I wanted to I could make these look more pristine (and in fact the prints do), but I opted to keep the low-contrast, old-fashioned look and even the false color in a few shots.

The Retina is quite an interesting camera. It doesn’t even have a light meter. For now, I use another camera for metering, but I hope to get better at judging exposure without a meter. Also, you can’t see the effects of focusing through the viewfinder. Instead, you have to guess how far (in meters) you are from where you want to focus. Another challenge is that the viewfinder does not show exactly what will be in the photo, and I have not yet figured out how to compensate for that.

Here are a few photos. Some are from yesterday, and some are from the shooting we did on October 27.

Monroe County Courthouse

Gutter

Weird false color

The Video Saloon

Old Barn

McKinney Cemetery

A row of gravestones

The cemetery, with hills in the background

Sarah

Vista in Jackson-Washington State Forest

Jackson-Washington State Forest

Me (taken by Sarah)

I probably should have stayed home last night and rested in preparation for the Hilly Hundred, but I simply couldn’t do that. It was a beautiful night, if overcast and a bit chilly, and I had new wheels to test, as well as a Banjo Brothers Handlebar Bag I intend to use this weekend that hadn’t had a test run yet. I decided to do the Water Works ride.

It was chilly, and I had to guess what to wear to stay comfortable. It’s been a while since I even had to worry about that and I guessed that my long-sleeved jersey with my jogging suit jacket would work well, along with biking shorts with a pair of nylon pants over them.

I threw some stuff in the handlebar bag, including the Sigma Sport TriLED light, which can clip onto the handlebars, patch kit, cell phone, etc. I put my camera in the mesh side pocket even though I wasn’t sure if the pocket would hold it securely enough.

As soon as I got moving, I realized that I’d forgotten how much more restrictive warmer clothing can be and that I will have to get used to riding in colder weather again.

I soon forgot about all of that and had a fantastic ride. It was windy, which worked to my advantage for about the first half of the ride. I flew over some rolling hills and then down a curvy road. I was impressed with how well my new wheels were working; I even noticed some unexpected improvements in steering. The handlebar bag also affected handling, though, adding some noticeable drag and raising my center of gravity a bit. It wasn’t too bad, but definitely more noticeable than a saddle bag or even a rack trunk. I also noticed I could hear things rattling around in there occasionally. However, it was great having everything within reach, and putting my camera in the mesh pocket worked especially well. It seemed to hold it pretty securely, yet I could slip the camera in and out with ease when I wanted to use it.

My trip to the Water Works was pretty uneventful. I saw a few deer along the way and really enjoyed the cloudy sky; it was overcast, but a bit patchy and there were spots where the sun would shine through at times. I could smell smoke from fireplaces and it was a great complement to the cool crisp air. One deer even ran alongside me for a while, each of us looking at the other and apparently enjoying each other’s companionship.

Autumn Sky

When I turned to ride back the other way, I faced a stiff headwind. One thing that’s weird about Bloomington is that it’s rarely windy, except when it’s cold. I have no idea why that is, but I sure was reminded of that fact last night. It was getting fairly dark at this point and my ride took on an autumn night vibe. It was beautiful and mysterious and a little bit spooky, with many deer along the way and other creatures rustling through the woods. As I rode I thought of the people cozy in their homes and while that can be a great feeling, I was happy to be out riding for the time being.

After I made the descent down Moore’s Creek Road, it almost felt like I was in some kind of fantasy world with dim but golden light trickling into the valley and more deer and other fauna all around me. I felt lucky to be observing these feats of nature, even if I really was riding through a rural neighborhood and not some huge forest. I came around a corner and saw probably half a dozen deer grazing. I came to a stop completely silently and we stared each other down. They were standing and staring at me. I wasn’t sure what to do and started to reach for my camera. Still no movement. Something possessed me to whisper, “Hi” … just barely even making a sound. The deer turned and ran and I continued riding.

I stopped by Lake Monroe to rest for a moment and take a photo of my bicycle near the lake. I also put the front light on my bike at this time.

My bicycle by Lake Monroe

The light that I had brought isn’t very bright and there were no cars on this road. Fortunately, I’ve ridden it many times before and I’m pretty familiar with it. It wasn’t completely dark yet, although the big climb is under dense canopy and I had a little trouble seeing during that part. I made the climb and headed back toward home. The light the sky was still providing, combined with lights from headlights and my own light, were enough.

Night Riding

I had been planning to go on at least one road ride during our vacation. At one point, I was thinking about bringing my road bike and renting a mountain bike at Tsali, but ultimately, I decided to bring my mountain bike and slicks (road tires). This way, I could just bring one bike and not have to rent one. The map of Macon County we picked up had bicycle routes marked on it, and there were many signed bicycle routes throughout the county. We went to Smoky Mountain Bicycles and picked up some routes they had there, but I decided to come up with my own route so that I could leave directly from the cabin and explore. I wrote down some notes about the route, got ready, and headed out. I should note right away that I posted the route on Routeslip here, although it doesn’t seem to be loading at the moment.

