this time of year, we ride lots of gravel. we also have lots of fun doing so. roads we ride all the time seem different each and every night, the combination of routes are limitless, so each time out is a distinct adventure, a fact that hasn't sunk in around here during the warmer months, for some inexplicable reason. but that's adifferent rant. last night, nine hardy souls set out from waterworks park shortly after 530 for a three-hour cruise. along for the ride were chad, scott robinson and his brother "the instigator," jared, kurt, lippold, the reverend, sean, and "new guy." we headed south. after about an hour, chad signalled "old guy stop," and we did. dave, finishing first, rolled up the road. apparently, despite a warning, new guy rolled along too. the rest of us decided it was time to school new guy, and noticing they were rolling maybe a half-mile or more ahead, we turned right. eventually, dave and new guy caught back on. dave shared this tale:
it seems he looked back--dave rides with a head-mounted light in addition to a bike-mounted headlight--and saw four bikes approaching, so he and new guy continued south, as the rest of us continued our quite merry way away from them. turns out that rather than four bikes, there were several coyotes silently following them at what was believed to be a "too close for comfort" distance.
dave has been working on his sprint lately, and might want to consider adding the 5000 metre pursuit to his track resume. the gauntlet has been thrown down, the bar has been raised.let's hear YOUR night-time wildlife adventures, okay readers? leave them in the comments section.
.....
by the way, chad and i are going to ride fixed gear bikes this sunday, december 2d, regardless of weather. we intend to do three or more long fixie rides before christmas, long being three or more hours. might include hills, will not likely include gravel. more details will be given here as sunday approaches, but bear in mind that iptv is broadcasting the iowa-minnesota wrestling meet at 200 pm, so i'd like to be home by then, so a 1000 am start time is possible.
remember, sunday morning fixie road ride.
8 comments:
Iowa doesn't wrestle UM until Feb. Do you mean the UNI meet? I would guess that the UM meet will be on the BTN...Josh
Sleater-Kinney wrote a tribute song about that first picture appropriately titled 'Light Rail Coyote.'
RAGBRAI's been cancelled in '08. No community is willing to assume the risk. There’s no need to ride through the winter in the dark.
~The One
maybe. i read it in the register. either i wasn't paying attention, or they got it wrong. i'll check.
you gonna ride, josh, or do you just like pointing out errors?
[not that's there's anything wrong with that, by any means.]
The bus was not Nepali, but clearly documents the travel experience for the solo trekker.
Imagine watching the driver constantly turning a steering wheel that's about a meter across 180 degrees just to go straight (no power steering). Your window is just above the edge of the road (you hope - it can't be seen). The river is 1000 meters below. Not quite a sheer drop, but you would roll a very long ways very fast. Oh, yeah - you can tell by the color of the gravel that you're crossing a repair of a landslip.
Best done with a good supply of raksi, but the local moonshine isn't very potent - take several gallons.
Better than a day of e-tickets at Disney.
Dirty Dick T
josh, page 6c of today's register, iowa scene, says it's on the big ten network, NOT iptv--my mistake--sunday at 200 pm. i don't have that channel, so screw 'em. we can ride later.
Count me in on the Sunday fixie ride. I can check for Big Ten Network availability on my dish if there's interest :)
One evening a couple of years back I was out riding around when what should spring from the ditch to my right but a ferocious raccoon! My first impulse was to hit it and fall over in fore-sympathy to a friend.
Nah, I thought, just stop! My dear mom's voice came at me from over my left shoulder like a whip crack, "Stephen! NEVER put a foot down near a wild animal - it might be rabid!" So what could I do?
I gave er the gun and ran over that poor little feller. Had to do a little wheelie at first and when the front wheel was over and the beastie was wedged under my crankset with me still pedaling it started to snarl but it was too late as the rear wheel was already on it. I rode away unscathed and checked back in time to see my poor fuzzy barrier scurry back into the ditch. I hope it was okay.
I really do feel bad about that...
gpickle
wheelie, huh?
sounds a bit ironic, now that you put it THAT way, i suppose.
Post a Comment