Midnight Century 2013

the Midnight Century was pretty cool, or "neat" in the immortal words of Kevin Costner and Annie Hall.  Didn't really do any training for it except the usual riding to and from work.  I'm always surprised how well that keeps me ready for longer rides.

My wrist Garmin showed a final distance of 93.56 miles versus the official 96.2 miles.  I forgot to turn on the timer at the start and remembered to just before the Opera House, so I'm missing a few miles. I'm going to count the 5 miles to and from home so think managed over 100 miles. Also I missed a turn in the Liberty Lake area, but luckily one of the 3 guys with us knew the area and got us back to the course.  Luckily we didn't get disqualified.  (I was also carrying a second little hand held type Garmin that I had loaded the gps track onto but it was only showing the first 10 miles and the topo map didn't show Liberty Lake area streets.)

Had a fast ride out on the Centennial Trail to the state line with a group of 15 or so before we broke up.  Eric was leading the pack for quite a ways before somebody else took a turn up front.
Rode by myself for some miles, not knowing really where I was, trying to keep the red blinky lights ahead of me in sight.  Had the cue sheet held on my stem with a big paper clip per instructions, it's so dark out there it's easy to miss a turn.

It was a beautiful night.  Quite something to be riding alone in the pitch dark hoping you're on the right road.

Surprised to see the Garmin shows I was stopped for 40-some minutes.  A few times I waited for other riders to show up behind me, stopped to put on a long sleeved shirt at Sands Rd only to discover there is a long climb up Sands and Bruna (a guy who stopped there kept on saying he wasn't looking forward to it) and I wished I didn't put it on; fiddled with my rear blinky which got stuck on steady then wouldn't turn on. Think some dirt and grime got in it.

The rear light not working worried me on Hwy 27, so I waited for a couple guys first. No traffic anyway.

Many times I wished I was riding the Vaya with it's low 34 x 36 gear instead of the Conquest Pro and 36 x 28 low gear. Especially the climb up Spangle. Prefer the tires on the Vaya, also.
A group built up at the top of Bruna, resting and waiting there before we started down.  I got going a little too fast and almost bit it, but stayed upright.

Crescent moon

Ran into Eric and Hank again somewhere before Dunn Rd.  Before Spangle Creek, Eric stopped ahead of me and asked if I'd seen a porcupine back there - he'd ran over one, or its tail.  Didn't notice his foot at first:

Rode in the last part from Spangle mostly with Hank, his brother John, and Eric.  Took it easy on the last 10 miles from the Fish Lake Trailhead to Spokane.  Great breakfast at Central Food, where I decided I didn't think I needed to do the ride again. But you know how that goes.