I’ve missed the thursday night crew.  Every thursday at 6pm, meet and ride.  No one gets dropped, but the rides aren’t easy.  Case in point, this evening’s annual ride up to the beacon atop University Mountain.  Plenty of singletrack climbing to get to “the saddle,” a steady 1500′ fireroad climb to the top, then singletrack back down, with several fall-line, saddle to the chest sections.  And shockingly for this week, we didn’t get rained on at all.

Riding in the evenings in luxurious this time of year, when it’s light enough to ride home without a light even now, at 930pm.  The only real downside to this time of year is sleep.  I’ve found it hard to get to bed before midnight this week with all the things to do and people to see, and wake up when the sun clears the hills and hits our window, which is a little before seven.  I need more sleep than that to keep the zombie affect at bay after nine hours working on powerpoints.

It is almost the weekend.  Maybe my raft will get here tomorrow.  In my impatience, I delegated the purchasing of said raft to M while I was out in the Thorofare.  She turned the tables on me and staged a gear-patience intervention; withholding all knowledge of when the raft might arrive.  Apparently in the past (think bike frames) I’ve taken taking code watching to annoying levels.  While I recognize the value of this deal, and try to embrace it, I can’t say it’s a completely fun experience.  Rivers are rising, plans are forming, and damn it I need GEAR.

Though in the mean time, the choice of mountain biking and backcountry skiing is not so bad.