The problem with the Switchback? It makes night riding enormously fun, which makes me stay out late, which means that I get to bed later.

So, this will be short.

Got home and M was off at the laundromat. I hopped on the Psurly to go help, and buy the coffee I forgot yesterday. Once it was done we decided to race home. Me and the Psurly vs M and Selma (the ’77 Mercedes). I took the lead in the parking lot, M passed me a couple blocks later. I passed her at the next stop sign by cutting into traffic, then sat in front of her in the lane before peeling off onto the bike path. She was a bit ahead of me when the path came back near the road, and if I hadn’t slowed too much going under the road we would’ve been dead even coming onto the road together. As it was, she beat me by a couple hundred yards. Not too bad an argument for the pedaled grocery getter.

I rolled off this afternoon for more exploration of the Thumb Butte area. Followed my nose into the backyard of some camp on Iron Springs, road into Granite Basin, out on 332 (fun singletrack) then multitudinous wanderings around forgotten logging roads and singletracks. Found a challenging descent, fall line deep dust with semi-hidden rocks. Steep but innocuous looking. Tried to clean it twice, ate shit both times. Front wheel refused to stay upright. Eventually I found the main road, and raced myself up the 4 miles and 1k very to Sierra overlook (28 minutes), right as darkness was falling. The sunset was truly awesome. Back down the road testing lights, then despite my trepidation onto upper and lower 318. Washboard in the dark was not fun, but the light combo worked perfectly on singletrack. The Corona bar light doesn’t have a very far throw, but is fairly bright in that limited range and lights the periphery very well. It filled in the gaps and improved depth perception dramatically, with the Switchback being the primary eye light for picking lines. On tight but not too fast trail I think unfamiliarity is the only thing holding me back, and that will get fixed very soon.

I’m pleased with the setup and investment, now I have to embrace the night.

The 8″ front rotor also passed with flying colors. Much more power, much more control. And that big piece of rotating metal just makes me feel good. It can probably double as a frisbee and throwing star, for hunting small game.

The stars tonight are lovely.