From IT Geek to Triathlete

Dark & Dirty night rides

I’ve heard a lot about a bunch of guys that meet every Thursday evening and go out for night rides. They call these rides Dark & Dirty, which it is. I wanted to start going to these rides since November last year, but never got around to it until last night. Man, have I been missing out!! These rides are awesome!

It is really hard to describe the entire sensation. The entire ride consisted of single or jeep track. Some of the highlights were a twisty single track through the tall grass with the wind blowing them from side to side. It felt like a scene out of the movie the Gladiator. Indescribable how cool that was. At times you can’t see the track at all and your bike just manage to find the smooth path through the grass.

Another highlight was around half-way through the ride where we came across a huge heap of dirt (size of a small house). It looked like it should have been used for construction, but has been laying in the field for ages. One cycles around the back of this gigantic heap, over the top, and finally down a drop of 2-3 meters. I’m not used to this sort of (almost) stunt riding, but it was actually so easy and it came so naturally. No one fell on that part of the course, even though it looks like the place were you should get a few broken bones. I went down the drop a couple of times and got too cocky towards the end. I went down with a bit of speed and landed on my front wheel… bad idea. I didn’t fall, but I was lucky.

I did manage to wipe-out along another route, where I cut a corner through the grass and through a dip. Unfortunately there was a hidden ditch there and I ended up flying over the handlebars and into the tall grass. Luckily the grass broke my fall and it hardly hurt.

My Edge 305 fell off during the fall, but luckily I noticed it 20m down the trail. I ran back and found it lying between the thick grass. Pheeew… it would’ve sucked if I had lost it. I think my Garmin is worth more than my bike at this stage. The old Schwinn has a couple of km on it and would need replacing this year… or maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to get a new horse.

Well enough of that. I just wish everyone could experience a ride like this. It’s so much fun!

Logbook Activity

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 02/07/2008
• Time: 19:00:00
• Total Time: 1:52:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 134
• Max Heart rate: 171
• Calories: 737
• Distance: 22.6 km
• Average Speed: 12.11 kmph
• Max Speed: 41.5 kmph
• Ascent: 239 m

Filed under: Cycle, Mountain Biking, Night Ride  |  Digg! this story.