Two Words about Tuesday Night Ride in Mason

About 16 riders, head out at 5:30, after 1/4 mile warm-up the pace is up to 25.  First rider dropped after 4 miles; we wait two minutes.  First flat at 30 minutes; we wait eight minutes.  Second flat at 42 minutes; we wait ten minutes.  32 miles in about 1:40 twenty minutes after sundown, but riding less than 1:24 (maybe less than 1:20).  Two words: Bontrager Hardcase.  As the weather gets colder, the days are shorter, and you are trying to get a ride in before dark, ride a tough tire less prone to flatting.

First blog

The title.  From when I was around 14 or 15, and especially after getting a driver's license at 16, I would spend many weekends near the Pine River near Hoxeyville.  It is about 30 miles straight north of Nirvana.  I've been to Nirvana before, but when I was there I didn't realize it because I wanted to be there.  My desire to be there got in the way of my realizing I was there.  One of my most transcendental like experiences was around summer solstice about 20 years ago, around 11 pm fishing on the Pine River.  I could still see well enough to cast.  A raccoon was searching for food along the shore opposite me about 25 feet.  A beaver swam under water up stream from my right to left, about 8 feet from me, surfacing about 15 feet upstream.  In the words of Aquinas, it was almost as if my "appetite was lulled altogether."  For that reason, I consider Hoxeyville North of Nirvana.