Fiat lux

#176 / #9

17 miles on the American River Trail

The Recumbent Riders of Sacramento's monthly Moonlight Ride.

I had never gone on this ride before, but figured it would be a good longer ride for Himself, since there was a long dinner break at the halfway point. We did the short version, starting and ending at William Pond park; while the rest of the riders started from Discovery Park, at the far end of the bike trail.

We had a few minutes to wait, so Himself demonstrated the multi-functionality of a recumbent trike.

It's a lounger! A dessert topping! A floor wax!

Recumbents and their riders started arriving, a tandem, another trike, and a couple of single seater two wheelers.

It was still hot when we set out, despite the early evening hour: 7:15pm. We rode east on the trail to Sunrise, then straggled into Jack's Urban Eats, where I had one of the most disappointing salads of my life. Not much in there but the spines of romaine lettuce. Bleah. However, the company was excellent.

We set out back down the trail in the cool evening with the sun just setting, lights blinking and my headlight much dimmer than I remember it being. I was not a happy camper. I stuck right on Himself's tail, pretty much blindly following his extremely bright blinking taillight.

In between whining to myself, I noticed that the Purple Sky flag on Himself's bike was really really visible (others said so as well) so I'm glad I have two of these flags with retro-reflective material. I'd like to get another, but they may not be available anymore.

I thought the rest of the riders were right behind us, but they only caught up when we were nearly back to William Pond.

How did I know they were catching up? Because I was sure alien spaceships were following me. Or maybe a car was on the bike trail. Or a low flying very bright very quiet helicopter.  Holy cow, Batman! Those lights are BRIGHT. I gotta get me one.

Or, maybe not. The problem with a moonlight ride in the summer is we did not get home until 10:45pm. That's late. Folding up the bikes and putting them in the car at night is a pain. I don't much like doing anything at night, walking, driving, canoeing. None of it. Not my thing. Himself was treated to my full vocabulary of "four" letter words. Repeatedly treated. Such a lucky guy!

He had a good time. I'll recover.

I demanded ice cream so we stopped on our way home for some vanilla. Split between the two of us and bedecked with maple syrup, it made the perfect end to the evening.

Himself not only made his boom spin today, he also had cleat problems. The Shimano cleats will not stay put and twist out of place. So then his heel hits the crank. Then he turns his foot to clear the crank, inadvertently unclips, and bounces his foot off the pavement. No damage done this time. Maybe locktite on the cleat screws?