My mountain bike, outfitted for a road ride

As do many of my rides, this turned into a very hot late-afternoon ride. It started with a very sketchy and interesting descent down the gravel road that leads to the cabin. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was very steep and had several switchbacks. I took a few photos on the way down so I’d have a record of this insanity. I knew it would be a very difficult climb back to the cabin, but I was almost looking forward to it, in a masochistic, manly pride kind of way.

The driveway to the cabin

Looking down from the end of the driveway

One of several sections of road like this

Part of a switchback on the gravel road

I took my time going downhill here, because the gravel was fairly loose and I knew if I got going too fast, I wouldn’t be able to stop. Once I reached the bottom, and a paved road, I was greeted with incredible views almost immediately.

This was just minutes from our cabin

Barn

It was flat for a few minutes, which was a good thing, because I was having trouble focusing on riding due to the scenery all around me.  I also had some trouble adjusting to riding the mountain bike on the road; I was acutely aware of just how inefficient it was, my cadence was all messed up, the gearing all wrong (though I’d later be thankful for it), etc.

I  had seen this scenery before on our drives to and from the cabin, but everything looks better from a bicycle, and I was driving before so I didn’t get to enjoy it as much. The cabin owner had said in his directions, “DO NOT TURN ON LEATHERMAN GAP ROAD,” so I had avoided that road in the car. However, curiosity got the best of me and I simply had to check it out by bicycle. Besides, I thought the route I had planned went on it, for some reason, even though you can plainly see in the photo below that the 36 sign pointed straight ahead, not to the right, where I turned.

 
A signed bicycle route by Leatherman Gap Road / Cowee Valley sign

I should have heeded his advice, because Leatherman Gap Road, which would be the wrong way to go if you were trying to get to the cabin, was also the wrong way to go for my planned bike route. I didn’t even realize this for several miles, when I reached the end of the paved road and sensed that I was in the wrong place. This would be the first of several mistakes I’d make, but I didn’t care — there was more beautiful scenery, and I didn’t have a specific destination in mind anyway. I had my trusty map, and it came in handy several times. As a part of my restitution for poor planning, I climbed the significant Snow Hill. It was a tough climb, but then I got to ride on a ridge for a bit, with great views.

My bicycle, and an incredible home in the background

I also passed through a strange, nearly-abandoned coop of some kind

I finally got back on course and rode for a while on Highway 28, a fantastic winding mountain road. So awesome, in fact, that I missed my turn off of it and had to backtrack. I realized this just as I began a climb, and continued climbing anyway simply because I was having so much fun. This gave me a good descent back toward the road on which I was supposed to turn.

If this is the wrong way to go, do I really want to be right?

I saw this cool bridge and realized that my route took me across it

Bridge over Rose Creek

The view from the bridge

The road I was on now, Rose Creek Road, was even more winding and had more ups and downs. I did a lot of climbing, but somehow, it never seemed too bad. The low gears of my mountain bike helped, but I also didn’t push it too much, as this ride was more to discover and enjoy the scenery than for fitness.

Riding directly toward a mountain

Small shack in the mountains

I stopped by the small shack above to consult my map. I found myself at an intersection, and while I knew which way I had planned to go, I was intrigued by the road leading off to the right. I wanted to explore it, but I knew I’d be chasing daylight, so I wanted to see if I had time. As I was stopped, a golf cart with two or three people in it pulled up. The people in it asked if I was lost, and I said, “Not lost, just indecisive!” It sure was weird to have a golf cart randomly drive up like that.

I just love roads like this

Farms nestled in the mountains

The road I was on ultimately looped back to Highway 28. 28 had more traffic on it, but the drivers were very courteous. In fact, people were very courteous throughout my whole ride, waving at me and some even giving me a thumbs up. I really don’t understand why I saw almost no other cyclists the whole time we were in Franklin. It has all the elements of a great cycling town: marked bike routes, a bike shop, great mountains in which to ride, roads with low speed limits, and friendly motorists.

Some traffic on 28. That’s the closest thing I saw to traffic, anyway …

I didn’t want my ride to end, but it was getting dark. I had brought my rear blinky light, but not my headlight. I should have had the headlight. I thought I might make it back before dark, but I underestimated how far I was from the cabin.

The sun sets over a mountain road

I really enjoyed my ride, and seeing the sun set was great, too. Sarah also enjoyed the sunset, but she did so from the gazebo behind the cabin.

This shot looks almost impressionist to me

It was almost completely dark by the time I reached the bottom of the gravel road. I would have to climb it without being able to see much of anything, and it was a hell of a climb. Even the low mountain bike gears were just barely low enough, especially on that loose gravel surface. My rear wheel spun a little as I pedaled on a couple of different occasions. Eventually, I made it, and Sarah was waiting outside. I had a great ride, but what a sight for sore eyes!