Ninja ride

Went for a night ride without lights last night (still waiting to get my NiteRider's back from the factory). First of all, the only time I was on the street was for about half a block to get to the path, so no need for safety lectures. There was enough ambient light (or light pollution, depending on how you see it) for me to see just fine.

I hit the new section of paved trail through the old Twin Cities Army Ammo Plant and the loop across County I. This would be super boring any other time of year, but when it's single digit air temps with below zero wind chills, it's a nice loop with no traffic that I can spin on the singlespeed. I can do laps to get the miles in without getting more than a mile or so away from home. So, when I get frozen solid I can just bail and go home, instead of being stuck somewhere in BFE with a 45-minute death march to warmth. Plus, being 99% paved path, I don't have to deal with the road salt (which by the looks of things, Ramsey County must have gotten a KILLER deal on this year. I think they began salting the roads back in September).

Riding the singlespeed is already pretty quiet and stealthy, doing it after dark with no lights is ninja-like. I rode to within arms length of several deer that were chilling by the side of the path, which was pretty cool. The tires make a sweet, soft crunching sound when they run over snow and then hit blacktop. Other than that, it's quiet. No joggers, dogwalkers or rollerbladers. It's far from a perfect summer day, but it beats the holy hell out riding the trainer. I'm trying to ride outside at least 2-3 days a week this winter. We'll see how it goes. So far so good.